"TIME-IN"

[frankmarsi]

3-22-17, 3PM EST.

 

If you had a choice of any vintage AR speaker to spend the rest of your life with, which one would it be, and why?

 

What brand name or type of amplifier in power rating would you couple it to, and what would be your program source?

 

Or, if you had a sizable speaker fund, which speaker would it be if not the AR’s?

 

And lastly, how long have you been listening to AR speakers on a daily basis? Do you think you will for much longer, or have you got your eyes on something else?

FM

P.S. Please, no silly or vague answers like “long enough time” or “not long enough time”. And if you're new to it all, that's better than never.

[samberger0357]

AR 3's w/ a Citation II amp.  Classic combo

First listened to AR's in the mid-70's at the AR listening lounge in Harvard Sq.  bought my AR 3's in 2015, my 3a's last year. 

[AR surround]

The AR9.   After going through a few iterations to get the recapping just right, they would definitely be my "forever" AR speaker.  Very impressive low end, sound field, imaging, and depth.  The amplifiers would be the $22,000 a pair, 300 watt, tube, McIntosh MC2301 monoblocks.   (Can't afford them and never had a Mac so why not put them into a fantasy system.)   The program sources would be late issue DVD-Audio and SACD.   With SACD, the material would need to be recorded directly in DSD such as Hiromi's Brain.   None of this nonsense like when they took The Byrds Greatest Hits and sold it as an SACD.    A replacement speaker would be something from Sonus Faber in the size range of the AR9.

I have been listening to AR speakers since mid-1972.

[ar_pro]

Provided with a Time Machine to bring a brand-new set forward from 1975, it would have to be the LST.

Estimating the LST price at about $5500 in 2017 money, it would be reasonable to match them with the 450 watt/channel McIntosh MC452 listing at $8500.

Using a current Benchmark or Mytek DAC at about $2000, would bring this system in at a very balanced & reasonable $16,000, give or take.

An ultimate system? McIntosh MC2KW 2,000-watt monoblocks driving the Magneplanar 20.7. And I'd have some fun picking out an astronomically-priced DAC!

With a few interruptions, I've been listening to AR systems since the late '60s. And although they're no longer in our main system, it's important to recognize - especially with loudspeakers - that enjoying one type of sound does not preclude enjoying another that's altogether different.

[michiganpat]

cost no object: AR9's, biamped, with Marantz model 9's powering the top end and a marantz 510 powering the woofer section

cost a bit of an object: AR11's powered by a marantz 2325 receiver

cost is an object, my current setup, AR58S powered by a marantz 2265

been listening to AR's since my uncle gave me some AR18's and I bought a set of 312HO's back in 1998

[DavidR]

AR9 for the speakers. (never heard an LST)

Audio Research for the amp (tube). One of the hybrid tube/ss for the Pre.

Alternate Speaker: Probably the Legacy Focus SE

[JKent]

22 hours ago, frankmarsi said:

Or, if you had a sizable speaker fund, which speaker would it be if not the AR’s?

So much gear, so little space.....

Can't answer definitively because there are MANY great speakers I'd like to hear but haven't. KLH Model Nine springs to mind AR-LST, Quad ESL, various Brits, etc. etc.....). But one speaker I DID hear was the Carver Amazing. I bought a pair of AR-3s from our member George "toastedalmond". Sorry to say George passed away not long ago. He had some very cool speakers. Think I spied a pair of AR-9s in his living room but he took me to his man cave (converted garage) to let me hear the Amazings and they were just that--Amazing. I don't remember the amp or other associated gear but the speakers were as advertized! I did a quick Google search and noticed Dick Olsher in Stereophile didn't like them. What does he know?

-Kent

[Steve F]

I’ve been listening to ARs since 1969, when my dad got a pair of 4x’s to replace his big Goodmans 15” floorstanders. The ARs were better top to bottom, no comparison. I was 15 at the time and couldn’t believe their sound. That’s what started my interest.

 

 

A few years later, in high school, a friend bought OLAs. He’d come over to our house, hear the diminutive 4x’s and say, “It’s not fair! Nothing that small and inexpensive should sound that good!” From then on, my dad and I called the 4x’s the “not fair” speakers.

 

 

I’ve been through 2^nd-gen 2ax’s, LST-2’s, 91's, 11’s, Connoisseur 50’s, restored 3a’s (which I still have) and restored 9’s (my current main speakers).

 

 

I am perfectly happy with the 9’s, powered by a Parasound New Classic pre-amp/power amp combo, 400/400 RMS into 4 ohms, in a 14 x 17-foot room. Never, ever run out of power, even at loud levels. Maybe...maybe... go to Parasound Halo’s.

 

 

If the 9’s blow drivers that I can’t replace and I had to get new speakers, there’s a Legacy Audio model called the Signature SE, a double 10-inch sealed 4-way, with a design approach very much like the 9 or 90 (except for the side-firing woofers).

http://legacyaudio.com/products/view/signature-se/

 

 

If I didn’t buy those, I’d build my own. Having spent decades in the speaker biz with Bose, Boston Acoustics and Atlantic Technology, I have some very definite ideas on what I’d like to do. I still have many industry contacts in engineering, vendors/suppliers and industrial design, so I could get production-level cabinets at manufacturer prototype cost as, um, “samples.” I’ve already talked to my engineering friends and they’d be more than happy to make their facilities available “after hours” for measuring, testing, listening, etc.

 

 

My design would be either a single side-firing 12-inch a little larger than a 91 or a dual 12-inch side-firing speaker about the size of the 9. Finish, details (feet, terminals, etc.) and overall appearance would be incomparably nicer than late-70’s vintage ARs. Adding up the rough wholesale cost of what I’d like to do and applying the wholesale-to-retail multiplier that I know from first-hand experience that companies use, the larger version of my speakers would be roughly $10,000/pair on today’s market.

 

 

Chances of doing this are very slim. Mostly mind-games while driving to work. I hope my 9’s last as long as my hearing does. I’m quite happy.

 

 

Steve F.

[DavidR]

1 hour ago, JKent said:

So much gear, so little space...........But one speaker I DID hear was the Carver Amazing. ................................ let me hear the Amazings and they were just that--Amazing. I don't remember the amp or other associated gear but the speakers were as advertized! I did a quick Google search and noticed Dick Olsher in Stereophile didn't like them. What does he know?

-Kent

A friend of mine has Carver Amazing Platinum speakers. I find the ribbons shrill. My ears, my taste. YMMV

[JKent]

1 hour ago, Steve F said:

“It’s not fair! Nothing that small and inexpensive should sound that good!”

Back in 1969 I started assembling my first "hi-fi". The speakers were AR-4x, which I bought (like all of my gear) at a discount house in East Orange NJ. The store (just a warehouse, really) is gone now and I wouldn't venture to East Orange now even if it were, but I still have the speakers AND the receipt! The speakers were my 1st restoration project and I got a LOT of help from guys here.

-Kent

[Aadams]

Today, if I had a dead silent sanctuary and nothing to do but sit and listen to outstanding recordings of acoustic instruments, recorded live, playing the music I like, then it would have to be the full range Magnapans fed by a Mac amp and the super DAC du jour.  

But, given I live a peripatetic life with noise all around and I frequently listen to non-acoustic low dynamic range, music that is recorded through cables and circuits almost completely isolated from any acoustic performance space, I am completely satisfied with my AR 9s and 3as with sufficient watts and an OK DAC.  I must add that I am not dogmatic about ARs. There are other ways to get the sound I like just not as easy. 

Adams

 

[Sonnar]

The speakers for the rest of my life will be AR 3, no doubt. I 'm totally satisfied with my Crown Macro Tech 2402 power amp ( 750 watts per channel on 4 ohms , 1050 wpc on 2 ohms ) and Marantz 33 preamp. I have four AR 3 just to be sure to listen my favourite speaker for many years . Alternate speakers: AR 3a . AR speakers owner since 1976.       Adriano

[der]

Well, I have listened to nothing but my AR3as since I bought them in 1969. Rebuilt the crossovers a couple of years ago and cleaned the pots as well. New (near original grill cloth a few years ago) Unlikely that I'll change now at my age. Still love the sound. Like and old pair of shoes that are just so comfortable!  Still have my 4x pair from the same year in my second system. Cartridges and amps come and go but the ARs prevail. 

der

[lARrybody]

Unlike you guys I did not own any AR speakers until 2011. Now I am not sure how many pairs I have. My father had a Fisher tube receiver and Electro Voice speakers when I was a kid. In the early 70's I returned home from college and found they had been replaced with a Pioneer Quad receiver and four Walnut Large Advents.  My first pair of good speakers were Utility Advents in 1973. In 1977 I purchased a set of Bose 901's. What did I know, they were loud. Then came a motorcycle, 1971 SS396 Chevelle, speed boat and eventually a wife, mortgage and three sons. I still kept the 901's till the mid 90's. In 2010 I saw an advertisement in one of those airplane magazines for a preamp and software to digitize vinyl LP's. That brings me to where I am now.

My friend has the Macintosh tube monoblocks and AR9's. That would make me happy, at least for a while. Maybe four mint LST's and four monoblocks. I own several turntables, but would like a very expensive Sota. Maybe have Andrew Jones design me a one off set of floorstanders.  The sky's the limit.