Micro-Statics.....

[frankmarsi]

Has anyone seen this sale of Micro-Statics on the auction site that were sold for $310.00, oh my. 

For me, through all these years since 1974 they've been my only recourse when it comes to very good to excellent highs and especially with their high power handling ability.

One of my initial reasons I bought my AR-3a's in 1971 was their dome tweeters which was making its way in the world of Hi-Fi but, I didn't know how limited AR domes were when it c came to power-handling ability. By '74 I was saved by these little but hardy cone tweeters.

In their history, they've served many AR speaker owners way back when there were no other options. Throughout the years they have lasted and performed splendidly with never a problem or burn-out.

If you're a recent AR owner or came into the world of vintage after the fact like many have, you may not be familiar with these tweeters. In the early '70s, they were the most economical and fastest way to regain your high frequencies that so many AR owners were forced to do with-out. I purchase my original pair for about $78. which was about the same price I paid for my new Shure V15 Type 3 I bought the same year. Searching for the best price back then was a matter of going from different store to store, week after week as we didn't have the ease of the web. Noting that aspect, I actually preferred learning hands-on, rather I should say ears-on compared to reading the countless personal opinions one is forced to sift through by using the internet. I didn't have to worry about delivery problems as every piece of my equipment I picked up myself from the dealer, put in the car and took them home in very caring fashion.

FM

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156167601838?mkevt=1&plmtId=1110100101&mesgId=4001&mkpid=0&emsid=enull.m161499.l174139&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid&bu=43113236379&trkId=c03f97ea-2c8b-4f25-95e8-3f66eaaef2a5&cnvId=a7fb74a1-c76a-4a5d-81a4-a4efd73d9c0c&osub=-1~1&crd=20240419110203&segname&recoId=156167601838&recoPos=1 

P.S.   I forgot to mention that once I installed my Micro-Statics on top of my AR-3a's I was finally able to listen at realistic sound levels with my new Phase Linear PL-400 with out worrying about blowing out the little arrays. Finally, not only was there an option of listening at higher levels I didn't have to listen to verify if my tweeters were working or not like I did with the AR high range tweeters, it was such a huge and gratifying difference on all levels. However, the AR-3a's glorious midrange and woofer had no problem absorbing the huge amount of wattage the PL-400 had to offer.

FM

[DavidR]

Hey Frank

MicroAcoustics was small producer of quality phono cartridges. They got into the speaker business with those Micro-Statics. I believe their next speaker was the MA FRM-1. A 10 inch woofer of good quality (don't remember the make) and a 5-tweeter array with Peerless tweeters. Almost everything else was on the cheap. They sold very well. A friend of mine gave me his pristine pair. Each speaker had a different type of stuffing and a single electrolytic cap for a crossover. I built a crossover for them and put a Miflex KPCU-1 (all copper cap) in the tweeter cap cascade bundle. I added AR stuffing from some AR94s I parted out. I use them with a tube pre and an Emotiva A-100 headphone/flex amp. Vinyl is real nice to listen to.

The sad part of the story is when they introduced their FRM-3. Bose went after them for copyright infringement as a knock-off of their 301. Happy part is they won in court and their speaker was said to sound better. Sad part is the big corporation with deep pockets and big lawyers put MicroAcoustics into bankruptcy. That was the end.

[meta_noia_fot]

I saw that auction @frankmarsi and put in a losing bid. I was hoping to pair them with AR-2’s I’m working on but that wasn’t meant to be. 

[frankmarsi]

Hi-ya DavidR, correct, a couple of their cartridges did receive lofty reviews and are still sort after by some even these days. I'm entrenched enough with modern LOMC cartridges to go backwards in time in that area. In fact my antiquated AR's, PL amps and turntables are complementary to the cartridges I use and the reverse is true also. And believe when I say the ones I use mesh very nicely with the vintage sound of AR's I'm concrete in my opinions. I cherry-picked  the phono-cartridges to do just that.

I always knew back then the Micro-Acoustics company was a small company and probably unable to compete with the larger concerns out there. Evidently, that was the case.

As I recall when their line of speakers came out, the Japanese manufactures were just going into high-gear and the sheer size of Japanese imports at the time overwhelmed the US market, I knew many fell by the wayside because of it. In fact I can recall a number of US manufacturers sort taking a back seat in the industry. And the days when USA manufacturers started have their components made over-seas. Without getting terribly political here, free-enterprise has a way tripping on it's own feet. By the early mid sixties much industry was relocating over-seas, it's led to the US losing much of the market it dominated in many areas. We suffer for it today also. I was around as a child in the '50s but aware enough to hear and learn if a product didn't say Made in the USA it wasn't a quality item in most cases. I could go on but, why bother as the world is too fragmented to make any sense by just being a citizen. Many aspects of current life are out of control as it is. Being powerless except for being in my own world and home with my well earned and well put together stereo system keeps me pacified enough. The world has become too big, contrary to what we were saying in the early '60s.

 

FM

[frankmarsi]

@meta_noia_fot,     do your self a favor, pursue them, they're worth the effort. My thinking is at some point the latest manufacturers of replacement tweeters will probably wind-down as they are catering mostly to the vintage market, namely AR owners.

They are other outboard tweeters from the past so, some digging around is in order. I find the M.S. strong, excellent sounding and more than a vintage listener could ask for all parameters considered.

FM

[DavidR]

This is the FRM-1

[frankmarsi]

Twenty years ago, I bought a set of these tweeters without the rest of the speaker or cabinet, just the tweeters mounted in a metal frame as shown.

Living in fear that my AR speakers would be erased due not having any tweeters, I purchased those in my quest to have something in case I blew anymore of the tweeters I had in reserve. They're stored in a cardboard box somewhere around here.

Back then when M.S. was current, I felt they were doing some good things but, as we noted, sadly they failed. If I found a good condition pair like you're showing, I'd get them.

For me, the 3a and LST are clear favorites and I don't have any inkling to make drastic changes as I'm quite content with the system as is.

FM

[ReliaBill Engineer]

Micro Acoustics was best known for their cutting styli used to master the lacquer discs for records. 
 

For me, there is an interesting tie in here. 
 

I have 4 MA cartridges. I had to repair all 4. Snapped cantilevers and/or broken elastomer tubes on the resolver plates. That’s where I learned to work with butyl rubber. I have the MA QDC-1, 2002, 3002, and 309. Each one is a superlative cartridge! Beryllium cantilevers on the 2002/3002 and nude diamonds. Aluminum cantilevers on the other 2. Some of the very best cartridges ever made; they are unaffected by R and C loading. Very linear and dynamic, reproducing minute detail from the grooves.

 

l got ridiculed for it, but I rebuilt the dome tweeters in my 1965 2ax speakers. I rebuilt them to greatly increase the tweeter output by re-engineering the tweeter surround using butyl rubber. My reasoning was that I have the level controls to turn the volume up or down to my own tastes. I love the sound from those phenolic dome tweets! Crystal clear and liquid smooth. 
 

I looked at those MA tweeters. But it would have been a waste of money for me. I have my tweeter pots adjusted so I don’t want for more treble. I keep the pots at 80% setting. 

[genek]

The point of the Microstatic tweeter array was not more treble, but wider dispersion, as shown in this page from the MS brochure (the "high quality $250 speaker" that MS refers to is the AR-3a). But while the array did produce wider dispersion than dome tweeters when measured close in, at more practical listening distances most listeners' rooms produced enough of a reverberant field from domes to make the array rather superfluous. They were more of an enhancement for smaller speakers with only cone tweeters, but were priced too high to be attractive to most owners of those models.

 

[ReliaBill Engineer]

But that’s not what MA says about its MS tweeter array. It also speaks about ON AXIS response, and the KLH and AR limited FR:

 

 

 

 

[genek]

Yeah, but that part was ignoring the fact that AR and KLH deliberately designed their speakers to roll off the way they did because they believed that truly "flat" treble response sounded bad in real listening spaces. Another reason why these didn't appeal to owners of the "high quality $280 speakers."

Perhaps ironically, 40-50 years later when the dome drivers are aging out, these little arrays have finally found their function. I have two pairs of them on top of my AR-3a's and 2ax's. I picked them up 20 years ago when you could snag them on eBay for $40 a pair. I had a third pair on my domeless AR-6's, where the added dispersion really sang, but those went with my retirement and downsizing.

[frankmarsi]

As I’ve stated, the only way I can respond again is; if you owned AR-3a’s as I did in 1971 and by 1974 you were fed up with constantly blowing out tweeters regardless of how good hearted AR was in sending new replacement ones, one of your only recourses was to purchase Micro-Statics. Certainly, there were a few other choices out there but, they were more costly and being in my early twenties while working in the city trying to make a living, I had no recourse. I needed to have music playing on my system* available to pure out music at my beckoning call.

Once I placed them on top of my horizontally shelve mounted 3a’s, I was rewarded with crystal-clear high frequencies. And later that same year my purchase of a Phase Linear PL-400 out-putting 200WPC @ 8 ohms and 400WPC @ 4ohms this array of four tweeters handled all that power with out objection or complaint. It was as if I opened a room-sized window and let the daylight and cool breeze in.

Later that year a Tannoy-Micro-Seiki TM55 DD turntable, a new Shure Type III cartridge and the ever popular PL-4000 pre-amp, and a PL-400 amp were added though, it did take a while to pay off that expense.. 1974 was a big leap in hi-fi for as was 1967 in terms of purchases, I felt the need to upgrade. It was the early '70s and a new decade to enjoy.

With that kind of power and clarity I took off my smoking jacket, my port and cigar extinguished and put aside, took the tie out my pony-tail, shook my head in defiance to blown tweeters, laughed at weak barely there bass response I refused to succumb to ever again and blasted away with smooth, clear, powerful, realistic sounding music playback while enjoying the treble/bass frequencies like never before!

* System early ’74: Dynaco PAS-3x pre-amp, Dynaco ST-120 amp, AR-xa turntable, Shure M91ED & Empire SE/x cartridges, ElectroVoice FM tuner. Prior to that circa 1967, a Dyna ST-35 amp, same pre, 40B Garrard table, Shure M3D cart.. later a Shure 55M cart.

My system today is reflective of all that I learned 50 + years ago.

FM

[genek]

I've always wondered what people played to blow those tweeters out. IIRC, Ken Kantor and Tom Tyson have both recounted similar experiences, and I've patched up a few for others over the years, but my own are still original parts.

[frankmarsi]

Like always, it's the path of least resistance. Micro-Statics are 16 Ohms and when connected to a 4 ohm speaker.............guess who gets it.

[ReliaBill Engineer]

I don’t get the attraction to these MS “augmentation” boxes. Just an angled baffle box with two (4?) 8 ohm tweeters. And probably 2 bipolar electrolytic caps and a level control. Could probably use any one of 100’s of tweeters out there today. Guessing crossed over above 3 kHz and 10 kHz, switchable, even though it says “range”.

[genek]

That's pretty much it. Four little Peerless tweeters. Basically, simulating the horizontal spread of a dome tweeter with multiple cones. Was a fun little toy at $40 a pair off eBay 15-20 years ago. $300+ for a pair now is just flabbergasting.

[frankmarsi]

Fifty years ago choices were limited not like today's over abundance of everything in every area, nor did I want a raw driver hanging off of my still relatively new beautiful AR-3a's.

These were pretty much purpose designed and built to match AR-3's and 3a's both in frequency and cosmetics.

One would have to had been there to appreciate it. As I almost felt abandoned by AR corp., the answer was that these were ready made and proven.

No experimentation needed just early plug & play.

FM

[frankmarsi]

Anyone see these yet?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/395249636959?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110018%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20231016072133%26meid%3Dc1c501acc40142d897ac416a53736b4c%26pid%3D101878%26rk%3D9%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D186410639184%26itm%3D395249636959%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D4406038%26algv%3DPromotedCompV5WithHighAdFeeWithKnnRecallV1PostRankerMode1PBoosterV3a%26brand%3DUnbranded%26fpg%3D0&_trksid=p4406038.c101878.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A395249636959c1c501acc40142d897ac416a53736b4c|enc%3AAQAJAAABQCDPpW%2B6jo56SpbdyywYaBqD%2Bi3VZzH5UlkC8fWwtxo2RzzdBoA89JRsmY3bwIaXFCm1ZWr7MJQjCza8OEHXjZujMg0itz%2BY2ALNN33SDwXZtouPauws1%2B5OeaWl5juojoDin6E97nKLtdKNx%2F52JW%2FQXZ4y4fE63EbYMuLmRgEwarrBWrPgty363z6txg9oSUFb30kWK3F2Nn%2Bo7qEnVnCkm4AN8%2BWzfYKs%2FXp1GIUnr5k24qv%2B%2BOTetE5IHj%2BFJPNncmyaEUmIPznHDR4wEiUkkspltwXtMXsCpYVOLf8xS%2FVpMUkr%2BCI7VXjhYYLyqnvU5ari%2F8rGjLEgbovbpBq9BqUs14pTXsmFvFqcdp4YT7hmC0LdoYZH0dZzoOUqC9Jx5zWJF9H5YBru%2FR3s%2BPuPzZlxU4C5ghgw2%2FuK6PlK|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A4406038&itmmeta=01HW6DTE6B39RPSN53CA4T8B3H 

 

[Giorgio AR]

On 4/23/2024 at 11:34 PM, frankmarsi said:

Anyone see these yet?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/395249636959?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110018%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.COMPLISTINGS%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20231016072133%26meid%3Dc1c501acc40142d897ac416a53736b4c%26pid%3D101878%26rk%3D9%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D186410639184%26itm%3D395249636959%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D4406038%26algv%3DPromotedCompV5WithHighAdFeeWithKnnRecallV1PostRankerMode1PBoosterV3a%26brand%3DUnbranded%26fpg%3D0&_trksid=p4406038.c101878.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A395249636959c1c501acc40142d897ac416a53736b4c|enc%3AAQAJAAABQCDPpW%2B6jo56SpbdyywYaBqD%2Bi3VZzH5UlkC8fWwtxo2RzzdBoA89JRsmY3bwIaXFCm1ZWr7MJQjCza8OEHXjZujMg0itz%2BY2ALNN33SDwXZtouPauws1%2B5OeaWl5juojoDin6E97nKLtdKNx%2F52JW%2FQXZ4y4fE63EbYMuLmRgEwarrBWrPgty363z6txg9oSUFb30kWK3F2Nn%2Bo7qEnVnCkm4AN8%2BWzfYKs%2FXp1GIUnr5k24qv%2B%2BOTetE5IHj%2BFJPNncmyaEUmIPznHDR4wEiUkkspltwXtMXsCpYVOLf8xS%2FVpMUkr%2BCI7VXjhYYLyqnvU5ari%2F8rGjLEgbovbpBq9BqUs14pTXsmFvFqcdp4YT7hmC0LdoYZH0dZzoOUqC9Jx5zWJF9H5YBru%2FR3s%2BPuPzZlxU4C5ghgw2%2FuK6PlK|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A4406038&itmmeta=01HW6DTE6B39RPSN53CA4T8B3H 

 

Frank, in  AR2a and AR3 the phenolic tweeter has diameter 1,375", not 1"!

[frankmarsi]

ma che dice, Io sape

[ReliaBill Engineer]

That 1-3/8” phenolic dome tweeter would be very expensive to manufacture today. Thick, large steel faceplate doubles as the outer gap pole. But makes for an outstanding tweeter!