I'm piecing together a system for an old Porsche 911S and was wondering what the sound signature of the old school A/D/S/ speakers is like?
Why I ask, is that Porsche and A/D/S have some history together and there is a bunch of NOS components available on eBay... and I have a 310RS sub already.
Any thoughts would be appreciated... and I realize this is a very vague question, but simply knowing whether they tend to be "warm" sounding or "bright" would be helpful.
Not bright at all. They are neutral/warm if anything. If you're looking for period speakers, you can't do better than A/D/S/ in my opinion. A/D/S/ ruled the 80s and 90s and is still very good compared with the best today.
Trade in your 310RS and buy my 310PX.
Pioneer 880PRS, Tru SSLD6, Morel Supremo Piccolo, Hertz ML 1600, Morel 12" Ultimo, Tru Copper C7.4, Clarion DPX11551
A/D/S sound great. I like to compare them to Morel Elate Series with a bit more detail in the tweeter end of things but a bit less midbass impact if you go with the 6.5" driver.
If you need to sell that 310 rs sub for something else let me know!! :-) (like that PX sub)
Also, if you need a 4" A/D/S mid range pair I have a set that I have never used. Just drivers. $70 shipped to you.
Thanks for the information and the great suggestions, albeit expensive ones . Those PX drivers are gorgeous... it would almost be a shame to bury such beautiful industrial design inside a door.
ChiTownSQ - While I hadn't thought of going 3-way, I'll think about those 4" drivers and get back to you.
I enjoy the 346is I have. However, the leather seats, sunroof, and plastic provide some nasty reflections that have to be tamed. Otherwise my sound is very smooth once it was dialed in. Otherwise they were bright and harsh just thrown in.
If that's the case they should be easyer to track down. Just out of curiosity, what was the link between Porsche and a/d/s/?
1982 Porsche 911 SC, Pioneer P88-RSII active 2-way front + sub, Genesis Series III 4 Channel, 1&2 to Hertz ML 1600 woofers, 3&4 bridged to a JBL GTO 804 sub in the front trunk, Vifa XT25 sc-90 04 tweeters powered by a Genesis Series III Stereo 60.
If that's the case they should be easier to track down. Just out of curiosity, what was the link between Porsche and a/d/s/?
Yes, that's what I'm talking about
Regarding a/d/s/ and Porsche - I came across a few threads on Pelican that spoke of this (give it a search and you'll see what I mean). I don't think it was a "formal" relationship, but there seemed to be some a/d/s/ marketing that used a 930 and a rather notable install that was featured in a late 80s Car Audio magazine.
A/D/S Had a stronger (relationship) with BMW here in the states from mid 90's on. Much of their marketing contained installs in BMW cars. They also advertised that the speakers were direct replacements for factory locations in BMW cars.
They also followed the same kind of marketing in the late 90's that BMW did as well with the 2 and 3 series speakers.
Here is an ebay link of some direct drop in Porsche subwoofer system as well.
As a high end speaker manufacture, they were aligning themselves with the high end automotive cars and targeting those customers that would spend that kind of coin on stereo upgrades.
The a/d/s 3xx series were the top of the top back in the day.
They were smooth and warm and detailed.
They were the dynaudios of the 90's before dynaudio even entered the car audio market.
No speaker at the time sold more or pleased more customers when on the display board.
The boston pro series and mb quarts couldn't compete. Most of the asian customers and middle aged or older customers picked the a/d/s. The younger kids picked the quarts.
I wanted to mention my experience.
Back in the day in the shop I used to work on the display were 3 main speakers, a/d/s, boston pro, and mb quarts.
We were ordered by the owner to push and sell more boston speakers because we were to phase out being a dealer for the a/d/s and mb quarts. So on the display we took out the crossovers for the a/d/s and replace them with an inductor and a capacitor. They still sounded better and sold better than the boston acoustic pro series.
The bostons were good speakers, but nothing special or spectacular. The mb quarts had a sound one could impress with, but the a/d/s speakers had a sound one could listen with.
I still use a pair of 320is in my second car. 15 years old and going strong.
I wanted to mention my experience.
Back in the day in the shop I used to work on the display were 3 main speakers, a/d/s, boston pro, and mb quarts.
We were ordered by the owner to push and sell more boston speakers because we were to phase out being a dealer for the a/d/s and mb quarts. So on the display we took out the crossovers for the a/d/s and replace them with an inductor and a capacitor. They still sounded better and sold better than the boston acoustic pro series.
The bostons were good speakers, but nothing special or spectacular. The mb quarts had a sound one could impress with, but the a/d/s speakers had a sound one could listen with.
I still use a pair of 320is in my second car. 15 years old and going strong.
How did the Al4,5,6 series differ from the 3xx series?
I forgot.
AL's were similar to the 320/325is only. The tweeters I believe were the same. The 320/325 had better quality mids and I think the crossovers may have had better quality parts.
I dunno, I've heard some damned fine sounding cars with Quart (<--stupid redirector took away the capital "Q" and it's not Quarts or Quartz) drivers. Almost universally the tweeters needed to be off axis to smooth them out. Now that I think about it, I don't know that I ever herd a single install with them on axis that sounded good.
Just to bump up here, I can't think of a more neutral sounding speaker. Just out of curiousity what year is the porsche. I rescently did a restoration on a
'78 911 sc (I think it was the first year of the sc). Saw the link for the 6.2's and I couldn't recommend a better fit for the rear deck.......If you go 3 way (as I did in my restoration) the 6.2's will pull double duty as great fill and good sub bass (real punchy). I ran px tweets (off ebay) 4" mids and the sb 7's in kickpanels. Had an old alpine (sorry forget the #, benzi-box pullout), pq 20 to power the 6.2's (I've found the a/d/s stuff works best at 4ohms stereo), and a ph15 active to power the front stage. Simple, and flawless.....I find the stuff sold today has inferior build quality, and suffers from graininess in the upper frequencies in comparison to the a/d/s gear. Their systems were designed and built for people with fully functioning hearing......its a bummer they are gone....hey they brought back ppi, now it time to bring back a/d/s/
A/D/S/ speakers - how do they sound?
. Those PX drivers are gorgeous... it would almost be a shame to bury such beautiful industrial design inside a door.
Re: A/D/S/ speakers - how do they sound?
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