Stimpy Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Just saw this on ebay. Modified "AR90s"! Oh, the horror! While the O/B layout could work, why use a bass reflex alignment for the woofers? And the tweeters deserve better too! I guess the whole pair deserves better...! Franken 90s For posterity. "I have been designing and building Audio Speakers for thirty two (32) years.As a classic spaeker collector, I thought to myself: If the AR-90s were to be built today, what type of enclosure would they come in ? so I decided to endow them with a befiting regalia. These are what i came up with. These were built with solid high quality MDF material. And heavy gauge speaker binding posts added as an option to the original one. YOU WILL NOT FIND THIS ANYWHERE ELSE. DIMENSIONS: 53" High, 12" Wide, 21" deep. Have not weighed, but these are heavy. The acoustic Research AR-90 are veryhigh precision devices, designed and built to tolerances comparable only to proffesional studio microphones. They far exceed the performance capabilities of the classic laboratory reference standard and AR lists. Indeed, the clarity of the AR-90s will make you aware of limitations in assiciated equipment, including the finest electronics. Specifications: Type: 4 way, 5 driver driver loudspeaker. Frequency Responce: 23Hz to 30KHz. Power Handling: 250 W. Recommended Amplifier: 50 to 300 . Crossover Frequency: 200, 1200, 7000Hz. Impedance: 4 Ohm. Sensitivity:87dB. I'M NOT A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER. THESE PICTURES DO NOT DO COMPLETE JUSTICE TO THESE SPEAKERS." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganpat Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 okay then....yeah, the woofers weren't designed for vented enclosures, the midwoof's way to low of a QTS to use in an open baffle arrangement, and the tweet buried so deep in a cylinder, I'd imagine you'd get some weird reflections and off axis performance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 But hey--he's been "designing and building Audio Speakers for thirty two (32) years." And who cares about low QTS? These have heavy gauge speaker binding posts added as an option to the original one What more could you ask for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankmarsi Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 9-20-16 Obviously the person who created these speakers is seemingly very influenced by current high-end designs and visuals. Typically this type of look is usually seen in high-end designs costing ridiculously high prices. Nonetheless, these do look most interesting and obviously an intense and well executed project for the most part. The external black finish comes across very well as does the upper portion of the enclosure with its smooth curved styling. Surely, to your point “Stimpy” regarding the tweeter; mounting like that is undesireable and may be the only draw back. However, they don’t exactly appear to be AR-9 type of tweeters because the dome is shiny and AR’s are not. They may be a different sort of hard-dome. The builder may have included the white circle around the tweeter to give an AR appearence? The enclosure’s feet also appear to be using wood sausers along with easily obtainable spikes. The frame upon which the enclosure is sitting on may have been cut from metal stock or culled from other speakers? I don’t understand the rear’s stone panel on top of and covering the connectors. The tuned-port formula seems operable, that is if these are woofers that can be used in such a configuration. My question is with such a large enclosure, requiring that much porting shouldn’t be necessary according to what little I remember about enclosure building. There is a formula for cabinet port size of course. We’re not certain these are AR woofers either as they may be of bass-reflex design, they look conventional in design. The rear view exposing what seems like a velor sort of material covering the mids is just plain uncalled for. After all of the effort made to create these speakers, it surprises me he used fabric in such a sloppy way. In his description, I see he’s taken a snipe at the AR-LST though it seems ‘auto-correct’ mis-spelt it on him. To be frank, after all, that is my name. I don’t think one could compare the AR-90s and AR-LST’s as they sound very different from one another due to their designs. Above all else he states that he’s been building speaker enclsures for a long time and if so, even I question some of the design’s premise. Clearly these are not AR speakers although the builder blatantly indicates that they are. In any event, I’d like to hear what they sound like just the same. Lastly, for all we know he may be a forum member here? So, I'll cut out at this point. FM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Might be worth a couple of hundred for the drivers... A few more of these and we might need a new forum called "WTF?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlausDK Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 4 hours ago, genek said: A few more of these and we might need a new forum called "WTF?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ligs Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 I have not seen any real technical reasons for doing what the seller has done, except for more striking appearance. Going bass reflex normally requires larger volume and/ore lower Q drivers but it is not happening here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 He's going to have a tough time selling those things for any price, much less $3000+. Hey, there isn't even a place for a lamp or a plant! Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 58 minutes ago, ligs said: I have not seen any real technical reasons for doing what the seller has done, except for more striking appearance. Going bass reflex normally requires larger volume and/ore lower Q drivers but it is not happening here. Actually those ports are for the hoses going to the built-in vacuum cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Yea, to convert from sealed to ported, the cabinet volume typically needs to be doubled. I don't think that happened here. Plus, those tweeters do look a bit weird. While the face plates look correct, the domes don't. They look treated, as they're too shiny. And the color is off too. So, looks like a new tweeter, mounted to the old face plate. Regardless, while the new cabinet isn't 'bad', the price is outrageous. There's a lot of other speakers, in that price range, that would surely sound better than these. I pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted September 22, 2016 Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 I find those "high end" cabinet designs plain ugly. Lucky for my my wife to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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