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Purchased some ADS L-980's

RS Steve

RS Steve

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This ADS model has eluded me for many years, I have owned L-880's and L-780's before but find the 980's a little harder to come by. They make an interesting comparison to the AR-58b speakers I just finished restoring. Seems my initial impressions are that the ADS has a smoother midrange and a bit crisper sounding tweeter. Bass might be a bit stronger in the AR which basically says that the ADS speakers have a better balance.

These L-980's are in pretty nice shape, I did the normal cleaning and wipe down to remove the dust build up and crud from years of use. The grills are in pretty good shape, with one small dent I was able to work out, also had one midrange dome pushed in slightly. I have a special needle with a hook on the end that works like a charm for this purpose, it allowed me to pull out the dent with no damage to the driver.

I plan on spending some time listening to them and possibly pairing up with different amps to really get a final opinion on them, so far I'm very impressed. The pictures don't really depict how big and heavy they are, these will take up some room.

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Welcome to the L980 club! It's exclusive, with not many members! They are amazing speakers!
Those are beauties! They are the only ASD speakers with 12 inch woofers. Outstanding speakers, that have bass that easily equals my AR3's, but not quite as deep as the 910's.
They can take a ton of power. The optional factory stands raise them at minimum 14 inches to about 20-22inches.
Also, I flipped my grills so the black liner that goes to the rear edge is on top to protect the drivers from dust. The little plastic pull to can be moved back down to the bottom.
Congrats!
Glenn
 
GD70 said:
Welcome to the L980 club! It's exclusive, with not many members! They are amazing speakers!
Those are beauties! They are the only ASD speakers with 12 inch woofers. Outstanding speakers, that have bass that easily equals my AR3's, but not quite as deep as the 910's.
They can take a ton of power. The optional factory stands raise them at minimum 14 inches to about 20-22inches.
Also, I flipped my grills so the black liner that goes to the rear edge is on top to protect the drivers from dust. The little plastic pull to can be moved back down to the bottom.
Congrats!
Glenn
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If some guy were to send you a big swath of that cloth, you could cover the ENTIRE inside of the grill and keep those tweeters in the pristine shape that God and Richard So had intended them to be in.
 
Archguy said:
Congrats on your new speakers. They look very impressive and I'm sure sound that way too.



Would love a photo of this little device if you get a chance, thanks
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Archguy said:
Congrats on your new speakers. They look very impressive and I'm sure sound that way too.



Would love a photo of this little device if you get a chance, thanks
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Basically a pin that I carefully bent with small needle nose pliers so it easily grabs and doesn't do damage, very easy to finesse the dome into shape. Sometimes a heat gun or hair dryer helps too if it's been pushed in for a long time.

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Congrats! The L980s are my favorite speaker (at least of those I own). The mirror imaged pair seems to be a bit more rare from what I can tell.

I copied Glenn and flipped the grills. Also, a stiff bristled brush will remove the remnants of that cloth on the rear of the grills very well, without any other damage.

In spring I need to paint the grills on mine.
 
Interesting when I did a little shootout between the L-980's, AR-58b's and my AR-11's, The L-980's are a bit behind in thump but bolder and very smooth in the mids and highs. Both the 11's and the 58b's seem to go deeper, but the L-980's have a more natural sounding bass. The 11's and L-980's have brighter highs than the 58b's, but the L-980's are less harsh than the 11's. All sounded very good, but those sticky domes are really smooth sounding and enjoyable. I was only using a 85 wpc receiver, now I'll hook up the Soundcraftsman MA-5002 amp and put some power to them. Should be interesting.
 
The 1230's were my favorite ADS speaker so far, I liked them over the 1590's that I had, but both moved on to new owners.. I blew the chance to own 1530's which I believe would certainly have had staying power. There is someone toying with me now to possibly purchase my JBL 4435's :yikes:, they would be hard to replace.
 
I had the 980's also and just couldn't warm up to them...even after sending drivers to Richard So to redo. It is too clean I guess for my taste. They were studio monitors and do handle power. I also liked the bass on the AR's better. Just an opinion...but my friend that bought them...really likes them.
 
Blue Shadow said:
But in the car are you using ADS speakers or some other car audio hunks? I know the 980s ain't going along for the ride.
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Unfortunately no ADS speakers in my car. I'm not sure any would fit in the doors, or work properly with the factory system. Believe me, it's crossed my mind when I see car speakers on fleabay or CL.
Now back in the day, had I had the 980's, I would have probably been dumb enough to sit those beasts in the back seat of my 69 Impala convertible just because I could! And they would have been quite trashed I'm sure because of young stupidity! My, friends would have probably sat on top of them drinking beer! Thank god that didn't happen!
 
RS Steve said:
The 1230's were my favorite ADS speaker so far, I liked them over the 1590's that I had, but both moved on to new owners.. I blew the chance to own 1530's which I believe would certainly have had staying power. There is someone toying with me now to possibly purchase my JBL 4435's :yikes:, they would be hard to replace.
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Some speakers we listen to for a while, then move on. Then there's the special ones we have that stay. I'd say keep the 4435!
 
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