AR 142

[Guest lenco]

I bought a pair of AR 142. I don't know anything about these speakers. Somebody can help me with specs and year of production and so on?

Thank you in advance

[Steve F]

The 142 was from the Spirit Series, intro'd in 1990.

A post of mine from 2003:

"The Spirit Series also dated from 1990, but I never actually saw it in any store here in the Boston area. They came and went very fast.

There were 6 models. The 142 was one down from the top of the line 162. It was interesting to read Julian Hirsch's review of the 162 in Stereo Review. He was such an AR fan, he loved the classic ARs, and correctly felt the AR-1 was the turning point for modern speaker design. I almost felt bad for him as he struggled vainly to find something good to say about the 162. This was the absolute end of the AR we all knew from years past. Forgettable boxes stuffed with OEM drivers. Very sad.

The 142 was a small floorstanding speaker, with an 8" woofer, a 6 1/2" woofer/midrange, and a 1" (not 1 1/4") dome tweeter. It was a "2 1/2" -way configuration. LF response was rated to -3dB @ 52Hz. Dimensions were 25 5/8 x 9 1/8 x 11" HWD.

There was also a full line of Spirit electronic components--integrated amps, a receiver, tuner, tape deck, and CD player. "

Steve F.

[Guest lenco]

The 142 was from the Spirit Series, intro'd in 1990.

Thank you Steve for your precious informations. May be all the unsold 142 were sent to Europe, because I'm writing from Milan, Italy, and my name is Stefano (Steve in italian!). I bought them with a pair of Advent 5002 and a pair of Epicure mod. 2 and they all need new foam. I'll let you have my comments when all the speakers will be OK!...

Stefano