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tysontom
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Posts posted by tysontom
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On 11/28/2022 at 12:44 PM, meta_noia_fot said:
Great article, @tysontom! Thanks for sharing.
You bet! Glad you liked it.
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On 11/30/2022 at 5:24 PM, AR surround said:
We are all bloody sickos, Frank. Here's how to get (almost) all of one's speakers into one system...and throw in a model railroad to boot:
AR9 fronts; AR915 Center; AR90 Surrounds; Boston A70 Rears; Boston A60 Front and Rear Heights; Boston A40 Center Top.
This is an impressive setup! High fidelity and electric trains, all rolled into one den! Post some more pictures of this setup if you can. Looks like an HO layout, but can't tell for sure. I've never had an environment that came close to this room; very nice!
—Tom
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On 3/22/2022 at 11:57 AM, giovanni56 said:
Where can I download the article on the Ar9? Thanks
Here is the article again....
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1 hour ago, AR surround said:
Terrific article, Tom. I really enjoyed it. The AR9's have been my main speakers since August 1978. They have survived no less than five moves. I got the pair when I was temporarily living at my parents' house between moves. I'll never forget the look on my mother's face...mouth wide open in shock...when we hauled those huge boxes into the house. My relationship with this pair of speakers is the longest with anything / anybody in my entire life. (I'd better be careful what I say. Don't want to make my wife jealous. LOL)
Thanks! That is impressive that you've had those AR9s for all those years! Gerald Landau, an early Marketing Director at AR, used to tell hi-fi dealers that AR speakers, once sold, tended to "stay sold."
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On 1/3/2022 at 12:53 PM, Aadams said:
I apologize for that conservation, I recall being a bit obstinate. Had I been less so, I would have immediately picked up on a key piece of information you passed along at the time, instead of realizing much later. You have been posting useful, durable, juicy nuggets for twenty two years. Thanks for your patience and endurance.
Well, what you said regarding the midrange clarity had a lot of merit. You were insistent, but you had good reason for it. I don't know that everyone would realize the differences, but in the AR9, the Lower Mid Range driver essentially was dedicated to much of that spectrum and contributed greatly to clarity and detail.
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On 1/4/2022 at 1:04 AM, Giorgio AR said:
Thanks Tom, I have already downloaded the article that I keep for my personal use ... already placed in my archive.
Thanks, Giorgio!
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15 hours ago, xmas111 said:
Tom,
Fantastic job!
I've owned AR9's since 1978 and still used them today. I rebuilt them a while back and they still sound wonderful.
It was a real pleasure reading your article. And I agree with Pete B, all the technical and inside information made it feel like you were part of the development team!
Your writing skills are top notch also!
I too have downloaded it for my personal storage and use.
By the way, love the picture of the AR9 sideways on the tripod for the testing session.
Thank you again,
John
John, thanks so much for your comments! I wish I had worked at AR during that time, and I was handicapped by not being on the inside. However, I have many documents about the speaker development, and I was able to talk to many of the people who were there at the time. These helped quite a lot. I love that tripod picture, too. It was a good way to elevate the speaker well into "God's anechoic chamber," as Villchur used to say about measuring speaker response outdoors.
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On 1/3/2022 at 8:10 PM, Pete B said:
I enjoyed the read Tom, and the extra detail makes the reader feel like they are getting an
inside perspective. Nice work, I actually printed it out in color to add to my collection.
Thanks very much, Pete!
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7 hours ago, DavidR said:
Because of your post on Victor's passing I found out he lived right down the street from me - just a few houses down. I knew Lillian as she walked her dog by our house (she recently moved). Had I only known. He had a nice pair of Allison 9s.
Do you know if Victor worked for Roy Allison? His business was in the next town over.
Victor worked at AR on two different occasions, once in the early 1960s and once again in the 1970s, and he knew Roy (and Ed Villchur) well. He also worked for a period ot time at KLH and other companies in the high-fidelity business. He never worked for Roy Allison at Allison Acoustics to my knowledge.
Tom
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5 hours ago, Aadams said:
I apologize for that conservation, I recall being a bit obstinate. Had I been less so, I would have immediately picked up on a key piece of information you passed along at the time, instead of realizing much later. You have been posting useful, durable, juicy nuggets for twenty two years. Thanks for your patience and endurance.
No need for any apology! I recall that you had good points, and these discussions have always been a good thing for this forum. If anyone should apologize, it should probably be me for not being more tolerant of other opinions!
Tom
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14 hours ago, Giorgio AR said:
Thanks Tom, as always your interventions are always interesting, every time they add small pieces to the history of Acoustic Research ... we hope you can finally publish the book I have been waiting for !!
It is long, complicated and burdensome, I think many of us could contribute financially if this were a problem and an obstacle.
I wish you a splendid 2022, fresh and above all good health.Giorgio.
Giorgio, thank you for your comments. I actually took down the article for now because it is likely to be publshed next month (not for sure, though). You are right about one thing: it is complicated and burdensome with my usual excessive detail. Hope you have a great 2022 as well!
Tom
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2 hours ago, DavidR said:
Nice article.
Wasn't it C. Victor Campos who has originally wanted/suggested the AR9 to be powered speakers (internal amplification) ?
Thanks. Victor did mention the powered version of the AR9 to me in a conversation once, many years after the fact. I later heard that it was Bob Berkovitz who had conceived of and promoted the powered design internally. Perhaps Victor had suggested the original idea initially and convinced Berkovitz? In any event, the design never made it into production though a prototype was made.
Tom
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12 hours ago, Aadams said:
Outstanding, carefully polished work with important anecdotal knowledge. I especially like the inclusion of these two excerpts from page 10.
AR9 proved to be an exceptionally potent low-frequency loudspeaker, but one that hardly called attention to itself. The speaker has such low harmonic distortion and smooth response, that some listeners—expecting heavier bass—felt the speaker was perhaps bass-shy, yet the true measure of a high-quality bass reproducer is no bass reproduction unless called for in the program material.
During AR’s presentation of the AR9 to the Boston Audio
Society, Tim Holl acknowledged Roy Allison’s work in this area in describing the design of theAR9, similar in approach of the Allison: One speaker’s pioneering “Room-Matched” design.Thanks. I appreciate your comments. At one point, you had mentioned the comparison of clarity when comparing the 3-way AR-3a to the 4-way AR9. There is a lot in what you said, and the design of the AR9 LMR driver added clarity to this important part of the spectrum.
Tom
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19 hours ago, ar_pro said:
This will make for very enjoyable reading from an authoritative & knowledgeable source.
Many thanks, Tom...and Happy New Year!
Thanks!
Tom
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21 hours ago, nefertem said:
Thanks Tom perfect for reading during the new year stay safe
Thanks!
Tom
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This is an article I wrote last year about the development of the AR9 loudspeaker, a powerful and no-compromise loudspeaker that was clearly ahead of its time when it was introduced in 1978. This article is somewhat about the philosophy behind the development and engineering of this speaker, and it speaks to the huge amount of work that was done to create this fine loudspeaker. Thanks to former AR employees Ken Kantor, James Kates, Lucette Nicoll and others at AR for their help on some matters regarding this fine loudspeaker. I had hoped to track down many others that were involved in the creation of this speaker, but many are gone now or have moved on to other ventures in life. I would be interested in any reaction to this article -- pro or con! Thanks for reading it.
Tom Tyson
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On 11/9/2021 at 6:11 PM, DavidR said:
Tom, how about an update
Very slow progress due to several personal issues. Sorry it's not going any faster! I'll try to update a bit later on.
Tom
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On 8/10/2021 at 9:01 PM, Lucky Pierre said:
Hi Roy,
It was in a very well ventilated garage! And I won't do it again!
The key to a good lacquer refinishing job is extensive prep. Not just stripping and sanding, but thorough cleaning as well. Any remnants of anything with silicone will ruin the finish. You also have to be very patient and very exacting if you try to do this outside a climate controlled spray booth. Temp and humidity have to be just right. Sealing and sanding between coats has to be just right. The working time is really short. I feel lacquering something as large as the AR3 takes a lot of practice.
I find lacquer to be a beautiful finish on the right piece. Not ARs, though. 🙂
Peter
"I find lacquer to be a beautiful finish on the right piece. Not ARs, though."
Peter, if you have seen a Steinway piano in lacquered walnut, black-lacquer or mahogany, the finish is smooth with a satin luster and no pores showing -- reflecting the proper technique for sealing before applying numerous coats of lacquer spray. AR's supplying cabinet shops applied those finishes prior to delivering the cabinets to the AR factory for completion. Lacquered AR cabinets are really beautiful, but lacquered finishes are extremely high maintenance and prone to scratching. You can almost look at one and a scratch will appear. AR cabinets had lacquer finishes applied the same way as Steinway & Sons pianos, but probably not with as much manual attention and hand-polishing, etc. The technique was the same, however. Ironically, an AR-3 in lacquered mahogany was somewhat less expensive than the same speaker in walnut when, if fact, it was much more expensive to finish with a lacquer coat than boiled linseed oil. It's just that African mahogany was more common and a less-expensive wood than American black walnut back at that time.
The problem is that today, 50 to 60 years down the road, these cabinets have dulled, turned opaque, become scratched and generally left to deteriorate, and this is true of many old Steinway pianos, too. But if you could see how beautiful these AR cabinets were when new, you would think very differently.
Tom
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On 8/21/2021 at 2:05 PM, Lucky Pierre said:
Hi Tom,
I stripped and oiled these a couple of years ago. I picked them up for $20 with rotted woofer surrounds.
Peter
That does resemble mahogany -- and it could be -- but I think it is walnut-stained birch. In any event, the cabinets look great! Tom
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On 8/19/2021 at 1:07 PM, Aadams said:
I have seen the pressurized box topic mentioned somewhere in a general discussion about packing and shipping speakers but I don't think it was here. Something I have seen but cannot find here and you may know: Did Roy Allison upgrade E. Villchur's personal AR3a pair with his Allison tweeter?
Thanks
Aadams
Yes.
Villchur had a pair of oiled-walnut AR-3as that he used for many years in his den/living room in Woodstock, New York. With them, he had an AR Turntable, AR Amplifier, Marantz 10B FM tuner and a Tandberg tape recorder. The speakers were recessed part-way into the wall on both sides of the fireplace.
At some point in the mid-to-late 1970s, quite some time after Roy Allison left AR to start his new company, Allison Acoustics, Villchur contacted him to see if any parts were available to repair the AR-3as, as one had a problem. In the conversation, from what I understand, Roy said that he no longer had access to AR parts, but that he would be glad to retrofit the AR-3a speakers with Allison: Three midrange and tweeter, plus the crossover parts to make the change—which subsequently occurred at Allison Acoustics. The new crossover for the woofer would therefore be 375 Hz rather than 550 Hz, etc. I suspect that RA went to get the speakers and returned with the new versions for Edgar Villchur.
I would surmise that Villchur’s son Mark or friends of his daughter Miriam now have those speakers, but I don’t know.
—Tom
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On 7/31/2021 at 9:36 PM, Lucky Pierre said:
Hi Tom,
Here are some pics of my 3s in lacquered mahogany. As you can see, these have battle scars. I considered restoring the cabs, but as I mentioned earlier, lacquering is not my forte. I've decided I will just clean them really well, then color the scratches, then wax. I figure the scars tell a long story.
I'll post pics again when they are cleaned up. Just waiting on my new workshop to be done.
You know, I rattled on about refinishing these cabinets, but you mentioned that you might just enjoy them like they are now for awhile. There are several things you can do, but first and foremost is to get a scratch-covering solution such as the all-time favorite -- and still among the best -- Old English Scratch Cover. Get the dark wood or mahogany version, and you will be amazed at how much better it will make the cabinets look! Sorry I didn't mention this at the beginning.
-Tom Tyson
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3 hours ago, Aadams said:
Wild guess. Aside from the obvious extra driver protection from box punctures it might also be a baffle to check sudden changes in air pressure caused by rough handling.
Bingo! I think we actually discussed this a few years ago. AR (Roy Allison) found that many AR-2-series speakers were being returned to the factory for warranty service with the woofer cones displaced out of the pole piece, and at first the thought was that customers were wildly overpowering the speakers and damaging the woofers. These were nevertheless fixed under warranty, but RA found that the boxes were nearly air-tight when sealed, and when a box was handled roughly or dropped, sometimes the pressure change could force the woofer in or out, particularly the very compliant 10-inch (actually 11-inch) Alnico woofer. Allison decided to put a cardboard piece in front of the grill to suppress the sudden pressure change, and it worked. The other AR speakers were not as adversely affected, but all received the cardboard panel in front of the grill. —Tom
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On 8/12/2021 at 2:45 PM, Giorgio AR said:
It was a new pair unsold at the time and still sealed before being sold (at auction) in 2015, under the photos as evidence.
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Here's something for Acoustic Research audiophiles: do you know why AR said that the flat piece (above) had to be placed in front of the grill on the AR-2/AR-2a/2ax? This will be the real test for AR historians. —Tom Tyson
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On 8/9/2021 at 7:41 PM, Lucky Pierre said:
My AR-7 are mahogany
Those would likely be international versions made in Europe. I don't believe that mahogany was used for the few wood versions that were made in Cambridge, Mass. Can you send some pictures? Thanks.
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The Development of the AR9 Loudspeaker
in Acoustic Research
Posted
Frank, what an impressive setup! I've never heard triple-stacked LSTs, but I can just imagine the power of that setup in that large room. Very nice! I had stacked LSTs at one point, used an Allison ESW to get response flat to 20 Hz, and I was extremely happy with the sound. I actually drove the stacked pair (in parallel) with a McIntosh MC2500 right down into the 1.5-ohm load, and everything worked just fine. Those were fun days! Tom