The Development of the AR9 Loudspeaker

[tysontom]

This is an article I wrote last year about the development of the AR9 loudspeaker, a powerful and no-compromise loudspeaker that was clearly ahead of its time when it was introduced in 1978.  This article is somewhat about the philosophy behind the development and engineering of this speaker, and it speaks to the huge amount of work that was done to create this fine loudspeaker.  Thanks to former AR employees Ken Kantor, James Kates, Lucette Nicoll and others at AR for their help on some matters regarding this fine loudspeaker.  I had hoped to track down many others that were involved in the creation of this speaker, but many are gone now or have moved on to other ventures in life.  I would be interested in any reaction to this article -- pro or con!  Thanks for reading it.

Tom Tyson

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by tysontom
This article is going to be published, so I thought it best that I take it down from the site at this point.

[nefertem]

Thanks Tom perfect for reading during the new year stay safe

[ar_pro]

This will make for very enjoyable reading from an authoritative & knowledgeable source.

Many thanks, Tom...and Happy New Year!

[Aadams]

Outstanding, carefully polished work with important anecdotal knowledge. I especially like the inclusion of these two excerpts from page 10.

AR9 proved to be an exceptionally potent low-frequency loudspeaker, but one that hardly called attention to itself. The speaker has such low harmonic distortion and smooth response, that some listeners—expecting heavier bass—felt the speaker was perhaps bass-shy, yet the true measure of a high-quality bass reproducer is no bass reproduction unless called for in the program material.

During AR’s presentation of the AR9 to the Boston Audio
Society, Tim Holl acknowledged Roy Allison’s work in this area in describing the design of theAR9, similar in approach of the Allison: One speaker’s pioneering “Room-Matched” design.

 

 

[teknofossil]

Thank you Tom for the article. I immediately sent it to my friend who just bought a pair of AR9 from a gentleman in NY. We talked about the potential purchase before he made the decision.

I did however warn him about the rather low WAF, which I suspect he is getting rewarded for. 😉

 

-T

[DavidR]

Nice article.

Wasn't it C. Victor Campos who has originally wanted/suggested the AR9 to be powered speakers (internal amplification) ?

[tysontom]

21 hours ago, nefertem said:

Thanks Tom perfect for reading during the new year stay safe

Thanks!  

Tom

[tysontom]

19 hours ago, ar_pro said:

This will make for very enjoyable reading from an authoritative & knowledgeable source.

Many thanks, Tom...and Happy New Year!

Thanks!

Tom

 

[tysontom]

12 hours ago, Aadams said:

Outstanding, carefully polished work with important anecdotal knowledge. I especially like the inclusion of these two excerpts from page 10.

AR9 proved to be an exceptionally potent low-frequency loudspeaker, but one that hardly called attention to itself. The speaker has such low harmonic distortion and smooth response, that some listeners—expecting heavier bass—felt the speaker was perhaps bass-shy, yet the true measure of a high-quality bass reproducer is no bass reproduction unless called for in the program material.

During AR’s presentation of the AR9 to the Boston Audio
Society, Tim Holl acknowledged Roy Allison’s work in this area in describing the design of theAR9, similar in approach of the Allison: One speaker’s pioneering “Room-Matched” design.

 

 

Thanks.  I appreciate your comments.  At one point, you had mentioned the comparison of clarity when comparing the 3-way AR-3a to the 4-way AR9.  There is a lot in what you said, and the design of the AR9 LMR driver added clarity to this important part of the spectrum.

Tom

[tysontom]

2 hours ago, DavidR said:

Nice article.

Wasn't it C. Victor Campos who has originally wanted/suggested the AR9 to be powered speakers (internal amplification) ?

Thanks.  Victor did mention the powered version of the AR9 to me in a conversation once, many years after the fact.  I later heard that it was Bob Berkovitz who had conceived of and promoted the powered design internally.  Perhaps Victor had suggested the original idea initially and convinced Berkovitz?  In any event, the design never made it into production though a prototype was made.

Tom

[Giorgio AR]

Thanks Tom, as always your interventions are always interesting, every time they add small pieces to the history of Acoustic Research ... we hope you can finally publish the book I have been waiting for !!
It is long, complicated and burdensome, I think many of us could contribute financially if this were a problem and an obstacle.
I wish you a splendid 2022, fresh and above all good health.

Giorgio.

[DavidR]

15 hours ago, tysontom said:

Thanks.  Victor did mention the powered version of the AR9 to me in a conversation once, many years after the fact.  I later heard that it was Bob Berkovitz who had conceived of and promoted the powered design internally.  Perhaps Victor had suggested the original idea initially and convinced Berkovitz?  In any event, the design never made it into production though a prototype was made.

Tom

Because of your post on Victor's passing I found out he lived right down the street from me - just a few houses down. I knew Lillian as she walked her dog by our house (she recently moved). Had I only known. He had a nice pair of Allison 9s.

Do you know if Victor worked for Roy Allison? His business was in the next town over.

[Aadams]

14 hours ago, tysontom said:

At one point, you had mentioned the comparison of clarity when comparing the 3-way AR-3a to the 4-way AR9

I apologize for that conservation, I recall being a bit obstinate. Had I been less so, I would have immediately picked up on a key piece of information you passed along at the time, instead of realizing much later.   You have been posting useful, durable, juicy nuggets for twenty two years.  Thanks for your patience and endurance.

 

 

[tysontom]

14 hours ago, Giorgio AR said:

Thanks Tom, as always your interventions are always interesting, every time they add small pieces to the history of Acoustic Research ... we hope you can finally publish the book I have been waiting for !!
It is long, complicated and burdensome, I think many of us could contribute financially if this were a problem and an obstacle.
I wish you a splendid 2022, fresh and above all good health.

Giorgio.

Giorgio, thank you for your comments.  I actually took down the article for now because it is likely to be publshed next month (not for sure, though).  You are right about one thing: it is complicated and burdensome with my usual excessive detail.  Hope you have a great 2022 as well!  

Tom

[tysontom]

5 hours ago, Aadams said:

I apologize for that conservation, I recall being a bit obstinate. Had I been less so, I would have immediately picked up on a key piece of information you passed along at the time, instead of realizing much later.   You have been posting useful, durable, juicy nuggets for twenty two years.  Thanks for your patience and endurance.

 

 

No need for any apology!  I recall that you had good points, and these discussions have always been a good thing for this forum.  If anyone should apologize, it should probably be me for not being more tolerant of other opinions!

Tom

[tysontom]

7 hours ago, DavidR said:

Because of your post on Victor's passing I found out he lived right down the street from me - just a few houses down. I knew Lillian as she walked her dog by our house (she recently moved). Had I only known. He had a nice pair of Allison 9s.

Do you know if Victor worked for Roy Allison? His business was in the next town over.

Victor worked at AR on two different occasions, once in the early 1960s and once again in the 1970s, and he knew Roy (and Ed Villchur) well.  He also worked for a period ot time at KLH and other companies in the high-fidelity business.  He never worked for Roy Allison at Allison Acoustics to my knowledge.  

Tom

[Pete B]

I enjoyed the read Tom, and the extra detail makes the reader feel like they are getting an

inside perspective.  Nice work, I actually printed it out in color to add to my collection.

[Giorgio AR]

Thanks Tom, I have already downloaded the article that I keep for my personal use ... already placed in my archive.

[xmas111]

Tom,

    Fantastic job!  

    I've owned AR9's since 1978 and still used them today.   I rebuilt them a while back and they still sound wonderful.

   It was a real pleasure reading your article. And I agree with Pete B, all the technical and inside information made it feel like you were part of the development team!

   Your writing skills are top notch also!

   I too have downloaded it for my personal storage and use.

   By the way, love the picture of the AR9 sideways on the tripod for the testing session.

   Thank you again,

    John

[tysontom]

On 1/3/2022 at 8:10 PM, Pete B said:

I enjoyed the read Tom, and the extra detail makes the reader feel like they are getting an

inside perspective.  Nice work, I actually printed it out in color to add to my collection.

Thanks very much, Pete!  

[tysontom]

15 hours ago, xmas111 said:

Tom,

    Fantastic job!  

    I've owned AR9's since 1978 and still used them today.   I rebuilt them a while back and they still sound wonderful.

   It was a real pleasure reading your article. And I agree with Pete B, all the technical and inside information made it feel like you were part of the development team!

   Your writing skills are top notch also!

   I too have downloaded it for my personal storage and use.

   By the way, love the picture of the AR9 sideways on the tripod for the testing session.

   Thank you again,

    John

John, thanks so much for your comments!  I wish I had worked at AR during that time, and I was handicapped by not being on the inside.  However, I have many documents about the speaker development, and I was able to talk to many of the people who were there at the time.  These helped quite a lot.  I love that tripod picture, too.  It was a good way to elevate the speaker well into "God's anechoic chamber," as Villchur used to say about measuring speaker response outdoors.

[tysontom]

On 1/4/2022 at 1:04 AM, Giorgio AR said:

Thanks Tom, I have already downloaded the article that I keep for my personal use ... already placed in my archive.

Thanks, Giorgio!

[tysontom]

On 1/3/2022 at 12:53 PM, Aadams said:

I apologize for that conservation, I recall being a bit obstinate. Had I been less so, I would have immediately picked up on a key piece of information you passed along at the time, instead of realizing much later.   You have been posting useful, durable, juicy nuggets for twenty two years.  Thanks for your patience and endurance.

 

 

Well, what you said regarding the midrange clarity had a lot of merit.  You were insistent, but you had good reason for it.  I don't know that everyone would realize the differences, but in the AR9, the Lower Mid Range driver essentially was dedicated to much of that spectrum and contributed greatly to clarity and detail.  

[AR surround]

Terrific article, Tom.   I really enjoyed it.   The AR9's have been my main speakers since August 1978.   They have survived no less than five moves.  I got the pair when I was temporarily living at my parents' house between moves.   I'll never forget the look on my mother's face...mouth wide open in shock...when we hauled those huge boxes into the house.    My relationship with this pair of speakers is the longest with anything / anybody in my entire life.  (I'd better be careful what I say.  Don't want to make my wife jealous.  LOL)

[tysontom]

1 hour ago, AR surround said:

Terrific article, Tom.   I really enjoyed it.   The AR9's have been my main speakers since August 1978.   They have survived no less than five moves.  I got the pair when I was temporarily living at my parents' house between moves.   I'll never forget the look on my mother's face...mouth wide open in shock...when we hauled those huge boxes into the house.    My relationship with this pair of speakers is the longest with anything / anybody in my entire life.  (I'd better be careful what I say.  Don't want to make my wife jealous.  LOL)

Thanks!  That is impressive that you've had those AR9s for all those years!  Gerald Landau, an early Marketing Director at AR, used to tell hi-fi dealers that AR speakers, once sold, tended to "stay sold."