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AR surround

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  1. I have auditioned several tower speakers over the years. As I've noted many times before, I find modern speakers to sound more detailed than the AR9, but in an antiseptic sort of way. Also, these speakers that reveal more detail...well, they can be absolutely grating and unforgiving when playing many re-mastered redbook CD sources. No wonder vinyl has made a resurgence. A number of years back, I had the opportunity to A/B a pair of AR9's with KEF 105's. Which did I prefer? It depended on the program material: for classical music I preferred the KEF, for pop/rock I preferred the AR9. But both of these systems were wonderful and probably still are. Many people like the B&W speakers for the characteristics that you have noted, David. Yet others complain of listening fatigue with B&W speakers. Weak bass can make the highs and mids sound somewhat clearer. I've been remixing songs using DeMix Pro. I have used it in some instances to extract the bass stem, boost it, and remix it into the song. Often, more than a judicious amount of boost to that bass stem diminishes clarity. This reminds me of when I auditioned Revel F32 floor standers. Really nice clarity (antiseptic, though.) I mentioned to the salesman that they lacked low bass. He said that they needed one of those $3000 Revel subwoofers. Sheesh! 😂
  2. The AR18 is arguably the most remarkable AR speaker that I have ever heard...a wee speaker with big ambitions.
  3. I agree with your comparison. I had an opportunity to audition a KEF 105 vs the AR9. The KEF 105 was very precise, etc etc. I found that I liked the way it handled classical music more so than the AR9. The moveable heads really had that 'cool' factor and accommodated optimization for the sweet spot. However, when switching to rock / popular music I preferred the AR9. I do not care that the AR spec calls for placing the AR9 against the back wall, etc. Mine sound much better and more 'holographic' and with more depth when pulled out into the room and toed in towards the main listening position.
  4. Are you going to update the SPICE diagram to reflect that both speakers have the same inductors? I ask because I am using AR9's as front speakers and AR90's as surround speakers in a home theater setup. I had to add some additional series resistance to the tweeter and UMR of the AR90's to achieve a response closer to that of the 9's.
  5. AR owner since 1972: AR5, AR3a, AR7, AR9, AR90, AR48, AR915 I personally would not spend a lot of money on a vintage speaker for the collector's value. I would rather buy new. Of the ones mentioned in the article, I've only heard the Vandersteen 3A. They are very nice speakers. Every "modern" speaker that I've auditioned has very impressive, detailed sound..but I would describe it as more antiseptic than musical especially with digital sources. Perhaps my ears are tuned to the sound of the AR9 series. That is fine with me.
  6. Sorry that the ECaps didn't work out for you, Kent. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I paid $1 per capacitor for precision matching by Sonic Craft. But that was over six years ago now. I bundled the 22uF and 2.2uF caps for the UMR on my AR9's and AR90's. I found the packing slip this morning with the measurements:
  7. While I understand that it isn't easy to move these speakers around, have you tried repositioning them? I once had my AR90's placed relative to my listening position that turned out to be a bass null which yielded unacceptable results.
  8. Each AR-1 speaker had a list price of $185 in 1954 when it was released. (I don't know about discounts.) That's $2086 per speaker in today's dollars. It was a good chunk of change back then. So these asking prices for 70 year old antiques seem absurd. I guess it is the high collector's value. https://auralfetish.com/pages/acoustic-research
  9. When you find original Sprague caps that no longer meet spec, what do you select as replacements?
  10. If there are two 'audio visuals' that I love, they are blue VU meters and the glow of a tube amplifier in the dark. Alas, I have neither.
  11. And it's interesting that the stuffing does not go down to the level of the woofers in the AR9, but rather is installed in the space above the woofers.
  12. Gasp! That price is unimaginable. Gee, I really should have picked up a pair in 1954 and put them into humidity controlled storage. Of course, one has to have been around in 1954 and not just a gleam in their father's eyes.
  13. Glad to hear that things have ended up well. If you like the way your recapped speakers sound, you might not want to challenge fate and drive yourself crazy in the process.
  14. Other's who have measured that ESR might be able to answer that question. However, as implied in other posts above, you should be able to effectively raise the ESR of those series capacitors by using the attenuation switches. A 3dB reduction is large and audible. A 6dB reduction is huge.
  15. Do you mean ESR, Equivalent Series Resistance?
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