duckrabbit
Member
Anyone with first hand experience with the ARs compared to modern, post 2000 speakers care to post?
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Without an address in your signature, I sort of suspected these might be Euro versions, so I'm guessing either unfinished pine or birch or teak veneer? Anyway, they look great in that room, and we now know where you get your avatar.Here in Finland the blonde finish seems to be common (like Finnish blondes).
Good one.....this cracked me up. I know you are reluctant to dig into these, but I do want to say that I'm not altogether certain that you have original AR woofers, and you may want to remove one (only four screws) to inspect the backside. Pic attached shows a fine pair of Euro AR-6's with teak veneer, slimline cabinet profile, rear-wired tweeter, three-position switch (in lieu of variable pot control) and original AR woofer.This is as far as I go (If you wish to see more, please insert coin).
That was a helluva third period last night. Happy to see the Caps grab the Cup, but this fair-weather Bruins fan wanted the series to stretch one or two more games.watching the Stanley Cup final game. Washington won 4-3 over Las Vegas.
Am embarrassed to say I've been there....so you don't do the old cone-punch maneuver.
win...!
Maybe it was my tired eyes that misinterpreted what you meant earlier. I was up very late last night, watching the Stanley Cup final game. Washington won 4-3 over Las Vegas. The entire game was fierce & intense – nerve wracking for a Washington fan (me ) to watch. Late in the game, the Caps took a 1 point lead and went on to win the game and the series . I couldn't go to sleep for hours, and was kind of groggy this morning. I know most people don't much care about hockey, but that's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Could the OP please post a close-up pic of the AR-6 grille badge? Thx.
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Those woofers don't look original to me either.
That badge looks hand made, not a commercially cut brass badge and silk screened image, OR being a European version, it was originally like this and someone in the past took a marker to it, tried to trace over the existing faded lettering to make the lettering stand out. Can you unscrew the badge to show the back side?View attachment 1207635
You could be right. Indeed the woofer, not only the foam, somehow looks newer than the rest. Could that also add to the nasality, for example if the cross over frequency has altered from the original spec?
Anyway, despite the good looks I think this is not a good pair of AR6s to keep. If I had got them cheaply, refurbishing these could have been a fun project but these would cost me quite a bit (in this part of the world gems like these are not found in local boot sales for 2 bucks). So I won't mess with the screwdriver on these even if that would have been interesting.
I'm probably returning these today. At least it was a good learning experience.
...In fact, as I've dramatically reduced the number of "vintage" speakers I own and sold most of my old ARs (3, 3a, 5, 4ax and LST2) only the 6s remain - they are perfect for our guest room (smaller space)...
You sold LST-2's??? For shame! I've always wanted to hear (and own) a pair. Kind'a want to get the various 10" woofer models, from AR, to match my AR-90's.
I did a major restoration on them and even built custom stands for them. Tried them as my main speakers, and while they were impressive the sound was ultimately not to my liking...so I kept my Vandersteens and sold the ARs.
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I found them to be somewhat harsh in the midrange, and a bit lacking in the low end. Of course, the low end could have been addressed with good subwoofers, and in fact I did run them with a pair of Vandersteen subs for a while, but in the final analysis they were just too aggressive for my tastes.
FWIW, I no longer use the Vandersteen (2Ce Signature II) as my mains either. Now I'm running JBL L-112s...which are a bit forward in the midrange but without the harshness. So I've got nothing against a punchy midrange...but the LST2s just didn't sound natural/realistic to me.
My wife, by the way, loved the look of the LST2s and liked how they sounded much better than I did.
EDIT: Thanks for the kind comments regarding how they turned out. I was especially proud of the stands, which I left unstained so that a future owner could choose his own. Oddly, the person who bought the speakers did not buy the stands. Instead, I sold them separately to another LST2 owner (in St. Louis, I believe). I still hear occasionally from the fellow who bought the LST2s...he loves them, which is very cool.
Completely agree, but I too have not found the mids harsh at all on my LST-2's. Interestingly, you replaced the caps, I left mine original, except for the mod needed for the HiVi tweeter swap.^^^ I think that last line says it all. Although speakers can be relatively heavy or light in various areas, you can measure that, but which part of the spectrum each person prefers is highly personal.
Completely agree, but I too have not found the mids harsh at all on my LST-2's. Interestingly, you replaced the caps, I left mine original, except for the mod needed for the HiVi tweeter swap.
Man, I really want to like these speakers, too, but there's already at least two issues (woofers, badges) that would make me very suspicious unless these were offered for next-to-free.I'm probably returning these today. At least it was a good learning experience.
My conclusion would be that someone has replaced the woofers in the OPs speakers, and by doing so has changed the tonal characteristics of the speakers. Someone probably also made/modified the badges; I've seen pics of the European version of this speaker and if memory serves the badges were the same as the "American" version.