AR-90 worth?

[Guest rebelscum]

Hi,

I'm an original owner of a pair of these AR-90 speakers. I'm sure I have all the documentation buried in a box somewhere too. What are they worth or more appropriately where is a good place to sell them? I didn't want to go the ebay route as it would have to be cash and carry because of their great size. Original everything except the foam.

Any direction pointing would be appreciated,

Randy in L.A.

[rrcrain]

Hard call.

If you refoamed them, they would perhaps be easier to sell, but then you might not want to sell them once you hear them. If you go the Ebay route, a few hundred is all you can expect if you aren't willing to ship them. You would be better off selling them through a local audiophile shop that would take them on consignment. If I remember properly, all 6 drivers can be refoamed for under $200 if your willing to do it yourself.

[Guest rebelscum]

>Hard call.

>

>If you refoamed them, they would perhaps be easier to sell,

>but then you might not want to sell them once you hear them.

>If you go the Ebay route, a few hundred is all you can expect

>if you aren't willing to ship them. You would be better off

>selling them through a local audiophile shop that would take

>them on consignment. If I remember properly, all 6 drivers

>can be refoamed for under $200 if your willing to do it

>yourself.

All 6 have been refoamed. It's not a question of their tremendous sound... I just don't have the space anymore to listen to them properly. Any idea what the percentage take of the shop should be, and what I should ask? Thanks for that advice... I had not considered it.

Randy

[Guest Bret]

> I didn't want to go the ebay route as it would have to be cash and carry because of their great size.<

That isn't really so. Yes, professional boxing could be expensive, but I think you'd be surprised at how reasonable the shipping could be if you go DHL ground (there may be others, but DHL's ground is pretty doggone cheap), or you'd be willing to take them to a trucking company somewhere.

Yeah, I know, that's a lot of hassle. But it could mean an extra couple of hundred for you. In fact, there are shippers that will come and pick-up, although I don't know what they charge for that.

L.A. is a big place, though. The newspaper might be a good place to start trying to sell them. And you might want to list them for-sale on this site (at the bottom - Sale/Wanted) but you have to set a price. I wish I could help you with that, but so much depends on the specifics of their cabinets' condition, the grills, whether drivers are "mushed-in," etc. I've seen *repaired* AR-90s, in pristine condition, sell for $400 in a situation where there was no shipping. I've also seen them on eBay with final bids like $180.

This is extremely sad, but due to the expense of repairing a pair of AR-90s (and they need more than refoaming, I can just about guarantee it) they don't sell for a whole lot, refoamed or not. Which is too bad because for $400-500 in restoration they can sound like a million. You certainly couldn't touch their sound in a "new" model for the price of restoration.

Don't part them out, please. There's a lot of that going-on and it's unnecessary. You aren't likely to get any more money out of them by destroying them. You could probably get $60 for the tweeters and *maybe* $90 for the upper midranges. The rest of the drivers you'd practically give away (as-in, not worth your time to box them).

If you don't get a buyer and are just going to throw your hands up and scrap them, please email me at tbret (at) yahoo (dot) com. I need them like a hole in the head, but if the price is right I would rather see about having them shipped to me and store them than see them destroyed.

[Guest mitch]

Market value won't be worth more than $100 through $400. The market on good vintage speakers is goofy.

If you can provide shipping the market really expands. I always look for

AR deals. I frequently buy, fix and give away speakers. I love to rescue an old set and give them life. I'll rarely recoup the cost.

Try ebay set a minimum price and see what happens.

There are some AR90 enthusiasts out here who will give top dollar.

[rrcrain]

Locally, many vintage speakers in pristine condition are going for near original price. Many JBL speakers are actually more expensive now than when they were new...and then there are others that go begging. As was said earlier, the vintage speaker market is wierd.