AR Cabinets ? ? ?

[Guest alcon]

Which early AR models were made with solid wood cabinets? Also, which were made of veneer? Lastly, when did they start making vinyl cabinets? Thank you!

[Andy]

I'm sure Tom T. has the most info on this. From what i've seen, all models from the 1950's were plywood covered with veneer or unfinished pine-plywood. Then about 1960-2 the medium density fiberboard came in...(excpt the back panel remained plywood for most of the 1960's on AR models. Vinyl is a five letter word speaker collectors don't like to use, but it seemed to become acccepted in the 70's , even for quality speakers. I only look for earlier AR, pre-1970 so I don't know much about what models used vinyl. The early cabinets are pieces of art the way they are constructed!

[Guest alcon]

Thanks. What were the model numbers of the non-vinyl ARs?

[Andy]

Every AR-1, AR2,2a,2ax,3,3a,4 and 4x Iv'e seen was wood veneer, not vinyl. There may be exceptions with post 1970 versions. If you're buying a pair sight unseen, ask the seller....most folks can tell the difference.

Also, many of the later ones were wood as well, models 5,6,7 etc.

[tysontom]

>Which early AR models were made with solid wood cabinets?

>Also, which were made of veneer? Lastly, when did they start

>making vinyl cabinets? Thank you!

I think Andy is correct in his answer; I would only add to what he has already said. By "solid wood" I think you are referring to wood plywood as opposed to "solid-stock" wood. No AR speakers were made with solid-wood cabinets as it is dimensionally unstable and quite inferior to plywood and MDF for the same thickness; only the smallest, most-exhorbitantly priced high-end satellite speakers have ever been made of 100% solid-stock wood. The earliest AR-1s, AR-2s, AR-2as and AR-3s used a marine-grade plywood for the cabinet sides, back and front baffle. At the end of the 1950s AR began to use a dense engineered panel known as NovaPly, and later a more-generic MDF material was used for cabinets. I think NovaPly was made by USP, but there was some sort of patent brouhaha over NovaPly with Georgia Pacific. It should be remembered that plywood is inferior to MDF-type panels when it comes to "deadness," and therefore the latter is actually a better material to use in speaker cabinets.

A relatively thick veneer (walnut, mahogany, birch, cherry, teak, korina) was then applied to the wood surface, or the speaker could be purchased in "utility" grade pine (suitable for opaque-paint finishes, but not staining). The cabinet moldings of pine cabinets were then fashioned from solid-stock birch, also unfinished. If a cabinet was made in walnut, for example, the molding would be solid-stock walnut (American or Black Walnut). The veneers were sometimes "flat-cut" or "half-round-cut" flitches, but the pattern was always nicely done and usually "book-matched" when half-round was used. Unfortunately, AR did not manufacture "matched" cabinets for a stereo pair. Consecutive-serial numbers did not mean matched cabinets.

Early ("classic") AR speakers using geniune-wood veneer cabinets included the AR-1, AR-1W, (the AR-1U was the "Ulitily Finish" plywood cabinet), AR-2, AR-2a, AR-2x, AR-2ax (some later ones available in vinyl), AR-3, AR-3t, AR-3st, AR-3a, AR-4, AR-4x, AR-5, AR-6 (later also available in vinyl), AR-7 (earlies ones in walnut-stained birch; others vinyl), AR-8 (vinyl always, I believe), AR-LST (walnut and special-order black finish), AR-LST-2 (walnut). Vinyl cabinets began to appear in the early 1970s, and were present in greater numbers later on in production of different models.

It is interesting that the early AR cabinets were made by Colonial in New Hampshire, and the representative that called on AR was the son of the owner, Senator Warren Rudman.

--Tom Tyson

[Guest alcon]

WOW! What a great explanation. Did this information come from a book or article that you read? If so, which one? Thanks for the information.

[tysontom]

>WOW! What a great explanation. Did this information come

>from a book or article that you read? If so, which one?

>Thanks for the information.

Thanks for your comments. Most of the information came from numerous binders of information I have on Acoustic Research, and from letters and data from people I knew at AR over the years. I also worked in the furniture wood-veneer industry briefly after college, so that experience helped understand the wood industry better.

--Tom Tyson