ADS 810
- Thread starter Meemsy
- Start date
soundmotor
super modified
I'm happy to report that the AK spirit is alive and well. I waited until the end of the week and since the ad was still up, I figured that the OP had passed on them so I decided to contact the seller. I went to look at them this morning and they were as described with only two woofers working. According to the seller, they disconnected the bad woofers, taped the connections and reinstalled one bad woofer in each of the cabinets. Apparently, nothing else was done. So, I decided to take them.
As soon as I got home, I pulled the "bad" woofers. The first one clearly had a fried voice coil. It had a crunchy feeling when the cone was depressed and the DCR measured 0.8 ohms. I expected the same on the second woofer but it's cone moved smoothly when depressed and the DCR measured 5.2 ohms. Surprised by this result, I took the apparently good woofer and installed it into the cabinet. I checked the DCR at the speaker terminals and it was just under 4 ohms. I then connected up to a receiver and both woofers functioned just fine. So, it looks like I will only need one woofer. There were no part number stickers attached but I understand that I will need a 206-0317. Hopefully someone can confirm that. I expect that between BT and eBay, I should be able to come up with a replacement without too much difficulty.
I originally planned to do a light refinishing but the cabs are really in decent condition so I may only hit them with some Howards RAF as well as Feed-n-wax. The grills have a few snags but nothing too terrible. I'll likely replace the fabric at some point.
Les.
Mitkraft
Super Member
The million dollar question though is did you pay the $200 asking price which was the crux of this thread?
Congrats on the pickup and I wish you nothing but success! Another fully working pair of ADS in the world can only be a good thing.
Congrats on the pickup and I wish you nothing but success! Another fully working pair of ADS in the world can only be a good thing.
Thank you.
Yes, the seller was asking $250 and I paid $200 (roughly $160 USD). Like the OP said, these don't turn up around here very often and sometimes you just have to pay the price. While it may not be a $25 GW scroe, I'm very pleased with the deal knowing that I only need to replace one woofer. Plus the seller is a very nice fellow and I enjoyed meeting him.
Les.
Mitkraft
Super Member
Oh my, I wonder if anyone else was thinking in US dollars instead of Canadian. I confess I missed that nuance.
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Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
I did use US$ and CAD in my discussion.
Seems these were well bought, well cared for and will be a fine set of speakers after the typical AK refurbishment. Lot of negativity toward this pair of speakers in this thread. I hope it turns out to be a great set for the buyer. Seller got his.
Did you check the crossovers for anything sort burned up or anything?
My first CL purchase was a pair of 810s and a Thorens TD-165, both completely abused chunks of gear. The table is mostly parted out the 810s, water damaged cabinets but all the drivers worked, even the one that look like it took the leading corner of a ruler at one time, a narrow 1" divot in the cone. So I did the work on them. Peeled the veneer and scraped off all the loose particles, did some automotive body work, you know Bondo, and installed a thick piece of hardboard from a garage door panel to make the bottom back to near original. These were made decent but not show stoppers cause I don't veneer. These got sanded and Satin Black, the 810M (monitor) and they were nice enough. Wavy veneer under the paint as expected but being the slimming black these imperfections weren't deal breakers. Grilles were fine. Hooked em up and a woofer was rubbing, Damn. Got a pair off the bay and well the noise had stopped so I didn't know which one to replace. Finally had a buyer here on AK, just about giving them away, shoulda parted them for more coin and the woofer starts making noise again. Swapped it out, made the deal and have the one woofer left over as it won't fit my L710s. I did the work after buying for short money and didn't make a thing overall but was handsomely rewarded as many here are with the usual Buck Fiddy and hour for all the work we do on the gear. Oh well, got to hear em and know what they are.
Glad @LesE got his pair of 810s and hope he enjoys them.
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The "bad" woofers were in the upper position and I haven't had the lowers out so I haven't seen the crossovers yet. But in it's previous state with only one woofer per speaker, they sounded pretty much equal as far as I could tell. So, I suspect that the crossovers are probably undamaged but I will check them out at some point.
Les.
Meemsy
Member
Glad they found a good home.
Offered the seller $100 after some consideration of possible repair costs and two hour round trip to pick them up.
Seller said he fell back in love with them after hooking them up for our audition and decided to hold on to them.
I'll have to wait to get my ADS fix.
Offered the seller $100 after some consideration of possible repair costs and two hour round trip to pick them up.
Seller said he fell back in love with them after hooking them up for our audition and decided to hold on to them.
I'll have to wait to get my ADS fix.
Yes, the seller certainly seemed to be conflicted regarding the sale. He was the original owner and there was a sentimental factor involved.
In my case, I'm only 40 minutes so it made for a nice Sunday drive. Quite often, buying vintage gear with issues can be a crap shoot. In this case, it worked out in my favor.
I'm listening to them now playing Steely Dan Gaucho and even with three woofers and being driven by a BPC receiver, they sound really nice. So far, I haven't yet experienced the boominess that some have reported.
Les
In my case, I'm only 40 minutes so it made for a nice Sunday drive. Quite often, buying vintage gear with issues can be a crap shoot. In this case, it worked out in my favor.
I'm listening to them now playing Steely Dan Gaucho and even with three woofers and being driven by a BPC receiver, they sound really nice. So far, I haven't yet experienced the boominess that some have reported.
Les
Don't give up Dale. It's worth it IMO. I managed to find a pair of L500's a few years ago and as impressive as they are for a lower end model, they left me lusting for something higher up in the product line and these 810's are more than living up to my expectations. Perhaps a pair of L910's will pop up some day.
Les.
Les.
markshan
Sir Thrift a Lot
That depends. If the customer was pushing for a cheap fix he may have put dummy loads in place of the two speakers. I do agree that you have to not only consider the woofers but also the cost of a full recap.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Changing the single lytic is cheap and the additional three poly caps ain't much more.
100uF, 4.7, 6.8 and 10µF polycaps.
bigx5murf
Super Member
There were crossover revisions, and those values may be off a bit. Best to look at the actual crossover.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
yes, probably, those are values from a doc floating around the web, not me investigating the owner's pair of speakers.
bigx5murf
Super Member
I'm in the midst of restoring a pair of L710 I got cheap, and was researching here. My electrolytic cap wasn't 100uF like stated here, it was 90uF, and significantly more rare. I found one thread where the OP had the same cap, and didn't realize, but replaced it with a 100uF anyway. But it seems to be working fine for him anyway. The other caps, at least on mine were film, and I was advised not to replace them.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Maybe someone that can figure it out can tell us what a change from 100 to 90 or vice versa would do to the frequencies a driver gets when that cap is across the woofer terminals as on the ADS. I doubt it would be much of a change at all.
bigx5murf
Super Member
The theory was to account for a change in woofers used. Mine had the foam surrounds, while the 100uF ones had rubber surrounds on the woofers.
