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AR newbie asks -- ears or imagination?


Guest tdeutsch

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Guest tdeutsch

Up until several weeks ago, I had never heard vintage AR speakers. Then my father-in-law gave me his old pair of AR-4x that he had stored in his crawl space for the last 25-30 years. After cleaning the pots, it was my intention to hook them up in my garage/workshop, connected to his old tube receiver. But my curiosity got the best of me so I hooked them up to my main system in our family room (Yamaha NS receiver).

Is it just my imagination or do these sound “different” from other speakers? What I mean is that when I listen through “normal” modern speakers, I don’t hear a lot of difference from recording to recording (cd) but with the ARs I seem to notice a large difference between the recordings. I’ll reference what’s in my cd carousel right now. One will sound really dull (like 1980’s U2) while another (a recent recording by the Decembrists) sounds like the vocalist is in the room. Compared with the modern speakers I’m used to (Pinnacle Monitor 200 3-way speakers) the ARs are definitely less full-sounding overall but yet I hear things I never noticed before – electronic effects on voices sound like what they are – artificial effects – instead of being integrated into the sound like I’m used to hearing. I thought my Pinnacles were accurate, but maybe the ARs are even more literal? Is this a good thing if it makes half of my cd collection sound dull? Do I now need to buy an audiophile-class cd player (first, I’d have to believe that such a thing needs to exist)? Or maybe are my old ARs just old and worn out?

Comments?

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I'm sure several people will be posting answers very shortly but first.

Given the age of the speakers, it's likely the surrounds have rotted out. If the speaker is played with rotted surrounds, you risk damaging the voice coil and with it, your amplifier.

What little I know of the AR4 is that they are worth repairing and if your up to it, installing new caps in the crossover.

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>I'm sure several people will be posting answers very shortly

>but first.

>

>Given the age of the speakers, it's likely the surrounds have

>rotted out. If the speaker is played with rotted surrounds,

>you risk damaging the voice coil and with it, your amplifier.

>

>What little I know of the AR4 is that they are worth repairing

>and if your up to it, installing new caps in the crossover.

Hi there;

First, I would take a flashlight and look at the woofers surrounds through the grill cloths.

See if they are missing pieces or all of the surround.

Maybe you might be lucky and have cloth surrounds rather than foam.

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Ok gentlemen, I have to weigh in here. Most AR-4x's have cloth surrounds, for sure those produced between 1965-1970. I don't know about those produced between 1970 and 1973.

The gentlemen already went in and cleaned the pots; I am sure he would have noticed broken woofer surrounds.

The AR-4x is a very open sounding little speaker with it's 1200 Hz crossover. The bass is of course outstanding for a speaker of its size. Like all AR's, it is a very neutral and honest musical reproducer. I would expect that a poor recording would sound poor, while a great recording would sound excellent. In my experience, that is the way it is with the AR-4x.

As a side note, and I could be full of crap here, but my sense of it is that some of that 1970's/early 80's music was not remastered from analog to digital very well. As a result, the Vinyl versions were reported to have sounded better.

Enjoy your AR-4x's.

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A few more thoughts, I do not think the AR-4x's are worn out ! Keep in mind that AR designed this as an entry level speaker in 1965. They were marketed at $51-$57, and they were a remarkable bargain.

The whole system is pretty balanced; acoustic power response and dispersion are excellent. Compared to other AR speaker systems with dome tweeters, the top end frequency response is not quite as good. If anything that is where it would be lacking.

As for the Audiophile CD player. I have a fairly expensive Marantz CD player and a quick and dirty Kenwood changer. With 2ax's, the signal content seems to be a tad more potent on the very top and bottom ends with the Marantz. Not a big difference at all.

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Guest OldRelayer

It sounds like the man is finding out what all of us here know, that Vintage AR speakers are just a nice way to listen to music. It is amazing that even a $50 entry level speaker can compete so well, a testament to the Engineers and manufacturing people of the day and what we all know as the great East Coast sound.

Gawd, there are enough poor recordings to go around, just because something is produced with modern technology doesn't make it good. There is still a lot of artistry and skill that goes into making a great recording. For those of us that still do Vinyl, when both CD and record are available, I will take the record every time.

I think most of the people who frequent this forum are not only audiophiles but are hobbyist. It is a great hobby, welcome to the club.

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Guest tdeutsch

These were purchased in 1966 or 67 -- they are of the cloth surround variety. And they look pristine (except for the verdigris that had grown in the pots).

And you are right, many cd's, even some well-engineered old ones (jazz and classical), sound really nice. But still very "different" from what I'm used to.

I've always rolled my eyes at the notion that one could "hear" the difference between amps, pre-amps, speaker wires, cd players etc. But with these speakers, I bet I could! Oh no! Somebody put a lock on my wallet before I go audiophile! All this because of a free pair of musty little old speakers. I must have a pair of 3a's. Aaaarrrgh!!!

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I suspect that there is a difference in sound between an acoustic suspension system and the newer ported systems. Now that computer modeling allows for easier design of ported systems, it appears that (with the exception of some subwoofers) sealed designs have given way to ported designs. Even large floor standing modern towers seem to limit woofer size to 6.5 or so inches stacking several of these in some cases. I wonder if the sound from a single 8 inch woofer (in the case of the AR-4x) in a sealed system outperforms in terms of accuracy these modern towers.

I have both AR-4x's in my home theater and AR-3's in my living room. Both are great sounding systems.

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