Last year of classic line ?

[charger3834]

Hello fellow AR guys,

Does anyone out there know the final year of production for the "classic" line AR-5,AR-2ax etc. I know that the Advanced Development series started around 1975. Did any of the classic series survive beyond 1975.

[RoyC]

Hi Brad,

According to the chart in the library the final year of production for the 3a, 2ax, 5, 6 and LST was 1976. They appear to be the only models that made it that far. It would be nice to see a chart of the final production/serial numbers of the classic line.

Tom and/or Steve probably have more info...

Roy

[charger3834]

I think you are on the money Roy. I found the same answer in an older thread. Mark really has a goldmine of knowledge stored there. Heck, I'm even impressed with some of my own threads !

I think a number of us would appreciate some sort of list that approximates dates with serial number ranges of several key models. We could do this as a group effort like Tom's AR "Famous Users" thread.

Eg. "old" 2ax 1-125,000 (1964-1969)

AR-3 1-? (1959-?)

AR-3a 1- (1967-1976)

I don't know, something like that... We could even break it down a little.

[Andy]

Thats whats nice about AR & KLH, consecutive serial numbers which makes research about production changes and dates interesting. The AR 2ax had one of the longest production runs, 12 years with only the woofer change in 1970. I think KLH holds the record, 14 years for the model Six. Hopefully someone will compile a chart on the speaker lines of these two companies...I myself have gathered alot info on KLH.

[RoyC]

It could be an interesting "forum project"!

Those who are venturing into cabinets should look for any dates stamped on the drivers and match them with cabinet serial numbers if possible. There are many AR drivers with date stamps ranging from barely discernible to easily readable. I've used a mirror and flashlight in cases where drivers were not easily removed (ie front-wired tweeters and midranges). It is possible that later changes such as replacement drivers could throw things off a bit, but with enough data some pictures should emerge.

Many mid 70's AR cabinets and drivers have an "EIA" number. For example one of my AR-3a cabinets has a serial number of 96,584. On the same label is printed:

EIA 561 7451. The last number indicates that the speaker was manufactured in the 51st week of 1974.

Other clues could include driver construction, types of crossover caps, crossover inductor values, style of grille cloth, etc.

Best holiday wishes to all,

Roy

[dynaco_dan]

>Thats whats nice about AR & KLH, consecutive serial numbers

>which makes research about production changes and dates

>interesting. The AR 2ax had one of the longest production

>runs, 12 years with only the woofer change in 1970. I think

>KLH holds the record, 14 years for the model Six. Hopefully

>someone will compile a chart on the speaker lines of these two

>companies...I myself have gathered alot info on KLH.

Hi Andy;

This is where it would be nice to see the various changes for each model.

I do believe the AR-2AX used the 1 3/8" tweeter in the early years and maybe the crossover was also altered to accomodate the 3/4" tweeter later.

I am just guessing at this, my memory is getting rusty.

I never did own 2AX's, my big brother did, and he enjoyed them for a short while, because, he was always hankering for 3A's.

Someone compiled the AR speaker history list, which was well done.

Would you be able to post your KLH literature to this website or at least make it available for archival cd copies?

Have a great Christmas.

[Andy]

Vern, You're probably right about the 2ax tweeter change, I have an early pair (1965). If you have a KLH question, post it on that page and I'll see if I can answer it. Though the years much has been posted on KLH.....a search can reveal many interesting facts.