administrator Posted March 9, 2003 Report Share Posted March 9, 2003 Not sure if I posted this before, so .. "hi my name is Terry Wilkinson I was the production manager at AR UK when the UK was closed downThe AR142 was manufactured in the UK during the late 80's using Tonegen drivers and crossovers imported from Taiwan.The 142 as I remember was a 1 1/4" tweeter liquid cooled plus an 8" polyprop mid and an 8" polyprop woofer, I have no details of xover network as I am not too technical. The reason they do not sound like the originals is that all the original AR product i.e. ar2,3.4.5.6.7. did not use polyprop drivers. some of there drivers i.e. ar15,16, and 14 used Danish tweeter which were poor in sound and reliability these 1" tweeters were later produced in Taiwan by Tonegen. Possible source of information is a company called Culver Tonegen based some where in California.if I can help on any other matter please do ot hesitate to contact me"Just for kicks I tried to find any record of a "Culver Tonegen" out here in California but didn't find any. Steve, is this AR 142 part of the Spirit series, or some other UK AR model?Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted March 9, 2003 Report Share Posted March 9, 2003 The Spirit Series also dated from 1990, but I never actually saw it in any store here in the Boston area. They came and went very fast.There were 6 models. The 142 was one down from the top of the line 162. It was interesting to read Julian Hirsch's review of the 162 in Stereo Review. He was such an AR fan, he loved the classic ARs, and correctly felt the AR-1 was the turning point for modern speaker design. I almost felt bad for him as he struggled vainly to find something good to say about the 162. This was the absolute end of the AR we all knew from years past. Forgettable boxes stuffed with OEM drivers. Very sad.The 142 was a small floorstanding speaker, with an 8" woofer, a 6 1/2" woofer/midrange, and a 1" (not 1 1/4") dome tweeter. It was a "2 1/2" -way configuration. LF response was rated to -3dB @ 52Hz. Dimensions were 25 5/8 x 9 1/8 x 11" HWD. There was also a full line of Spirit electronic components--integrated amps, a receiver, tuner, tape deck, and CD player.Steve F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
administrator Posted March 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2003 Steve:The amount of information you and Tom have is incredible .. I think you guys safely qualify as "hardcore" AR enthusiasts! I was checking out some AR-5's on eBay today. I sold so many pairs of AR's in college after picking them up at garage sales and restoring them. I wish I had the foresight to hold onto a few pairs. At least I kept one pair of AR-3's!Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rpm Posted February 17, 2006 Report Share Posted February 17, 2006 I remember Culver Tonegen based in Los Angeles Calif; they built many speakers for major manufacturers.RPM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.