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Early AR-1W found at Kutztown Radio Show


JeffS

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My son and I traveled to Kutztown, PA last week for the fall show. Late Thursday afternoon a seller from New Jersey arrived hauling a large flatbed trailer full of various pieces of vintage equipment including an AR-1W. We were able to acquire it and found out from the seller that he purchased it from the home of Ben Tongue (who at one time was president of Blonder-Tongue Laboratories and developer of the Audio Baton nine band mono vacuum tube equalizer) who passed away in early July.

Peering through the grill cloth when I arrived back home, I was expecting to see a pleated surround but surprised to see an orange cloth roll with dome dustcap. I’ve followed AR-1 sales on eBay for a few years and have not seen an earlier cloth roll unit.

Of course I had to hook it up. It plays fine.

post-100680-0-35963700-1443055335_thumb.

post-100680-0-37433800-1443055350_thumb.

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My son and I traveled to Kutztown, PA last week for the fall show. Late Thursday afternoon a seller from New Jersey arrived hauling a large flatbed trailer full of various pieces of vintage equipment including an AR-1W. We were able to acquire it and found out from the seller that he purchased it from the home of Ben Tongue (who at one time was president of Blonder-Tongue Laboratories and developer of the Audio Baton nine band mono vacuum tube equalizer) who passed away in early July.

Peering through the grill cloth when I arrived back home, I was expecting to see a pleated surround but surprised to see an orange cloth roll with dome dustcap. I’ve followed AR-1 sales on eBay for a few years and have not seen an earlier cloth roll unit.

Of course I had to hook it up. It plays fine.

Jeff, I'm not sure of the exact date or serial number of the switch-over from pleated surround to half-round surround on the AR-1 and AR-1W, but it was early in the first year of production during 1955. As it happened, Ed Villchur and Henry Kloss got into a "discussion" about which was better, the pleated surround or the half-round surround. Kloss wanted the pleated version; Villchur wanted the half-round and had shown it in his patent. The only way to settle the argument was to compare the two versions to see which had the lower distortion. The winner: half-round surround. Had there been a draw, the half-round surround would have won anyway because Villchur owned the company (well, he had 51%).

post-100160-0-93476200-1443327192_thumb.

Early in 1955: AR-1 SN0695.

--Tom Tyson

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Thanks for the info, Tom. I figured #2880 may be one of the earliest cloth roll units, but of course suspected that there must be something earlier. From what I’ve seen sell on eBay over the years, it was the earliest I had seen until now with #0695.

eBay seller pictures can give a lot of information. I had recorded 46 earlier units than #2880 and any of those with a picture of the grill removed (19 units) had a gray pleated surround with the exception of one unit that looked like the surround had been replaced with foam (#1044). I think the color on this one threw me off as all the other cloth rolls I’ve seen are orange. Reviewing this picture today shows that I misread it and that it is cloth roll. After #2880 I recorded 19 units with pictures of the grill removed and all are pleated surrounds up to #6458 which is cloth roll, and this unit dates after March 1957 according to the date stamps on the 755A’s. After that, almost every sample I’ve seen with a picture (97 units) has a cloth surround (#9105 is reported to be pleated and #11717 was replaced with foam).

So it looks like the cloth surround was rare until after early 1957 when it becomes the primary surround. Which got me thinking, does this coincide with Kloss’s departure from the company?

Now, a little bit about acquiring this early AR. First off, a good omen occurred late Thursday afternoon when a nearby seller brought a Janszen 65 electrostatic tweeter to sell. About a half an hour after acquiring it, as we sat at our table looking out, in drives a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer kicking up dust and heading for the check-in booth. In the middle of the flatbed sitting vertically is a speaker among a variety of other vintage stuff. We both look and say to each other “That could be an AR”, so we start walking toward it. As I’m walking a guy comes up on my left and says “I want to check out that speaker”. Great, now I pick up the pace only to see another guy on my right jogging toward it. I start a fast jog and get close enough to see it’s a 1W (no cutout for the 755A), run up, reach over and get a hand on it to claim it while the guy on my right complains. Luckily my son goes to the driver to negotiate the price and I call it sold. This is before the driver checked in! That’s the power of the 755A.

The sad part is that this probably was in great shape (other than sun fade) and sat on a shelf for decades before being put on a flatbed, uncovered and unsecured, to ride from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Luckily nothing went through the grill and that the top, front, rear, seams, and label are in very good shape. The sides are banged up a bit but that’s OK. Also, it was great to get the history from the seller. So, yeah, it’s just a 1W, but it’s early AR history and I wasn’t leaving it there!

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Thanks for the info, Tom. I figured #2880 may be one of the earliest cloth roll units, but of course suspected that there must be something earlier. From what I’ve seen sell on eBay over the years, it was the earliest I had seen until now with #0695.

eBay seller pictures can give a lot of information. I had recorded 46 earlier units than #2880 and any of those with a picture of the grill removed (19 units) had a gray pleated surround with the exception of one unit that looked like the surround had been replaced with foam (#1044). I think the color on this one threw me off as all the other cloth rolls I’ve seen are orange. Reviewing this picture today shows that I misread it and that it is cloth roll. After #2880 I recorded 19 units with pictures of the grill removed and all are pleated surrounds up to #6458 which is cloth roll, and this unit dates after March 1957 according to the date stamps on the 755A’s. After that, almost every sample I’ve seen with a picture (97 units) has a cloth surround (#9105 is reported to be pleated and #11717 was replaced with foam).

So it looks like the cloth surround was rare until after early 1957 when it becomes the primary surround. Which got me thinking, does this coincide with Kloss’s departure from the company?

Now, a little bit about acquiring this early AR. First off, a good omen occurred late Thursday afternoon when a nearby seller brought a Janszen 65 electrostatic tweeter to sell. About a half an hour after acquiring it, as we sat at our table looking out, in drives a pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer kicking up dust and heading for the check-in booth. In the middle of the flatbed sitting vertically is a speaker among a variety of other vintage stuff. We both look and say to each other “That could be an AR”, so we start walking toward it. As I’m walking a guy comes up on my left and says “I want to check out that speaker”. Great, now I pick up the pace only to see another guy on my right jogging toward it. I start a fast jog and get close enough to see it’s a 1W (no cutout for the 755A), run up, reach over and get a hand on it to claim it while the guy on my right complains. Luckily my son goes to the driver to negotiate the price and I call it sold. This is before the driver checked in! That’s the power of the 755A.

The sad part is that this probably was in great shape (other than sun fade) and sat on a shelf for decades before being put on a flatbed, uncovered and unsecured, to ride from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Luckily nothing went through the grill and that the top, front, rear, seams, and label are in very good shape. The sides are banged up a bit but that’s OK. Also, it was great to get the history from the seller. So, yeah, it’s just a 1W, but it’s early AR history and I wasn’t leaving it there!

Jeff, one clarification on my picture (eBay picture) of AR-1 #0696: I was mistaken, it was made in 1956, not 1955. I had forgotten that AR built exactly 455 AR-1s (and I assume AR-1Ws) during the first year of production in 1955, according to what Edgar Villchur told me. He said that number always stuck out in his mind at the time, since the company was proud of the production number. So, therefore, the #0696 would have been in 1956. As for that changeover, I'm thinking there must have been a mixture of surrounds used for awhile until it finally became 100% half-round types. Also, some early surrounds were black and some were the natural color of orange, but treated with butyl-latex. So not every woofer was coated with the lamp-black treatment.

Kloss left AR after the buy-out in February, 1957. Nevertheless, he was always second-fiddle to Villchur. Villchur was President and patent-holder, so he ultimately called the shots and made all of the big decisions, so the changeover probably came sometime in that time-frame; however, I'm sure they had to use up an inventory of the pleated surrounds. By the way, all of the pleated and half-round surrounds were originally orange in color and then later painted with a butyl-latex sealant with lamp-black added. The first half-round surrounds were glued to the inside of the cone; later ones were done in the more conventional method we know today.

Your AR-1W story resembles the story of the AR-1 #0006 that I got several years ago. The speaker label was hand-written in Kloss' sloppy handwriting, and the eBay seller had it as an "AK-1" instead of "AR-1," and this threw off bidders. Apparently no one recognized it but me, and I put a huge reserve on the bid and ended up winning it as the only bidder for $50. I sent the seller a shipping carton and a prepaid FedEx shipping label to get it back safely. Shipping was three-times the cost of the item itself.

post-100160-0-09772300-1443553070_thumb.

AR-1 hand-written label

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Early AR-1 (0006) woofer with sand-cast frame, all hand-made.

post-100160-0-38461700-1443553616_thumb.

Appearance of AR-1 on eBay was similar to this picture, and not immediately recognizable.

post-100160-0-45551800-1443554236_thumb.

Another early type half-round, Serial Number 1044, black

post-100160-0-85211600-1443554288_thumb.

Painting the surround with butyl-latex (with lamp black in this case).

post-100160-0-80487700-1443554406_thumb.

Natural-color surround (half-round).

--Tom

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My son and I traveled to Kutztown, PA last week for the fall show. Late Thursday afternoon a seller from New Jersey arrived hauling a large flatbed trailer full of various pieces of vintage equipment including an AR-1W. We were able to acquire it and found out from the seller that he purchased it from the home of Ben Tongue (who at one time was president of Blonder-Tongue Laboratories and developer of the Audio Baton nine band mono vacuum tube equalizer) who passed away in early July.

Peering through the grill cloth when I arrived back home, I was expecting to see a pleated surround but surprised to see an orange cloth roll with dome dustcap. I’ve followed AR-1 sales on eBay for a few years and have not seen an earlier cloth roll unit.

Of course I had to hook it up. It plays fine.

Congrats on your purchase. Ben H. Tongue was my uncle. My brother and I wanted to make the trip to West Orange to try and buy a few of his things, but could not due to situations surrounding sick family members. I remember that he had a nice condition AR1W with the Janzen array sitting in his livingroom when I visited him some years ago. It had the mahogany ribbon stripe veneer with a nice luster. The photo you posted didn't look like that one. If anyone wants to look at all the electronic related items offered go to this link: http://www.estatesales.net/NJ/West-Orange/07052/948981 He was great man, friendly and helpful, keenly interested in audio from all era's, fascinated by anything Edison. His main audio playback system for LP's was the Hafler DH-101, DH-200, Lenco turntable played through a pair of JR-149 and the companion cylinder shaped "Super Woofer" with a dedicated amp-crossover. He is missed, really missed.

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Congrats on your purchase. Ben H. Tongue was my uncle. My brother and I wanted to make the trip to West Orange to try and buy a few of his things, but could not due to situations surrounding sick family members. I remember that he had a nice condition AR1W with the Janzen array sitting in his livingroom when I visited him some years ago. It had the mahogany ribbon stripe veneer with a nice luster. The photo you posted didn't look like that one. If anyone wants to look at all the electronic related items offered go to this link: http://www.estatesales.net/NJ/West-Orange/07052/948981 He was great man, friendly and helpful, keenly interested in audio from all era's, fascinated by anything Edison. His main audio playback system for LP's was the Hafler DH-101, DH-200, Lenco turntable played through a pair of JR-149 and the companion cylinder shaped "Super Woofer" with a dedicated amp-crossover. He is missed, really missed.

Wow, some more history ... some lovely oriental antiques ... and lots of antique test equipment ;)

Sharp eye on that AK-1, Tom.

Roger

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Great stories from Jeff, Tom and tekno - - - thanks, all. You know you have an early AR when you see the 25 Thorndike address on the label. About that label, since it contains a whole section of irrelevant notes on High Frequency Adjustment, this is obviously a one-size-fits-all label shared with the AR-1. But still I have a question about the notes under the Amplifier Connection section and the three rear terminals. Can someone please explain the 4-ohm and 8-ohm connection notes that seem to be dependent upon the speaker placement within the room?

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Great stories from Jeff, Tom and tekno - - - thanks, all. You know you have an early AR when you see the 25 Thorndike address on the label. About that label, since it contains a whole section of irrelevant notes on High Frequency Adjustment, this is obviously a one-size-fits-all label shared with the AR-1. But still I have a question about the notes under the Amplifier Connection section and the three rear terminals. Can someone please explain the 4-ohm and 8-ohm connection notes that seem to be dependent upon the speaker placement within the room?

The early "multi-terminal back-plate" AR-1s had a 3.5-ohm, wire-wound resistor across terminals #1 and #2 that when unstrapped, would raise the impedance to 8 ohms. The 8-ohm connection was there to compensate for "unfavorable" mounting conditions, such as out in the center of a room on the floor or along the center of a long wall. Remember, too, that this was pre-stereo days, so only one speaker was being used. The 8-ohm setting changed the damping of the speaker, and it was not specifically designed to match an 8-ohm amplifier tap.

Normally, the AR-1 came wired with that strap across #1 and #2, giving the normal 4-ohm resistance, and amplifier input connection was to terminals #1 and #3. For the other connections, #4, #5, #6 and #7, the normal high-frequency level was attained with straps between #4, #5 and #6. A slight increase in treble was obtained by connecting straps between #3. #4 and #5. To decrease the high-frequency level from normal, connect metal straps between terminals #5, #6 and #7.

post-100160-0-07551800-1443636610_thumb.

Crossover of AR-1 SN0006, showing the oil-filled capacitor and neatly installed (at right angles!) 0.4 mH coils and hand-wired resistors across asbestos pads.

--Tom Tyson

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Tom, that's a great explanation and a terrific pic, thank you. That impedance change to 8-ohms is a bit of a head-scratcher, and it's difficult to imagine what the implications of this change actually sound like. It's good that you mentioned that implementing this mode does not correspond with the use of 8-ohm amplifier taps.

Is that crossover also using woven fabric-wrapped hook-up wire? The crossover is interesting for the reasons you mentioned, but it occurs to me that this set-up is simply an early version of a three-way switch, not dissimilar to what showed up in AR speakers 15 to 20 years later after the A-P pot controls were abandoned. Speaking of those pots, did they first show up in the AR-3, or were they used in later versions of the AR-1? And, it's probably been explained on these pages ad nauseam, but why did the AR-3 precede the AR-2 when these early speakers were typically released sequentially?

BTW, it looks like the OP's speaker might be mahogany?

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Congrats on your purchase. Ben H. Tongue was my uncle. My brother and I wanted to make the trip to West Orange to try and buy a few of his things, but could not due to situations surrounding sick family members. I remember that he had a nice condition AR1W with the Janzen array sitting in his livingroom when I visited him some years ago. It had the mahogany ribbon stripe veneer with a nice luster. The photo you posted didn't look like that one. If anyone wants to look at all the electronic related items offered go to this link: http://www.estatesales.net/NJ/West-Orange/07052/948981 He was great man, friendly and helpful, keenly interested in audio from all era's, fascinated by anything Edison. His main audio playback system for LP's was the Hafler DH-101, DH-200, Lenco turntable played through a pair of JR-149 and the companion cylinder shaped "Super Woofer" with a dedicated amp-crossover. He is missed, really missed.

Great stories from Jeff, Tom and tekno - - - thanks, all. You know you have an early AR when you see the 25 Thorndike address on the label. About that label, since it contains a whole section of irrelevant notes on High Frequency Adjustment, this is obviously a one-size-fits-all label shared with the AR-1. But still I have a question about the notes under the Amplifier Connection section and the three rear terminals. Can someone please explain the 4-ohm and 8-ohm connection notes that seem to be dependent upon the speaker placement within the room?

teknofossil,

It looks like your uncle was a fascinating man who lived a great and long life. I assume that he enjoyed traveling as much as he enjoyed music. His Edison and audio equipment collections are incredible. I remember marveling at the pictures for this sale in early August wishing I could go. It's an extremely rare sale that offers audio equipment spanning roughly eight decades!

Thanks for the sale link. I looked through the pictures again and found the 1W in picture 549. It has a < shaped scratch on the right side molding just above the woofer that matches the speaker I acquired. Of course the speaker now has quite a few more added dings from the ride.

I suspect that a lot of the items from that sale ended up at the Kutztown show. I did take one picture of an equipment box to remind me of where the seller said the speaker came from. There were a few Edison cylinder players, many old table radios, test equipment, etc, any of which could have come from your uncles collection. The Janszen tweeter that we got was a model 65. The Janszen array your uncle had was a model 130.

ra.ra

I think someone at AR had a solution for the High Frequency Adjustment section of the label when on the 1W's. Just cross it out (as was done on #0627).

Tom,

Thanks for the great history and pictures. I've never seen the seven position crossover from inside a cabinet.

post-100680-0-87033800-1443658434_thumb.

post-100680-0-81654600-1443658446_thumb.

post-100680-0-43583600-1443658468_thumb.

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Tom, that's a great explanation and a terrific pic, thank you. That impedance change to 8-ohms is a bit of a head-scratcher, and it's difficult to imagine what the implications of this change actually sound like. It's good that you mentioned that implementing this mode does not correspond with the use of 8-ohm amplifier taps.

Is that crossover also using woven fabric-wrapped hook-up wire? The crossover is interesting for the reasons you mentioned, but it occurs to me that this set-up is simply an early version of a three-way switch, not dissimilar to what showed up in AR speakers 15 to 20 years later after the A-P pot controls were abandoned. Speaking of those pots, did they first show up in the AR-3, or were they used in later versions of the AR-1? And, it's probably been explained on these pages ad nauseam, but why did the AR-3 precede the AR-2 when these early speakers were typically released sequentially?

BTW, it looks like the OP's speaker might be mahogany?

The reason for the 8-ohm operation was to optimize bass response when the speaker was placed unfavorably with regard to bass performance. When the AR-1 (or AR-1W) was placed in a corner or along a wall close to a corner, the use of a high damping factor (4 or 5 was fine; anything above that was superfluous) was desirable and resulted in uniform deep-bass output, and the speaker should be operated in the normal manner with the strap across the terminals #1 and #2, thus shorting across the 3.5Ω resistor.

However, when the speaker was not mounted in a favorable position with regard to bass performance—such as out in the middle of the floor or along a long wall—a lower damping factor was desirable, especially if the amplifier had a switch-selectable damping-factor control, such as the early Fairchild 75-watt mono tube amplifier. Mounted unfavorably, the AR-1 could sound somewhat thin or bass-shy, so changing the damping factor to 1 would bring up the bass response to the optimal, "normal" level. Many amplifiers did not have a variable damping factor, so the AR-1 could be changed to give a damping factor of 1 by adding resistance internally in series with the woofer—by changing the straps across the input terminals. This connection was to be used only in those circumstances, and unfortunately, doing this wasted about 50% of the mid-range power of an amplifier.

Changing the strap to get 8Ω operation was not intended for the sake of impedance-matching, according to AR at the time, because it was considered better to mismatch from the amplifier 8Ω tap to the 4Ω AR-1. There is no loss in quality by this mismatch, although the amplifier power in the mid-range is reduced by as much as 30%. This, too, was in the days of tube amplification, not solid-state amplifiers. Impedance-matching became very important with solid-state designs starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The wire in the early AR-1 crossover was a fabric-covered, plastic-insulation wire, approximately 16-18 ga. stranded copper. I'm not exactly sure when the first Aetna-Pollock controls appeared on ARs. A earlier, beefier level control (Allen Bradley? I can't recall the manufacturer) first appeared on the AR-2 and AR-1s of about 1957 or so; at least the first AR-2s always had the level control for the tweeters. The first AR-3s (and the first AR-2as) had an early version of the A-P control, so it might have been around 1959 when the first A-P controls appeared.

The AR-2 was introduced in March 1957, and the AR-3 was first shown in October 1958 but not shipped until the spring of 1959, well after the AR-2. The AR-2a, using the AR-3 tweeter, also appeared at approximately the same time as the AR-3.

Hope all of this doesn't confuse things further!

—Tom Tyson

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I messed up my first try with multiquote, so here is try #2:

Congrats on your purchase. Ben H. Tongue was my uncle. My brother and I wanted to make the trip to West Orange to try and buy a few of his things, but could not due to situations surrounding sick family members. I remember that he had a nice condition AR1W with the Janzen array sitting in his livingroom when I visited him some years ago. It had the mahogany ribbon stripe veneer with a nice luster. The photo you posted didn't look like that one. If anyone wants to look at all the electronic related items offered go to this link: http://www.estatesales.net/NJ/West-Orange/07052/948981 He was great man, friendly and helpful, keenly interested in audio from all era's, fascinated by anything Edison. His main audio playback system for LP's was the Hafler DH-101, DH-200, Lenco turntable played through a pair of JR-149 and the companion cylinder shaped "Super Woofer" with a dedicated amp-crossover. He is missed, really missed.

teknofossil,

It looks like your uncle was a fascinating man who lived a great and long life. I assume that he enjoyed traveling as much as he enjoyed music. His Edison and audio equipment collections are incredible. I remember marveling at the pictures for this sale in early August wishing I could go. It's an extremely rare sale that offers audio equipment spanning roughly eight decades!

Thanks for the sale link. I looked through the pictures again and found the 1W in picture 549. It has a < shaped scratch on the right side molding just above the woofer that matches the speaker I acquired. Of course the speaker now has quite a few more added dings from the ride.

I suspect that a lot of the items from that sale ended up at the Kutztown show. I did take one picture of an equipment box to remind me of where the seller said the speaker came from. There were a few Edison cylinder players, many old table radios, test equipment, etc, any of which could have come from your uncles collection. The Janszen tweeter that we got was a model 65. The Janszen array your uncle had was a model 130.

Great stories from Jeff, Tom and tekno - - - thanks, all. You know you have an early AR when you see the 25 Thorndike address on the label. About that label, since it contains a whole section of irrelevant notes on High Frequency Adjustment, this is obviously a one-size-fits-all label shared with the AR-1. But still I have a question about the notes under the Amplifier Connection section and the three rear terminals. Can someone please explain the 4-ohm and 8-ohm connection notes that seem to be dependent upon the speaker placement within the room?

ra.ra

I think someone at AR had a solution for the High Frequency Adjustment section of the label when on the 1W's. Just cross it out (as was done on #0627).

The early "multi-terminal back-plate" AR-1s had a 3.5-ohm, wire-wound resistor across terminals #1 and #2 that when unstrapped, would raise the impedance to 8 ohms. The 8-ohm connection was there to compensate for "unfavorable" mounting conditions, such as out in the center of a room on the floor or along the center of a long wall. Remember, too, that this was pre-stereo days, so only one speaker was being used. The 8-ohm setting changed the damping of the speaker, and it was not specifically designed to match an 8-ohm amplifier tap.

Normally, the AR-1 came wired with that strap across #1 and #2, giving the normal 4-ohm resistance, and amplifier input connection was to terminals #1 and #3. For the other connections, #4, #5, #6 and #7, the normal high-frequency level was attained with straps between #4, #5 and #6. A slight increase in treble was obtained by connecting straps between #3. #4 and #5. To decrease the high-frequency level from normal, connect metal straps between terminals #5, #6 and #7.

attachicon.gifAR-1_SN0006_Crossover(20).jpg

Crossover of AR-1 SN0006, showing the oil-filled capacitor and neatly installed (at right angles!) 0.4 mH coils and hand-wired resistors across asbestos pads.

--Tom Tyson

Tom,

Thanks for the great history and pictures. I've never seen the seven position crossover from inside a cabinet.

Was there ever a reason given as to why the inputs terminals on the 1W were always 1 & 3 (strap or no strap) instead of just moving the input wire from 1 to 2 for 4 ohm operation?

post-100680-0-96456900-1443739848_thumb.

post-100680-0-40953800-1443739862_thumb.

post-100680-0-62827700-1443739877_thumb.

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Jeff, I love that high-tech approach to customizing the label for the AR-1w. :P

Tom, thanks for the corrections on the speaker dating - - it certainly makes sense to have them produced with sequential model numbers as you have pointed out. Occasionally, I refer to the attached chart for a quick look-see at the general product line, and clearly this list must have several factual errors. Not only with dates, but some lesser models (i.e. AR-1x, AR-MST) are not even mentioned.

post-112624-0-95426300-1443813730_thumb.

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One factual error in the 'Vintage AR Speaker Listing' is the discontinue date for the AR-1W. It has a date of 1961 but AR's booklet 'AR high fidelity components' from 1968 still shows the 1W being offered (along with the 1x). This was in the time period when the 3a was new and the 3 was still available.

A scan of the booklet is in the library.

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Excellent, thanks. I thought I had read every brochure in the library :-)

Browsing the 71 general catalog, and the 1W and 3 are still offered for sale.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I came across this simple little graphic that pretty much corresponds with Tom's early timeline from post #15. Despite the lack of specific mention of calendar years 1959 (AR-3 and 2a) and 1964 (AR-4), it seems to serve as a fairly accurate thumbnail reference for the bookshelf "Classic" models.

post-112624-0-58942600-1446483928_thumb.

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I came across this simple little graphic that pretty much corresponds with Tom's early timeline from post #15. Despite the lack of specific mention of calendar years 1959 (AR-3 and 2a) and 1964 (AR-4), it seems to serve as a fairly accurate thumbnail reference for the bookshelf "Classic" models.

attachicon.gifClassic AR line-up.jpg

The time-line is almost correct: the AR-1 and AR-1W were introduced in 1954; the AR-3 and AR-2a came in 1959 and the AR-3a came in 1967. Those are the more obvious mistakes.

--Tom Tyson

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I went to graduate school with Ike Blonder's son, and got to meet Ike many times. He was a very interesting and very smart guy.

The first high-end system I ever listened to consisted of 5 AR-1Ws and three Janszen Model 130s, two woofers for each channel and one for a center channel, and of course one tweeter each for the rest. My memory (from the late 1960s) is that is sounded wonderful , listening to a wide range of classical music. I don't, sadly, recall the electronics. The guy who owned it had two rooms dedicated to the system, one small room for electronics, the other for the speakers. His second (living room) system was two AR-3s that AR had converted to 3as, driven by the original AR integrated amplifier.

Has anyone had any experience with the Janszens, are they restorable if they can be found?

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  • 4 years later...

Hopefully I'm not toooo late to this discussion! I recently got my grandparents' AR-1 and AR-2 speakers. I've been using AR-6s for years, and I was wondering: Can I mix the AR-1 and AR-2 with a basic 1990s Sony receiver (https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/str-av720.shtml), if I remove the strap on the AR-1? Or can I just connect them as is, despite the 4 vs 8 Ohm difference. It seems the strap removal wasn't for matching impedance but am curious how I should approach this. Thanks!

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