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AR3 midrange settings


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I've bypassed my tweeter controls and now have the tweeters wired direct to get a little more DB out of them (per some recommendations by contibutors to this site). Now my question is what setting do most AR users put their mid controls at. What gives these speakers their best "original" sound in an average room.

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Typically, AR-3's sound best with the midrange level control set to the "dot" position, and the tweeter control set between the "dot" and the maximum position. It depends on the vintage of the AR-3, and the condition, output of the drivers, and so forth. However, under certain circumstances, they can seem to be bright, and I don't think I would recommend by-passing the controls for any reason. I have a 1961 pair in which all four level controls are set rather high due to drop-outs in the controls (the pair is in such pristine original physical condition I can't bring myself to removing the grills). These AR-3's actually sound slightly brighter than either the AR-3a's or the AR-10Pi's in the same environment, but part of the reason is that they are such low impedance that they "seem" brighter because they are louder for the same volume-control setting than either of the other speakers. They are quite a bit below 4 ohms over much of the range.

One rule of thumb for setting level controls: turn them all the way to maximum while listening to music with a lot of high-frequency content (for example, jazz or orchestral), then gradually turn down the controls until the mid and high frequencies sound smooth and natural, and just begin to "blossom" out, for lack of a better expression. The natural balance is the best way to avoid listener fatigue.

--Tom Tyson

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This topic gives me an opportunity to ask a question I've been wondering about: What is the significance of the ohmages annotated next to the pots on the AR3a schematic at

http://www.arsenal.net/speakers/ar/ar-3a/AR3aXorig.gif

??? And what does it say in parentheses -- is it "B TO 1", or "8 TO 1"? It seems to indicate the portion of the pot that should have the noted ohmage -- between the wiper ('B' or '8') and the '1' nodes in the circuit, I guess. Anyone?

--Daniel

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This annotation is the letter "B" to "1" and not a number "8".

It is the pin-out label for the potentiometers (level controls) that they used. The 3 level control pins or lugs are labeled (1, B, and 2) and the ohmage shown in parenthesis is what I believe is the resistance in ohms measured between pin "B" and pin "1" of the level control. Pin "B" being the adjustable wiper arm of the potentiometer. They would set the level control at the factory to the ohms measured between pin "B" and "1" and then mount the level controls and screw on the rear knobs pointing to the white dots (their reference level settings). So that's how they set their white dot levels on the rear of the speakers.

I also recommend that you do not by-pass these pots to keep the original AR Inc. sound. If you do want to bypass the tweeter pot, keep the pot in the circuit... do not remove it since it does effect the overall characteristics of the tweeter crossover response.

The pot/resistor should be left in parallel with the tweeter.

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