ADC 303AX's

B3Nut

B3Nut

tubes and spinny things!
Found these today at GW...pics later. 10" 2-way acoustic-suspension design, but has slide switches for mid and treble levels. Doped cloth woofer surrounds and doped-edge cone tweeters, seems to be another New England KLH clone. Made in Connecticut by Audio Dynamics Corp. (I'm assuming that's the same ADC that made phono carts and EQ's.)

Lashed 'em up to the 6060 in the garage...decently smooth speakers, slightly chesty in the lower mids but not offensive. For 16 bucks for the pair I'm not complaining.

TP
 
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I've had a pair of those on my desk at work for about 3 years now. They are indeed the same ADC that made accessories, cartridges, EQ's, etc. No shortage of low end there, in fact, they may outdo the KLH 6, another 10" sealed-box two way with paper cone tweet and doped cloth surrounds. I am quite pleased with these.

TA
 
Definitely a nice loudspeaker...amazing how good a good ol' paper cone can sound when done well.

Here's one nekkid....
 
Orion says,

ADC SPK, 303AX (PAIR)
Description:
Manufacture Years: 1971 - 1975
Additional Information:
Power:
Retail
MSRP: $200.00
USED: $55.00
 
I just picked up a VERY nice pair of ADC 303axs at the local thrift. I took them home and fired them up and was pleasantly surprised with their sound. I bought them hoping to have another set of speakers to run with my Pilot 232 and significantly modded PAS 3x but these speakers are a bit too power hungry for my diminutive 17 wpc tube gear. They sound stellar through either of my Kenwood solid states: Lots of bass and a pretty articulate top end.
 
Just picked up a pair of these a few weeks ago with a Pioneer SX-650. My first foray into classic audio. I'm digging them. Attempting to add pics...
 

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I bought a pair of them in 73 or 74 for my dad.

They were left-over inventory from one of our stores that closed and I bought them pretty cheap.

He used them for external speakers for his Magnavox Console unit.

Quite a few years later I was staying at his house while working a Power Plant Project and doing a fair amount of listening to them with the Magnavox.

One night I was running them pretty hard and probably into clipping. I burnt a tweeter. It was "Girl in trouble" by Romeo Void that killed the tweeter.

Found a suitable replacement for the tweeter at RS.

After my Dad passed away, I brought the Magnavox and the ADCs home. I even found the original boxes for the ADCs in the basement!
 
16 bucks a pair eh? I paid $200. back in 1972, still have them and will keep them mainly because they aren't worth much on the open market. They are nice sounding speaker, maybe I can toss in a modern tweeter for better dispersion.

Nice buy, congrats.
 
Just adding to the karma on the 303AX's. Nailed a very decent pair @ a garage sale today. Wasn't even looking for a sale, but was out early to go to the store for some breakfast supplies and spotted a set being brought out to a table.

"How much?"

"$30. sound about right?"

"$20 sounds even better"

"Sold!"

I'm diggin' on their ambiance as I type... I have to rate them right up there with warm covers and soft women!

The end.....
 
adc 303's

there seems to be an abundance of these speakers out there, i just picked up a pair of these at a garage sale as well for 10 bucks in very good condition. i mean almost new-used condition. all the midrange and and treble adjustments on the back work well. no static noise when adjusting them. nice solid hardwood cabinets. not amazing sound quality but still very good for speakers for their age. if any body wants a pic i'll post one. i'll probably sock these speakers away until my kids move out. i love 'em (speakers).:music:
 
Found a pair a few years back for $8 so gave them a try. Decent sound but a little muddy. The crossover looks like a tar ball with wires sticking out of it so a recap would be next to impossible IMO.
 
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i once heard a pair driven by a small home integrated amp in a KARMANN GHIA !! talk about a deep soundstage... the guy was playing beethovens 9th and the sound was incredible.
 
There have been a couple of threads about the tarball crossover. If memory serves, I posted the cap values in one of them, so recapping shouldn't be that difficult. Also if memory serves, there is a cap in a different location up by the drivers, which is a peculiar way of doing it.
 
B3Nut said:
Found these today at GW...pics later. 10" 2-way acoustic-suspension design, but has slide switches for mid and treble levels. Doped cloth woofer surrounds and doped-edge cone tweeters, seems to be another New England KLH clone. Made in Connecticut by Audio Dynamics Corp. (I'm assuming that's the same ADC that made phono carts and EQ's.)

Lashed 'em up to the 6060 in the garage...decently smooth speakers, slightly chesty in the lower mids but not offensive. For 16 bucks for the pair I'm not complaining.

TP
Click to expand...

How much later?
 
ADC started in the 60s producing cartridges. The founder, Peter Pritchard was originally british and worked for one of the early cartridge makers (GE?) -- my memory fails me right now -- and was one of the motive forces behind the move to high compliance cartridges. His moving iron cartridges had the highest compliance and lowest distortion of any cartridge in the early mid 60s, and then later his XLM and its ilk upped the ante in the 70s. He also produced one of the first low mass arms, which, I think, may have been the first production arm with antiskating. It was unusual in being made of basswood.
He also was interested in speakers, and used one of the early versions of the KEF B139 styrofoam woofer in a couple of them, though the later ones used more conventional drivers and styling. ADC also had one of the first really decent sounding very small speakers.
They also sold recievers, which look like they might have been sourced from Akai, though that's just a guess.
The computer controlled turntables and the equallizers were from the post Pritchard era, when ADC was owned by BSR.
 
This might be an older thread, but I thought I'd post this here since I just bought a pair of these myself for $25.00. This might be viewed as sacrilege, but I removed the chrome trim off of the grilles because A) it was falling off and B) I thought they looked like a cheezy afterthought (it would have looked better if they joined in corners at an angle cut), especially considering the quality of the rest of the cabinet. They remind me of a pair of KLH speakers I have and absolutely love. I unfortunately cannot hook them up right away since I am in the process of relocating. I generally have had good luck with speakers that came out of New England, although I could have sworn ADC was from old England.
 
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