Request date of birth AR2

[Giorgio AR]

Again here to ask for the approximate construction date of my recent pair of AR2.
As seen in the photos, the serial numbers are close, as well as the veneer (see the 2° photo of the upper sides)
I will not raise the woofers because now everything works well: all the speakers, and the midtweeters potentiometer works correctly throughout the excursion without interruptions or noises!
You can not see the grilles and an AR badge, these are present and in excellent condition, except for a canvas of a grill that had a little damage on the fabric (repaired and not very visible)

[lARrybody]

The AR2 was introduced in 1957 and the AR2a in 1959. I don't know for how long they were produced, but your serial numbers in the 57,000 range indicate they are relatively early examples.  Are your cabinets plywood?   

[JKent]

4 hours ago, lARrybody said:

Are your cabinets plywood?   

They look like walnut to me. Remember--the early AR-2 was a "bookshelf" speaker, meant to be placed horizontally on a shelf (hence the angled mids) and the bottoms were not veneered. The plywood surface in the last photo is the bottom of the speaker.

I don't know what other models were finished like this. I have some 2a's that are finished on all 4 sides.

[lARrybody]

Yes the bottom panel is definitely plywood. The other three sides appear  to be walnut veneer over MDF or possibly that nova ply substrate. According to the AR database on aphenos.net the AR 2 was produced till 1964. Giorgio has some nice examples. 

[JeffS]

Giorgio,

Your AR-2's look to be in very good shape and having fully operational pots is always a bonus. It also looks like your walnut cabinets have a lacquered finish. Very nice!

One clue to the age of your pair is the warranty statement on the back panel. AR covered speakers with a one year warranty into 1962. Speakers made later have a five year guarantee label attached.

[ra.ra]

2 hours ago, JKent said:

I don't know what other models were finished like this. I have some 2a's that are finished on all 4 sides.

This is all consistent with company literature, but with the 2a using the same dual driver as the earlier AR-2, it would be assumed that the preferable orientation for the 2a would also be horizontal. Yet still the later model was fabricated with four-sided veneer cabinets, which makes one think that many AR-2's were placed vertically, and perhaps the company received voiced objections to the visible bare horizontal "underside".

23 minutes ago, JeffS said:

AR covered speakers with a one year warranty into 1962. Speakers made later have a five year guarantee label attached.

That is an interesting tidbit of AR minutiae....thx. 

7 hours ago, Giorgio AR said:

....my recent pair of AR2.

  The dual mid/tweets look very good, but that is among the best-looking pair of early 10" woofers I've seen in a long time. Congrats.

[Giorgio AR]

Thanks for the replyes.
Yes, the cabinet is in MDF or nova ply substrate , with the long bottom side in unfinished plywood.
Another my pair of AR2a has plywood cabinets with a very special coating (never seen in other similar speakers) and with a veneer of a few mm.
I attach photos, not recent to illustrate my pair of AR2a, if I can tomorrow I will publish new photos with the measures of the speakers.

[JeffS]

12 hours ago, ra.ra said:

This is all consistent with company literature, but with the 2a using the same dual driver as the earlier AR-2, it would be assumed that the preferable orientation for the 2a would also be horizontal. Yet still the later model was fabricated with four-sided veneer cabinets, which makes one think that many AR-2's were placed vertically, and perhaps the company received voiced objections to the visible bare horizontal "underside".

Could be. Adapt to the customers needs with a short term fix (finish all sides regardless of dispersion characteristics), while working on the long term solution of non-critical orientation (the 2x / 2ax). It's interesting that the AR-2 was made for horizontal placement, yet one of the earliest ads for the speaker shows it being used in, what would seem like, a much less than optimum placement. I love those early ads!

 

[Giorgio AR]

Add for completeness, the current location of my AR2's: in the kitchen on a self-built stand with a height of about 41 cm. height, Totem of AR2a, AR2, AR1-MS, in the bedroom, Heathkit AS-2a in a horizontal position above AR3a imp and AR10PII replica.
Now the two couples in the kitchen are connected to a Philips amplifier mod 521 (big amplifier and always on, practically a tank and very well sounding), the Heathkit are connected to a tube amplifier Fisher x100a, so I can not appreciate the difference in yield between vertical / horizontal positioning due to the different amplifications (I think the three-way ARs with 10 "woofers sound very, very well, in fact a pair of these are always working, never intrusive or annoying at any volume).
I want to point out (I hope you see in the photos) that all my speakers and stands are resting on cork disks, suitably cut by corks of sparkling wine bottles or on plywood boards covered with 4 mm cork: AR3a imp + AR10PII (not they move, the cabinets' wood is not ruined and they have eliminated vibrations and rumble.)
Jeff, I also love the early adds and brochures, I collect these too, but now the search and purchase is difficult and expensive, thanks for showing me this with Louis Armstrong (listening to his instrument with AR speakers, it seems that be still alive and play for me!)

[samberger0357]

I love my 2's(completely sealed, never opened) coupled with a pair of JanZen 1-30's. Excellent sound. Don't use them much since my 3a's get most of the playing time, but every once in a while I stick them in there. Would like to get a lower powered tube amp to use with them. 

 

 

 

[Giorgio AR]

Beautiful speakers, perfectly placed (you do not lack space I think), serial n ° close to mine.

If you want to have fun with a small and cheap tube amplifier with minimal expense and amazing sound try the phonograph Philips Ag9115 or Ag4116 (depriving it of speakers and turntables supplied), these are equipped with the same electronics of the next amplifier Ag9016 that 2 x 2 watts at the exit.
They seem a few, but enough to make AR2 / AR2a sound so amazing.
I own 4 of these small amplifiers and play any speaker, clearly the sound output depends on the efficiency of the speakers, but the sound quality remains spectacular with all types of speakers connected.
To give the best, these small amplifiers, however, need to disconnect at least 4 capacitors: 2 on the volume potentiometer and two on the output transformers (these limit the high range), I attach 2 photos, the second shows in the 4 black circles (bad, but my computer skills are limited) where to disconnect or remove capacitors

[tysontom]

On 12/31/2018 at 11:46 AM, Giorgio AR said:

Again here to ask for the approximate construction date of my recent pair of AR2.
As seen in the photos, the serial numbers are close, as well as the veneer (see the 2° photo of the upper sides)
I will not raise the woofers because now everything works well: all the speakers, and the midtweeters potentiometer works correctly throughout the excursion without interruptions or noises!
You can not see the grilles and an AR badge, these are present and in excellent condition, except for a canvas of a grill that had a little damage on the fabric (repaired and not very visible)

Georgio, those are very nice early examples of the wonderful AR-2!  And your cabinets are plywood bottom panel with veneered (walnut, it appears but possibly cherry) NovaPly for the  other panels along with the solid-stock grill molding.  Only the AR-2 had this unfinished plywood panel, as the AR-2a was finished on all sides.  Both the AR-2 and AR-2a were designed to be placed horizontally for best dispersion from the tweeters.  I'm thinking these are Cherry, but I can't tell for sure.

Henry Kloss worked on the design of the AR-2 throughout late 1956, and he had the speaker about ready to go around January, 1957.  The Carbonneau 5-inch tweeters (the same units used in the Kloss-built Baruch-Lang corner speaker) were treated by Kloss to smooth and dampen the response, and the end result was a relatively smooth, clean treble up to around 13-15 kHz.  There was a problem with the woofer, though, and it would ride out of the gap under high power.  Thus, the AR-2 could not be shipped when planned.  In February, 1957, however, Kloss was gone from AR without fixing the problem of the woofer, thus delaying this important new product.  Edgar Villchur had to redesign the woofer before it could ship, and it was in late March or early April, 1957 before it shipped.  Monthly production figures were pretty high, and I think your pair dates to about 1959-1960.  Only way to know for sure would be to pull a woofer to see if there is a date on it, but it's not worth disturbing the system for that bit of trivia.

Great speakers!

--Tom Tyson

[samberger0357]

2 hours ago, tysontom said:

Georgio, those are very nice early examples of the wonderful AR-2!  And your cabinets are plywood bottom panel with veneered (walnut, it appears but possibly cherry) NovaPly for the  other panels along with the solid-stock grill molding.  Only the AR-2 had this unfinished plywood panel, as the AR-2a was finished on all sides.  Both the AR-2 and AR-2a were designed to be placed horizontally for best dispersion from the tweeters.  I'm thinking these are Cherry, but I can't tell for sure.

Henry Kloss worked on the design of the AR-2 throughout late 1956, and he had the speaker about ready to go around January, 1957.  The Carbonneau 5-inch tweeters (the same units used in the Kloss-built Baruch-Lang corner speaker) were treated by Kloss to smooth and dampen the response, and the end result was a relatively smooth, clean treble up to around 13-15 kHz.  There was a problem with the woofer, though, and it would ride out of the gap under high power.  Thus, the AR-2 could not be shipped when planned.  In February, 1957, however, Kloss was gone from AR without fixing the problem of the woofer, thus delaying this important new product.  Edgar Villchur had to redesign the woofer before it could ship, and it was in late March or early April, 1957 before it shipped.  Monthly production figures were pretty high, and I think your pair dates to about 1959-1960.  Only way to know for sure would be to pull a woofer to see if there is a date on it, but it's not worth disturbing the system for that bit of trivia.

Great speakers!

--Tom Tyson

This is a great post and provides further incentive to pop mine back into rotation. Thanks very much Tom. 

[Giorgio AR]

First of all, I apologize for the delay of my answers, but unfortunately I did not remember the password for days and I have not had the opportunity to answer until now: after repeated attempts, finally found the right password !!
Thanks Tom for the "historical" answer, I will not lift the woofers until there is the need, I wanted to tell you that in the case of the AR2a, in my time I found a date stamped on the Industrial capacitor 4/6 mF: FEB 5 1963 which I think corresponds to the assembly date of these speakers.
Also here I attach photos.