Is this A/D/S stuff junk?

[procurer]

The 1992 March/April issue of "Car Stereo Review" had a great upgrade for the NSX audio system consisting of 1) a Nakamachi TD-700 cassette tuner 2) A/D/S AX2e crossovers 3) one PQ 10 amp and one PQ8 amp 4) S6.2i six inch woofers and the 1 inch dome tweeters from the model 320is component setup 5) a complete 3201s set in the back.
I know the cassette tuner is junk but what about the A/D/S stuff is it also technology gone old? I purchased all this equipment back in 1992 knowing someday I would own an NSX and would want to upgrade the sound system. Well the day has arrived and I am looking for some advice. Should I start fresh and Junk all of it or is some of it still usable? Thank's for the assist

 

[Meinbeast]

You really purchased all the audio upgrades 16 years ago???

If so then the old a/d/s stuff is good equipment. Apparently newer a/d/s is not as reputable as the company has changed ownership several times since. If the speakers were kept in a temp controlled environment they should be fine. Humidity and temperature over 16 years might have an impact if the speakers use a paper cone.

I frequent caraudio.com forums and they have some great info over there. Might want to see what input you get there too.

 

[procurer]

Yes I did purchase them 16 years ago and there still in the boxes. I owned a Porsche 944T at the time and thought I might use them for it, but I didn't.
Thanks for the website it is great and I will take advatage of their advise.
I am an old guy and the NSX I purchased is a 1996 with 17,000 actual miles on it (old stereo, old car, old guy). Persistance pays off.

 

[Meinbeast]

If you end up installing the equipment and not updating it to new tech let us know how it works out. I would be interested to see how it measures up.

 

[thebigjimsho]

1992 a/d/s/ equipment? Awesome! I was a huge a/d/s/ proponent and had a number of systems with a/d/s/ equipment. For the small cockpit of an NSX, even that old equipment should be fine.

There were a number of improvements in the car audio world throughout the 90s. The problem is, that car audio is small potatoes to home audio and the car audio world has consolidated quite a bit. Some of the heavy players such as a/d/s/, MTX, PPI, Fosgate have all declined.

Speakers haven't had many groundbreaking improvements in the past couple decades. They always improve but the speakers you have should still sound great.

The thing I would replace is the head unit. Throughout the late 90s and into this decade, sound processing has improved drastically.

 

[Shaun Ray]

I've been a fan of the a/d/s stuff for decades. I run a PQ20 biamped for my door speakers. Although there are lighter amps out there, I think the PQ series amps are very clear for mids and highs. The only other amp I'd say that is warmer sounding is a tube amp for car audio but I'm uncertain of how those amps hold up over time. The old school PQ amps should do you well for years to come.

Good luck with the upgrade!

 

[Gman]

The TD-700 cassette tuner junk? Are you kidding...Nakamichi made the BEST cassette decks hands down. They offered cassette playback that sounded more close to CD quality than any other company dreamed of. Frequency response 20-20,000...dual azmith...and even had a cassette player that would eject and flip the cassette to the other side on its own. If you don't want it...pass it on to me!

 

[ChitownNSX]

Ohh man.. Brand new in the Box A/D/S!! Unreal. especially from 1992!

I have a set of 1996 A/D/S Speakers in my car now and they are so clean and play really well! This is the 10th car they have been in!

I also have an A/D/S RS10 sub in the custom tool box enclosure!

Really nice stuff. You could get a new deck and use the amps and speakers for a nice modern upgrade!

If you don't want the speakers,, wana sell them? :wink:

 

[Khiladi1020]

Any chance you could scan the pages of that article and post them? That would be some interesting reading!

One of my friends had some high end ADS speakers in his car about 8-9 years ago with an old PPI amp and I have yet to hear something else sound so amazingly clear, loud, detailed, and distortion free to my ear at least....

 

[JAYS NSX]

Should I start fresh and Junk all of it or is some of it still usable?

That stuff is total crap!! Please sell it to me instead!!!!!!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

[Rando]

I've owned alot of A/D/S equipment over the years. The components you referenced are know for very good mid-bass and the tweets are smooth, not harsh at all.

As a couple of others have said, just check the cones and surrounds on the drivers. If they haven't see alot of extreme temperature and humidity swings, you may have yourself an excellent audio setup.

The Nak TD700 was and still is an excellent cassette deck. Never know, might be someone out there desperately searching for a great cassette deck, so try selling it craigs or fleabay. Then go get yourself a high quality CD tuner to go with your old A/D/S gear. My recommendation, Eclipse.

 

[procurer]

Thanks to all of you for the advice.

When I replace the Nakamachi head unit what is a good replcement for it. I would like to get a detatchable head unit that is programmable for my mp3,s. I don't need xm or sirus as we have to many mountains and the dropping of the signals drove me crazy, and I do no want anything dangling from the dash such as an I-pod

Attached are the scanned pages of the "Car stereo review" article.If unable to read place the article in microsoft editor.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I cannot believe you have this stuff from 15 years ago. Trust me that stuff is sonically as good as anything sold today. The cones were not paper and the surround were butyl so they aren't going to get too affected by time/weather. No way would I sell that stuff. I even love that TD700... that is such a beautiful headunit.

There are lots of good head units out there that will do what you want. You may as well get a double din that can display your music and hold it on its hard drive.

Your stuff may get quite a high price especially if they are new on ebay or something. That is classic car-fi gear. Audiogon, etc. if you don't want to keep it. As you can see there is interest in this forum even. The only thing that would make me consider a change is that the amps are more power hungry and larger/hotter than what you can get today. Not a big deal in most cars but a bigger deal in a small lightweight NSX. The Alpine digital 4 channel amp is smaller than the PQ8, runs cooler, taxes the car less, and has more power. There are lighter weight speakers using neodymium woofer magnets if you care about weight. If not keep the speakers.

I had some Nakamichi 7 series home components that were 15 years old and I recently sold them on Audiogon, I cannot believe how many people wanted them. I got a lot of money for them.

 

[Mpire]

That a/d/s stuff is total crap! I would get rid of it. Tell you what, I will take it off your hands for a fair price. :smile:

 

[Mpire]

Ok, so aside from the humor... Let me break it down for you...

The old school (Made in the USA pre chinese made crap) is top of the spectrum. I am using a set of 346is components up front and 345im coaxials in the rear of my M Coupe. The speakers are probably not that much better than new high end speakers today. The big difference in the crossovers tend to be much more beefy and that makes some serious difference. I think my crossovers are something like 7 inches by 5 inches or something. Attached is a picture of the crossover sitting on top of the battery box. Its as long as the battery box is wide for sure, AND its in a steel housing instead of plastic. Better shielding. It has toggle switches rather than jumpers to adjust the crossover, and its just a much better unit than anything we can get today. Granted these were $800 MSRP back in the day.

The amps will be clean, and pretty when you mount them up. I use JL amps now just because I need more power. I am doing an install in the NSX with the top of hte line JL component speakers, and lets just say the ADS tweeter weighs a good 20 times more than the JL tweeter. That right there just tells you they don't make them like they used to!

Anyways, my a/d/s can handle a good 150w per channel, or you can bi amp them for even more oomph. Lots of options there, but you would be a fool if you didn't take advantage of these and put them in the car.

Everyone seems to love the a/d/s subs...

 

[Golden Ears]

I would like to buy your TD-700. Please pm me with your price.

 

[angus]

WOW - I have a pretty huge collection of high end car audio equipment (lots of it is new in box!!) from the late 80's to early-mid 90's and while I did not pay much for most of my stuff (since I worked in the industry) I know people pay huge for this old stuff.

I dare say that if you were to put this stuff up on ebay you could make a small fortune.

One thing I have learned is that some of the components fair better than others after sitting around for decades... I think the "collectors" out there who would pay the big bucks for this stuff would never even unpack the stuff.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Guys this thread is over 2 years old.... LOL