AR2AX WOOFER

[DON]

I am refoaming a pair of AR2ax woofers and I noticed that the cones are no where near as stiff as the Advent 10" cones. Is this normal or do I have a bad woofer? Y'all jump in here right away now and don't keep me waiting :D

[tysontom]

I am refoaming a pair of AR2ax woofers and I noticed that the cones are no where near as stiff as the Advent 10" cones. Is this normal or do I have a bad woofer? Y'all jump in here right away now and don't keep me waiting :D

Don,

The AR-2ax cone was intentionally made that way to reduce unwanted ("spurious") vibrations in the cone in the upper-operating range. Despite feeling soft or too flexible, the cone acted as a piston throughout its intended operating region, and the response of these AR 10-inch drivers was very uniform and flat -- significantly more so than the "stiffer" Advent 10" cone. The Advent, however, would go lower in deep bass than the AR-2ax, with somewhat lower distortion and higher power-handling capability. The Advent had approximately the same bass resonance as the (twice-as-expensive) AR-3a -- the speaker targeted by Henry Kloss -- but the same cost as the AR-2ax. End result: the AR-2ax is probably a smoother and more "accurate" speaker than the Advent, but gives up some deep bass and "punch" to the Advent, something that helped the Advent to sell especially well. If everyone (back in the day) buying speakers listened only to jazz and classical music, the AR-2ax would probably have outsold the Advent; however, Advent's last 1/3-octave of bass came through loud and clear on popular and rock music.

--Tom Tyson

[Steve F]

Don,

The AR-2ax cone was intentionally made that way to reduce unwanted ("spurious") vibrations in the cone in the upper-operating range. Despite feeling soft or too flexible, the cone acted as a piston throughout its intended operating region, and the response of these AR 10-inch drivers was very uniform and flat -- significantly more so than the "stiffer" Advent 10" cone. The Advent, however, would go lower in deep bass than the AR-2ax, with somewhat lower distortion and higher power-handling capability. The Advent had approximately the same bass resonance as the (twice-as-expensive) AR-3a -- the speaker targeted by Henry Kloss -- but the same cost as the AR-2ax. End result: the AR-2ax is probably a smoother and more "accurate" speaker than the Advent, but gives up some deep bass and "punch" to the Advent, something that helped the Advent to sell especially well. If everyone (back in the day) buying speakers listened only to jazz and classical music, the AR-2ax would probably have outsold the Advent; however, Advent's last 1/3-octave of bass came through loud and clear on popular and rock music.

--Tom Tyson

Tom is quite correct about the two speakers' woofers and their relative accuracy.

I would just add that the Advent was quite intentionally voiced to have a slight upper-mid "bump" that made it especially enjoyable to listen to on the popular music of the day (Santana, ELP, Allman Bros, Joni Mitchell, etc.). The Advent did not have the grating, irritating 8kHz peak like the JBL L-100, but neither did it sound reticent in a dealer showroom like the ARs, whose wider HF dispersion actually worked against them in the sound-absorbing environment of the typical 1973 retail speaker showroom.

The Advent's tonal balance was brilliantly-chosen and very intentional. That, coupled with their dealer-friendly sales/marketing policies that assured terrific dealer profitability, added up to a smash sales success. In retail showrooms in the early 70's, I'd bet Advent outsold AR 5:1 in head-to-head competition.

AR's sales were mostly mail-order, in non-critical retail outlets like Lafayette Radio, armed service PX's, and overseas.

AR had greater overall sales than Advent because of their wider model selection and broader worldwide distribution. But head-to-head in US specialty retailers in speaker showrooms in A-B comparisons--it was no contest at all. Advent cleaned AR's clock on that playground.

Steve F.

[DON]

Thanks Tom and Steve. That's good news.....now I can get on with the refoam as soon as Rick gets a kit to me. I heard Advents for the first time a few months ago and what surprised me the most was how deep the bass response was without being at all boomy. I have a CD that I play whenever I want to check out the real bass response of speakers..........Jennifer Warnes Hunter......track number nine "Way Down"

I bought my original AR2ax when I was stationed in Germany in 1973. I had just discovered classical and old jazz (age 37) One of the Audio clubs there had a large demonstration room and you could pick the speakers you wanted to listen to. My wife and I must have auditioned 20 or more pairs and we eventually ended up with the ARs. They weren't "impressive" like the Japaneese speakers at the time but they were the only ones that sounded close to natural and didn't hurt our ears. The Advents weren't among those auditioned against the ARs........I can't remember why maybe they were out of stock at the time. The JBL 100 and the JBL 4311? were. Most of the guys I knew were buying Sansui and Kenwood. Lots of hardware for the money.

I'm working on AR2ax, AR5 and 2 pair of Advents 5012 and 25 Ann. I don't know if any of these will displace my ADS L710s or ADS L 810s in my 2nd. 2 channel room, but they'll get lots of play.............that is if I do a good job!