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Teledyne AR9


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It's been two years since I got these baby's and put new foam surrounds, and now I have managed to find more time to show them some love and care.

I am the second owner and I love the fact that the former didn't do anything to them so I know nothing has been tampered with :D . I got the manual and even the original foam surrounds on the Hr and UMr are still there.

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The first thing I did after reading the posts here was recapping them, but I noticed that the caps in them were not like the pictures I have seen here.

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There is only 1 silver capacitor in each of them and I think it could be that they were made late in 1981 or the fact they are from the UK. Surprisingly all the caps were in good conditions and when measured the only one's that drifted were the red ones.

I put a good blend of Visaton and Alcap caps in them and ordered the few remaining that weren't available at my location from Dayton

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The next step will be adding spikes under them, and maybe if someone has a good upgrade idea I could look into that later :P

Also does anyone have good advise how to restore the colour in the veneer?

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The AR-9 experts will most certainly help you out here, but allow me to welcome you to the forum. Many of us begin with smaller speakers and work our way up the ladder, but you seem to be on the top rung already with just your first post!

You've certainly got a bit of a mish-mash of caps, but it looks to me like they are all original except for the third x-o pic, where I definitely spot a newer Dayton in there. Those black/red caps (Elcap) are often seen with different names (Temple, Callins....), and you'll hear just about everyone calling for their replacement. Great initial post, good luck.

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Spikes will make a difference, it's a worthwhile mod.

You might also consider upgrading the binding posts, as well as the wire connectors that join the upper & lower crossover sections.

Your cabinets look really nice, with just the sort of sun-fade you'd expect after 33 years.

Short of sanding the veneer & restaining, getting a uniform color is going to be hard.

Try to resist the temptation to coat them with oil; the original, right-out-of-the-box finish on the AR-9 was almost matte.

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ra.ra

I have owned quiet a bunch of smaller speakers like Sansui Sp1200 and AR8 and it was just luck that i got these, think there were only sold 6 pairs in my country. My former boss owned these and thought they were ruined because the foam rotted away. The third and fourth xo pictures are after I'm done switching. Strange thing that the 40uF was different in each of them, one black the other red.

ar_pro

I have the spikes and new binding posts, that was definitely gonna be upgraded. :D I have thought about switching the wires with a 12awg silver/copper wires from clicktronic, but that is gonna be a little expensive. The cabinets were scratch free until I accidentally bumped my tv into one of them. I have been using linseed teak oil on them once per year that the former owner told me about. I asked him why not boiled linseed like the manual said and he told me to smell that first before deciding. Can't say I blame him! Sanding would also have to hold until I have my own apartment.

I also noticed that you guys talk allot about the amplification for them. I got a kenwood ka-7090r with them that was bought specially for them after the former owners kenwood ka-1000 was always blowing it's fuses. So sad he threw that rare vintage out would have loved to fix it. But the kenwoods are both 110w/4ohm and I never had to go over 60% of its power. I later switched to a carver tfm-24 with 350w/4ohm and I noticed very little difference. Am I misunderstanding the power consumption or something? I have gone through allot of amplifiers and the kenwood always seemed to hold onto the others even when they got into the 20-30kg heavyweight champs :D

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I have the spikes and new binding posts, that was definitely gonna be upgraded. :D

Spikes or isolation platform can also be downgrade compared to felt pads. Few years ago I did Kef Cantata rebuild and used felt pads, as I knew that I had do move these speakers alone and they tipped the scales at 30-35kg ea. When there was strong room based resonance, I tried first to couple speakers to the floor with cones and results were not good, as definition blurred considerably even room based resonance was reduced. Isolating speakers from floor with isolation platform did have very similar effect. Felt pads between speakers and parquet glued directly to concrete floor were clearly best compromise in this case.

Moral of this... you should not decide what is going to be upgrade before you have tried it. It is easy to forget... at least I do forget this too often.

Best Regards

Kimmo

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I have some adjustable feet on my AR9 rather then spikes.

I have laminated flooring on soft underlay.

I suppose the weight of the AR9 make it less prone to vibration.

I have just ordered some Blue Horizon spike shoes for the spikes on the Limited 3.

Currently they are just sitting on the floor without the spikes.

The bass sound a bit loose.

I will also experiment with the felt pads.

David.

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Yes... this coupling issue is probably more complicated than hifi shops selling spikes and platforms like to say. Construction of floor, design and weight of the speakers, coupling method and your personal preference is the basic formula. But... it is easier to hifi dealer to say... hey we have sold thousands of these and they always work.

It was also interesting to note that when experimenting with Cantata´s, the most obvious difference between coupling methods was in mid to high range clarity or definition. Different floor construction may change this... so experimenting may be the only way to find correct answer.

Best Regards

Kimmo

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Experimenting with different approaches can be worthwhile, like above mentioned discussion proves. Grounds for different end conclusions lie most likely below speakers. Parquet glued directly to concrete floor is quite different platform for speakers than floorboards supported by timber and covered with carpet.

Best Regards

Kimmo

PS nice looking speakers. I had also pair of AR 9´s in 80´s.

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Experimenting with different approaches can be worthwhile, like above mentioned discussion proves. Grounds for different end conclusions lie most likely below speakers. Parquet glued directly to concrete floor is quite different platform for speakers than floorboards supported by timber and covered with carpet.

Of course, the type of floor in question is one more aspect of room effect, but the improvement realized through the addition of spikes to the AR-9 seems to be consistant, any reasonable supporting surface notwithstanding.

And that's what makes this mod so very attractive - it's completely & easily reversible.

If you don't care for the result, merely unthread the spikes! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes... this coupling issue is probably more complicated than hifi shops selling spikes and platforms like to say. Construction of floor, design and weight of the speakers, coupling method and your personal preference is the basic formula. But... it is easier to hifi dealer to say... hey we have sold thousands of these and they always work. ...

Ya know, such a sane viewpoint is not going to have much creedence in the world of audiophile retailing.

I have a set of AR-9's, and a friend of mine also has a set of the 'nines.

His set sound very different, probably because they sit on a concrete floor, whilst my set sits on a very movable (I call it ~participating in the bass~) hardwood over joist floor.

Spikes would be a very minor, very, very mnor participant in the sound field presented by the speakers.

Yet spikes are profitable for the retailers, so there you go......

imho, and YMMV and all that.

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If you call person collecting vintage audio gear sane... I would like thank you for saying it.

But... follow the money, is clue that should be investigated.

Best Regards

Kimmo

PS I should point out that spikes or isolation platforms can be very useful... but you should test if they work for you, as they might also downgrade performance

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