ADS L-710 and L-810
From: Gregory Danner <gdanner@advancenet.net>
Subject: Re: ads speakers
Date: 1999/05/24
Newsgroups: rec.audio.tubes
I have pair of ads L710's. 2 6" woofers, 2" soft dome, 1" soft dome.
Found at a garage sale along with a pair of L700's (similar, but didn't
have the 2" midrange dome, just the pair of 6" woofers and 1" soft
dome).
Had to refoam the woofers, everything else was fine. Tight, clean,
analytical sound, good depth of image, can play pretty loud when I want
them to. Bass is solid but a bit overdamped, probably down 3db at about
45 Hz. They sound great on stands that are about 18" high. I've been
listening to my 710s for about 8 months now, and am quite satisfied.
Especially considering my $$$ investment in them was next to $0.00! I
think I'll keep them until I win the lottery and upgrade to big Thiels
or Dunlavys.
The 810's, which I haven't heard in about 15 years, had a bit more bass
than the 710's due to the larger woofers in a cabinet that was only
slightly larger. You might want to check an old Orion guide, but I
recall the 710s selling for about $600/pr and the 810s maybe $750/pr in
1976. In the mid 70s ads, which sprung from German electronics
manufacturer Braun, had quite a line of nice speakers. Along with the
original Quad ESLs, the IMF (Irving Fried) studios, BBC LS3-5A, KEF, and
Spendor I recall the ads products performed very well in comparison to
lower priced speakers from Advent, EPI, Genesis, Infinity, and JBL. I
guess you could say the ads were what you would call "HI-END" audio in
the mid 70s.
Some ADS woofers had rubber surrounds (smooth material that looks like a
bicycle inner tube). These don't deteriorate at all with age. As
mentioned above, the ones I got had foam surrounds (looks like a grey
spongy plastic material) that had pretty much completely rotted away by
the time I got the speakers. I changed them myself, but if you want to
have someone else refoam the woofers, expect to spend $100-150 to get
all four done. I don't think the midranges or tweeters fail very often,
so if they make sound, they are probably fine. The crossovers in these
speakers are pretty bulletproof also.
One important thing to keep in mind is that these are definitely FOUR
ohm speakers (the dual woofers are each 8 ohms and are internally wired
in parallel). So make sure your power amp is up to handling the load.
In my system I have a DYNACO ST70 tube amp, which has 4 ohm taps for the
outputs.
Since these speakers are fairly efficient many tube amps will be
powerful enough to drive them. Also, since the speakers' natural sound
balance is just a bit on the bright (I prefer to say "analytical") side,
you may find that a tube amp tames the high end just enough to create a
really listenable balance.
Overall I would definitely recommend any of the 70s vintage ads
speakers!
"EB" Greg Danner / Audio-Video Service Center
