[Andy5000]

Hello All - I have a pair of these. Wondering if anyone knows anything about them, if they are good, bad, otherwise, worth anything?


I'm thinking of picking up an Onkyo Receiver and using these as the front L&R. Would be interested in suggestions for the surround and powered sub to match on a fairly tight budget.


The story goes like this:


The ADC company had always made audio

components, which were disdained by

'audiophiles', mostly cheap, noisy, crappy

equalizers and the like. So, in about '91, I

read review in Sterophile Magazine. They

praised the ADC speakers and awarded

them with the 'best under $1000 speakers'.

I think the retail price was ~$800. But, no

one bought these speakers despite the

raves from Sterophile. ADC discontinued

them, and I think shortly went out of

business. My guess is: The production of

Soundimage speakers was ADC's last ditch

effort to get out of the red. They made

tons of these speakers which did not sell.

The 'audiophiles' literally spited themselves

by not considering them because of ADC's

bad rep.


The Soundimage

speakers are not like regular speakers;
You point them at each other, not towards

the listener. They interact with each other

to correct for frequency responses.


They contain dual 10" woofers, a

mid-range, a tweeter, and a super-tweeter.

The super-tweeter is positioned towards

the listener, unlike the other components.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

1. The original ADC company, based in New Milford CT, made excellent quality phono equipment and speakers under the direction of Peter Pritchard.


2. After he sold the company, the quality went downhill and consisted of cheaper turntables and electronics produced in Asia.


3. More recently, the ADC label has been on mass-produced, low-quality equipment.


4. I can find no reference at the Stereophile website, nor can I recall any, of a review of any ADC equipment in the 90s or more recently. Can you provide some reference for this?

 

[Andy5000]

Sorry I don't have any further info on these. I've used them for about 15 years and they generally sound good to me. I'm no expert.


I'm just trying to find out if they would be good front speakers if I add a Center and Surround speakers to them.


Also trying to figure out if they have any value to those who like big speakers like this. I understand they were fairly expensive when first released.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, Googling mostly brings up your posts here and elsewhere. I see no other references to Stereophile which makes me question that reference as well as your comments about the company. The ADC label has been bought and sold as well as used and abused by many in the past two decades. Frankly, I have not felt any interest or enthusiasm for any ADC product since the departure of Peter Pritchard for the company.


As for whether they are any good, only you can judge because they are, otherwise, an absolute unknown to the rest of us. In addition, it is unlikely that there would be any closely matching center speakers available. Have you seen any?