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Small world for AR9


iso

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We were going to eat lunch at local restaurant with my wife yesterday. I was window shopping while waiting for my wife. Suddenly I realized that there was nice AR9 pair standing in local second hand record shop. This record shop was situated next to where Sound Center was located from 70´s to 90´s and where I did work for almost 2 years in 80´s. This AR9 pair was most likely the pair I used to own in 80´s and it was originally sold from this Sound Center shop maybe 10 meters away.

It is miracle how AR9 pair, shop that did sell them and one owner will meet each other suddenly after 3 decades... real spooky.

Best Regards

Kimmo

PS I suppose that less than 10 AR9 pairs were sold in Finland...

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I did buy them in early 80´s and... sold off in late 80´s as I found small 2-ways with 8" woofers more suitable for me and especially for neighbor´s living next door. 5 years ago I did build ATC K100 speakers from kit and I have thought later that this was one of my biggest mistakes in audio. There is nothing wrong with performance of these wonderful speakers except weight and bulk.

However if I had built slightly smaller K50 speakers, they would have tipped the scales to slightly less than 50 kg and dimensions had been more modest. If you happen to like vintage gear some kind of modern reference is handy... but it would also be nice to be able to hide them in the basement when not using them.

This particular AR9 pair was offered to me in January... but it did not take too long to realize that they are not for me anymore... so I offered them to everyone living close to me on post #12 here http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8281&hl=%2Bar9+%2Bfinland#entry101545 .

Best Regards

Kimmo

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Tempted but the AR-3'a are behemoths already as I usually keep them small, as Linn Kann's, Quad 11L, Paradigm Titans and Monitor Audio small ones. The AR-3's are the biggest ones I've ever owned. Yes - hopefully I can now skip the subwoofers that didn't fit into the sound of the rest. Simultaneously they fit into vintage for me as the mentioned ones are effective but as always - lacks something...

Regards

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I do think that they are not for sale now. Person who was trying to sell the speakers to me in January did understand they are not too easy to sell due the size of speakers, even condition was surprisingly good. Apparently this guy sold this pair to shop owner during last spring.

Now when I saw condition of the wood trough shop window, I would say that only light sand with 240-400 grit paper and two coats of BLO would be needed, if you would not mind too much grayish patina of walnut. Maybe some touch up with marker pen. Grilles etc looked perfect too.

I think that new owner do own this record shop and I suppose that he contacted me some months ago when he was buying tubes for his amplifiers. When we discussed about tubes, he said that has recently bought AR9 pair. I told him that I suppose that I have owned this pair in 80´s after asking where he did buy those and what kind of money he paid. I think that he paid something like 500E and all 6 woofer were refoamed already.

It is rely spooky how certain things go around and will meet again...

Best Regards

Kimmo

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