I got them at an estate sale when I went to pick up a shelving unit my wife had purchased yesterday. I noticed them sitting there yesterday, but didn't pay them much concern I have two pair of Sansui SP 2500, a pair of Sansui SP 2000, a pair of JBL L 26 Decades and didn't think I needed another pair of speakers.

Anyway, since they were still there today, and Sunday is markdown day - I strolled over and took a look at the price. They were marked $50.00 yesterday and today's price was $30.00 so I thought "what the hell, I'll pony up the asking price and give them a listen. HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!!, what a pair of speakers. I hooked them up to my Sansui 9090 and what a lovely sounding pair of speakers they are.

I have a Hafler Class A series 915 preamp that has been sitting in the corner for a couple years now. It that was part of a package deal I was negotiating on for something I wanted as part of that deal and the Hafler just came along.

I'm sitting here listening to KING FM and am getting the impression that these ADS L 1290s are wanting more power than my 9090 has to offer and that perhaps I should look into getting a power amp with more power or a couple of mono amps and hook them up with the Hafler (it has the optional phono section already installed) and then I will be able to really enjoy these new speakers.

Does anybody here have any experience with these speakers?

If I were to look for a stereo amp or pair of mono amps to use with what I already have what would you recommend?

man you just made the score of the year. i know of a guy who used to work for ADS and according to a good friend who has talked with him, this guy said that the 1290's were the best speaker that ADS ever made.

i'm speaking in reference to the used market, but for amplification, Hafler amps to match the pre is a good choice. a pair of DH-120's bridged to mono are supposed to be phenomenal and usually go for around $150-$200 each. there are tons of good options, but off the top of my head, other brand choices in the same price range that would work well are Rotel, B&K, Aragon just for starters.

also you might find the ADS reference site helpful ...

http://sportsbil.com/ads/

nice score!! $1500/pr new in 1984!

Thank you so much for the link to the documents.

I listened to them some more this morning and they really are quite nice. At one time I had a Marantz 2385, I took it to be repaired and got a call that it had been "jacked in a breakin," funny thing is nothing else was taken.

The shop owner gave me a Dennon receiver to replace it with that retailed at ~ $1,000 and my attorney advised me that he had probably satisfied any obligation.

I am convinced to this day that he wanted my old Marantz and cooked up a scheme to pilfer it. The Dennon was a pile of junk that sounded like crap and I swapped it off for some Nikon gear.

I have a Sansui 5000A upstairs and hooked these speakers up to it when I first got home - it just wasn't powering them up so I carted them downstairs and hooked them up to the 9090 and they came alive.

Congrats.
I think they will grow on you.
I aqquired a pair of L-810's last year on a chance.
Didn't know much about them.
They took the place of a set of Klipsch KG-4's as my main speakers.
I use mine with a Pioneer SX-1250 and they sound good.
That brand flys under the radar to most people.

Huge a/d/s/ fan here.

Indeed, the L1x90 series, along with the L1x30s, are some of the nicest from a/d/s/. The company succeeded in turning out some impressive stuff.

I've owned the L570 IIs, and currently own L1230s and L630s. I'm also a big fan of Boston Acoustics early offerings, and have owned A150s and A200s, and miss the A200s terribly, but the a/d/s/ were a bit more to my liking.


Congrats on a fine score. I run mine with a Denon POA 1500 and a POA 1500 II, rated at 150wpc but -*test*-('")ed at 177 and 200wpc, as well as a B&K ST-202 and EX-442 Sonata. I'd like to try a Forte on 'em one day.



Best of luck with them, and if you can, post pics!!!!

OH MY GOD!!! I finally had some time to sit in front of these things for an extended amount of time. They are flat out unbelievable, I am hearing overtones that I never heard before in my blues collection and the slide guitar .... I make a pest of myself by telling people to never, ever, ever save their music as MP3 because of what is lost at the top and in the overtones. It is as substantial a loss as I was experiencing with my older speakers.

Congrats! $30 is a great price.

I am glad to hear your continued pleasure with these.

Indeed the company did a job well done with these speakers.

Congrats.
Nice speakers at a very good price.
Both Gramaphone and Telarc studios used ADS speakers as monitors.

Operating on the advice of the guy that sits next to me at work - I have bought a Hafler DH-500. (Probably paid a little more than you would have, but I got a comfortable feeling while asking questions of an ebay seller and gave him a tad over $400 delivered and insured.)

My neighbor at work is an audio engineer who used to rep Dolby and run their equipment leasing department, on the east coast. He is fairly adamant in his praise for DH-500s and P-500s. I'll give it a try and we shall see.

Ten years ago I had a Marantz that had full complementary circuitry (2385), hooked to a really nice pair of speakers HD-440 and have missed listening to something of that caliber in the intervening time. I'm getting excited about once again having a system that I really like listening to. I have the two Sansui systems, one 5000A and one 9090 and some decent speakers, but it just hasn't been the same since my big old Marantz was jacked.

nice, i think Hafler and ADS will match very well.