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Another fun Classic "What if...."


Steve F

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In the “Wouldn’t this have been cool, so please don’t bother me with arguments of why it might not have been cost-feasible” department, here’s one for you:

 

Remember how AR used to offer upgrade kits, like the adapter plate w/ 3 ½” driver, to convert the AR-2 into a 2x (first gen) or the AR-2a into a 2ax (first gen)?

 

Or the AR-3t and AR-3st, neat little walnut boxes that looked like dollhouse-sized AR speakers and contained either a 1 3/8” tweeter (3st) or both the 2” dome mid and 1 3/8” tweeter (3t)? These could upgrade the AR-1 and 1w performance to either exactly or close to AR-3 level performance.

 

What if a decade or so later AR offered a Microstatic-shaped add-on containing two 1 ½” dome mids and two ¾” dome tweeters (one above the other) in an angled enclosure with each MF/HF pair firing off to the sides at the same angle as the LST’s side panel?

 

The replacement price for the dome mid was $55.00 ea, the tweeter was $24.50 ea. That’s retail, so “wholesale” is half of that. Wholesale for the x-o? WAG, $20. Cabinet? WAG, $20. That’s a wholesale cost of the “AR-3a-t” of $120, so retail would be $240 ea.

 

Add that to the $250 ea. list of a 3a and you’re at $490 ea. for very close to LST performance (the LST was $600 ea.). That would’ve worked from both a price and performance standpoint, and I bet a lot of 3a owners would’ve gone for it.

 

The Classic era was just too much fun.

 

Steve F.

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3 hours ago, ar_pro said:

You could probably still sell such a thing to every other guy on this forum! ^_^

I see SteveF just became a "millennial" poster, congrats ... now for the nuts and bolts -- that is what the Classic era reminds me of with its "yes, we can mentality." ...

Roger

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No, it wouldn’t sound like a 3a with a Microstatic MS-1 on top, unless you think that’s what an LST sounds like.

 

The Micro MS-1, for those readers unfamiliar with it, was a small 4-tweeter angled array that sat on top of an AR or KLH speaker and supposedly improved its HF response and dispersion. The MS-1 used four garden-variety cone tweeters—two 1 ¾, two 1 ½-inch, IIRC—that crossed over at either 3.5kHz or 7kHz, selectable with a 2-position switch. It sounded pretty good, and I used a set with my 2ax’s for a while, before giving them to my cousin (who gave them to his friend for his KLH-5’s).

 

My proposed “AR-3a-t” would be a totally different animal.

 

First, it would use AR’s own excellent drivers, the ¾-inch black hard dome 3a tweeter and 1 ½-inch 3a dome midrange. To my ears, the AR drivers sound quite a bit different than the CTS cone tweeters in the MS-1.

 

Secondly, and more importantly, the “AR-3a-t” would cross over at 575 Hz and 5000 Hz, like the 3a and LST (maybe 525 Hz like the later 3a and later LST, although, truth be told, a 50Hz “difference” in x-o frequency is nothing more than a perfectly-acceptable QC variance in crossover components. Things just aren’t that precise. Don’t be fooled.) The point is, the 3a-t would have the same much wider radiation from 575Hz on up—like the LST—in stark contrast to the 3a/MS-1 combo, which would have a markedly different radiation pattern, especially in the hearing-sensitive midrange.

 

The 3a/3a-t combo would not sound like a 3a/MS-1 combo. It would sound like an LST. Unless, as I said, you think an LST sounds like a 3a/MS-1 combo.

 

Steve F.

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What I was thinking was that placing the additional drivers above the main speaker's mid and high drivers and having the unit not integrated into the crossover would have enough of an effect on the sound for it to not sound like the LST.

There is also the difference of the LST having its two mids on the side panels and two tweeters and no mid in the front.

Maybe if the add-on had all the LST mid and high drivers and you removed the jumper from the main speaker...

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The idea sounds plausible and may have happened if Teledyne hadn't entered the picture.

My response would have been to just buy another pair or two of 3's although you may have had a hard time finding an amp to carry those back in the day.

I think my old SAE amp would -- need to rebuild that one ...

Roger

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