TSW810 - Any good

[DavidR]

I have a chance to get a pair that needs refoaming and most likely recapping.

I know very little about these. I believe the TSW910 is biamp capable but not the 810.

Any one know if these are any good?

[Steve F]

The TSW ("Titanium Solid Wood" series, although AR insiders referred to them as the "This Sh*t Works" series) speakers were intro'd around 1987 and was a line that went from the 6" 2-way TSW110 all the way up to the double-12" TSW910. Other models were dropped in after the original family was introduced--a powered and passive TSW105, a double-8" TSW710 and then an upgraded series that featured a 15 numerical suffix, instead of the 10 (215, 315, 415, etc.)

They were ok conventional speakers--not groudbreaking, but not offensive.

The 810 was a double 10" model, sort of the "90" to the 910's "9," if you will. I do not remember if the 810 is bi-ampable, but I know the TSW lit is in the CSP Library.

Here's what I just recently said about the 910:

Posted 10 November 2013 - 10:23 PM

I have written extensively about the 910 and their place/reason for being in AR's history. Do a search.

The TSW series from 1987-ish was an ok line of product, but it broke no new ground, nor did it try to. A "play it safe" line of speakers. The 910 was a pure formulaic product: you could almost hear the Head of Marketing saying, "OK we need a big floorstander, with two 12's and a model number with a '9', so people remember the original AR-9.Oh, and let's bring back that Blanket thing, too. We got some good credit for that."

That was the 910. In a June 1987 review, Julian Hirsch--the biggest AR booster there ever was--struggled vainly to find good things to say about it, closing his review with a damn-with-faint-praise line of "Few would tire of its easy smooth sound."

Really, Julian? "Few would tire"? That's the best you could muster? "Few would tire"?

For the 3, 3a, LST and 9, it was the "best I have ever measured or heard." For the 910, it's "Few would tire."

Don't break the bank getting the 910's.

Steve F.

[DavidR]

Thanks for the info.

So at a good price and DIY repair maybe not too bad of a speaker.

Can't be worse than the Polk RTA12C's I just got for my son.

Now all I'll need is a xover schematic.