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AR-16 worth it ?


Guest Chung

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Hi from France where there still are some AR fans !

And specificaly my father who doesn't use his AR-16 (in perfect shape) anymore. Since I just bought a new budget hifi system (NAD-315 BEE and Denon DCD-700AE), I'm wondering about using these rather than buying a pair of low-cost "modern speakers" (Cabasse MT4 or something like this http://www.magma.fr/index.php?module=bouti...mp;pid=1012590) for example). Could you please tell me if this could be worth it or does it completely depends on taste, are there some clear improvements in recent loudspeakers technology ?

Assuming that the AR-16 was a low-cost model back in the 70s one would expect a 21th century low-cost speaker (Cabasse, JBL, B&W, Triangle, Davis...) would perform just as well if not better due to new technologies.

Well in short I gonna give it a go rather soon but I'm curious to know, what you guys think are the pros and cons of such a hifi system.

P.S. Apologies for my poor english.

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Before you hook up an amp, please check the foam surrounds on the woofers. There is a good chance they are shot even with little use. The foam just degrads over time.

Driving the speakers with bad surrounds can damage the voice coils and you would be in for an expensive repair.

In the meantime, read this thread on the AR-16:

AR-16 thread

Regards,

Jerry

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Before you hook up an amp, please check the foam surrounds on the woofers. There is a good chance they are shot even with little use. The foam just degrads over time.

Driving the speakers with bad surrounds can damage the voice coils and you would be in for an expensive repair.

In the meantime, read this thread on the AR-16:

AR-16 thread

Regards,

Jerry

thanks for your reply. I had noticed the thread you linked but I'm pretty sure that the speakers are working allright. Actually my father had it repaired by a local specialist and thus I assume that the filter and the surrounds were checked.

About AR-16 technology now... well I remember how they felt to me when I was young : very clear, fluent and well balanced from low-med to High frequencies. But it also sounded very cold with a lack of intensity in the low-freq (I have to say though that I never played anything else than classical music on it, what could have misleaded men attending that I now mostly play 50s-80s Jazz, punk, reggae, funk music, ). Are these characteristics inherent to the technology (2 ways, closed-box enclosure)? was it due to the old marrantz amp we had at the time ? or have there been some major improvement in the last 30 years (very sophisticated tweeters, generalisation of bass-reflex enclosures, cheaper 3-ways speakers) that makes me feel like these AR-16 were lacking warmth and intensity ?

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being a "bass-reflex addict", mostly because of the blooming effect it produces nor am'I looking for a loudness button on my new amp but both solutions seem to have its drawbacks. That said, I'm still uneasy telling what's technology related (2 ways vs 3 ways, Closed-box Vs Bass reflex, new cheaper materials components vs vintage ones) and what is "taste-related".

So, is there anybody who owns a similar vintage speaker and could compare it to today's standards ?

Thanks for reading.

Chung

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Chung, it's hard to answer your questions because most of your issues have to do with personnel taste.

Let me state some generalities. AR's philosophy was always accuracy in reproduction with as little "coloration" as possible added by the speakers. For this reason, AR often would often lose is side by side comparisons in dealer show rooms against speakers that artificially boosted the bass or boosted the mid bass.

When you have a speaker system that is inherently flat (equal output over the entire audible range) with the right equipment, you can make it sound like anything you want. On the other hand a speaker that adds “coloration” is often impossible to correct and eventually, will become “boring”. While it sounds good in a dealer show room, all music played through it will ... sound the same.

Today there are very good ported/vented systems that are designed to be accurate. That is, they don’t have this “coloration” problem. They are more efficient that the acoustic suspension AR’s and for this reason are very popular.

I have both types of systems in my house. I greatly prefer the AR’s when listening to jazz (which is my favorite). In jazz, the dominate bass instrument is the large double bass. I find that the acoustic suspension woofers just do a far better job of reproducing the bass line. That is, you can clearly hear the bassist walking up and down the scales, note by note.

The ported systems I have, just don’t do nearly as good of a job. (Many people say ported systems have a "one note bass".)

Now, when it comes to rock (and I don’t listen very much), I find the ported systems deliver volumes and volumes of bass guitar effortlessly. Now, the AR systems are OK, but my philosophy is that rock is supposed to be played LOUD. LOUD, in my opinion, is easier to achieve on ported/vented systems.

Hope this helps … and I hope we hear from others, as opinions will vary greatly on these issues.

Regards,

Jerry

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Your reply confirms what I thought and since my personnal taste has evolved quiet a bit since in about 15 years I will definitely give it a go.

I just bought two gorgeous (and heavy !) loudspeaker feet for them and will grab the AR-16 on sunday. Just hoping that no important modifications were made to the speaker. All repairs on it have been taken seriously but I really don't know if the specialist who dealed with it still had what he needed to respect the original design (french vintage lovers rather own Cabasse, Triangle, JMR speakers than almost forgotten AR). I assume he did.

More infos on sunday !

Regards,

Eric

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Your reply confirms what I thought and since my personnal taste has evolved quiet a bit since in about 15 years I will definitely give it a go.

I just bought two gorgeous (and heavy !) loudspeaker feet for them and will grab the AR-16 on sunday. Just hoping that no important modifications were made to the speaker. All repairs on it have been taken seriously but I really don't know if the specialist who dealed with it still had what he needed to respect the original design (french vintage lovers rather own Cabasse, Triangle, JMR speakers than almost forgotten AR). I assume he did.

More infos on sunday !

Regards,

Eric

Eric, seems to me the risks are very low that you will NOT be satisfied with these AR's.

Now, before you connect them to an amp, remove the front grill and visually inspect the woofer surrounds. If you see any tears, stop right there.

You might also perform the "push test" to verify that you have no "leaks" and that the acoustic suspension is working properly.

Eric, best of luck!!

Regards,

Jerry

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