Guest Sonnar Posted May 1, 2009 Report Share Posted May 1, 2009 Hello guys, I've scanned these pages from June 1968 HiFi Stereo Review, there is Julian Hirsch's test of AR 3a. The smiling kid it's me in 1966, six years old, and my father's AR 3, AR Xa , Marantz model 7 ( the 8b is hide in the bookshelf because my mother said it's very ugly for the living room ). Cheers, Adriano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mluong303 Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi AdrianoNice historical picture and magazine scans. Here are retouched pictures which had been scaled down for people with dial up connection to see your contribution.Minh Luong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Donn Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Is there a frequency response curve? Room treatment conditions, RT constant info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dick Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Adriano,Many thanks! One does wonder why today's Stereophile magazine doesn't just reprint this review of the 3a and be done with it As a newcomer to the world of AR hifi, it is a wonderfully reassuring article despite being 40 years late in the mail. For my part I'm listening long and furious, making up for 40 years of missed AR-3a pleasure. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich W Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi Adriano,Thanks so much - a wonderful contribution to this forum. I've been looking for a copy of this review for a long time. Your photo in front of your Dad's equipment is a nice touch. You must have many fond memories of listening to music through those AR-3's. Best Regards,Rich W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi Adriano,Thank you for posting that review. Julian Hirsch's test reports for Stereo Review were certainly among the most influential and widely-read reviews during those 'golden days' of stereo of the '60's-'80's.Julian was a big fan or AR. He recognized what they contributed to the industry, and as a formally-trained engineer, he appreciated their no-nonsense, scientific approach to product design. I knew him pretty well and visited the "Hirsch-Houck" labs on several occasions. The "Labs" were really the basement of his modest New Rochelle NY home, filled with test equipment and measuring devices. His listening room was merely part of his finished basement, a perfectly normal room, with completely average, typical furnishings, and acoustically-favorable room dimensions that made for a good listening experience (no doubt coincidental, since the house was built before the "Labs" came into existence).The first time I was there, he hauled out a mint-condition AR-1 from his back storage room. "I've kept this, since it was so important to the development of our industry," he said to me. "I knew things had changed forever the first time I heard it."He also had a pair of AR-7's mounted on the wall in his listening room, still there more than 20 years after he tested them for SR in 1973. I asked him why they were there and he said, "They were just such good-sounding little speakers, I've always left them up. They were remarkable."He was quite a guy--friendly, warm, smart, and he certainly appreciated AR speakers.Steve F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shacky Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Wonderful stuff. Steve, I'm thrilled to hear what a nice guy Julian is (I'm not sure if he's still with us). I grew up on other side on Westchester County in Croton-on-Hudson. I have fond memories of Playland in New Rochelle. NY area was center for so much back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkantor Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Wonderful stuff. Steve, I'm thrilled to hear what a nice guy Julian is (I'm not sure if he's still with us). I grew up on other side on Westchester County in Croton-on-Hudson. I have fond memories of Playland in New Rochelle. NY area was center for so much back then.Small world! I grew up in Mamaroneck ('62-'74) and used to spend a lot of time at Playland, especially in Winter when it was closed....Julian was a really good human being, and was a skilled and acute listener, IMO. (Not all well-known reviewers are, regardless of their editorial stance.) Plus, he was very supportive of AR over the years. One time, he measured a small glitch near the top end of the 9's tweeter, and automatically had his mic's checked. (But, he was right....)-k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundminded Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi AdrianoNice historical picture and magazine scans. Here are retouched pictures which had been scaled down for people with dial up connection to see your contribution.Minh LuongI enjoyed reading this review again after so many years had gone by. Most impressive was; "Even more significant to us was the flatness of the output between 550 and 15,000 Hz. Except for a single sharp dip of about 5 db at 10,000 Hz, which almost surely was caused by room or microphone phasing effects, the total variation was +/-1.5 db over this entire frequency range."Somehow I don't think Zilch got similar results in his measurements. It will be interesting to see if the Stereophile crew gets anything like it and if they don't, how they explain the difference. As I recall, there was another review of AR3a he did many years later using a high powered solid state amplifier, a type not available to him during the period of this test. As I recall, he found their performance even more impressive. Anyone else remember it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sonnar Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi Adriano,Thanks so much - a wonderful contribution to this forum. I've been looking for a copy of this review for a long time. Your photo in front of your Dad's equipment is a nice touch. You must have many fond memories of listening to music through those AR-3's. Best Regards,Rich WAR speakers are the soundtrack of my life. At the time of my birth my father had a pair of AR 2 and a little Leak tube amplifier. Then AR 3, AR 3a, AR LST and AR 10 Pi . The boy in the photo it' s me, thirteen years old , and AR 3a . Still today, I listen every day one of my three couples of AR ( 2 , 3 , 3a ) , with a weakness for the AR3 . Best Regards, Adriano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sonnar Posted May 2, 2009 Report Share Posted May 2, 2009 Hi AdrianoNice historical picture and magazine scans. Here are retouched pictures which had been scaled down for people with dial up connection to see your contribution.Minh LuongHi Minh, thanks for the scaled down version. Wait to see my next scans-I have a lot of U.S. Hi-Fi magazines of the sixties and seventies , 'cause my father was a pioneer of Hi-Fi in Italy. Cheers, Adriano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mluong303 Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 You are welcome and here is another retouched picture for you. It would be great if you have old UK HiFi magazine reviews of the AR-3a Improved or AR-LST etc.I believe this was Julian Hirsch's AR-LST which AR modified for his personal system with AR-10 Pi tweeters and two switches that control the side panel individually. I would like to know if Roy Allison modified this AR-LST for Julian because this idea was exactly as the concept of the later year Allison IC-20 speaker with control for inner panel, outer panel or both panels... Minh Luong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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