ADS L-1290's for $300... opinions?

Actually soundmotor this was the part i was referring to as difficult :) I have dismounted dented in dome tweeters from magnets before, pushed them back outward from inside and remounted, but never tried it with ferro-fluid filled sticky midranges.

Remove ferrofluid with blotter paper (the OG way) then clean out the gap with double-sided masking tape wrapped over a business card.

Repeat until nothing is showing up on the card. Then use ferro refill kits to top it back up. For the 2" coil you can use (2) 100 microliter refills per mid
 
Thanks soundmotor- p.s. the seller says in the ad these were manufactured in 1983- would that give any info whether they are verison 1 or 2?
 
I bought the $800 ones off of Ebay.

Snap those up at $300.

They sound better without the grill, because all grills block the sound waves to some degree.
 
I bought the $800 ones off of Ebay.

Snap those up at $300.

They sound better without the grill, because all grills block the sound waves to some degree.

The ones from California?
I had my eye on an auction for a pair in Chicago that just ended for $430, that looked in very good condition with the grilles, but it was local pickup only. That would have been one heck of a drive.
 
The reason I think they sound better without grills is because I had two pairs of 1290, a pair of 1090, 910, 980,1530, 570, 780, etc.
in MY opinion, with my gear, in my house (and seems like in someone else's too) they all sounded better with the grills off
 
The reason I think they sound better without grills is because I had two pairs of 1290, a pair of 1090, 910, 980,1530, 570, 780, etc.
in MY opinion, with my gear, in my house (and seems like in someone else's too) they all sounded better with the grills off

OK, didn't know if this had been stated in like professional review somewhere.
I do have a pair of 810's right now, with the grilles off- but that's mainly because one grille is cracked on one side and won't stay on...
 
Update- I drove over today to buy these 1290s. The seller let me listen to them for a couple minutes, and I was thinking "Man these sound good, even better than I remember." Then he pulled them away from the wall to disconnect the speaker cables... and I could barely contain my excitement.... :yikes:

20180216_221612.jpg 20180216_221620.jpg

OMG OMG OMG :banana:
 
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JEALOUS. My L1290s have cavities right where those amps could go...

Seriously, I’ve got no complaints about what I hear, but yay for you finding the complete package!
 
Thank u- I cannot wait to sit and have a real serious listen to these--I NEVER thought I'd come across a set of PA-1's. I almost let it slip to the seller how valuable that made these speakers, but I managed to keep my mouth shut until I got them in the car.. The 1290's alone in my area are rare enough but to find a pair with the PA-1's is completely unheard of. Every once in a VERY blue moon, the sun shines on this dog's a$$... :D
 
A few more pics... that pushed-in midrange doesn't look nearly as bad as it did in the seller's pic he sent to me-- I might just leave it alone.

20180216_221715.jpg 20180216_221733.jpg 20180216_221737.jpg 20180216_221742.jpg 20180216_221746.jpg
 
weel the not-so-good deal becomes one of the best I have seen in a while - congrats and enjoy!
 
Well, maybe not the best deal after all-
I haven't hooked them up yet, but I took out the amps to make sure the biamp switch on the speaker terminal plate was set correctly-- and discovered there's no speaker terminal plate at all. Someone removed them and connected the PA1 wiring straight to the internal speaker wiring:

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:( What a butcher hack job. What possible reason could there have been for doing this??
 
Oh man sorry
Hope despite that at least they play well and you like them as much as I did.
They are surprisingly superb with tubes and jazz
 
Well, maybe not the best deal after all-
I haven't hooked them up yet, but I took out the amps to make sure the biamp switch on the speaker terminal plate was set correctly-- and discovered there's no speaker terminal plate at all. Someone removed them and connected the PA1 wiring straight to the internal speaker wiring:

View attachment 1116814 View attachment 1116815

:( What a butcher hack job. What possible reason could there have been for doing this??

OK, that's interesting. What exactly is the high-pass out of the amplifier connected to?
 
OK, that's interesting. What exactly is the high-pass out of the amplifier connected to?

High pass out is connected directly to both the tweeter and midrange, so either is getting frequencies it shouldn't.
I've posted about this over in the speaker forum:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/need-help-with-the-1290s-pa-1s-i-just-bought.810603/

It looks like I have a couple of options here-

Option A: Buy a pair of 780 or 880 crossovers off ebay, there's a pair of 780s on there right now for about $60 OBO. The higher crossover point on those (5000 Hz, between the midrange and tweeter) matches the 1290, and the lower crossover point (650 Hz on the 780, 550 Hz on the 880) is very close to the 500 Hz lower crossover point of the 1290s. And I could just keep using the PA-1's built-in low pass crossover with the woofers as-is right now, and it wouldn't hurt anything.

Option B: I've emailed Richard and he said he has the parts to rebuild a set of actual 1290 crossovers for me, they would be $100 each + shipping. That makes my expenditure a little $500 total for these speakers--and they're still missing the grilles-- but sonically they would be perfect.

Opinions? (Feel free to post over in the other thread as well.)
 
For about $80 extra you get the correct X-over = $7/month for one year...- may be important especially if you resell at one point.
 
I would just wait until the right crossovers show up on eBay, but I'm cheap that way.

Thanks Eastpoint, I'm beginning to agree- as discussed earlier there are a couple of not-too-expensive workarounds I could do to use the speakers without jeopardizing them until the crossovers appear, and I don't think it would compromise the sound too much. I'll try the patience game and see how good I am at it :D
That said, if anyone else reading this sees a set pop up, I'd sure appreciate a heads up!! Thx
 
Moderation Note:

This thread has been cleaned up of a negative interpersonal exchange, and its afterglow. No individual "warnings" were issued. This is a global warning to all thread participants: Return to the topic set by the OP, and leave off any negativity or its afterglow. Otherwise, I will have to resort to further dissuasive measures.

Rich P
 
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