AR SAT-660 Speaker Specs?

[Guest mich221]

I have recently been given some old Acoustic Research satellite type speakers, Model no. SAT-660. Two small speakers, each with a mid and tweeter, and one passive subwoofer. I think they were bought in late 1980s at Circuit City. I am trying to find out all the specifications for these speakers, particularly impedence. Are they considered a highly rated speaker? The highs sound very good, relatively weak bass. Can anyone help? Thanks.

[Guest tombowlus]

I picked up a pair of the satellites only (no subwoofer) off of ebay recently, and I do find that I like the sound of these speakers. I bought them to use as surrounds (right now, they are in a system with Thiels L/R/C, but I also own some AR TSW-110's, and they look like miniature versions of the 110's). I used my TSW-110's for years with a (non-AR) passive sub, and this is still a very good setup. I have not tried the SAT 660's with my other passive sub, but they work very well as surrounds.

Later, Tom.

[Guest mich221]

Using the satellites without the sub- I was always afraid to do this thinking they were similar to many bose sysytems where the speaker protection was in the sub. Even though I have another external powered sub, I still use the passive- I never opened it up to check.

I own a couple other front bookshelve speakers but always go back to the AR's because of their crystal highs.

[Guest tombowlus]

You are correct to urge caution when playing with the satellites only. In my surround setup, my pre/pro (Rotel RSP-1066) allows me to set them up as a "small speaker", thereby keeping the lows out of them. When I did audition them with a full-range signal, I kept the volume quite low. Surprisingly, they actually sounded pretty good, and had fairly decent low-end, considering their small size.

Tom.