One's with 3's

[samberger0357]

AR3's, that is. Two great systems, combined, because I only have room for one system and hate to  not use either pair. And they are each a pain to move in and out, so why not? Powered by a McIntosh MC2120 which can safely drive loads down to 2 ohms. 3's angled per astute, on the mark recommendation from David Moran. And they sound absolutely wonderful together.

 

I'm a lucky guy.

 

 

[Giorgio AR]

Beautiful matched, two pairs at the top, unusual for me to use AR3 angled at 45 ° with respect to the listener (I always listen with the speakers parallel to the wall).
What difference do you find between the two options, I would like your opinion (among other things my "wall" of speakers does not allow the 45 ° angled option, except the pair of AR4xa above the AR LSTs that I will try in this configuration !).
P.S. There is an intruder together with the AR speakers: on the floor, partially visible is a pair of Jensen Model6 positioned horizontally.

[samberger0357]

5 hours ago, Giorgio AR said:

Beautiful matched, two pairs at the top, unusual for me to use AR3 angled at 45 ° with respect to the listener (I always listen with the speakers parallel to the wall).
What difference do you find between the two options, I would like your opinion (among other things my "wall" of speakers does not allow the 45 ° angled option, except the pair of AR4xa above the AR LSTs that I will try in this configuration !).
P.S. There is an intruder together with the AR speakers: on the floor, partially visible is a pair of Jensen Model6 positioned horizontally.

As indicated the placement of the 3's was following some advice from a trusted audio enthusiast. And it didn't sound bad at all. But since neither my ears nor my gear are terribly sensitive to things like placement, I've decided I prefer the 3's horizontally where they sound just as good.

 

 

 

[Giorgio AR]

Beautiful in addition to the top speakers and the Mc 2120 also the C11 preamplifier and the "grandiose" MR78 ... personally I listen to a lot of FM radio with many tuners and receivers, but my MR77 especially in the evening is comparable in sound quality to a CD player , however, the same enjoyment on the radio is also given to me by a cheap, but equal to MC, Philips RH651 (it cost me 1/20 compared to the MR77!), seeing is believing.

[samberger0357]

Yes I listen to a lot of FM also. Lucky to have some excellent stations that focus on jazz and classical here in the San Francisco Bay Area. KDFC, the classical station, tends to get the most play in between this stuff

 

 

[Giorgio AR]

Gulp !!! I seem to see a record shop as they were in Italy between the 70s and 80s ... my compliments for your passion for vinyls. I think I see a small part of the store, oops of your collection, you are a big one, honestly
George

[samberger0357]

Well, I'm kinda old so that's several decades of buying(and selling) and collecting that I have. 

 

And yes, that's just part of it.

[ar_pro]

You boys have some great collections! 

[samberger0357]

I have gone back to angling the 3's, also upside down. Allows to almost exact placement above the tweeters of the One's tweeters "trying to make the plane a smoother baffle for the tweeters, cutting down on interference / diffraction from the exposed top of the One and the exposed bottom of the 3...The reorientation toe-in does not matter much since the 3 tweeter has close to hemispherical dispersion to 10k and beyond. As you probably know, it was this tweeter which Allison surpassed somewhat in his AR3a and then truly surpassed in his own namesake tweeter..."(David Moran). After listening for a few days like this, I've found it to be smoother and allow for a better blending with the One's. And I've gotten used to how they look.

 

I finally got my McIntosh MC2300 back from a repair, and have it driving the One's, with the 2120 driving the 3's. Since both have separate gain controls it's pretty easy to match up the output, or at least get in the audible ballpark.

10 minutes ago, ar_pro said:

You boys have some great collections! 

I just today unloaded a bunch of gear that was taking up the better part of what used to be my daughter's room. Felt really good. I'm trying very hard to limit how much gear I have that's not used these days, and when I do add something try to unload something as fast as possible.

 

Anyway, that's the objective.

 

[frankmarsi]

What would E.V. and R.A. comments be like if they each saw these most unlikely combination of boxes? I can only imagine.  They'd probably say: "The antithesis of a proper hi-fi system."  

These attempts at reinventing the wheel is futile and can be misleading to newer and future listeners.

Matching speakers connected to matching amplifiers. Anything else is audio-folly.

FM

[samberger0357]

Just now, frankmarsi said:

What would E.V. and R.A. comments be like if he saw these most unlikely combination of boxes? I can only imagine.  They'd probably say: "The

antithesis of a proper hi-fi system."  These attempts at reinventing the wheel is futile and can be misleading to newer and future listeners.

Matching speakers connected to matching amplifiers. Anything else is audio-folly.

FM

I think they'd smile, laugh, and not take it so seriously and be happy that folks are still enjoying their products.

 

Lighten up. And Happy Holidays.

[frankmarsi]

It is as it appears "The antithesis of a proper hi-fi system." 

[samberger0357]

Just now, frankmarsi said:

It is as it appears "The antithesis of a proper hi-fi system." 

That's not the goal Frank. The goal is to use what I have and make it sound great. Which it does.

You seem to be the antithesis of a happy human being. Wonder why?

[samberger0357]

"Two absolute classic loudspeaker systems!  Both speakers were the best of their times and still superb!  It is fortunate that you drive them with a transformer-coupled McIntosh amplifier—capable of easily handling any load.  Paralleling the AR-3 (whose impedance drops below 3 ohms over part of the range) and the A:1 would pose some difficulty for most amplifiers.

 

Very nice, Sam! "- Tom Tyson comments made in the Allison Speakers Google group.

[newandold]

20 hours ago, samberger0357 said:

"Two absolute classic loudspeaker systems!  Both speakers were the best of their times and still superb!  It is fortunate that you drive them with a transformer-coupled McIntosh amplifier—capable of easily handling any load.  Paralleling the AR-3 (whose impedance drops below 3 ohms over part of the range) and the A:1 would pose some difficulty for most amplifiers.

 

Very nice, Sam! "- Tom Tyson comments made in the Allison Speakers Google group.

No surprise coming from Tom (and no one knows better than he).

Tom owned the most pristine pair of Allison Ones I had ever seen…..If I recall correctly, the very last pair ever made.

 

[samberger0357]

12 minutes ago, newandold said:

No surprise coming from Tom (and no one knows better than he).

Tom owned the most pristine pair of Allison Ones I had ever seen…..If I recall correctly, the very last pair ever made.

 

☺️

[samberger0357]

Roy and Ed seemed liked pretty cool, laid back guys. Ed worked 3 days a week in Cambridge, and then headed home to Woodstock.

 

I like this from an interview with Roy in Stereophile:

 

"

Allison: Almost every day that he was in Cambridge, after the workday was over, we went into Eddie's office and had a conference, which consisted mainly of eating macadamia nuts and drinking Johnnie Walker scotch.

Lander: Red or Black label? [laughter]

Allison: Black. There was a liquor locker with all kinds of alcoholic beverages available for the senior executives, including fine wines like Chteau Lafite. We all had company cars—Chevrolets. We didn't even have to buy gasoline; we had a caretaker who checked the cars and filled them with gas.

Lander: A manager could justify all that by saying it kept you at work longer.

Allison: Actually, some useful discussions occurred over the little jiggers of Johnnie Walker Black."

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/glorious-time-ars-edgar-villchur-and-roy-allison-allison-part-1

 

 

[Giorgio AR]

Sam, I hope your back is okay, moving the Allisons and AR3a's is tiring and challenging.

[samberger0357]

Back is good. I don't lift the Allison's, and the 3's(not 3a's) are heavy but I'm in pretty good shape.

 

But ultimately, I've decided to use my 3's in a second bedroom system, so the A1's are back by themselves.

 

 I know somebody who'll be happy to hear that.