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AR90's don't follow the rules?


Joel

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So I've got my AR90's refoamed and recapped. They sounded pretty good, but I thought they could be better. I looked around the web for advice on speaker placement, even found a site that had a formula to follow.

I tried to follow the formula exactly. They sounded terrible. I tinkered with their placement, nothing helped.

Finally, out of frustration, I pushed them back into the corners of the room.

That was it! They sound fantastic! The imaging is wonderful- the bass is deep and strong. It was like a camera that was brought into focus. I have been listening to them for hours and hours- it's like I can't stop, they sound so good.

Is there something about the AR90's design that makes it so that they don't follow the normal rules for speaker placement? Could it be the side firing woofers? Or is it something peculiar about my room?

-Joel

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So I've got my AR90's refoamed and recapped. They sounded pretty good, but I thought they could be better. I looked around the web for advice on speaker placement, even found a site that had a formula to follow.

I tried to follow the formula exactly. They sounded terrible. I tinkered with their placement, nothing helped.

Finally, out of frustration, I pushed them back into the corners of the room.

That was it! They sound fantastic! The imaging is wonderful- the bass is deep and strong. It was like a camera that was brought into focus. I have been listening to them for hours and hours- it's like I can't stop, they sound so good.

Is there something about the AR90's design that makes it so that they don't follow the normal rules for speaker placement? Could it be the side firing woofers? Or is it something peculiar about my room?

-Joel

Hello Joel,

Have you viewed the AR90 manual in the Library?

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/ar-9_series_1978-1981/ar-9_series_manuals/ar-90_manual/

The design of AR90 was based on the AR9 design,

The original design paper by Tom Holl for the AR9 can be found at;

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/ar-9_series_1978-1981/ar-9_series_other/engineering_the_ar-9_by_tim/

Specific comments on placement are included on Page 7.

Also, a posting from 2003 might be of interest.

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=793&st=0&p=52639&hl=what%20are%20your%20preferences?&fromsearch=1entry52639

R

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So I've got my AR90's refoamed and recapped. They sounded pretty good, but I thought they could be better. I looked around the web for advice on speaker placement, even found a site that had a formula to follow.

I tried to follow the formula exactly. They sounded terrible. I tinkered with their placement, nothing helped.

Finally, out of frustration, I pushed them back into the corners of the room.

That was it! They sound fantastic! The imaging is wonderful- the bass is deep and strong. It was like a camera that was brought into focus. I have been listening to them for hours and hours- it's like I can't stop, they sound so good.

Is there something about the AR90's design that makes it so that they don't follow the normal rules for speaker placement? Could it be the side firing woofers? Or is it something peculiar about my room?

-Joel

Keep them out of the corner, but within 3 or 4 inches of the wall. To close to a corner and you cancel out one of the bass drivers. In a nutshell, the these speakers do best when wall coupled. I'll make a dangerous assumption most speakers with side firing woofers were intended to be wall coupled.

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