AR-3 Power Handling

[ninohernes]

I have just finished building 2 new crossovers from scratch for my AR-3's with parts and schematics form Layne Audio. I have a question, what is the max power handling of the AR-3? I am in the process of building two 100 watt tube monoblocks, can the AR-3s handle 100 watts? I would assume so, but then again, you know what happens when we assume!

Joe

[charger3834]

AR used to state that all their speaker systems could " easily handle the output of any amplifer rated at 100 watts per channel or less, up to the peak clipping level of the amplifier on conventional music or speach imput."

There was a greater danger of damaging the speakers from using too little power. That's why AR used to refer to minimum power requirements in their literature. (25 wpc for the AR-3)

Although the AR-3a has improved power handling over the AR-3, there is nothing unreasonable about your 100 watt amp. I believe that is an optimal set up.

You may however, sustain damage if you try to play wild special effects or try to have a rave in your home.

[Guest Nigel]

Joe;

Your systems sounds very well balanced.

In the live vs AR11 comparisons a few years ago, the amplifiers were 1KW per channel. Clipping is what destroys speakers, not power.

The Adcom 545, 545 II and 5400 are very good low budget matches for early AR's. They are rated at 100 - 150 W into 8 ohm, and 125 - 200 W into 4 ohm.

Nigel

[tysontom]

>I have just finished building 2 new crossovers from scratch

>for my AR-3's with parts and schematics form Layne Audio. I

>have a question, what is the max power handling of the AR-3?

>I am in the process of building two 100 watt tube

>monoblocks, can the AR-3s handle 100 watts? I would assume

>so, but then again, you know what happens when we assume!

> Joe

Handle 100 watts? There is probably a question of too little, rather than too much power for the AR-3. But then again, there is the age issue. Many AR-3's are beginning their 44th year, and things change over the years. Consider, too that the AR-3 has embarrassingly low impedance -- probably somewhere around 2.5-3.0 ohms at certain frequencies, so it demands a lot from an amplifier. Many amplifiers have great difficulty properly driving an AR-3. A better question might be: how much power does this 100-watt tube amplifier put into 2-3 ohms? Tube amps typically don't do quite as well at low impedances as solid-state amplifiers. In addition, a 100-watt amplifier (tube or solid-state) will "clip," or overload, long before overdriving an AR-3 on short-term peaks of music or speech. By the same token, that doesn't imply that you can use the full 100-watt steady-state power of this amplifier on the AR-3, or that it can sustain high-power sine-wave testing with such an amplifier; it simply means that under normal circurmstances and on music, a 100-watt amplifier should provide adequate power for the AR-3's without any problem. Brand-new AR-3's were capable of handling amplifier peaks of over 200 watts without difficulty and without distorting.

During the 1960s, the recommended fuse for the AR-1, AR-3, AR-3t was the Bussman Fusetron FNM 8/10-amp, slow-blow, dual-element fuse. This fuse will "open" with peaks of 200-250 watts. "That was then, and this is now," as they say, and one probably should not now attempt to test the limits of the AR-3 power-handling capability.

So, the long-winded answer to your question is: "100 watts is just about enough power."

--Tom Tyson