michiganpat

they went the way of the dodo with the last vestiges of the original AR when Recoton went bankrupt in ~2004. I have the 312HO's, which were the direct predecessors to the Hi Res series. very nice speakers, but I can't compare to any real "classic era" AR's, as I've not had the pleasure of hearing any original or teledyne era 10" models. only thing my ears could compare to are my AR18's, which isn't fair (40" floorstander with a 12" woofer vs. a .38 cubic foot bookshelf with an 8" woofer). I'm sure they're voiced more "forward" than the classic eras, as my early 90's holographic imaging M5's have a more pronounced midrange than my AR18's, and my (new to me) late 80's rock partners sound in between my 18's and M5's as far as midrange forwardness. I love my 312HO's great sound and imaging. I think mine sound better than my friend's polk LSi9's, which have the advantage of having a powered woofer section.

the AB tech sourced replacements vintage AR sells aren't any more correct than the rat shacks in there now. I'd go used original. the AR5 woofer is also the same as the foam surround 2ax and AR8.

my 312HO's are defintiely NOT lacking in the bass department. curious as to Pete's placement after reading the linked thread. I have mine about 4"-6" from the rear wall, and the side firing woofer about 2-3' from the side wall, so I may be getting some boundary reinforcement in the bass department, smoothing things out. there's a guy last year who bought some 312HO's over on audiokarma.org and measured them in room, and found them very flat, save a ~3db dip in the 250-300hz range....

the TOTL for the hi-res series was the AR1, which had a 500W carver sunfire amp powering the side firing 15" woofer, and the same mid/tweet as the 9's... the hi-res series came out in '99 or '00, I bought my 312HO's in 1998. yeah, it's annoying they re-used model numbers, as I came across a craigslist ad for some AR11's for $250 and I was giddy, until I opened it up and they are the smaller brother of the hi-res AR9, with a single mid, same tweet, and a side firing 8" woofer....

I have their older cousins, the 312HO's, which are in the same sized cabinets, but have 12" side firing woofers and a slightly different tweeter. I love mine, great sound, quite efficient, get very loud without a lot of power.

sorry about that it'll be a month before I get mine out here, and get some pics and listening impressions....

barring any major issues in them once my parents look at them tomorrow, looks like they'll be picking up a set of M5's for me (they're in minneapolis, I'm in michigan)...I won't have them in hand until they come out to visit from minnesota at the end of september, though.

where are you located?