Hi, New With New To Me AR-2ax Pair

[ar_pro]

Go to bed, Frank.

[frankmarsi]

8 minutes ago, ar_pro said:

Go to bed, Frank.

Ah, come-on pro-man, you did good.

[jessiAV]

   Thank you for your welcome gentlemen !

So yes, filleted surrounds have a thicker, tapered inner edge, and help damp the cone's edge resonance. A good thing with these later AR foam 10 inch woofers, I think.

 

      If I can ask, would it be safe to use my main email address as a contact addy here? Just wondering  as this is not a HTTPS site

 

 

[tysontom]

16 hours ago, JKent said:

A belated welcome Sara and Jessi! Nice to have some women here--I thought we were all a bunch of (old) guys 

Sara--you have received a lot of quality information from Tom. The only thing I would add is this: If the cabinets have no obvious damage you may be able to clean them up with some Howard Restor-a-Finish. It comes in different colors (Walnut, Neutral, Mahogany, others). Some of us like to use the Mahogany because it makes the wood tone warmer looking. You can then use either wax or Watco Oil over the R-a-F. If you do decide to lightly sand instead as Tom suggested be VERY careful along the edges. Veneer is thin. Also, I would clean the cabinets thoroughly before sanding Spray Nine (similar to 409 or Fantastick) works well or you can clean the surfaces with solvent such as lacquer thinner.

I think when you are finished you will be very happy. IMHO the 2ax is superior to the Advent OLA. I had some OLAs, did a complete crossover rebuild but when finished they could not hold a candle to the 2ax's. I now have a pair of AR-3a's but I miss the 2ax's (and the KLH Fives).

Jessi--maybe Frank has been around for a long time but I assure you that most of us who have been re-foaming AR speakers know exactly what the "Boston" or "filled fillet" surrounds are!

Filleted surround for 10-inch Allison woofer (Tyson).

And welcome to Bob F too (even if you are just another guy ). Like your father, I had AR-4x's back in the '70s but I still have mine. They were my first restoration project and my introduction to this forum. Regarding your AR-2ax's grilles, check out the AR-3a restoration booklet. The "lambswool" color linen from 123 Stitch referenced in that guide is also appropriate for the 2ax.

-Kent

 

[tysontom]

On 2/15/2018 at 3:36 PM, sarals said:

Hello, Tom!  It's nice to meet you.  Thank you for the information.  You had some VERY encouraging things to say about the speakers.  One was a surprise, that in your opinion they will sound better than the AR-5's, you like the midrange driver better for near field listening.  I am positively anxious to hear them after reading that!

I don't have the serial numbers.  I could read one from the seller's photos, and the other was a bit of a guess - AX158489 and the guess was AX158(672)?  They may be close in pairing, I hope they are.

I have one concern vis a vis the grill cloth.  I hope the seller didn't damage the frame when she "pried off" the grill!  It looks to be a bit bent in the photos, I do hope it isn't broken.

I will report the arrival as soon as it happens.  I suspect it's about a week off.

@bfastr, yes!  I'll send you an email.  And thank you!

I should try to clarify the comment about (the AR-2ax) "they will sound better than the AR-5.'  I didn't mean to imply that the AR-2ax would sound better than the 5, only that it seems to "image" better than the AR-5 and the AR-3a because of the latter speakers'  wide-dispersion midrange dome drivers.  The term "image" is very nebulous, but we all know what is implied.  On the other hand, the dispersion is so good on the (AR-5 and AR-3a) dome midrange drivers that both the AR-3a and the AR-5 can sound a bit diffuse if one listens too close to the speakers themselves.  One must get back in the reverberant field a few feet from the 5 and 3a to appreciate this attribute.  The AR-2ax's 3.5-inch cone midrange driver has poorer off-axis dispersion than the AR-5, and by its very nature is more "directional."  Good "imaging," actually not necessarily a good thing itself, requires a fairly directional driver to prevent reflections and interaction from other drivers.  Thus, the AR-2ax, by default, images a bit better than the AR-5, but is less "spacious" in its sound.  In terms of accuracy or in terms of "spaciousness," or "3-dimensional" sound, the AR-5 and AR-3a have a definite advantage over the AR-2ax.  Also, the AR-5 has a lower midrange/woofer crossover so that the woofer is cut off sooner, also a slight advantage over the AR-2ax. 

 

From the two reverberant-chamber integrated-power ("acoustic power") curves above, you can see the slight advantage in the lower midrange for the AR-5 and AR-3a over the AR-2ax, but the differences are small.  There is a bit more smoothness and extension in the AR-5 and AR-3a in the lower midrange region.  Also, this particular test was done with phono cartridges, one was the M91E for the 2ax and a V-15 Type II for the 5/3a, and some differences would exist there as well, though very slight.  AR found that the phono cartridges themselves were not quite as linear as the speakers!

Nevertheless, the AR-2ax has nearly all of the other attributes of the AR-5: same bass response and same wide-dispersion treble response.  The balance of output from the AR-2ax is very natural, too, and even though the tweeter's output is down a bit in relation to the other drivers, the overall balance is excellent.  In my opinion, the AR-2ax is much smoother and more natural-sounding than the large Advent "The Advent Loudspeaker," but it gives up about a third of an octave in deep bass to the Advent.  The same applies to the Small Advent of that original generation.  The Small Advent is nearly equal to the large version in bass, but both speakers suffer a bit in terms of midrange and treble accuracy. 

Overall, therefore, the AR-2ax is still an exceptional loudspeaker, and one rarely gets tired of its natural and accurate sonic character!

--Tom Tyson 

[sarals]

Thank you, Tom!

Calling up my aural memory from fifty years ago, I recall two things about The Larger Advent, and what sold me on them (other than their price).  I first heard them in a stereo store in Syracuse, NY (was it Tech HiFi?).  The demonstration pitted them against AR3a's, the source material was rock (Joni Mitchell).  One, the Advents, to me, just came forward, Joni's vocals and her guitar were present in a way that the 3a's just didn't (seem to) do.  Two, the bass (which the 3a's were legendary for, even then) seemed equal.  So, I decided on the the Advents, and I bought a pair about a year later.

Yes, there was a lot wrong with the demonstration, and the glaring point is that I listened exclusively to rock in those days (other than "Also sprach Zarathustra").  The Advents were complimentary to rock music, because they had that forward midrange and they could play loud (and survive!).  The 3a's were not positioned well in the demo, as I recall they were sort of buried in a pile of other speakers, where the Advents were front and center (clearly being hawked by the store).

I became aware after owning the Advents for a time that they had an upper midrange "roughness" that almost bothered me.  They just didn't "sparkle" in the upper registers of acoustic guitar and women's voices.  Also, the highs sounded a bit "splashy", brittle.  They were superior to the AR4x's I had in that regard, but not by a huge amount.  The last summer I owned them, my brother and I combined our sets (he also owned a pair) into a very impressive system for the time.  They were stacked tweeter to tweeter, driven by a Crown DC300A (not the cleanest thing on the planet back then, but it was powerful), which was driven by a Dynaco PAT4.  The source was an AR-XA with a Shure M93E (I wish I knew what happened to that turntable!).  That system could rock!  Prodigious bass, decent dispersion (I didn't "grock" imaging back then), and my could it get loud.

These days, listening to the Smaller Advents that I own (they were given to me by a friend when he upgraded his home theater system), I hear all of the qualities that I recall from the Larger Advents.  They have very tight, very smooth bass, with decent extension (percussion is downright impressive).  They do image well, and they're very stable in that regard.  The sonic presentation is very natural top to bottom, but there IS that upper mid roughness and the tweeters do not do well with overtones or decay.  They sound quite glassy.  But, I like them!

I think I mentioned that I have been listening to demos of the various classic speakers and electronics on YouTube.  YouTube is a representation at best (compression, recorder used, etc, etc, etc), but it did bring out that I HAD NEVER REALLY HEARD AR SPEAKERS.  I have been impressed, mesmerized, and wowed by what I have heard (through my Beyer cans and good pair of Sony earbuds).  In particular, I was struck by one of the member's here demonstration of his AR-2ax pair vs his AR-5 pair (driven by a beautiful Marantz 2270).  I could hear only a slight difference between the two models (the biggest being the very apparent difference in efficiency).  I was impressed by both sets of speakers.

I resolved that I wanted (can you say "needed"  ) a pair (or more) of vintage AR's.

As far as being a woman on this forum, well, you guys can't have all the fun!

Thank you for the welcome, all of you!

(Okay on the filleted Allison surrounds, thank you for that).

Oh - the speakers are scheduled for delivery this coming Saturday.  I'm only a little anxious?

[jessiAV]

Owning both Original Large Advents and AR 2ax's gives me two different ways to enjoy and appreciate the subtle qualities within the musical instruments; each design reveals/enhances/removes different aspects of the music. The Advents have such deep and fast bass, the AR 2ax's possess an amazingly clear midrange. All speakers are imperfect, of course. Do I listen to one pair more than the other? Sure, but I'm not gonna tell anyone which ones!  :laughing:

 

     Often dropping into CSP forums this last year, I've found myself concurring with ~almost~ everyone's impressions of what they hear, most recently Sara's and Tom's; not really surprising since we love music and have a history of honestly evaluating what we hear. Can I suggest that my past has seen me servicing and selling audio for a bit of time, some of it even pretty competent stuff? One of only a few women back in the '80's/'90's, as you can imagine.

 

 

   My East Coast classic speakers now bring me all the pleasure my older ears wish for, so much so that I've decided to sell on my Maggies and some other high end gear. Downsizing time. Even my lovely second set of Original Large Advents will be going too, very hopefully to a good home. It's amazing how much stuff this addiction can generate. Got a feeling I may be adding one more pair of speakers though, just for fun because I was given this set of AR 5 cabinets that only need some midranges ...

 

  Jessi

[stupidhead]

18 hours ago, sarals said:

 

I think I mentioned that I have been listening to demos of the various classic speakers and electronics on YouTube.  YouTube is a representation at best (compression, recorder used, etc, etc, etc), but it did bring out that I HAD NEVER REALLY HEARD AR SPEAKERS.  I have been impressed, mesmerized, and wowed by what I have heard (through my Beyer cans and good pair of Sony earbuds).  In particular, I was struck by one of the member's here demonstration of his AR-2ax pair vs his AR-5 pair (driven by a beautiful Marantz 2270).  I could hear only a slight difference between the two models (the biggest being the very apparent difference in efficiency).  I was impressed by both sets of speakers.

I resolved that I wanted (can you say "needed"  ) a pair (or more) of vintage AR's.

 

I am pleased you found and enjoyed my video Sara. We are close to putting together another and hoping for it to be even more revealing than the first.

Yet another journey

[sarals]

5 hours ago, stupidhead said:

I am pleased you found and enjoyed my video Sara. We are close to putting together another and hoping for it to be even more revealing than the first.

Yet another journey

Hello, @stupidhead! 

I did enjoy it (loved your choice of music), and I look forward to your next!

Journeys, indeed... 

[sarals]

13 hours ago, jessiAV said:

Owning both Original Large Advents and AR 2ax's gives me two different ways to enjoy and appreciate the subtle qualities within the musical instruments; each design reveals/enhances/removes different aspects of the music. The Advents have such deep and fast bass, the AR 2ax's possess an amazingly clear midrange. All speakers are imperfect, of course. Do I listen to one pair more than the other? Sure, but I'm not gonna tell anyone which ones!  :laughing:

 

     Often dropping into CSP forums this last year, I've found myself concurring with ~almost~ everyone's impressions of what they hear, most recently Sara's and Tom's; not really surprising since we love music and have a history of honestly evaluating what we hear. Can I suggest that my past has seen me servicing and selling audio for a bit of time, some of it even pretty competent stuff? One of only a few women back in the '80's/'90's, as you can imagine.

 

 

   My East Coast classic speakers now bring me all the pleasure my older ears wish for, so much so that I've decided to sell on my Maggies and some other high end gear. Downsizing time. Even my lovely second set of Original Large Advents will be going too, very hopefully to a good home. It's amazing how much stuff this addiction can generate. Got a feeling I may be adding one more pair of speakers though, just for fun because I was given this set of AR 5 cabinets that only need some midranges ...

 

  Jessi

Hi, Jessi!!!

So NICE to meet you.

Oh, do I get the "one of a few women back in the 80's and 90's".  I was a decade earlier, in the '70's.  As I recall, I was the only woman I knew of that was into audio, cared how her stereo sounded, and loved the gear.  I was certainly a rare bird when I went into pro audio in 1974 (that only lasted a little over a year).

I should talk a little about my history.  I was fascinated with audio reproduction as far back as I can remember.  My parents didn't foster it, but they didn't dissuade me, either.  In 1965, my dad, who was in Vietnam at the time, sent me a Garrard A-70.  I still have it.  In college I really became involved in the "chase", but having little (NO) money, I had to scrap around to acquire gear.  That lead to things like a low end Pioneer receiver (an SX-770), those (damn) Southwest Technical Universal Tigers (time bombs and speaker killers), some Lafayette (ugh) gear, AR4x's, and finally Larger Advents.  I also glommed on to a Sony TC-153SD and Crown DC300A.  After college, I started into a solid career (after the pro audio phase) and was able to start to gather the gear that I lusted after and deemed great (my ear, no one else's).  I had Ohm F's for a long time, a Dyna Stereo 410 (oh, that thing was muddy), an Advent 300 receiver, and a Sony PSX-7 turntable with an Ortofon cartridge.  I moved out of that phase and into Perreaux gear, a VPI Scout turntable with a Shelter 501II cartridge, a Marantz SA8260 CD player (with it's attendant service headaches), a Hsu 12V subwoofer, and Legacy Classic speakers.  I also acquired an Audible Illusions Modulus 2 pre, and a Dyna ST-70 (the Dyna is gone, the AI remains).  Home theater came along in that time frame, but I was never terribly serious about that, and consider it a branch of the tree.  I partially resurrected my pro audio career (which was never really a career) by moving into location recording, at the behest of a local choral music director.  I became a microphone junkie, and I traded my way through some very nice mic preamps.  My audio system became my editing system, and the Legacy's went away in favor of what I deemed to be much more neutral Scan Speak monitors, which I REALLY like.  I still use my Perreaux PMF2150B power amp (a ballsy MOSFET design) to drive them, and the source is a DAW with a Mytek Stereo96 DAC (fed via a RME HDSP card).  I have accuracy on hand, and I decided I wanted some romance.  So, I took the Smaller Advents I'd been given, repaired my spouse's vintage HK 630, got out the Garrard A-70 (it needs a restoration), replaced the stylus in the Pickering cartridge, and hooked up a "college stereo".  Romance!  Of course, being the (idiot) person I am, I had to delve deeper into the "what I missed when I was young" adventure, and I decided to join the Vintage Gear Chase.

I'm just getting started with that!

Jessi, I hear you.  Oh my, do I hear you!

[jessiAV]

 So Nice to meet you as well Sara   I've sent you a PM so we don't bore the boys with silly girl stuff.        Jessi

[sarals]

7 hours ago, jessiAV said:

 So Nice to meet you as well Sara   I've sent you a PM so we don't bore the boys with silly girl stuff.        Jessi

  I sent you an email!

[tysontom]

On 2/21/2018 at 3:44 AM, jessiAV said:

Owning both Original Large Advents and AR 2ax's gives me two different ways to enjoy and appreciate the subtle qualities within the musical instruments; each design reveals/enhances/removes different aspects of the music. The Advents have such deep and fast bass, the AR 2ax's possess an amazingly clear midrange. All speakers are imperfect, of course. Do I listen to one pair more than the other? Sure, but I'm not gonna tell anyone which ones!  :laughing:

 

     Often dropping into CSP forums this last year, I've found myself concurring with ~almost~ everyone's impressions of what they hear, most recently Sara's and Tom's; not really surprising since we love music and have a history of honestly evaluating what we hear. Can I suggest that my past has seen me servicing and selling audio for a bit of time, some of it even pretty competent stuff? One of only a few women back in the '80's/'90's, as you can imagine.

 

 

   My East Coast classic speakers now bring me all the pleasure my older ears wish for, so much so that I've decided to sell on my Maggies and some other high end gear. Downsizing time. Even my lovely second set of Original Large Advents will be going too, very hopefully to a good home. It's amazing how much stuff this addiction can generate. Got a feeling I may be adding one more pair of speakers though, just for fun because I was given this set of AR 5 cabinets that only need some midranges ...

 

  Jessi

 

On 2/21/2018 at 11:33 AM, sarals said:

Hi, Jessi!!!

So NICE to meet you.

Oh, do I get the "one of a few women back in the 80's and 90's".  I was a decade earlier, in the '70's.  As I recall, I was the only woman I knew of that was into audio, cared how her stereo sounded, and loved the gear.  I was certainly a rare bird when I went into pro audio in 1974 (that only lasted a little over a year).

I should talk a little about my history.  I was fascinated with audio reproduction as far back as I can remember.  My parents didn't foster it, but they didn't dissuade me, either.  In 1965, my dad, who was in Vietnam at the time, sent me a Garrard A-70.  I still have it.  In college I really became involved in the "chase", but having little (NO) money, I had to scrap around to acquire gear.  That lead to things like a low end Pioneer receiver (an SX-770), those (damn) Southwest Technical Universal Tigers (time bombs and speaker killers), some Lafayette (ugh) gear, AR4x's, and finally Larger Advents.  I also glommed on to a Sony TC-153SD and Crown DC300A.  After college, I started into a solid career (after the pro audio phase) and was able to start to gather the gear that I lusted after and deemed great (my ear, no one else's).  I had Ohm F's for a long time, a Dyna Stereo 410 (oh, that thing was muddy), an Advent 300 receiver, and a Sony PSX-7 turntable with an Ortofon cartridge.  I moved out of that phase and into Perreaux gear, a VPI Scout turntable with a Shelter 501II cartridge, a Marantz SA8260 CD player (with it's attendant service headaches), a Hsu 12V subwoofer, and Legacy Classic speakers.  I also acquired an Audible Illusions Modulus 2 pre, and a Dyna ST-70 (the Dyna is gone, the AI remains).  Home theater came along in that time frame, but I was never terribly serious about that, and consider it a branch of the tree.  I partially resurrected my pro audio career (which was never really a career) by moving into location recording, at the behest of a local choral music director.  I became a microphone junkie, and I traded my way through some very nice mic preamps.  My audio system became my editing system, and the Legacy's went away in favor of what I deemed to be much more neutral Scan Speak monitors, which I REALLY like.  I still use my Perreaux PMF2150B power amp (a ballsy MOSFET design) to drive them, and the source is a DAW with a Mytek Stereo96 DAC (fed via a RME HDSP card).  I have accuracy on hand, and I decided I wanted some romance.  So, I took the Smaller Advents I'd been given, repaired my spouse's vintage HK 630, got out the Garrard A-70 (it needs a restoration), replaced the stylus in the Pickering cartridge, and hooked up a "college stereo".  Romance!  Of course, being the (idiot) person I am, I had to delve deeper into the "what I missed when I was young" adventure, and I decided to join the Vintage Gear Chase.

I'm just getting started with that!

Jessi, I hear you.  Oh my, do I hear you!

Sara and Jessi,

You both have obviously had lots of experience with high-fidelity systems over time!  Ironically, or coincidentally, I've owned much of the equipment you mention in your messages, such as the Crown DC300A, which thumped badly on turn-on (and I also had with it the IC 150A, OC 150 and FM-1 at one point), Dynaco ST-70, Mark IIIs, PAM-1s, PAS-3xs (my old favorite preamp) and even a Dynaco 400 (a crappy power amp to which I added a fan to the heat sink for cooling, but it still self-destructed at the hands of my AR-LSTs).  I also had a Marantz 250 amp, but it also failed driving my AR-LSTs, the notorious amp-killer.  Then at one point I went off the deep end with a big Krell amp and then a Threshold amp and preamp with B&W 801 Matrix II speakers and then KEF 107s, and I even had a pair of Apogee Duettas for a short period of time.  Those hot-running amps were like portable space heaters.  As good as those speakers were, "listener fatigue" set in after a few months of listening.  I've also had several McIntosh amps, and each one was superb and bulletproof when driving difficult speaker loads.  I've owned ADS L1290s and L1590s, Allison: Ones and AR9s; stacked Advents (TAL version).  Still own the 1290s, AR9s and LSTs as well as many of the smaller ARs.  But here is my story:   

While in college—long before all of the high-end stuff—I sold AR speakers directly to friends, school mates, associates and family, mainly at my cost, through an arrangement I made with the company, basically in order buy at cost what I wanted from Acoustic Research!  Insofar as AR was always a laissez-faire business, the company, with about a 33% speaker market share around this time, had a loose policy on who could or could not sell their products!  A few dealers here and there, but most sales were by mail order at that time (mid-to-late 1960s).  Hi-fi dealers, by the way, simply detested selling AR products with the company's low dealer margins, lack of salesmen spiffs, lack of kickbacks, promos and other perks and an overall poor dealer relationship.  It is in no way difficult to see how KLH and Advent became so successful with dealers during this time.

Nevertheless, once AR got to know me after a couple of New York High Fidelity Music Shows, their sales manager decided to sell me anything that AR made as long as I paid in advance for the merchandise, had it shipped only to my house and didn't advertise in our local newspaper!  I got the full 33⅓% discount on large orders; 27% discount on onesie-twosie orders.  Over a couple of years I sold around $150,000 in AR speakers, turntables and electronics to friends, acquaintances and other folks.  Usually, I sold the speakers at near cost to everyone, barely making any profit.  In college I was on the GI bill, living at home over the garage at my parents, so I wasn't hurting for cash at the time.  Over time I bought AR-4xs, AR-2axs, several AR-3s, AR-3as, AR-5s, AR-6s, AR-7s and AR-LSTs.  Then in later years--and still to this day—some of the older friends began giving these speakers back to me as they downsized, etc.!  I just got a pair of AR-2axs from a couple about a week ago!

 

Fresh shipment of AR-LSTs and AR-LST/2s, AR-3as, AR Amps loaded in the back of mother's 1968 Sedan deVille (mother was great!).

 

Some AR speakers fresh from the factory shipped to me.

So, during this whole time after college, as I experimented with fringe, high-end tweak hi-fi equipment, I kept all of my original AR speakers, boxed up in closets.  This including my first AR speaker, a single AR-3 that I bought much earlier on layaway while in the Air Force in El Paso, Texas.  This is the segue into my story about Acoustic Research.  I've actually recounted this several times on these pages, but I love to tell it! 

When I got to Biggs Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas, my mother—bless her heart—shipped my entire hi-fi system out to me by REA from the east coast!  My first hi-fi system consisted of an Altec Lansing coax bass-reflex speaker, Garrard RC98 turntable and an Eico 20-watt mono integrated tube amp, and I was quite proud of it.  God knows how much it must have cost to ship it across country!  I guess Mom felt sorry for me out there all alone in the great Southwest.  Little did she know that I rode my Triumph TR-6 motorcycle across the border into Juarez every weekend to see my girlfriend. 

In any event,  I had this Altec mono rig set up in my dorm room close to the B-52 flight line, and one afternoon a good friend wandered over to my room to listen to it.  He'd heard me brag about it, but through my demonstration he sat emotionless and then at the end casually suggested that we "A-B" my big (4+ ft³) Altec to his tiny little Acoustic Research AR-2.  Who was I to say no?  This bake-off seemed like easy pickings for me, as size matters.  Besides, his little AR-2 was a pathetic-looking, beat-up, dirty speaker in a utility-pine cabinet with finger prints all over it.  It looked old.  He was driving it with a single Dyna Mark II 50-watt power amp and a surprisingly high-end, stereo  Viking Model 86, 3-head tape recorder.  All of these model numbers stuck in my head!  Since he worked in the "PMEL" (Precision Measuring Equipment Laboratory) for the Air Force, he had access to test equipment, and he suggested that he could go over and record the full audio frequency band from an HP 200CD audio oscillator that he regularly used in the lab, and he'd bring the tape back and we could fashion an "A-B" switch to compare the two speakers.  I was a bit anxious about all of this, but I was all in.  Good thing we didn't bet money. 

Everything was fine until the Viking's tape began to descend into the 50 Hz range, 40 Hz and below.  At about 50 Hz (c.p.s. in those days) nothing but harmonic overtones and raspy distortion came from my Altec.  I had never heard it before.  It really sounded like crap.  The little AR-2 pumped out bass like "Kipling's thunder," as a reviewer once said.  You could feel the bass throughout the room, and occasionally I could sense the bass in my pant legs!  What the hell was this?  I was humiliated, and the next day I asked another friend the question: "what is better than an AR-2?"  "An AR-3," he said.  I immediately went to Audio Consultants in El Paso, scrapped the Altec cabinet and traded the coax driver in on a mahogany AR-3 on "layaway."  I actually had to go to work on Saturdays at the store in order to pay for the speaker (just one), and this hurt my trips over to Juarez!  I kept this AR-3 for a couple of years until I could add a second one to it for stereo.  So there you go.  Once you've experienced an AR for the first time, it will probably stay with you forever. 

—Tom Tyson

[sarals]

Tom, what a terrific story!!

[ar_pro]

Tom, did you ever show AR your photo of the Caddy stuffed with their speakers? I think it would've made a great ad! 

Speaking of which, here's a 1970 advertisement showing the chronology of the AR-2 family:

[tysontom]

6 hours ago, ar_pro said:

Tom, did you ever show AR your photo of the Caddy stuffed with their speakers? I think it would've made a great ad! 

Speaking of which, here's a 1970 advertisement showing the chronology of the AR-2 family:

I did share those pictures with the sales manager at AR, and he had a very good laugh.  Yes, ha, ha, I can imagine that making an advertisement of a college student schlepping around brand-new AR speakers in the back of an old Cadillac probably would not have gone over well with few dealers that AR did have at the time! 

Along those lines, one day I got a phone call from AR saying that the local dealer where I lived was extremely angry at AR for allowing me to sell their equipment.  I had delivered a pair of AR-3as and a pair of AR-4xs to a friend and his wife, and a few days later the local McIntosh dealer—also a small AR dealer—was out at this friends house doing some installation work and saw the AR shipping cartons with my name and address on the labels and reported it to AR.  I had instructed my friends to always hold on to the cartons, but I assumed that they would put them away up in the attic or something.  No such luck.  The dealer was unhappy and complained bitterly; however, since the dealer didn't do much AR volume, nothing ever came of it and I continued to sell Acoustic Research!  I was very careful after that to be sure that boxes weren't left around.

—Tom

[JKent]

1 hour ago, tysontom said:

I can imagine that making an advertisement of a college student schlepping around brand-new AR speakers in the back of an old Cadillac probably would not have gone over well with few dealers that AR did have at the time! 

I'm guessing a 1968 Sedan DeVille was a brand NEW Caddy at that time 

During my senior year in college I had a couple of part-time jobs (all at the same time). One was "car jockey" for the Caddy dealership in DC. Got to drive a lot of nice Cadillacs but the Big Kahuna was the 1970 Fleetwood Brougham.

Bought my first ARs a year later: The 4x was all I could afford. $88/pr at Sound Reproduction in East Orange, NJ. I still have them!

-Kent

[sarals]

Well, they arrived yesterday.  I am on my employer's work schedule right now, so I had them diverted to where I work.  I asked the nice FedEx young man to put the box - yes, "box" - directly in my car.  I had concerns because both speakers were packed in one large 70 pound carton, and I feared there was a chance they could have suffered cosmetic damage during their cross country sojourn.  This morning, just now in fact, I moved that box into my garage, and popped open the top.  The speakers were packed beautifully.  They are in individual boxes, with lots of styrofoam around them to cushion them.  I know you want to know how the speakers look, and so do I, but I don't have time to get them out of the packing just yet.  I plan to do it Tuesday, when I switch over to the night shift at work.  Until then, I just don't have the time.

I'll get plenty of photos of the unveiling, I promise!

Yes, I am excited!

[bfastr]

Awesome news!   you had me worried with the one box.  That had to be a giant box.  Sure glad they took care to pack them carefully.  You have far greater willpower than most of us I think!  Make sure you write an epic tale like your last post, or Tom's.   speaking of, what a great trip down memory lane.  In some ways I miss the big old cars of that era.  My grandfather had a 70 Buick Electra that I "inherited" in my youth.  that was the greatest bar hoping car for a bunch of 20-somethings.  We used to get 11 people in that car and hit the happy hour bars of the Dallas scene back around 81-82.  ( and yes, we always had a designated driver)  the bench seats were huge, and it seems we all were a bit skinnier than we are now, we would make the rounds as they all seemed served food, so instead of cooking we lived on beer and chicken wings.    I have strayed off the topic so I will end here.  But keep the history lesson going.  it brings back great memories.

 

Bob F

[Aadams]

On 2/23/2018 at 1:33 AM, tysontom said:

 I had this Altec mono rig set up in my dorm room

In those days, those of us in the other services knew the Air Force was a country club but this is first I have heard that the AF had dorms instead of barracks.

Adams

 

 

[sarals]

My, this is worse than the flu!  It's not like I don't have other things to throw money at, specifically getting the AR-2ax's up to snuff, but a very nice Marantz 2270 being offered for a decent price (and it works, and doesn't need restoration) presented itself, so I pulled the trigger.  Now, it's not like I don't have high end electronics sitting idle, waiting for the 2ax's to be readied, but I always loved the Marantz gear from the '70's, I never owned any, so I thought - why not?  @stupidhead's YouTube demo played a role in my decision, seeing and hearing his gorgeous Marantz 2270 ( I LOVED the black faceplate) spurred me to start looking around.

So, in a few weeks, maybe longer, I'll have a very, very nice vintage system to feast my ears on.  I can't wait!

Tomorrow I'll have my first look at my AR-2ax's.  I promise there will be photos and narrative!  That reminds me, I need to get a multimeter that can read capacitance....

[bfastr]

After a week with my new 2's I decided to take a peek inside one of them today.  They are both lacking in the highs, but one of them seems to be marginal in that the pot is twitchy and it comes and goes, since the other one had nothing I started there.  Upon removing the woofer the things look like they should. The solder joints looked a little sloppy to me for a production speaker so I assume someone has been here before me.  Thankfully the paper and stuffing all seem to be as it should and once removed the original crossover and pots are there!  no signs of somebody trying to "improve" things in the last 50 years!

I think someone has been here tho, there is no black stuff on the retaining wire to the pots.  hmmmm.....Solder joints look pretty original, and the corrosion on the ends of the bolts holding the midrange in looks like it hasn't been disturbed.  Working from the woofer hole I unsoldered the pots one at a time and replaced them with a set of old pots I picked up online and had cleaned prior.  While the caps were disconnected I checked the values with a Fluke DVM.  sadly I get 16uf for the 4 and 22uf for the 6.  darn it.   Well leaving those as is, I replaced the pots and buttoned things up.  

I cleaned all the original (?) black caulking off the woofer and the cabinet and replaced it with several strips of new 3M strip caulk I had laying around. 

Put it all together and presto !! its like a new speaker. WOW   a full range of sound and all three speakers doing their thing.  Now the pots are still a little sketchy, there are some drop out spots, but they work about 90% of the range.  Upon inspection of the two pots removed the tweeter pot had a failed brass wiper. 

Also for anyone keeping score there was a date code on the tweeter,  I think it was the tweeter..hmm  anyway it said DEC 20 1968.  this is in S/N AX103602 

 

The question now is, do I hang new capacitors in there? or just leave it as it is?  I cant recall off the top of my head where the crossover moves with a change of capacitance. 

Bob F

[lARrybody]

If your caps are really that far out of spec then you definitely need new caps. What type or brand caps to use is a matter of taste and has been discussed here many times. On this pair of 2ax's I used Dayton polypropylene caps. Two 3uf wired in parallel for the 6uf and a 4 uf placed back into the wax cap block and filled with siliconized acrylic caulk. I know its kind of anal and nobody is going to see it, but it looks closer to originality. You will here a noticable difference with in spec capacitors.

  

[bfastr]

I like your thinking.   I like "hiding" the new caps in the old box.  I know I will be the only person to ever know they are in there,  excluding everyone reading this!!

But after looking at my notes I agree that I need to get the values back where they belong, so before I open speaker #2 I am going to buy new caps. I am assuming that speaker is out of spec too.  And frankly, caps are cheap in the grand scheme of things.

Bob F

[sarals]

I'm anal in the same way you two gentlemen are.  I don't care if you can see it or not, I know what's been done, and it has to look right.  Right?