UGLY AR-1W on ebay

[dynaco_dan]

There is one really ugly AR-1W one ebay now until the 17th.

Ebay #5853075102 serial number 695.

Looks like another possible candidate for my museum. MMMMMM

I could almost feel its character by the photos, what a nice feeling.

I would love to re-finish this cabinet.

I see why Tom has such a collection now.

[tysontom]

>There is one really ugly AR-1W one ebay now until the 17th.

>

>Ebay #5853075102 serial number 695.

>

>Looks like another possible candidate for my museum. MMMMMM

>

>I could almost feel its character by the photos, what a nice

>feeling.

>

>I would love to re-finish this cabinet.

>

>I see why Tom has such a collection now.

This eBay AR-1W is definitely an early one, made just after Ed Villchur demonstrated to Henry Kloss that the half-round surround was superior to the pleated surround. It had lower distortion. This eBay AR-1W would have been made in early 1955, probably in the summer of 1955 (the first AR-1s were shipped in March, 1955). It also had the strapped 3.2-ohm resistor that could be connected in series to allow 8-ohm connection, and to lower the damping factor (should the speaker be mounted unfavorably, such as out in the middle of the floor or in the center of a large wall).

These very early cloth-surround AR-1Ws had a very low free-air resonance (fs), probably in the range of 12-14 Hz. It was this-vintage AR-1 (same woofer as the 1W) that was compared by Julian Hirsch (*The Audio League Report*) to the huge, refrigerator-sized Klipschorn, in which Mr. Hirsch said, "At the risk of getting a little ahead of ourselves, we can point out that at 25 cycles, and below, the '1-percent efficient' AR-1 is actually more efficient than the '50-percent efficient' Klipschorn. The latter gives up rather abruptly somewhere in the vicinity of 30 cycles and produces little fundamental energy, while the AR-1 can generate relatively undistorted fundamentals down to 20 cycles and below." This report, along with the AR's small size, significantly hurt sales of large speakers such as the Klipschorns, E-V Patricians, University Classics, Jensen Imperials and so forth. After all, the large size was for one reason: low bass, and the AR-1 had them "covered." Paul Klipsch reeled under this report, and for years traveled around the country to dealers trying to prove that the Klipschorn had better bass than the AR speaker. It all had to do with the immutable “laws of physics.” The numbers don't lie, however, and the facts spoke for themselves.

Of course, some on this site might today accuse the fifty-two-year-old AR-1 design as being "primitive," but don't believe it! It was ahead of its time by many decades.

--Tom Tyson

[Andy]

Looks like it's number is 6954 not 695.......it would have been a early one. Only about 250 AR 1W's were sold in 1955 (I'd love to have a first year 1 or 1W!) You have to wonder how speakers get so beat up, many ended up in college dorms in the 60s & 70s. This one even has a bit of water damage evident.

[dynaco_dan]

>Looks like it's number is 6954 not 695.......it would have

>been a early one. Only about 250 AR 1W's were sold in 1955

>(I'd love to have a first year 1 or 1W!) You have to wonder

>how speakers get so beat up, many ended up in college dorms in

>the 60s & 70s. This one even has a bit of water damage

>evident.

Hi there;

I think Tom owns a really early version of an AR-1 in his museum.

I was of course tongue in cheek with saying the speaker being ugly.

All of my AR speakers are ugly, with the crude wiring and black paint on the front of the enclosures, but with with a nice grill cloth on, I just sit back, relax, enjoy and smile at the pleasant sound quality, whether it is the AR-4X's or LST's.

I did have a particular funny feeling of attachment with those photos of that AR-1W though.

It was saying, "buy me, buy me, I need a good home".

From past experience, it will be too rich for me to bid on and buy.

[tysontom]

>Looks like it's number is 6954 not 695.......it would have

>been a early one. Only about 250 AR 1W's were sold in 1955

>(I'd love to have a first year 1 or 1W!) You have to wonder

>how speakers get so beat up, many ended up in college dorms in

>the 60s & 70s. This one even has a bit of water damage

>evident.

>Looks like it's number is 6954 not 695.......it would have

>been a early one. Only about 250 AR 1W's were sold in 1955

>(I'd love to have a first year 1 or 1W!) You have to wonder

>how speakers get so beat up, many ended up in college dorms in

>the 60s & 70s. This one even has a bit of water damage

>evident.

According to the images shown with that AR-1W, the serial number is 695.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/user_files/884.jpg

That unit might have been made later than I stated earlier -- perhaps in 1956, but I am not sure of the exact numbers made each year. Where did you get the figure of 250 for AR-1Ws in 1955? That's good information! Incidentally, most of these old AR-1s and AR-1Ws still perform fine, despite their poor physical condition.

--Tom Tyson

[ar_pro]

An *excellent* candidate for refinishing - I've done a few AR-1 systems, and the cabinets from this era seem to have a somewhat thicker veneer than the later AR-3a boxes, so there's plenty of wood veneer to work with, and the front mouldings are *solid* wood - sand away!

Now, if only the woofer didn't look so "primitive"! ;-)

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Tom;

On second and third look there is a four on a wrinkle just on the right side of the serial number

I'll see it better, when I have it in my museum. lol

[Andy]

Tom, In the sellers description, he lists the number as 6954 and if you look at the photo of the label, you can see the 4 following the 5. As to the number of speakers sold in 1955; In the January, 2005 interview by David Lander for STEREOPHILE, Villchure says "In 1955 we shipped 455 speakers, about half were A-1's and Half were 1-W's". I figured 250 was a fair round number for the 1W ? It seems as though it wasn't until 1956 that production really ramped up and serious production (thousands of units) got going in 1957-58. I'd be interested in any figures you may have on early AR. I'm a KLH guru, but AR is the father of Acoutic suspension and I would like to learn as much as possible.......

[tysontom]

>Tom, In the sellers description, he lists the number as 6954

>and if you look at the photo of the label, you can see the 4

>following the 5. As to the number of speakers sold in 1955;

>In the January, 2005 interview by David Lander for

>STEREOPHILE, Villchure says "In 1955 we shipped 455 speakers,

>about half were A-1's and Half were 1-W's". I figured

>250 was a fair round number for the 1W ? It seems as though

>it wasn't until 1956 that production really ramped up and

>serious production (thousands of units) got going in 1957-58.

>I'd be interested in any figures you may have on early AR.

>I'm a KLH guru, but AR is the father of Acoutic suspension and

>I would like to learn as much as possible.......

Andy,

You're off to a good start on AR history. First of all, you are right that the serial number is four digits and not three, and that number does appear to be 6954 rather than 695. I can see the four now, and I did not notice it before. That makes the speaker most likely a 1957 or 1958 version (I know that in 1958 AR sold 1644 AR-1s and 336 AR-1Ws). I think the AR-1 and AR-1W used the same serial number stream, but I'm not positive.

--Tom Tyson