Center/Rears match for my AR9's??

[Guest PhoenixRising]

Happy Holidays to you guys!

I bought a fully restored set of AR9's about 10 years ago while I was in college. On a whim, I answered a classified ad in the paper that only said, "Speakers - $300". The lady that owned them had inherited them from her older uncle. They were in the way, and she didn't care what they were. She just wanted them gone. I offered $175, and not only did she take it, she helped me load them in my truck!

Now to be truthful, I didn't realize what I had found any more than she did. All I knew was that they were huge, heavy, had 2 12" woofers per cabinet, and sounded better than any other speaker I'd ever heard. I've used them every day since and I have always loved them and knew they were a very high quality speaker.

Only recently, though, did I discover that they are a classic speaker and that there are groups of enthusiasts (like you guys) out there dedicated to the AR brand and vintage AR equipment. After spending way too much time online reading about them and learning their history and value, I am now officially an AR nerd/enthusiast.

With that in mind, I would love to fill out the rest of my main home system with other vintage AR speakers from the Teledyne era. I am actively hunting for a set of speakers for the rears and possibly an orphan for the center channel.

Can you guys recommend anything? I'm currently using some decent quality BIC-America speakers for the rears and center channel, but they just don't seem to smoothly blend with the 9's. The tone of the BIC's is very different than that of the AR9's, and the efficiency of the BIC's compared to the AR9's makes blending them difficult.

I'm assuming that other speakers from the 9 series are preferable since the drivers would be similar. Any specific suggestions?

Thanks for your replies and for the information you have shared with me on this forum.

[Steve F]

If you can find them, the MST/1 would make an effective surround speaker, placed on the side walls, slightly behind the listening position. The angled panel with the third tweeter should face towards the rear wall of your listening room. The nice thing about the MST is that because of its relatively shallow depth and light weight, you could wall- or shelf-mount it, above seated ear level, which is the preferred location for surrounds.

The center channel is going to be a bit trickier. Do you have a screen with a projector? A conventional CRT? A wall-mounted flat-panel LCD or plasma? The older AR speakers are not magnetically-shielded, so they will cause significant video interference with a CRT TV, unless they're separated by at least 18" or 2 feet. If you have floor space below a wall-mounted flat screen, try to locate an AR-91 or 92. They use the same dome midrange and tweeter as the 9, and thus would be a very good tonal match. A 98LS would be even better, since that uses the 8" lower midrange as well, and would be an almost perfect match to the 9. The 98, 91, and 92 all stand less than 3 feet tall, so they should fit nicely beneath a wall-mounted flat screen, and LCDs and plasmas are not subject to magnetic interference the way a CRT is, so the lack of shielding on those speakers would not be an issue.

Steve F.

[Guest PhoenixRising]

Santa just brought me a new HD projector and motorized screen, which should be up and running by this weekend. So no shielding issues to deal with.

I have several feet of room below the screen for a center channel, so I could accomodate something in the size range of the 91/92/98LS. Any reason why I couldn't turn one sideways and put it on a short stand?

What do you think about building a custom center channel with AR9 era drivers (or suitable replacements)? My AR9's have replacement poly lower mid's anyway. Vintage-AR on Ebay could probably sell me a tweeter and the 2 mids, and I could either make or modify a cabinet for them.

Also, I'm not seeing anyting on the MST/1. Any souces of info on these? From what you said about finding them, I won't hold my breath. Any more attainable models you would recommend for the surrounds?

Thanks for the info. I have enjoyed reading your posts over the last few weeks.

[JKent]

Welcome!

Have you checked the "Library"? There's a section devoted to the AR-9 series with some brochures describing the various models. If you haven't yet, have a look here:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library...ustic_research/

Good luck

Kent

[AR surround]

What do you think about building a custom center channel with AR9 era drivers (or suitable replacements)? My AR9's have replacement poly lower mid's anyway. Vintage-AR on Ebay could probably sell me a tweeter and the 2 mids, and I could either make or modify a cabinet for them.

Larry from Vintage AR customized an AR2ax for the center channel between my AR9's. He replaced the AR2ax tweeter with one used in the 9. After some tweeking of the pots on the 2ax, I have found the front sound stage to be quite seamless. However, I do believe that the AR98 or one of the other floor standing speakers from that line may be an even better match. I understand that it is important to get the tweeters of all the front speakers aligned so that there is less than 2 feet of vertical separation. That shouldn't be a problem if your projector screen is sound transparent.

For the surrounds, Vintage AR sold me a pair of refurbished AR90's. These are the same era as your AR9s and use the same 8" midrange, upper midrange and tweeter as the 9 but with 10" woofers. I would highly recommend this combination if you have the space for another pair of big speakers.

John