Why do my AR9LS' sound terrible?

[tuskman79]

I recently picked up a pair of AR9 LS speakers in good original shape. I refoamed the 8" midrange and the 12" woofers and replaced the dead 10" woofers with direct fit replacements. Tweeters are original. I put them all back together, hooked them up.... and.... they sound lousy! All drivers are working (putting out sound) but the quality of the sound is very dull and lifeless. For example I have a pair of tiny AR18B's hooked up on the B channel of the same system and they sound 10 times better than the AR9's. Something must not be right here. Nothing is buzzing or rattling or sounds broken, they just sound like a cheap crappy pair of speakers. No treble detail, bass is not that impressive, overall sound kind of harsh but dull and muddy. I know the original crossover design on the LS was considered to have a "too forward" midrange and this was "corrected" on the updated LSi version, but I can't beleive in stock form, these 9LS's would not sound as good as an 18B or my 93S's. Any ideas?

[RoyC]

replaced the dead 10" woofers with direct fit replacements. Tweeters are original. I put them all back together, hooked them up.... and.... they sound lousy! Any ideas?

Where did you get the 10" woofer replacement? If it is the typical modern day replacement (sold by AB Tech, Vintage AR, etc), it will most definitely have different specs than the original...and it could color the entire system.

Make sure all crossover wires are going to the appropriate drivers, and make sure your drivers are connected with the correct polarity.

Capacitor and tweeter response issues are other possibilities, but you should look into the items above first.

Roy

[briodo]

Congratulations on the AR9LS's and welcome to the Forum. I recently acquired a pair of the "improved" version with the updated crossover and can tell you the crossover upgrade only impacts the sound going to the dual dome driver. I would be interested in hearing what you are driving the speakers with to do your evaluation. An underpowered amp would have a difficult time driving the dual woofer design of the 9's.

Out of curiousity, any chance the original 10" drivers could be repaired/rebuilt? How did you determine they were bad?

[tuskman79]

thanks for the input so far... everything is hooked up correctly. the replacement drivers were 4 ohm Goldwoods with specs close to the originals. Perhaps they were not the perfect replacement but I feel they are close, and would that affect the mid range and tweeter sound? my main complaint is with that, not the low end. I am driving them with a Sansui Eight receiver which was rated @ 65 wpc in 1971 but has always been a very punchy receiver and has always made every speaker I"ve tried with it sound great. the 10" originals are electrcally dead and register no impedence reading. I'm assuming there may be a break in the voice coils..

[RoyC]

the replacement drivers were 4 ohm Goldwoods with specs close to the originals. Perhaps they were not the perfect replacement but I feel they are close, and would that affect the mid range and tweeter sound? my main complaint is with that, not the low end.

What specs did you compare?

That 10 inch woofer can indeed affect the midrange. I would try to find used originals, or have the old ones repaired.

Roy

[oldarnut]

I have had a pair of AR9LS's for about 15 years. They sounded terrible without the crossover upgrades. If I ran them with the midrange cut about 4 db, the sound improved considerably. This is what the crossover mods do for this system--making it into a AR9LSi.

I agree with you. IT's hard to believe AR released these for production sounding like a cheap speaker. I also agree the bass is not what one would expect. My AR3a's and AR2a's, at reasonable levels, sound much stronger and extended on the low end than the 9's. However, even with my Hafler DH 200 driving the 9's, high sound levels for home theater are no problem. The AR3a's struggle at this high volume level. None of my AR's, however, have the low bass extension that my Infinity Quantum II's or III's have. They go down to about 25 HZ before the level falls off. The AR3a's are good for about 30 HZ.

Do the crossover mod!! It's not that difficult.