Many 3a's like this one?

[ra.ra]

Beautiful pair of unfinished pine 3a's currently for sale online, and these have the same wiring: front for tweeter and rear for midrange. Hard to tell, but the serial numbers might be in the 93XXX range, date might be 1974.

[JKent]

15 minutes ago, ra.ra said:

Beautiful pair of unfinished pine 3a's

and for a mere $1,500 

[ra.ra]

4 hours ago, JKent said:

and for a mere $1,500 

The issue here was about driver wiring format and vintage, but yeah, if I were to comment on pricing that I often see from an online auction site or even here in this forum, I'd probably use a lot of these:       

[genek]

Interesting that one of these has a circular cutout in the front trim to clear the tweeter while the other one has enough clearance to not need one.

[lakecat]

I see the random spots for the mids and tweeters all the time. Apparently, there wasn't a template for the location but just free hand locations. Look at the mid location on these and one can see about a half inch difference to the right side from one to the other...and why the tweeter hole was drilled so high up on the one.

What is so odd about the pine values is the fact that they are supposedly "rare" but the reason why they are rare is because it is chit wood and no one bought them or didn't want to paint a cabinet. The flip side to this oddity of values is the Heathkit version of the 3a is just as rare and has the nice walnut veneer, nice cabinet, fused drivers, and durable grill....but yet has a much smaller value. I scratch my head on that one!

What I do think is nice on the latest series of 3a's are the newest drivers one can have and also the pots have the double swipes which I like very much.

[GD70]

That's excellent you'll have the 2nd cab.

Regarding Heathkit vs. AR, you're paying for the name.

I had an 04 VW Passat wagon, and when I was at the dealer one time for a repair, I asked the mechanic working on it, how did it compare to the Audi A4. He said they were the same car mechanically, and you were paying 10K more for 4 rings on the grill.

[genek]

There was the name and also the customer service. Heath used to have pretty technical assistance on their kits, but even they wouldn't have paid shipping both ways, fixed any problems your finished speakers had and sent you free boxes to send your speakers back to them in. For five years (and some people report that the company sometimes fixed things for free after that, or even when the problem was the result of them aiming their speakers out a window and using them as PA speakers).

[frankmarsi]

 

 

12-7-16

“”paid shipping both ways,””

“”and sent you free boxes to send your speakers back to them in. For five years””

 “”sometimes fixed things for free after that”

Obviously “genek” you are implying Acoustic Research’s beyond excellent customer service.

I would know as I sent my AR-3a’s back to AR on several occasions, way back in 1972-all the way up to late 1977  installing a new woofer, two tweeters along with two new midranges that one last time.

Prior to that last time, AR and I even went into ‘separate-individual-component-mode’ where one or two drivers at a time were sent back and forth 5 times.

I can admit to the excellence and superb care and service that AR gave me and others who were lucky enough to have and owned these speakers bought ‘brand-new’ in the box and sending in those warrantee cards attached on the back.

Every time, upon receiving my AR-3a’s back in boxes, I was always pleased and felt content that my speakers were given the official AR once-over and returned to me better than when I sent them back.

FM

[lakecat]

AR's value in service has nothing to do with a value of a pine AR3a. I am pointing out that the AR pine 3a is more valuable than the other 3a series because of it's rarity....despite the low grade pine veneer. I am also pointing out that the Heathkit version of the 3a was rare because it was a do it yourself kit and mostly "geeks" bought it....so not so main stream. Maybe people think since it was home assembled that it was inferior but it was a kit with a very nice cabinet made by a furniture company, crossovers and caps the same, and even fused....which AR didn't have. I have done several Heathkit 3a's and I find them as nice as the AR3a so that is what I find confusing to me with it's value....because they are rare. Find the last one sold on Ebay or any other online source......

I love the AR sound and have way too many AR's at this point...:) I was just pointing out something that was odd to me was all....not about the value of AR and it's service.....at all......

[genek]

All of these things were part of. what went into making the AR name what it was. You obviously aren't benefitting from the service the company used to provide, but you're still paying for what that service added to the company's mystique.

[lakecat]

I have interesting story to share on these 3a's I redone. I am overloaded on AR's so I put these on the bay for a buy it now or best offer. I always put stuff up the evening but decided to put these on the bay in the afternoon. I didn't even have them on there for an hour and got the notification that they were sold....at the buy it now! I about fell down......but here is where I think it is a great Xmas story.

The buyer emailed me and asked that I call him.......so I did. Here it was a young man that bought these for his dad for a surprise Xmas gift. How bad azz is that?! Just got them packed up today....and will go out Monday. He told me that his dad has always loved AR speakers and always wanted the AR3a and that mine looked awesome....:)  I truly hope the dad gets a lot of enjoyment out of them. Great ending to these....and bringing them back from their distressed state.

[ra.ra]

Speakers look terrific and what a great story - - - I think I'll pass it on to my daughter, maybe she will get the hint.