New Center Channel

Early B.

As I near the completion of "rolling" my HT speakers, I picked up an Aad 2002 speaker for use as a center channel. My goal is to acquire the highest quality speakers within my price range so I can refrain from trading out speakers in the future. In the past, I've always settled for lesser speakers due to budget constraints. I haven't pursued speakers I've really wanted until now.

Aad is not well known in the USA, but the designer is Phil Jones, who along with Joseph D'Appolito, are the most noted speaker designers in the world.

OK, back to the 2002's. First of all, the speaker weighs 62 lbs!!! That's partly because it is lined with lead to make it totally inert. Second, it is a great looking speaker, despite what my wife says. Third, the speaker binding posts are huge!! They're definitely overbuilt. Fourth, all of the writing on the speakers is engraved. Fifth, the speaker is rated down to 27 Hz.:eek:

Here are some pics:

PolkThug

cool!

polkatese

interesting look and design. nice setup, btw.

Early B.

Forgot to mention how it sounds -- WONDERFUL. No need to upgrade.

Now I'm on the hunt for some fronts. Maybe a pair of Aad 2001's or the floorstanders (Aad 2003). Maybe Von Schweikert VR-1 or VR-2's. I dunno yet. Just gonna be patient for now (yeah, right). Haven't decided on floorstander or bookshelf, although I'm leaning towards bookshelf for the sake of convenience (they can be moved out of the way when not in use).

faster100

they sorta echo the import tube gear look... I like em, don't care so much for the grill.. looks nice on the rack

Early B.

I took the grille off and the speaker looked naked without it, so it went back on. The grille is part if its high end appeal, IMO.

zombie boy 2000

Gorgeous:eek:

AndyGwis

Nelly would be proud of that grill.

Skynut

I dig it and I dig the grill.

Later for an up grade you can get diamonds mounted in the grill.

tecmo04

wow. Now thats a piece of art! beautifull!

Willow

Nice speaker, but I'm not a fan of the grill.

bert26

Hey Early,

That is a thing of beauty! Looks almost scultpted to me. I like the grill as well - you can always electrify it to keep prying hands away.

Congratulations on the purchase.

Chris

Midnite Mick

I believe Phil Pearsall has aad's as well and really loves them.

Mike

Joey_V

Looks pretty damn solid if you ask me.

RuSsMaN

Fugly, imo - but if you dig 'em, who am I to tell you any different.

Looks very white-van'ish to me. I've never seen support rings on drivers that small. Looks a lot like the larger pioneer / radio shack drivers of the 80's (10, 12, and 15 inch) where the paper cone needed extra support for long throws - hence the added support rings in the cone. While o-k for bass, that's HORRIBLE for midrange applications.

You don't need lead to make a speaker inert, you need dense materials in the build, and proper bracing - a few pounds of lead in the cab don't keep it from flexing.

You've had better, you deserve better.

Cheers,
Russ

Early B.

RuSsMaN wrote:

Fugly, imo - but if you dig 'em, who am I to tell you any different.

Looks very white-van'ish to me. I've never seen support rings on drivers that small. Looks a lot like the larger pioneer / radio shack drivers of the 80's (10, 12, and 15 inch) where the paper cone needed extra support for long throws - hence the added support rings in the cone. While o-k for bass, that's HORRIBLE for midrange applications.

You don't need lead to make a speaker inert, you need dense materials in the build, and proper bracing - a few pounds of lead in the cab don't keep it from flexing.

You've had better, you deserve better.

Cheers,
Russ

Russ --

Since it's tough to look at a blurry picture and assess the quality of the drivers, perhaps a description of said driver will help you out:

"The woofer has a hard anodized aluminum cone and dust cap with a unique cone geometry which allows it to stay pistonic in its operational band and produce a very flat frequency response. Above this frequency range at 2.6 kHz the acoustic output falls off rapidly at 18db/octave so that all cone breakup modes are severely attenuated even without filtering.

The woofer frame is die-cast from magnesium aluminum alloy. The frame has excellent rigidity and heat sinking characteristics. It has additional ventilation for heat generated in the voice-coil.

The oversized 34mm voice coil has substantial power handling. It is wound directly onto a 0.3mm black anodized ventilated aluminum coil former. This former is bonded to the cone using specifically designed heat conducting adhesive so that the whole coil-former and cone assembly acts as a heat radiator. This means the operating temperature of the voice-coil is reduced to its absolute minimum, giving are far greater dynamic range.

The large and powerful magnet assembly is shielded. It also has a 3mm lead disc fitted to it to reduce mechanical resonance.

The rubber surround and large excursion spider/damper will not fatigue under normal operating conditions. These components will actually improve with age and it is recommended that the speakers are run in for 200 hours before they start to sound at their best."


To clarify, here's what the manufacturer says about the lead:

"Lead sheet 3mm thick is applied to each panel before assembly to further reduce panel coloration."

VR3

Im not sure what to think...

It looks hardcore. Dont really dig the bolts in the side, the finish, or the grill - but regardless...it looks hardcore. And Im sure it sounds great...

But... yep, not sure what to tell you here.

Joey_V

Regardless of the center... why are you assembling a hodge-podge of speakers for your HT?? This doesnt make any sense as this completely goes against setting the right timbre across the whole front stage.

Exactly what is it that you are trying to accomplish?

Early B.

Joey_V wrote:

Regardless of the center... why are you assembling a hodge-podge of speakers for your HT?? This doesnt make any sense as this completely goes against setting the right timbre across the whole front stage.

Exactly what is it that you are trying to accomplish?

The timbre matching thing is cool, but overrated, IMO. I've had a couple of systems that were timbre matched and others that weren't, and as long as the system is calibrated and the tweeters aren't totally different (i.e., Klipsch horn and ring radiators), it's cool.

In this case, though, if I could find the matching bookshelf speakers at a great price, I'd jump on 'em, not necessarily for timbre matching, but for SQ and aesthetic purposes. Aad does business primarily overseas, so they rarely show up on the used market stateside.

Early B.

I calibrated my system and watched a demo DVD so I could evaluate the new center channel. So far, I am very pleased. It sounds better than any other center channel I've had. It is very clear and more detailed than what I have been accustomed to hearing. The biggest benefit is the bass. Damn! The bass is awesome. It appears as though I added a subwoofer to the front soundstage.

This speaker is rated down to 27 Hz. I don't know if it goes that low or not, but it fills in the bass quite well. I have always been a proponent of "bass all over the place," no matter how big and bad your subwoofer is. This center channel substantiates that concept. Now I gotta get my hands on a pair of bookshelf speakers that dip into the mid 30's or lower, and I'll be good to go.

RuSsMaN

Get the matching mains -> http://www.lightav.com/home/aad/2000.html

If ya dig it, dig it!

Cheers,
Russ

faster100

those are some funky designs but i like the sub..

Early B.

RuSsMaN wrote:

Get the matching mains -> http://www.lightav.com/home/aad/2000.html

If ya dig it, dig it!

Cheers,
Russ

Thanks for the link. Gotta buy used, though, 'cause them **** is expensive. Don't like the gaudy stands.

Perhaps I can convince Pear to sell me his 2001's. Hmmm.

Early B.

faster100 wrote:

those are some funky designs but i like the sub..

The Aad sub has gotta be incredible. Goes down to 18 Hz with two 8" woofers. Wow.

danger boy

that's a LOT of bling for just one speaker.. very interesting.. i've never seen anything quite like it before.

enjoy

Early B.

Here are a couple of pics of the crossover. There's nothing special about the quality of the crossover components, although it's interesting how they wrapped two of the inductors around the port. The MDF is at least 1" thick. The interior has a few sheets of lead, but is not lined entirely with it. The drivers (not pictured) appear to have large motor structures.

Shannon W.

found alittle something for ya.
http://cgi.ebay.com/AAD-2002M-REEL-WALLNUT-VENEER-BOOKSHELF-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ120030633541QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/AAD-2001R-REEL-WALLNUT-VENEER-BOOKSHELF-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ120030631872QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/AAD-ST2000-AUDIOPHILE-SPEAKER-STANDS_W0QQitemZ120030634936QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14997QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Early B.

Wow.

Those 2001's are gorgeous. Too bad they're in Australia. With my luck lately with shipping, they'd have to be indivdually triple boxed, crated, placed on pallets, flown on a private jet, then hand carried by the secret service to my house, and meticulously unpacked by a team of archeologists.

pearsall001

Yo Early!!!

What are you nuts??? No way I'm selling my AAD 2001 monitors. They're just too damn good. If you know anything about Phil Jones you know exactly what you're in store for with his designs & sheer performance. I just had a fellow I met on Auduocircle over last week for a nice visit. He said up front he wasn't a fan of small monitors. Well when he left I had to carry his jaw to the car for him, it was still dragging on the ground after he had a listen. Needless to say he changed his mind about small monitors. Oh & by the way the site Russman gave is an un-authorized site. The AAD site is - AADaudio.com. Me thinks I won't be looking for speakers for some time to come, if ever.

Cheers,
Phil

Lsi9

As far as matching the 3 front speakers of different brands, I thought the most important attribute while matching them is db(s) of sensitivity, can someone confirm that?

Shannon W.

I Still love those stands. "Industrial but yet elegant"