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I own AR 1's and AR 3's and the AR 4C Center The Stereophile reviewer recommended the AR 1 for a Class B Rating. They are an excellent choice for someone who wants both a killer movie system, and an audiophile speaker, all in one. Be warned, a pair of HiRes AR 1's can easily overload most rooms with bass. That big 15 inch woofer, powered by a Sunfire 500 watts RMS Amp is almost too much, even in my 20 by 24 ft room.

I bought the amp I use from a Guitar Center for 150, with a 30 day money back warranty. It will do 425 rms into 4 all day long https://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/jsp/pdf/MAC-M1400I.PDF

I discovered Pro Sound Amplifiers years ago, and never looked back. There are some real deals to be had on the old school boat anchor type of Pro Sound amps, because many of the Pro Sound Guys have went to smaller and lighter Class D amps.

Stock, and do not remove the acoustic blanket, and if you already did, be thinking about how to make a new one.

Great ! What is happening is the 2 side walls are providing the loading the woofers need. Glad it is working out for you. My pair were in a large room, well away from the side walls. The reason they need to be played loud is, they were designed for flat low bass response. Many designers intentionally build a "bass bump" into their speakers, to give the Illusion of bass.

Amen! I currently own 5 pairs of high end speakers, and a pair of Magnepan 1.6's are one of them. My room is 20 by 24, with 4 large bass traps, in the corners. Powered by the awesome sounding Mackie 1401 "Pro Sound" amplifier with over 500 watts RMS into 4 ohms, they can be stunning. But then, I have taken great care, to be sure my first lateral reflection points are the same, in my room. I also have a pair of DBX Soundfield 1A Speakers. These speakers have 4 - 10 inch woofers, 4 - 5 Inch midranges, and 8 Tweeters, and are designed to have a more or less Omnidirectional radiation pattern. Pulled out a 1/3 or more into room, they too are stunning, as far as imaging. No loss of bass even 1/2 way into the room with these, because they are equalized by their controller, and you can simply adjust both the boost and bass level. My other speakers are HiRes AR 1's and HiRes AR 9's, and huge Kindel Audio PLS A's. The Kindel PLS A's are big line array speakers, with a total of 22 drivers per side! Each speaker has 16 1 inch dome tweeters, and 6 - 6.5 inch woofers. I am in the process of refreshing their crossovers. My last pair of speakers are Fostex powered monitors, hooked to my computer. LOL, needless to say, I am Single !!!!!!!!!!

Well ........ I have heard it happen in both the near and far field, because most of the rooms in the houses I have lived in, I was in the near field. Talk about spooky imaging. I own a pair of DBX Soundfield 1a Speakers, that are more or less omnidirectional. Out 1/3 of the way into the room, you can't tell where the sound is coming from. I have also owned OHM Speakers that are also omnidirectional, and they do the same thing.

Yes! Carl Marschiotto of Dahlquist is their designer, and indeed they sound good! They are imaging champs as well.

Wow, I have never met Arnie or Jim Thiel. I have met Richard Vandersteen, and Albert Vonschweikert, and Bob Carver. Actually, I have been over Bob's house several times, and heard the transistor amp he took to Stereophile that he made sound exactly like a Conrad Johnson Tube Amp. It really did! The problem is, he could only do it on one set of speakers and wires.

Bongo is dead too Yes, I was too inexperienced as an audiophile, back when I had the widerange ribbons, and even lacked an amp to properly drive them. I WISH I had them now !

Absolutely ! I met Brian way back in 1982, when I flew down from Seattle, to go to his shop in the Frisco Bay area. I owned the VMPS Widerange Ribbons back then, and returned them to Brian. He gave me my money back, and a pair of VMPS Supertowers. He just asked me to fly down and hear the Widerange Ribbons properly set up and powered. LOL, I was in my 20's, back in the 80's, and the big VMPS Supertowers were great for me back then. Big, forgiving speakers with stunning bass the VMPS Supertowers were. Just the thing for the Hard Rock I listened to back then.

I see so many people make the big mistake of replacing high ESR NPE Caps, with very low ESR Poly Caps, then wonder why their speakers sound like crap.

Yes, Brian and I have had our disagreements, but many agreements too I miss Brian, really I do.

Cool ! I was just reading a thread by Carlspeak, where he tested some new ERSE Mylar Caps, and found fairly high ESR. On a recent order from ERSE, I needed to meet the minimum order requirement, so I ordered some ERSE Mylars I really did not need. I just got an ESR Meter, so just for the hell of it, I measured the ESR of the new ERSE Mylar Caps. I was surprised how high it was, especially since they were right on the money as far as measured value goes. As Carlspeak mentioned, this high ESR makes them an excellent choice for NPE replacement !

Both, as long as the speakers "disappear". Actually, few speakers can "get out of their own way".