Just bought some Acoustic Research AR3's at a garage sale!!!!!

[Guest centaurus]

hi all,

what a great group!

i need more crap like a hole in the head, but i past by a garage sale today and saw two boxes that said AR3 on them. so, $25 later, i have a pair of AR3's in their original boxes from the original owner!

they are pretty nice looking except each one has a planter ring spot. why MUST wives put planters on top of speakers? other than that, they are real clean. looks like the mahogany finish.

i am a total AR newbie. my mainstays have been bozak 302A Urbans and the Janszen Z-600's I'm rebuilding (x-overs and power supplies). the rest of the system is as follows: McIntosh MC60s, CJ pv1 (modded to PV2a specs) or precision fidelity C4, theta DSPro GEN III DAC and data II transport, technics SL-1700 MK2 turntable and shure V15 III cartridge, Adcom ACE515 line conditioner, B&W ASW500 powered subwoofer.

took them home and moved the bozaks to the bedroom. holy crap, i thought the plaster would fall off the walls! and to think i still need to reseal the cloth surrounds (although i don't want to risk breaking the grill frames to get to them).

as far as the mids and highs, maybe i need to pull the grills, the tweeters sound very extended. maybe they have already been converted to AR3a? probably not, but they sound pretty nice. not as utterly amazing as the janszens, but far better than the 200Ys in the bozaks.

the vocal mids are very rich and smooth. playing Patricia barber and ammie mann, voices filled the room quite nicely. again, the tweeters just slaughter the bozaks. there is an apparent hole with regards to the lower mids and mid bass. the lack of mid bass detail I've grown to accept with "modern speakers" i suppose AR started the trend? the Bozak B209b midrage gets the nod here. the AR bass itself is incredible though.

any suggestions on improving the sound other than cleaning the pots and resealing the cloth surround? next up is rebuilding the x-overs and power supplies as well as putting my "new" AR2 cloth surround woofers in my janszens and seeing what that sounds like (drop in replacement over the 350B- supposed to extend bass response).

the ARs are definitely keepers, but the Janszen Z-600's are just incredible with regards to the mids/HF response. no frequency holes (other than they don't go nearly as low as the AR3's) i can see my janszens as my mainstays with, maybe the AR3s used as stereo subs (they make my subwoofer sound like a joke). i know you AR fans must think i'm nuts ;-)

yes, i will still hook up the jumpers and listen to them full range on occasions.

thanks,

Robby

[Guest OldRelayer]

OMG, You could probably make a quick $600 on those speakers.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Acoustic-Research-AR-3...1QQcmdZViewItem

Maybe more yours sound like they are in better condition.

I had a Design Acoustics Subwoofer, that I just sold on Ebay for $26, I did want to get a little more, but I guess its worth what you can get. My 3a's do an incredible job with bass. I suspect they were never converted, like most of us, if he used the speakers for 40 years, he kind of had his standard for what a speaker should sound like. I am not all together sure what the a does for a 3, there are many here that can give you a thesis on the subject and probably will. But I don't think its in the bass, that was pretty much established back even before the 3, I am pretty sure. I do know what your talking about, even in the 3a's there is an apparent dip in that range, I suspect it is worse in the 3 than the 3a. I had AR-5's and they were a better in this regard but with a small sacrifice in the bass being a 10" woofer. However, the 3a is an incredible speaker and not sure I would trade them for anything and that may include my old 5's, although that would be a tough decision. A little nutz, but those are a hell of a woofer configuration for $25(I have to spend more time at yard sales), if I understand it you will be running an external electronic crossover, if so, OMG, this should sound just awesome.

Let us know

Barry

[ar_pro]

Nice set-up, Robbie - your MC60's are a great match for the AR-3. How about a photo of things?

I once owned a pair of JansZen Z-130 tweeters that I used with AR-3 woofers, with excellent results. I had them on stands, pulled out a bit into the room, and the blend between the two systems was very nice.

[Guest centaurus]

thanks!

i will take pics in the coming days and post.

anybody try janszen z-600, 500, 400, 900, etc. and compare them to AR's? what did y'all think?

thanks,

Robby

>

>Nice set-up, Robbie - your MC60's are a great match for the

>AR-3. How about a photo of things?

>

>I once owned a pair of JansZen Z-130 tweeters that I used with

>AR-3 woofers, with excellent results. I had them on stands,

>pulled out a bit into the room, and the blend between the two

>systems was very nice.

[Guest centaurus]

here's a link to some oder pics. my camera battery was low, so no pics of the janszens or the precision fidelity C4. i do not have the apogee centaur minors anymore. the lowthers are a friend's:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/centaurus3200/album?.dir=e928

>

>Nice set-up, Robbie - your MC60's are a great match for the

>AR-3. How about a photo of things?

>

>I once owned a pair of JansZen Z-130 tweeters that I used with

>AR-3 woofers, with excellent results. I had them on stands,

>pulled out a bit into the room, and the blend between the two

>systems was very nice.

[Guest OldRelayer]

Robby, you have to be single.

[roundhome]

>thanks!

>

>i will take pics in the coming days and post.

>

>anybody try janszen z-600, 500, 400, 900, etc. and compare

>them to AR's? what did y'all think?

>

>thanks,

>Robby

>

>>

>>Nice set-up, Robbie - your MC60's are a great match for

>the

>>AR-3. How about a photo of things?

>>

>>I once owned a pair of JansZen Z-130 tweeters that I used

>with

>>AR-3 woofers, with excellent results. I had them on

>stands,

>>pulled out a bit into the room, and the blend between the

>two

>>systems was very nice.

>

Hello I have some z-400 side by side with my AR3As that i just rebuilt and the 3as have them beat in the base the highs are different i'm not sure how they just have a different sound

but for overal sound the 3As are tops.

Jim

[dynaco_dan]

>Robby, you have to be single.

>

Hi there;

What a beautiful photo show.

Thank you very much.

[Guest centaurus]

ha ha, no, just a very understanding wife ;-)

she digs the stereo too!

apogees are gone. the MC60's couldn't push them. they are 84 db sensitivity, which is a BS measurment anyway. it's based on a 1khz signal. below that, the speakers go below 3 ohms and suck the current out of the amps.

i had an adcom GFA-5500 on them. sounded nice, but centaur minors had a conventional vifa 6.5 inch driver. not enough bass. the ribbons sounded great, but very barrow sweet spot and shallow soundstage.

the bozaks have glorious mids and deep soundstage. the b209b midrange driver is awesome. but the tweeters sucked. well, actually they make great upper mid drivers, but you need a real tweeter on top. they don't go much below 40hz (if that) and it's a fricken 5 cubic foot box. too big for our place.

i have great hopes for the z-600s and the AR3 in tandem. sure, it's two sets of speakers, but they will actually take up less of a footprint than the bozaks. i will still get awesome mids with the janszens along with incredible HF response. and astounding bass with the AR3s (gonna sell the B&W sub too).

which is not to say the ARs aren't great full range speakers either. they pretty dang sweet too! i've been using them nonstop as full rangers for about a week now. no complaints here ;-)

i'll take pics of the janszens and my AR3s this weekend and put them on the site.

see ya,

Robby

>Robby, you have to be single.

>