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AR 3 response


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Can someone tell me the frequencey response for each of the ar3 drivers?

Or where the woofer dpops off and the mid picks up?

woofer range-

Mid range-

Tweet range-

I dont know how to read the drawings on the schmatic page

Thanks

Brian O

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I think I can field this one.

In the AR-3 speaker system, the crossover points are as follows: The woofer responds from about 30 HZ to 1000 Hz. The 2" mid range dome takes over at 1000 Hz. The 1 3/8" tweeter takes over at 7500 HZ and continues to respond beyond 20000 HZ. The AR-3 is without a doubt, a full range loudspeaker.

As for the response curves of each driver tested alone, refer to AR's technical data sheets. You can download an AR-3 brochure from this site that contains technical data.

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>I think I can field this one.

>

>In the AR-3 speaker system, the crossover points are as

>follows: The woofer responds from about 30 HZ to 1000 Hz.

>The 2" mid range dome takes over at 1000 Hz. The 1 3/8"

>tweeter takes over at 7500 HZ and continues to respond

>beyond 20000 HZ. The AR-3 is without a doubt, a full range

>loudspeaker.

>

>As for the response curves of each driver tested alone,

>refer to AR's technical data sheets. You can download an

>AR-3 brochure from this site that contains technical data.

Thankyou Brad

Brian O

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  • 3 weeks later...

>Can someone tell me the frequencey response for each of the

>ar3 drivers?

>Or where the woofer dpops off and the mid picks up?

>woofer range-

>Mid range-

>Tweet range-

>I dont know how to read the drawings on the schmatic page

>Thanks

>Brian O

I tried to weigh-in on this message when it came out, but was unable to succeed because of this forum's earlier problems. All is well now, I hope.

The AR-3: I love this speaker. I think it is the highest single technical achievement from Acoustic Research in terms of innovation and "contribution." Its accuracy and low distortion were state-of-the-art, and clearly the AR-3 was the best loudspeaker commercially available throughout the late-50s and on into the mid-1960s. It literally changed the way the industry thought about loudspeakers, and it is still considered a fine loudspeaker after almost forty-five years.

Despite its classic status, the AR-3 was certainly not perfect, and part of that imperfection came from the technical limitations and compromises that existed back in the late 1950s (and to a lesser degree today). The woofer in the AR-3 was crossed over at approximately 1000 Hz., but it was starting to get ragged off-axis by 800 Hz. or so. On axis, AR measured the low-frequency capability of the AR-3 at +/- 1.5 dB, 38-1000Hz, and 6-dB down at 30 Hz. Because of the woofer’s prodigious low-bass output, there is significant, if reduced, output down to 20 Hz. and below. The woofer gets quite "directional" at that upper frequency (in contrast, the AR-3a's 575-Hz. crossover was better, and its 1-1/2-inch midrange driver could go lower than the 2-inch AR-3 unit, and it had greater excursion capability). Nevertheless, the crossover slopes are gentle in the AR-3, so the 2-inch midrange -- with its excellent off-axis response -- is working pretty well at 1000 Hz., and overlapping the woofer's response somewhat.

The 2-inch midrange driver in the AR-3 is crossed over at 7,500 to the tweeter, but could have been operated from 1000 Hz. to 15,000 Hz. or so, if the AR-3 had been a 2-way design. The 1-3/8-inch "super tweeter," as it was known, was AR's most perfect driver at the time. It had a gently rising characteristic up through 7,000 Hz. and on out to 20,000 Hz. The 7,500 Hz. crossover was an optimum point for this tweeter. The high-frequency section of the AR-3 had a measured (anechoic) response of 1000-20,000 Hz., +/- 2dB, on axis. Measured 45-degrees off-axis, any direction, the response was -3dB at 10,000 Hz., and -8dB at 15,000 Hz. This is pretty good performance by any known standard. Incidentally, this was not a “system” response, per se, but the individual-driver measured response, measured in AR's and MIT's anechoic chambers. AR published all these curves and made these available to anyone upon request, another unique AR trait.

--Tom Tyson

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