JeffS Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 Hello,This is my first post to this excellent forum of AR information.I have recently acquired an AR-1w from an eBay auction.Is there any way to tell the year of manufacture from the serial number? It is 4140. It has a blond cabinet, and if i peer through the grille with a flashlight, the woofer is a smooth cone with a flat dustcap and pleated (possibly orange) surround. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger3834 Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 That is a pretty early number. To date it exactly, I would have to know how many were produced each year. 1955-1959 would be a good guess. Tom Tyson should be able to pin that down better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 >Hello,>This is my first post to this excellent forum of AR>information.>I have recently acquired an AR-1w from an eBay auction.Is>there any way to tell the year of manufacture from the serial>number? It is 4140. It has a blond cabinet, and if i peer>through the grille with a flashlight, the woofer is a smooth>cone with a flat dustcap and pleated (possibly orange)>surround.>I think your AR-1W would be a late-1954 or early-1955 model. The blond cabinet means it is either a blond-birch or Korina finish. The pleated surround, a Henry Kloss design, and flat dust cap were used on the first AR-1's, but changed to half-round configuration (inventor Edgar Villchur's original design) shortly after your speaker was made. The cast-aluminum frame on the early ones was also thicker, and showed the early hand-made qualities of these first speakers. These earliest AR-1's and AR-1W's (or AR-1U if it had the unfinished-pine cabinet) were rugged, and have held up well.--Tom Tyson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffS Posted March 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Thank you for your reply, Tom.That's older than I had suspected at first.I had read your excellent posting on the history of the AR 12" woofer, and after discovering the pleated surround on this unit I was prompted to inquire about the serial numbers.Of course, I had to hear music through it, so I set it up side-by-side with a 2ax mid/high assembly, and powered it with a 30 watt amp. I have to say that with the proper mid and high assembly this speaker can be very listenable!(I'll have to watch for 3T on eBay). I'm tempted to give it a little more power, but due to its' age I don't want to risk damage to the surround.As a side note: Since my son is also interested in older AR equipment, he was the second highest bidder on the AK-1 auction on eBay a couple of months ago. I believe you won that piece. I keep telling him "If you only bid a couple of more dollars...", but I don't think he would have outbid you. What a piece! Do you plan on giving it to a museum at some point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 >Thank you for your reply, Tom.>That's older than I had suspected at first.>I had read your excellent posting on the history of the AR 12">woofer, and after discovering the pleated surround on this>unit I was prompted to inquire about the serial numbers.>Of course, I had to hear music through it, so I set it up>side-by-side with a 2ax mid/high assembly, and powered it with>a 30 watt amp. I have to say that with the proper mid and high>assembly this speaker can be very listenable!(I'll have to>watch for 3T on eBay). I'm tempted to give it a little more>power, but due to its' age I don't want to risk damage to the>surround.>As a side note: Since my son is also interested in older AR>equipment, he was the second highest bidder on the AK-1>auction on eBay a couple of months ago. I believe you won that>piece. I keep telling him "If you only bid a couple of more>dollars...", but I don't think he would have outbid you. What>a piece! Do you plan on giving it to a museum at some point?The earliest pleated-surround models were really quite rugged. The pleated surround was not quite as compliant as the half-round surround, but it supported and centered the cone better. Unless the glue comes loose from the outer edge, the speaker is unlikely to give trouble.The "AK-1" was actually an AR-1, of course, but the owner could not read the hand-printed label on the back. I'm sorry that I outbid your son, but you can inform him that although that AR-1 is obviously very rare, it is not in great condition. It would not be the best choice as a player. The Altec 755A midrange/tweeter has a tear in the cone, and the woofer has a rattle in it. There is distortion. Eventually I will have to take it apart to see what's going on with the woofer -- I suspect the inner suspension has come loose. I did get it to donate to a museum at some point.--Tom Tyson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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