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AR 3A INFO


ironlake

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The AR-3a was introduced in October, 1967 at the New York High Fidelity Music Show. It was dropped from the standard AR factory price list in late 1974, but continued to be available for some time after that. It was replaced in 1975 by the AR-10π and the AR-11—three-way speakers very similar (same woofer and midrange, but new tweeter) to the 3a, but with some improvements in high-frequency on-axis output.

--Tom Tyson

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The AR-11 replaced the 3a in 1975. The 3a was concurrent with the 11 for a short time and AR responded to my question as to why the 3a and the 11 could both be $295 ea when they were such different speakers. See the Aug 1975 letter in "Letters to Steve F." in the library.

From a post of mine in May 2007:

The AR-11 was introduced in March of 1975 as part of the first wave of the Advanced Development Division (ADD) product family, along with the 10 Pi and the MST/1.

The 11 was essentially a refinement of the basic 3a design—a bookshelf-sized 3-way speaker, utilizing the 3a’s 12-inch woofer and 1 ½” dome midrange. However, the 11 (along with the 10 Pi) employed AR’s first incarnation of the ferro fluid-cooled ¾” dome tweeter. The use of ferro fluid in the tweeter’s voice-coil gap greatly increased the power handling of the tweeter, allowing the crossover to be redesigned with a greater voltage drive to the HF section. This resulted in much greater HF output from the 11 and 10 PI compared to the 3a, and completely resolved the “not enough highs” complaint that was common to the older speakers. Importantly, the 11 retained the smooth, uncolored, low-distortion character of the 3a.

The 11’s cosmetics were significantly upgraded as well, although the degree of “improvement” is certainly open to question and remains a matter of personal taste.

The ADD products were marketed as a limited-distribution line of goods, where AR was attempting to correct their years of dealer neglect and re-establish a measure of dealer profitability (and hence, dealer loyalty). This strategy was not entirely successful however, as the combination of a decade of ‘dealer-be-dam*ed’ sales/marketing policies coupled with the rapidly-changing 1970’s consumer electronics marketplace meant that AR was not able to reclaim their previous leadership status with the ADD line.

Considered solely as a product, however, the AR-11 was a terrific speaker. Many experienced AR aficionados—myself included—feel that the 11 combined the 3a’s best acoustic qualities (great deep bass and smooth, natural, widely-dispersed midrange) in a good-looking, more modern speaker with truly excellent, no-excuses high-frequency response.

Highly recommended.

Steve F.

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There was an AR-3a Improved also, it replaced the AR-3a in Europe around 74, before the AR-11/10Pi was introduced. I have seen the 3a Improved advertised in North America as well (Canada or US, I don't remember). It had the same drivers as the AR-3a but a different cross over without the reostats/pot-meters.

BRgds Klaus

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I had written to AR about the 3a/Improved in 1974, after seeing an ad in an English hi-fi magazine. They wrote back to me saying that after doing some market research on it for the US market, they decided not to introduce that model here in America. The ADD series replacements--10Pi and 11--came out so soon afterwards (early '75) that the 3a/Improved would not have made sense in the 1974 timeframe.

I believe that letter is in the library under "Letters to Steve F" if you want to look it up. To the best of my recollection, the 3a/Improved was never sold in the US.

Canada? I don't know.

Steve F.

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Interesting ad. No state or province given, only a street address and phone number, w/o area code.

A few clues/tidbits to ponder: the $299 ea and $169 ea for the 3a/Improved and 2ax were about their US list price at that time. (The AR-11 was already in the US market from March 1975 at $295 ea.) No one in the US at that time ever sold AR for 'list.' They were one of the most highly discounted brands around, and were often not even adverstised in a newspaper, because their poor retail margins made them not worth spending the advertising dollars on.

The Kenwood KA-3500 amp did indeed have a US list price of $199. I remember that clearly because $199 was an amazing price at the time for a 40/40 WPC integrated amp. But Kenwood, too, was routinely discounted, and $199 is US 'list.'

Both the AR and Kenwood examples give credence to the thought that this is Canada, not the US. Given the exchange rate at the time, Canadian 'list' would have been about 20-30% higher than US list, so a $295 US price would be around a $375 C price. That makes a discount from $375 ea. to $299 ea seem plausible. Same for the Kenwood--that would be about a $250 C list, so a discount to $199 makes sense.

So that's my guess--this is Canadian.

Either that, or AR's letter to me saying that the 3a/Improved wasn't going to be introduced to the US market is wrong, and a few did sneak in across the border.

Steve F.

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