sound comparison

[ironlake]

Has anyone ever compared the sound of an ar 4x to a dynaco a25. I;m thinking of changing to a dynaco but would like to hear some comments on the comparison.

[Carlspeak]

I think that question has been asked over at audiokarma.org/speaklers forum. Suggest you visit there also and do a search.

[Rich W]

I think it depends on what your priorities are. I recently did just such a comparison. I would characterize the Dynaco A-25 as having one of the most neutral and uncolored sounds of any speaker I've come across. By comparison, The AR-4x has a noticeable roughness in the midrange. However, in the lower bass region, it's a different story. While the A-25 lends absolutely no coloration to the bass it can reproduce, it does not have any usable output below about 50 Hz. The AR-4x however continues to respond well, albeit with reduced output, all the way down to around 30 Hz. In fact, I ran a 31.5 Hz test tone ( a sub-contra 'C') through both speakers. The Dynaco responded with upper harmonics and virtually no fundamental tone. The 4x's responded well enough to rattle glassware on a wall-mounted shelf about 10 ft. away from the speaker (I ran the same test with an AR-7 with similar results). So again, it depends on what's more important to you.

Its funny you should ask this question, since my own comparison between these two speakers took me down an interesting road. The midrange roughness of the AR-4x was addressed by member Speaker Dave by redesigning the crossover to eliminate the dip in the 1.5 to 2kHz range (see his thread in the Mods and Tweaks forum). I chose a different solution, which I will be posting about in the near future - I converted the same pair of AR-4x's mentioned above to a pair of AR-4xa's. The updated tweeter (same as used in the AR-6 and AR-7) addresses the midrange response anomalies while offering far better dispersion than the older 2.5 inch cone tweeter. Post-conversion, the AR-4xa's now give the A-25's a run for the money in the midrange, with the added bonus of that superior low bass response. While I still feel the Dynaco-A25 is an excellent speaker, I will be selling the pair I have soon.

Rich W