Guest Posted April 16, 2001 Report Share Posted April 16, 2001 Anyone suggest a matching center channel? I am currently using an Athena Technologies C1 which seems to be a little dull in comparison to the AR9's...which are from the 80's, I think the AR9L's but not sure...they have the dual 11" woofers though.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigel Posted April 16, 2001 Report Share Posted April 16, 2001 If you can find them, one or a pair of AR92 or AR90 speakers. You may need to put a steel sheet between them and your television. With a pair, you will probably need to wire them in series, unless your center channel amp can handle really low impedances. The series wiring will not be too bad on a center channel because there is not much bass feed to the center channel.The AR9 has dual side firing woofers, one on each side. The AR9LS has a single downward firing woofer. The AR9, IMHO, was the peak of the classic AR speakers, with the 9LS being much less desirable. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted April 16, 2001 Report Share Posted April 16, 2001 I might be missing something here .. but how could you use AR 90's or 92's as center channel speakers?? Don't you think that might be a little overkill? Seriously though, AR 90's are massive speakers. You can't fit them on top or under any TV I've ever seen, and if you hung them from the ceiling they would probably pull the whole ceiling down.I don't think AR was concerned with center channel speakers when the AR-9 series was produced. I don't think pro-logic was being produced in consumer electronics at that time??I would audition one of the newer AR speakers specifically designed as center channels and see how they fit with your system .. if you get lucky, maybe you could find a pair from the AR 303 series which would probably be the closest match to the AR-9LS. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigel Posted April 17, 2001 Report Share Posted April 17, 2001 Hi Mark;I would put the AR90s either side of the TV. The AR92s underneath.My home theatre has the following AR Hi-Res speakers: pair of AR7 for the fronts, four AR17 for the sides and rears and a AR4C for the center. No subwoofer - the AR7 is more than sufficient. I have an Onkyo 787 receiver, with an Adcom 545 II driving the woofers in the AR7s, and an older Onkyo receiver's amp driving the rear channels. I also have a pair of AR915, and will soon be picking up a pair of classic AR9 speakers, for audio listening, not home theatre. The Hi-Res speakers are NOT a good match for the classic ARs. I do not know about the other lines in AR's present catalogue. But I just noticed that thier website is all new.Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted April 17, 2001 Report Share Posted April 17, 2001 Hi Nigel!I was alluding to the center channel speakers from the AR 303 series as those were produced until the mid 90's I believe during IJI's ownership of AR and used many of the drivers now used for replacements for the AR-9 series. I've never heard the Hi-Res, Performance, and other Recoton era AR speakers so I couldn't comment on those. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigel Posted April 18, 2001 Report Share Posted April 18, 2001 Hi John;You may want to restrict your classic AR9 speakers for audio.I suggest that for your home theatre system, you consider Hi Res AR17 speakers for your fronts, sides and rears (if 7 channel system), and AR4C for the center channel, and an AR Hi Res sub-woofer (or use the AR9 woofers as the sub). The front channel AR17 could even sit on top of your AR9.I do not know if this is economically feasible or not.Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigel Posted April 18, 2001 Report Share Posted April 18, 2001 Hi Mark;Maybe Accessories4Less might have some. That is where I got my AR7 speakers - thier last pair.I think that if I were going to do a home theatre system with the classic AR9 speakers as the fronts, I'd seriously consider building a center channel system with the tweeters, upper and lower mid-ranges used in the 9 and 90 speakers. The AR92 is the closest that I could think of to that.The downside I see for a classic AR based home theatre system is the power requirements. The 100W (midranges & tweeter) plus 100W (woofer) that I have for each Hi Res AR7 is about equivalent to 400W plus 400W for each classic AR9; based on speaker efficiency.But, would I like to listen to a system like that !!Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpk Posted April 27, 2001 Report Share Posted April 27, 2001 For your information, for my HT setup I use : - AR9s for front channels,- AR90s for surround channels,- AR91 (one or 2) for center channel(s).I'm still looking for a pair of AR92/AR91/AR90 for back surrounds but very hard to find in my country (France).In my opinion the only matching center channel should be AR91 or AR92 (92 being cheaper than the 91, same series, with same drivers as in AR9s or 90s) or later AR915 or AR925 ??Jean-Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sean Posted May 28, 2001 Report Share Posted May 28, 2001 WOW !!! AMAZING !!! Not only are you Jean Patrick, i am Sean Patrick !!! What really made me freak out is the similarities in our HT systems. I thought that i was the only nut with a system like this !!!I am using AR 9's for the mains in my HT, AR 90's for the surrounds and a custom built center consisting of OEM AR parts. I'm using the same dome tweeter, dome upper mid and two of the 8's used in the 9's and 90's. They are configured so that the tweeter and mid are in a vertical array centrally located in the cabinet with an 8" woofer flanking them on each side. Since the cabinet is quite large ( same width and depth as my 55" Mitsu bigscreen ), this "homebrew" center channel can play quite low. I was also running two sealed subs consisting of extra OEM woofers from a set of 9's that i had laying around, but i recently popped one of the woofers. As such, i'm thinking about replacing them with a pair of NHT 1259's.As surmised elsewhere in this thread, the drawback to this system is the demand for raw power. I am currently running a Sunfire Signature Grand for the mains ( 9's ) with a Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature for the custom built center, the two surrounds ( 90's ) and the two 12" subs. Total RMS power rating for this system based on the nominal 4 ohm load presented is 6,450 watts RMS !!! Needless to say, i have no shortage of power on demand. Luckily, these amps are extremely efficient, so i can still afford to watch a few movies per month without having the electric meter spin out of control I am curious as to what you are using for amplification, speaker wiring, etc... Given the similarities, i think that we might be able to help each other out by comparing notes on some of this stuff. Please drop me a line via email or respond here if your interested in doing so. Sean> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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