VintageAudio Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 Help me choose which Ar to buy. I want sweet highs and mids plus holographic all round sound from mono or stereo recordings. I have low to mid powered equipment. 10-200 watts. Something that sounds great with tubes or solid state. Speakers With Woofers With non foam surrounds please. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganpat Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 I've owned 1977 vintage AR18's, 1973 vintage AR2ax's, early 90's vintage Holographic Imaging M5's, 1980 vintage 58S, and late 90's vintage 312HO's....they're all fantastic speakers....all have foam of some sort....I've done surround replacements on all except the 312HO's I bought new...foam on the woofers is still fine after 21 years as far as holographic all around sound, I'd rank them this way: H.I.M5's (those were fantastic speakers....put them in the corner and in room response goes into the upper 20's), 58S, 18's, 312HO, and 2ax (although in defense of the 2ax's, the tweeters were on their way out) don't be afraid of foam....if you don't want foam, personally I'd go for the early 90's 303's/303a's unless you want the vintage look, in which case, a 3 or early 3a is it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 Welcome Vintage Pat's advice is sound but the 3/3a like a lot of power so they'd be fine with the upper end of your amps but not the bottom. I'll admit I don't know what you mean by "holographic" sound but as Pat described AR had a whole line of Holographic Imaging speakers that are well regarded (I have not owned any myself). Pat has more experience with a variety of AR models but I'll cast my vote for one of my favorites: The AR-2ax. EARLY ones have cloth-surround Alnico woofers and they are beautiful-sounding speakers once restored. If you limit yourself to cloth surrounds you will be VERY limited. As Pat wrote, don't be afraid! Re-foaming is a very easy DIY project and if you don't trust yourself or simply don't want to do it Bill LeGall of Millersound (google it) is your man! KLH made more cloth surround woofers than AR, and I particularly like the KLH Model Five and--if you have the room--the Model Twelve. Let us know how you make out and ask any questions. Kent Oh--it's sometimes hard to find but be sure to check out AR models in our Library. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valkyrie Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 THE BEST all around AR speaker? Of course that has to be the AR-91. Think of an AR-3 that was truly improved - better midrange and treble. Smooth, still somewhat smallish - can be used on a "STURDY" bookshelf. Deep bass. Best general purpose speaker they ever built. Of course the absolute best AR? That has to be the Mighty Nine - puts all others into the shade. Including the LST. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thornev Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 I like deep deep bass so the AR-2Ax with a subwoofer hits the mark with a 500-C pushing the tunes. Thorne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 Hello V-A, and welcome to CSP. With your search criteria having such random and wide ranges (mono or stereo?....10W or 200W?....tube or s.s. source?), this request is bit difficult to prescribe for, and you have not even mentioned anything about cabinet size or product styling or price factors. And, as already stated, this "holographic" descriptor is foreign to me. Nonetheless, the two distinct criteria that are identifiable in your request are: cloth (non-foam) surround woofers; and 'sweet' highs and mids. JKent has probably hit on the best option from AR's "Classic" years. The early AR-2ax are wonderful 8 ohm speakers that can be enjoyed with as little as 20 watts (per AR literature), and these would meet your "sweet" high/mid criteria better than other speakers from the "2" series with non-foam woofers. Also, they can be driven just fine with amplifiers with more significant power ratings. Another model I would recommend - - since you haven't described window-rattling bass as an important criteria, and if an even more modest speaker fit your needs - - would be the smaller AR-4xa, a two-way speaker with an 8" woofer. The low frequency performance is impressive for an 8" driver, and the 1-1/4" tweeter is an excellent tweeter for high frequency response. Pics attached: early 2ax (left), and 4xa (right). With a little patience and determination, each of these models are commonly available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 Lots of options and opinions will come your way. Some questions: What's your budget? Whats the listening space size? Are you handy with a soldering iron if necessary? Think corroded pots needing cleaning, or replacing. Almost all vintage speakers will need some attention unless you pick up a restored set. My experiences are with the 3, 3a, 2a, LST-2's and 4x. All restored except the 4x's, and excellent sounding. My favorites, the 3's, no question as my best all around AR speaker. Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakecat Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 I don't even know what you mean by the word sweet. Explain.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 15 hours ago, lakecat said: I don't even know what you mean by the word sweet. Explain.... +1... This question is not likely to yield any useful replies. Additionally, today the quality of any repairs or restoration is as important as the attributes of the model. Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aadams Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 On 4/7/2018 at 1:04 PM, RoyC said: +1... This question is not likely to yield any useful replies. Additionally, today the quality of any repairs or restoration is as important as the attributes of the model. Roy I'll try. This question has been asked in other ways in the recent past. Here is one link. I have been thinking about this a lot, so my conclusions must be correct. The sweetest sounding speaker is whatever is in your head. If you are looking for the classic AR sound there has not been one since the last of what we call the classic models. Beginning with the ADD series, around 1976, the sound began to change. The sound changed a lot more when the AR 9 was introduced in 1979. Beginning with the AR9 there were two sounds from AR IMO----There was the sound of their premium 4 way systems, extending through the LSI series, and there were all of the lower models, each of which was good in its price range but always in some aspect deficient by comparison to the 4 way systems. Sitting side by side, using an equalizer one speaker can be made to closely mimic another, but you cannot make a post-classic AR speaker sound like a classic period 3 way AR speaker. You cannot make a any 3 way sound like a properly working 4 way AR, though the reverse may be true. Finally, you cannot make anything sound like a properly working 3 series or LST. That doesn’t mean they are inimitable or unbeatable. It means the high-end classics used drivers and crossovers designed to have sound characteristics that, after 1975, were abandoned in favor of a different sound. The tweeters were changed first and by 1979 the vaunted dispersion of the AR dome mid-range was narrowed, becoming much more focused with the AR-9. There are several AR sounds. The only thing they had in common were linearity and predictability. This is where the Experts should feel free to chime in. Aadams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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