Sweet AR4x

[der]

Finished treating the cloth surrounds of my AR3a woofers this morning. This was the last thing I wanted to do to complete their restoration. Since it takes several days for the treatment to dry I hooked up my completely restored AR4x in my main listening area.  (I had also treated the cloth surrounds of the 4x's as well - a process that made a big different on bass)  Wow - I'd really forgotten just how good these little 2 ways sound.  They had to be absolutely one of the best buys in speakers back in their day. Still are likely. My pair was bought used but immaculate back in 1971.  I think I gave $50 for the pair. The little guys seems a bit lost on the 3a stands.

 

der

[xmas111]

I agree with you.  Always impressed how my 4x's sound.   Love the damn things!

[Steve F]

I’ve told this story on these pages a few times, so to those of you who’ve read it before, I apologize in advance.

In 1962, my dad bought these nice 15” 3-way Goodmans speakers from Lafayette Radio—not really 3 full ways: the accordion-edge woofer, a midrange “whizzer cone” crossing over to a small horn tweeter at 2500 ‘CPS.’ They resided in 3-ft tall 4 cu. ft. enclosures. Monsters. They sounded okay as I remember.

After 7 years, my mom had had it with them. “Out!”

My dad had always wanted ARs, but couldn’t afford the -2 or the -3. When the 4x came out, he saved his money and got them. The salesman at Lafayette gave him the 4x’s in walnut for the unfinished price ($63-$57). Such a deal (those were the days before AR was widely discounted).

When we hooked them up, we were astonished. The 4x’s were so incomparably better than the 16-times-larger Goodmans, it wasn’t even funny. Top to bottom.

Two short years later, in 1971, the ‘stereo craze’ had hit and my high school friends were putting together their own systems. One of my best friends bought Large Advents and was quite boastful about their sound.

But when he came over our house and heard the 4x’s playing his favorite records, he was dismayed. “How can they sound so good? They’re less than half the size and price of my Advents and they sound so good. It’s not fair!”

From then on, my dad and I always called the 4x’s the “Not Fair Speakers.”

 

Steve F.

[der]

23 minutes ago, Steve F said:

I’ve told this story on these pages a few times, so to those of you who’ve read it before, I apologize in advance.

 

In 1962, my dad bought these nice 15” 3-way Goodmans speakers from Lafayette Radio—not really 3 full ways: the accordion-edge woofer, a midrange “whizzer cone” crossing over to a small horn tweeter at 2500 ‘CPS.’ They resided in 3-ft tall 4 cu. ft. enclosures. Monsters. They sounded okay as I remember.

 

After 7 years, my mom had had it with them. “Out!”

 

My dad had always wanted ARs, but couldn’t afford the -2 or the -3. When the 4x came out, he saved his money and got them. The salesman at Lafayette gave him the 4x’s in walnut for the unfinished price ($63-$57). Such a deal (those were the days before AR was widely discounted).

 

When we hooked them up, we were astonished. The 4x’s were so incomparably better than the 16-times-larger Goodmans, it wasn’t even funny. Top to bottom.

 

Two short years later, in 1971, the ‘stereo craze’ had hit and my high school friends were putting together their own systems. One of my best friends bought Large Advents and was quite boastful about their sound.

 

But when he came over our house and heard the 4x’s playing his favorite records, he was dismayed. “How can they sound so good? They’re less than half the size and price of my Advents and they sound so good. It’s not fair!”

 

From then on, my dad and I always called the 4x’s the “Not Fair Speakers.”

 

 

 

Steve F.

 

That is indeed a good name for them "Not Fair Speakers." 

der

[stupidhead]

nice story Steve, and der I couldn't agree with both of you more.

What has surprised me is the condition(s) of them, specifically the sound they produce. I have rehabbed no less than four sets and each has it's own sound curiously. All very similar, but still noticeable differences. I guess this has to do with how they were used (or abused) over the course of their life before I got my grubby hands on them.

prosit

[stupidhead]

even though I have toyed around with various cap arrangements in them, I will leave no commentary on this!

[der]

Rebuilding the crossovers, cleaning up the pots, sealing the surrounds and resealing the whole boxes with fresh duct seal made mine sing. There's definitely something to be said for a well designed 2 way.

 

der

[Sonnar]

At the time AR 4 and AR 6 were matched with some low power solid state integrated amp or receiver, early ss amps. Last week a friend and I decided to play his AR 6 with my QSC very muscular pro amp. Wow. 

[ra.ra]

I'll jump on this bandwagon and add my $0.02 to this love-fest. Specific comments by der and SteveF sounded very familiar to me, since the only pair of loudspeakers I ever purchased "new" were my first AR-4x's, oiled walnut, $63 apiece, while in high school in 1971. The Consumer Reports reviews pushed me into this life-long commitment. The little buggers are truly giant killers, and my only regret is that I lost some interest in them for a handful of years due to the ever-slow developing diminished HF performance. Little did I know that: 1) they could be opened up; 2) tweeter drop-off is fairly normal with age; and 3) a simple replacement part (cap) and maintenance (pots) can bring these babies back to life. 

[owlsplace]

19 hours ago, Sonnar said:

At the time AR 4 and AR 6 were matched with some low power solid state integrated amp or receiver, early ss amps. Last week a friend and I decided to play his AR 6 with my QSC very muscular pro amp. Wow. 

My trinity AR-6 stack powered with the Adcom 555II is fairly impressive and since my trinity AR-5 project has been in limbo for awhile they are my mains at the moment. There is a trinity AR-4x stack somewhere on the horizon. Actually I have four in varying degrees of functionality at the moment if I count my orphan 4xa.

Fortunately there is no shortage of 4x's on the used market -- AR's lasting legacy to the common man. I like that moniker -- "The Not Fair Speaker."

I'll have figure out how to integrate Carl's piezo tweeter array into these stacks. There are times when I enjoy a little more sparkle than the old tweeters can produce.

Roger

[GD70]

Great little speakers! I found mine a few years ago in a CL listing along wi a pair of KLH Seventeens. 130.00 for the pair! They had been the sellers dads, had been sitting in a closet for years. The 4X's are untouched except for a light application of sealer to the surrounds, other wise virtually mint. Treated them to a couple coats of Watcos and the veneer glows! The Seventeens were almost as nice, now recapped and surrounds revealed as well, and now are my daughters. 

Glenn

[lakecat]

Never heard a pair as I have always been wrapped up in the bigger brothers...:).......but....what do you think of this makeover? And..has a demo of his work. Love to know how he records his music for YouTube.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acoustic-Research-AR-4x-Vintage-Speakers-Restored-Improved-See-Video-Demo-/222027144144?hash=item33b1d95bd0:g:DDAAAOSwa-dWp~zq

[GD70]

I know this seller. As far as I know, he usually buys speakers already restored, as he bought a pair of 2A's and late model KLH Six's from me.

A few weeks later, he was selling the 2A's on fleabay with a substantial markup.

I think his price for the 4x's is a bit high.

[owlsplace]

Yeah, he has the 2a video up on his youtube feed. I'd be surprised if he gets half his asking price for these since they are no longer 4x's especially since there is a nice ported set up with original drivers for $200

A bit disappointing when a nice set of cabs gets modded.

Roger

[ra.ra]

Sheesh......except for the grilles and badges, there is nothing left to those speakers resembling an original AR-4x. Even the cabs have been substantially modified. Not saying that they might not be decent sound reproducers, but these should hold no interest for someone seeking a small pair of authentic AR speakers. 

 

[der]

Not for me. Essentially junk to my mind.

der

[GD70]

Agree.

[samberger0357]

I despise when people do this to classics. Awhile back I bought what I thought were an original pair of Wharfedale W70's from a local seller. Outside they looked remarkable, brand new. They had new speaker terminals, but I figured that was the extent of the restore and picked them up cheap. Well, got them home to find that somebody previously had changed these marvelous 3 ways to a 2 way, removing the original alnico drivers and replacing them with decent stuff. They sounded good, but dang it they weren't Wharfedale W70's any longer. 

Have no idea what's going through the mind of somebody that takes what is beautiful from such a classic speaker like the 4x and turns it into something completely different. Just pisses me off.  

"Restored and Improved". Yeah, right. 

[der]

Of course, then there's that fleabay seller mentioned earlier that converted a pair of 4x to "ported" speakers and claimed they sounded wonderful. 

der

[ar_pro]

Did the seller make these changes, or is he just trying to flip someone else's fubar project?

 

[der]

2 hours ago, ar_pro said:

Did the seller make these changes, or is he just trying to flip someone else's fubar project?

 

From the listing.

"A few shallow scratches that are barely visible. I lightly sanded and oiled the wood veneer to restore the grain, and overall they look excellent.

Minty.

The crossovers were replaced, a bass port opened and struts to support the grills put in place. The grills were re-covered."

 

der

[michiganpat]

14 hours ago, samberger0357 said:

I despise when people do this to classics. Awhile back I bought what I thought were an original pair of Wharfedale W70's from a local seller. Outside they looked remarkable, brand new. They had new speaker terminals, but I figured that was the extent of the restore and picked them up cheap. Well, got them home to find that somebody previously had changed these marvelous 3 ways to a 2 way, removing the original alnico drivers and replacing them with decent stuff. They sounded good, but dang it they weren't Wharfedale W70's any longer. 

Have no idea what's going through the mind of somebody that takes what is beautiful from such a classic speaker like the 4x and turns it into something completely different. Just pisses me off.  

"Restored and Improved". Yeah, right. 

I had bought some 2ax cabinets for $10 in very good shape, and had intentions on building/designing a frankenspeaker....but then I stumbled on original woofers for a reasonable amount and original mids and tweets, so I restored them...

way back when on audiokarma, Zilch found IIRC a tang band tweeter that was a near drop in replacement sonically in the crossover region of the 4x with better response over 12khz than every stock 4x tweet he tested, and IIRC, the 4x tweeter hasn't really held up to old father time, with diminished performance or high rate of failure....but he built adapter plates so there were no mods to the cabinet....

[owlsplace]

17 hours ago, ar_pro said:

Did the seller make these changes, or is he just trying to flip someone else's fubar project?

It's a flip... Hey, I wouldn't be able to resist them at the local thrift for $20

4 hours ago, michiganpat said:

.... way back when on audiokarma, Zilch found IIRC a tang band tweeter that was a near drop in replacement sonically in the crossover region of the 4x with better response over 12khz than every stock 4x tweet he tested, and IIRC, the 4x tweeter hasn't really held up to old father time, with diminished performance or high rate of failure....but he built adapter plates so there were no mods to the cabinet....

Zilch had a lot of resources to work with ... was that the 4x mod that ended up in the Kitchen?

Carl mentioned just adding a piezo tweeter array externally without any mods. Haven't tried it yet but it is on the agenda. Then there is SteveF's tweeter tree IIRC which I don't think he got into details on if you are interested changing spectral balance to compensate for tweeter aging/roll-off issues.

Roger

[michiganpat]

57 minutes ago, owlsplace said:

It's a flip... Hey, I wouldn't be able to resist them at the local thrift for $20

Zilch had a lot of resources to work with ... was that the 4x mod that ended up in the Kitchen?

Carl mentioned just adding a piezo tweeter array externally without any mods. Haven't tried it yet but it is on the agenda. Then there is SteveF's tweeter tree IIRC which I don't think he got into details on if you are interested changing spectral balance to compensate for tweeter aging/roll-off issues.

Roger

not sure...I know Carl did a lot of work looking at the CTS knock off phenolic ring tweets as a possible alternative, that might be what's in there...

 

here's the post on audiokarma

 

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/recapping-ar-4x.123113/page-4

 

replies 71-73 are the ones that go into the details of the tang band tweet....

 

[der]

Interesting link. I am not opposed to improving the sound of a particular speaker, especially if suitable authentic drivers are not available. The question for me is then - where do you stop?

der