Cwies68 Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 I picked up a pair of AR9's at an Estate sale, re-foamed the speakers, had them tested, and refinished the wood about a year ago. I purchased a bunch of other stereo equipment as well to include some Adcom equipment. I love the speakers, paid $125 for them, and have been powering them GFA-555 and a GFP-555II. I am not an electronic guru, or audiophile, but feel like these speakers need more power to please my listening enjoyment. Note, I only listen to vinyl on a Denon DF-51F, and no other source of music will be played other than the occasional plug my phone into the system and it is connected to TV. I am looking for some suggestions to up the power for these speakers, and would like to really push them to their limits. I do not have a money tree, but would like something of quality. I am not interested in Bi-Amping as do not know how, single or multiple amps? Any other feedback or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Wow! That's an awesome pick up price on those AR-9's. If only I could find a deal like that. As to amps, the Adcom amps that you're already using are often mentioned as being a good match for AR speakers. But, there's a lot of vintage amps that should work too, one being the classic war horse, the Hafler DH-500. Also, off the top of my head; Carver; M-1.5t, TFM-35, TFM-45, and Sunfire Signatures. SAE and Soundcraftsmen had some nice sounding big amps. The Sumo Andromeda. Yamaha has some very good high power amps with high damping factor, MX-1000, M-2, M-80, M-85. I'd look for Acurus A250, or Aragon 4004 and 8008 amps too. Parasound, HCA-2200, or one of the new Parasound Halo amps. Also new, Emotiva has a cult following for their mono and high power stereo amps (internet direct only). Even look at pro amps. The Crown XLS amps get very good reviews, and output very high power into 4 and 2 ohm loads. And they're cheap too. Other than those, you can always go Krell or Threshold or McIntosh! Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Oh yea, read/search through this forum too. There's lots of 'which amp' threads, that are still applicable to your inquiry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Welcome to the CSP! As Stimpy wrote, Crown XLS amps will give you massive amounts of power at a very reasonable cost. I use an Adcom 555/II for my AR-3a's and that seems to supply enough power but I can understand your wanting more. Stimpy's other recommendations are good too, but remember any vintage amp should be professionally serviced before using. Those are interesting speakers. I've never heard of the AR-9K and could not find anything about them in a Google search. Any other members familiar with these? No side-firing woofers and the front woofer looks like maybe a 10" woofer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 My 9's have the k after AR9. maybe we just aren't seeing the side woofers in the photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 You might not want to rule out the bi-amping method - your Adcom is well-suited to the AR-9, readily available, easily serviced, and relatively inexpensive. You could add a second GFA-555 power amplifier, remove the binding post jumpers, and use one stereo amplifier per AR-9; that would be 400 watts/speaker, which should do the job nicely. Your AR-9s look really sharp - great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwies68 Posted March 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 JK Kent. They do have the side firing woofers. I'm just not sure about the "K", whether something different or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 32 minutes ago, Cwies68 said: JK Kent. They do have the side firing woofers. I'm just not sure about the "K", whether something different or not... Oh. Didn't see them in your photos. Probably because the grilles were not on the woofs. Clears up the mystery! I agree with AR-Pro. I have not bi-amped but the 9s are worthy speakers for that approach. I think another way to bi-amp would be to use one amp for the bass and another for the mid/hi. Some people use a big solid state for bass and tubes for the mid/hi. I do not know how you do that, to get the proper levels for both amps but I'm sure there are those here )or on AK) who could advise you on that. The method AR=Pro describes is certainly the easiest. Keep us posted. -Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwies68 Posted March 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Ar-Pro. Thanks for the compliment, and your responses was the kind I was looking for. Simple and straight forward. Regarding adding another amp; does it have to be identical, or could it be an Adcom GFA-555II? And when you say "remove the binding post jumpers", are those on the speakers themselves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 FANTASTIC score: AR9s for $125. I'm sick with envy. IIRC, the letter designation was used on many models. The 9 was K, the 90 was L and 91 is M, etc. Nothing different about the model. Some of the old Carver amps, as already mentioned, will work well. I'd stick with the TFM series as they were designed to drive difficult loads. You have some very good amps for the 9s already. Emotiva has some very nice A/B class amps at affordable prices. They are moving to brick and mortar stores s well as their online sales. I use the SA-250 Pro amp on my 90s and it is a really nice sounding amp. I also have a XPA-2 Gen2 amp sitting around (at the moment). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Cwies, Great job on prettying up those 9's. I have mine biamped with 2 Adcom GFA5500 amps after posing the exact same questions to the treehouse here. Here is the thread on it. I do the passive version after getting advice here and elsewhere. Biamping options the AR9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 On the AR-9, the binding post jumpers are the thin-gage wires that connect the upper and lower (red & black) posts on the rear of the speaker. By unwrapping & removing these wires, you will have separated the woofer crossover section from the upper range section; allowing easy bi-amping through the original crossover. David Dru's Adcom setup is a more modern version of what I've used with the AR-9, and it's really straightforward, employing two identical amplifiers of excellent quality. As Kent mentioned, it's certainly possible to use different kinds/types/designs of amplifiers for both sections, with all of the variables or potential benefits attendant; but as he mentioned, there would be the issue of matching the levels between dissimilar amplifiers. Your GFA-555 was designed by Nelson Pass, and began a series of amplifiers that are still very well-regarded, especially when it comes to sonics & reliabilty, and is certainly a great candidate for powering the AR-9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cwies68 Posted March 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 DavidDru, the vertical or horizontal passive?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Oops, sorry, vertical. My preamp has 3 outputs so it made it easy to use 2 of them with 4 cables instead of a splitter, but either way is easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis McCracken Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 I bought a pair of AR9's like yours for $200 locally, about a mile from my house. One of the woofers had been removed because the guy was wondering about refoaming it. Thankfully it wasn't damaged. I purchased the foams from the typical place in Massachusetts and got to work. About that time I met a fellow who had an Adcom GFA-555II that he had used to power a subwoofer, he sold that to me for $300. For $500 I had a powerful stereo, the most intense listening I had ever done or that any of my friends had ever done. Our favorite thing for a while was AC/DC's Live at Donnington recorded in 1991. Cranked to just below where the clipping lights come on and with a fan on the heatsink we can be transported far beyond the couch in my man cave for two hours at a time. What fun. The Adcom runs in 4 ohm mode so delivers approximately 325 wpc to the AR's. That seems to be enough for me. I actually tried bi-amping with a Parasound amp and didn't care for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briodo Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Great to hear and congratulations on the find. You got yourself one heck of a deal! Just a suggestion based on personal experience, and you will see across the forum, the crossover capacitors in most AR's eventually degrade. Since you know how to remove the 12" subs, it is certainly worth your while to check to see if someone upgraded them in the last decade or so. If they are original, chances are good they need to be replaced. And it's well worth it. Enjoy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry398 Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 I will add my opinion on amps. I have tried several on my AR 9s. The best one i have heard is the Carver Tfm 42. Its close on the Carver 4.0 , but that works awesome on the AR9LSI. There is a guy out in Ohio that redoes them. He did mine, sound is exceptional. As for caps....hot topic. Plenty of threads on that. Enjoy your 9s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnfalc Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Another satisfied Carver user here. I happen to use the M-1.5t amplifiers which are, topologically, essentially the same as the TFM-42 (although the M-1.5t, being older, uses TO-3 output transistors instead of the more modern plastic TO3P). I have four of them (I buy them broken and repair them myself) and they work effortlessly with my 9s, 90s, 3as, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AR surround Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 I'm using a Lexicon amp rated at 180 wpc into 8 ohms and stable with impedances down to 2 ohms. So heaven knows how much this beast is cranking into 4 ohms. The key is to have an amp that can deal with the low impedance of the power hungry AR9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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