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Steve F

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  1. I was head of Home Audio product development at BA during this time period (1992-2003). We did not custom design or custom tool the terminal cup, straps or knurled nuts for any of our speakers. We used strictly off-the-shelf parts for these kinds of things. We tooled/custom-designed things like tweeter faceplates, feet, grille frames, front/rear baffles (for the CR bookshelf speakers), etc., but we didn't waste money on custom terminal/connector parts. The VR-M uses garden-variety terminal parts, straps and knobs. I don't remember for sure, but I bet the VR-M50/60 uses the exact same parts as the VR-M80/90 floorstanding speakers and the VR-MC center speaker. I wouldn't be surprised if they are the same parts as the VR-20, 30, 40 floorstanding speakers also. You may want to widen your search. As far as a "BA parts dept" is concerned, the MA-based BA has been gone since 2012. Not sure to what degree--if any--BA speakers are supported by the factory any longer. --Steve F.
  2. JKent--The MicroStatics overhang the 4x by a fraction. I should know--I used this exact combo at college. Whatever the specs say, they're wrong. I used them in person--for real--and I remember thinking, "Why didn't Micro Acoustics do a little better marketing and make sure these fit properly on all AR speakers?"
  3. I probably WANTED them to be 2ax’s!
  4. Dan C -- I got my dad a set of VR-40's in 1997, a few years before I left BA in 2003. Dad was a true audiophile and he loved them. Dad died very unexpectedly in 1998 and I gave the speakers to my older cousin, also a huge audiophile and ardent jazz musician (tenor sax) like myself (drums). My cousin just replaced them last year (2022) after 24 years. He loved them, but his wife didn't want floorstanding speakers any more. The midrange is in its own internal chamber and really doesn't go much lower than about 350Hz because of the restricted air volume in its internal chamber. If you have the woofers low-passed at 100Hz by the Rotel's setting, you're going to have a response gap between 100-400Hz. IMO, bi-amping and bi-wiring is snake-oil, if you still have to go through the speaker's internal crossover (which you do). Only if you can access the drivers directly and independently and use an active external crossover are you really "bi" or "tri"-amping your speakers. Just drive them full-range with your good electronics and don't let your mind "trick" yourself into hearing things that aren't real.
  5. Those do not seem to be KLH-6s. The aspect ratio is wrong. They look like 2ax’s. If you enlarge the image, the logo appears to be brass with red lettering, although it’s tough to see for sure. Also, the logo seems too long to be the AR-5. I’d assume the image was flipped horizontally by mistake, to explain the logo on the wrong side.
  6. AR was founded in 1954, not 1952. The few places that say "1952" (I think Wikipedia, an old Cambridge Sound catalog, maybe a few others) are in error. 1954 is the correct date. This is how things get distorted over time. Inexact "facts" are stated and repeated until the real facts are obscured forever.
  7. Hi Steve, with being in and watching much more TV thinking about a surround setup incorporation the T1000 Series IIs that I have enjoyed for 30 years. Researching front channel speakers from Boston Acoustics from that era (a bit after that I realize) that would be a good match. I would appreciate your thoughts.

    Thanks

    Dave

  8. To the best of my knowledge, there was no such thing from Boston Acoustics as a "CR8c." Definitely not while I was there, and I was there for the transition of the CRx series to the CRx5 series. Are you sure you're not looking at the serial number label and perhaps the 'c' is part of the s/n string? If "CR8c" is an actual model number, my suspicion would be that it's a knock-off made somewhere else. As I said, not from when I was at BA and I was there for the entire life of the CR8. Oh, BTW, to answer TWB's question above--the CR6 had the small Tonegen hard dome tweeter. The next-gen entry-level CR's--the "x5's" had a BA-built 3/4" Kortec dome. Much better tweeter. Steve F.
  9. It is not quite accurate to simply say that the 3a Improved used the same 3a drivers, a Euro-styled cabinet and switches instead of pots and that was it for differences between it and the original 3a. The 'slightly changed crossover' was supposed to deliver a flatter power response than the U.S. 3a. I have a 3a Improved ad that says that and I will endeavor to dig it out. In any event, the differences weren't that great and the U.S. arm of AR decided against marketing it here, since the ADD's (11's and 10π's) were due at pretty much the same time. One of my "Steve F Letters to AR" in the library covers this and AR's response to me. Steve F.
  10. Answering the "what is a fair price" question is always difficult. If you really wanted something, it was difficult to find and you found it in good shape, then whatever it was is worth almost any price, right? If I remember, the VR40's were $1400/pair and the VR12 was $400. So that's $1800 new "list." BA wasn't really discounted very much and generally was not available at the time via mail-order for cheaper pricing. So as a regular retail customer buying these speakers new through an authorized BA dealer, you could expect to pay the full $1800. $600 strikes me as a reasonable price, especially if they are in good shape, no major cabinet scratches or torn grille cloth. They are really nice speakers. BTW, the VR12 was the industry's very first 3-way center channel speaker with a vertically-aligned mid and tweeter. I was proud of that one. Steve F.
  11. Those are good receivers. I suspect you'll be fine. Will you be using a subwoofer? One thing to remember (and people forget this all the time) is if you are using a sub in a home theater system, it is the sub that is handling the demanding low-frequency information. You'll probably be high-passing the VR40's and VR12 at 80Hz or so, and in that region, your receiver will not be asked to put out the high current that a full-range signal (20-20k) would demand. We never had any issues with VR40's + VR12 in a good system with good equipment. As to how the 40's compare to the Aperions, I've never heard them, so I can't comment. The 40 + 12 combo is quite excellent, however. Steve F.
  12. I was at BA when the VR towers were done. In fact, I was in charge of the project. The VR40's impedance in the heart of the midrange was around 2.7 ohms. Two 8-ohm woofers paralleled (4 ohms) crossing over to a 4-ohm midrange unit. Add in a little resistance for the crossover and the Ω sweep was around 2.7 at 500Hz. Good luck to your average AV cheapo receiver. Not a chance in a million above the most modest of volumes. We called it "8 ohms." Everyone did that kind of thing. But with a good amp, the VR40 was one heck of a terrific speaker. For smoothness and uncolored musical accuracy, I'd put it up against anything three times its price. The crossovers were 400 and 3300Hz.
  13. This is a much better article, far more relevant, IIDSSM. https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/most-influential-speakers
  14. I subscribe to Stereophile and have for decades. Although the $25,000 speaker and $30,000 amp reviews are indeed irrelevant, they do, in fact, review 'normal-priced' equipment every month. As a matter of fact, normal-priced reviews outnumber the esoteric stuff. In this issue, they review a $500 pair of JBL floorstanders. Can't get more down-to-earth than that. The thing I like about the magazine is that their instrumented printed measurements and graphs of speakers under review are quite good. They show a FR in a 30˚ window of on-tweeter axis (a very useful, relevant measurement), they show port contribution, they show room response, step response, all kinds of very solid info. Editorial like Dudley's is inane, but like any magazine or paper or on-line pub, you, as the reader, are free to simply pick and choose what you want to read and what you find interesting. Dudley gets so much wrong about acoustic suspension that it's not even worth my time to list it all and rebut it. But the instrumented tests of normal-priced loudspeakers are great and it's the only audio mag I subscribe to.
  15. "Lots of people tell me they got rid of their vintage gear and bought a little Bose system that "sounds just as good." Then I invite them to listen to their favorite music through my AR=91s and they're left speechless ?" We had a friend and his wife over from out of state. She's a classical concert pianist and teacher. My friend and I were listening to jazz trio recording in my 1st floor "music room." The French doors were closed, but you could still hear in the rest of the house. My wife and his wife were in the kitchen, talking. All of a sudden, the door bursts open. It's my friend's wife. "Where is that piano? Who's playing? What......?" AR9's, powered by 400 distortion-free Parasound 2250 watts per side. Me, smiling. JKent is about, oh, 100% correct. People just don't know how absolutely stunning truly great audio is. Stunning. Jaw-dropping.
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