AR-3a Reissue

[RoyC]

AR 3a improved with thin frame, made in England, are sold in Italy only since 1975. Before, original US AR 3a with larger frame were sold since 1967-68 until 1975. They're very popular at the time in Italy, so they're very easy to find today. My father bought an pair in 1968, with an AR Amplifier that I still have and an AR Xa turntable. Best Regards, Adriano

Interesting...Some years ago I came across a thin framed pair of 3as which were manufactured in Holland in 1973. I have no idea where they were originally sold. According to Tom Tyson the thin frame version was manufactured for European distribution, but it appears many of the thick frame cabinets were sold there as well.

I would also like to see a photo of the drivers of your 1991 "replicas".

Thanks,

Roy

[mluong303]

Hi Adriano

You said: "I bought these AR 3a Replica new in an Hi-fi shop in Rome, Italy, in 1991."

Was that HiFi shop the AR importer/authorized dealer in Italy? If you still have the boxes, could you check if it indicate the wood veneer of your AR-3a Limited, walnut or Mahogany? Thanks.

Minh Luong

[fedeleluigi]

On 4/17/2009 at 11:13 PM, Guest Sonnar said:

Hello. As you can see I have a pair of AR 3a Replica ( by Teledyne ?)that I bought in 1991 ( the ones with brown grille near original AR 2). My speakers are marked " MADE IN USA " and the furniture is genuine wood, not viniyl. As you can see in the picture, the original AR 3 oiled walnut are darker. Sonically, they're very similar to original AR 3a, just a little brighter in the midrange and more damped in the low section. However, I prefer the original AR 3. Best regards, Adriano Galvani, Rome, Italy

On 4/18/2009 at 9:50 PM, Guest Sonnar said:

Hello, Roy, I bought these AR 3a Replica new in an Hi-fi shop in Rome, Italy, in 1991. The package was identical to the original, with the red old AR logo. These AR are made in USA as you can read on the label, and they're made by Teledyne Acoustic Research. Unlike the original , these are finished also on back side. But it's real wood, not vinyl. The external dimensions are identical to the original, and so the loudspeakers. It's very difficult to detect any differences in sound with the original 1969 AR 3a, maybe the replica is slightly bright and more damped and firm in the bass. Voices are absolutely marvelous. Cheers, Adriano

 

Hello,

I already wrote about this issue in 05 January 2003 and only now I've seen this thread!

for more details look at: Real McCoy ! New AR eyeball midrange and for some pictures "AR-3a Reissue and AR 10 PI Reissue"

I live in Italy and here from 1991 to 1994 there was a reissue of AR 10 Pi and AR 3a (here they were named AR 10 PI Replica and AR 3a Replica. This reissue was made by ENTEL ITALIA to verify if people were still interested in these old famous speakers. The speakers were built IN ITALY! I personally visited the factory where they were assembled! It was located near Bologna.  Maybe something similar happend also in other place in the world as in some Italian review they told that there still was an AR 3a production in the East.

AR 10 Pi and 3a remakings used the same AR replacement parts (ALL made by Tonegen. I personally saw all their boxes with "made in Japan" printed on them! ). Tweeters were labelled 1200011-1, 1200013-1  midranges 1210010-1A (they were still eyeball mids), woofers 1210003-2A. They looked almost identical to AR 10 Pi original drivers. Tweeters labelled 1200013-1 were the 1200011-1 with a 2.2 uF capacitor in series (usually Culver).
In the AR 10 Pi Replica the crossover network was an exact copy of the original one, in the AR 3a it was different probably because the use of a different tweeter compared with the original one and because of L-Pads instead of the original Pots .

The Tonegen tweeter 1200011-1 had a fabric dome (as the original AR 200011-1) and not a paper dome as in the original 3a and LST. Rarely, in some 3a Replica you can find a paper dome tweeter.Basically, It was a 1200011-1 but it had a very light and fragile paper dome. Its suspension was the same as the 1200011-1's (cloth, fabric). See pictures here.  This tweeter was usually labelled 1200043-0 and you can also find it in some Cello Amati.

Imho the remakings did not sound as the original AR 10 Pi and AR 3a.

Although I do prefer the original 10 Pi and 3a, the reissues were good speakers but the difficulty of driving theese speakers correctly and above all people prejudice (in nineties) against old speaker designs, caused the failure of ENTEL ITALIA plans and their production was stopped. They sold very few of these speakers and so today they are very rare speakers.

In old treads there are a lot of information !

Luigi Fedele

 

 

PS:AR and Tonegen Part Numbers. 

Although in this document in the Library " AR Parts List & Price Sheet (January 1, 1979)  " are reported 12000xx-x part number,  in  Europe, I've never seen  them on driver labels until 1985. In other words, I've always seen 2000xx-x part numbers until  all 1984  and the drivers were not Tonegen.  As far as I've seen in  European AR loudspeakers, the 12000xx-x and 12100xx-xx driver part numbers were only used for Tonegen Drivers that appeared with the LSI series in 1985.

[Sonnar]

Please take a look to my recent thread about my AR 3a Replica .