Why I have come to prefer ARs

[Aadams]

I couldn’t find an appropriate open thread in which to place this comment so I started a new one.

I have been reading this forum for well over a year and perused most of the AR threads in the main forum as well as in the Kitchen, so I will not be surprised if what I am about to say meets with disagreement, but I finally know why I prefer AR speakers.

After many hours of listening to the AR2ax, 3a, 9 and 5 and years of fiddling with tone controls equalizers, subwoofers, surround systems and other speakers, I have convinced myself that I could probably duplicate the sound that I get from the ARs using other brands of well designed speakers including combinations of satellites and subwoofers. After all, the sound of good music is subjective and not unique to the speaker but to the listener.

On the good side, this means if I lose my ARs before I die, I really don’t need more ARs to get an AR sound but on the downside I think the effort in getting there will be a lot more complicated than it is with the ARs and maybe more expensive. I enjoy a variety of music genres but the only time I listen critically to the musical presentation of speakers is with classical music.

So, simply stated, the reason that I have come to prefer ARs, after many years of listening to other speakers, is the sound of well recorded classical music that I prefer is most easily achieved with ARs. I am not sure I would have ever come to this conclusion if I had not come across this website while considering the purchase of some derelict 3as. And I know that I would not be enjoying music as I am now. Thanks

[Steve F]

Yes, you've likely opened up a can of imprecise worms here. First of all, what EQ/tone settings on what other brands of speakers have you found to duplicate the sound of AR speakers?

What is it specifically about the sound of classical music on AR speakers that appeals to you so much? Many others have made similar statements over the years, but can you be more exact in your characterization?

At the very real risk of putting words in your mouth--for which I apologize in advance if I do--let me see if I can translate your thoughts to actual AR speaker performance traits:

Classic AR speakers (the 2ax, 5 and 3a) had a reduced treble output, which minimized the harshness of many poorly-recorded albums (not an uncommon occurrence, certainly). They all had very wide dispersion, which gave large-scale orchestral or massed choral music a sense of spaciousness and "bigness," akin to a live performance. They all had extremely low distortion and excellent transient response, so they were exceedingly "clean" sounding. Finally, they all could take relatively high levels of clean power, and so, could "fill a room" quite effortlessly with their low distortion, clean, spacious sound.

It should be noted the the Classics' reduced treble was an intentional technical concession that AR made at the time. They realized that wide dispersion was primarily a function of driver size compared to the wavelength being reproduced. Smaller tweeters would exhibit much wider dispersion. But those small AR domes had correspondingly small voice coils, which were fragile and prone to thermal failure ("burn out") if pushed too hard. In those days, there was no ferro-fluid cooling for tweeter VC's, so the tweeter had to tough it out on its own. One way to compensate was to reduce the tweeter drive level so the tweeter wasn't required to play at the same SPL as the other drivers.

You can check AR's published system FR curves from that time period (the 5's and 2ax's are particularly revealing) and see how much lower in SPL the tweeter is compared to the rest of the system. The 2ax tweeter is down about 6-7 dB from the 3 1/2" midrange.

But in exchange for fragile, low-output tweeters, AR got incredibly wide HF dispersion. The hard 3/4" tweeter of the 2ax, 5 and 3a have wider dispersion than any conventional single forward-facing tweeter system ever has. Remarkable.

Add to that their solid bass response that gave music a firm, realistic underpinning (in the case of the 3a, an almost magisterial quality), and you have speakers of enduring sonic attraction, a sound that has stood the test of time.

The 9 continued most of these traits, although a hotter HF response (because ferro-fluid, intro'd with the AR-10Pi and 11, allowed a much higher tweeter output without any increased thermal danger) and somewhat less wide dispersion clearly gave the 9 a different sonic signature than the Classics.

Steve F.

[Aadams]

I intentionally left out of the initial post the answers to some of your questions because I thought I would be repeating what has been said in other places in this forum more than once. I will try to answer some of your questions.

First of all, what EQ/tone settings on what other brands of speakers have you found to duplicate the sound of AR speakers?

EQ and tone controls would be a part of the solution but if I were to approximate the sound of an AR3a, for example, with modern speakers I would probably need a left pair and a right pair to replicate the dispersion of the 3. Then I would probably need a sub woofer per side to extend the bass. After a lot of trial and error and maybe getting the bass to seamlessly blend with the satellites I think I could get close to a 3a in sound.
The nice thing about the AR Classics and the 9 is all drivers above the woofer have their own output control which helps a great deal in tailoring the sound and can simplify the process. The integration of the drivers into a full range system with an AR character has already been done very nicely by the designers.

What is it specifically about the sound of classical music on AR speakers that appeals to you so much? Many others have made similar statements over the years, but can you be more exact in your characterization?

The only ARs I have ever lived with are 2ax, 3a, 5 and 9. The 3as were the first speaker that ever created a “you are there” moment for me when listening to classical music. The combination of bottom end grunt and the ability to create the illusion of concert hall attenuation with certain (few) classical recordings is what really caught my attention. The 9s have it also but not quite the same as the 3s but the 9s compensate with smooth effortless bass that goes down to forever. All of these ARs have a sound that is common to the family but the 3 and the 9 are the only ones that, for me, can create the illusion of “you are there” with the right recording of an orchestra or massed voices. By “you are there” I mean in the auditorium seating, not in the orchestra or on the conductors podium. Of course the room acoustics have a lot to do with it as well. My room with 3s and 9s is moderately live one of about 3000CF with a fairly dead wall at the rear. I have rambled enough.