AR M5 Holographic - Wrong Drivers, Sound Horrible, Worth Saving?

[Johnny_Law]

Surrounds on order. Rick Cobb is amazing. For posterity's sake, here's a woofer:



Then I removed the grilles and cleaned the dust off. I'll share with everyone my secret weapon - a paintbrush! Amazing how much dust the grilles were hiding!



Also, I swapped one tweeter with the port inside of the satellite unit internally, to make them mirrored (I swear my old pair was mirrored, but these weren't). Edit: Have found evidence (1, 2, and the dang brochure) that they are supposed to be mirrored, so maybe one of these tops was a replacement.

 

[bigx5murf]

Absolutely save these, I like this series better than most of the coveted classic AR designs. They've been measured across the line to have extremely flat frequency response.

 

[Johnny_Law]

Well I've been listening to these for the last week. They are shocking for their size, and the holographic imaging name isn't much of a stretch. The total sound is crisp, clear, and open - with the tweeters exactly at ear level, the midrange offset both in distance and angle (to account for phase coherence I assume, like my old Shearwater Meadowlark Hot Rods), and the woofers inside the dual ported base (and bass) units.

I'm a huge fan of them at reasonable listening levels, and higher. They like power, and they play clean at loud volume levels. My little Fisher X100B has driven them commendably, but I do have an itch to drive them with my MC7300 and see what happens.

I guess my summary is, if you have the chance to own a pair, do it! They would be an excellent choice for a small space, or for a big space if you want something that can hide in the corner and generate big open sound.

More pictures for posterity's sake. The spikes in the satellite units unscrew - I'm not sure of the size or thread, but here's a couple pics.

 

[michiganpat]

yeah, I really regret selling mine....I made some slipcovers for the lower portion with some suede and velcro because the rubberized paint was getting a bit "sticky"

 

[Ramseybella]

I had the ugly gray m4’s i think. I have an old post way back, as cool as they sounded they did get a little boring after awhile.

 

[BarryL]

Definitely not the original midranges (with the coax tweeter)!.

I found these to be pretty impressive as a line; I've had M1's, M2's, M6's, and a pair of M5's. They are at their best when played away from the side and back walls, and in an open environment you can walk right into the stereo image. The M5's had a single 8" woofer; the M6's had two, and are a little taller. There's also a metal grille for the top section.

The woofer in mounted on a slide-in board that goes in from the bottom; when you can get it to slide out, it's an easy refoam. Of course, if they got too sloppy with the glue, then you can't slide them out, and they end up like the pair in my shop, with one repaired and one not...

Do you have part numbers visible on either of the woofers?

I have a pair of M5"s that I bought around 1993 that need refoaming. Like JBerger one of the slide in boards will not budge preventing me from getting to the woofers. Does anyone have a solution or should I put one speaker up for sale?

 

[Johnny_Law]

I have a pair of M5"s that I bought around 1993 that need refoaming. Like JBerger one of the slide in boards will not budge preventing me from getting to the woofers. Does anyone have a solution or should I put one speaker up for sale?

I used a long shaft (in my case a jack handle) through the port on the top, with a pad on the end of it, to gently tap the woofer magnet/frame with a rubber mallet. Be VERY CAREFUL not to hit or damage the cone. It'll come out.

 

[BarryL]

I used a long shaft (in my case a jack handle) through the port on the top, with a pad on the end of it, to gently tap the woofer magnet/frame with a rubber mallet. Be VERY CAREFUL not to hit or damage the cone. It'll come out.

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried it with no luck-that board is jammed in there. I'll probably put both speakers for sale on Craig's list (South Jersey) and if that doesn't get results I'll go to Ebay.

 

[Johnny_Law]

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried it with no luck-that board is jammed in there. I'll probably put both speakers for sale on Craig's list (South Jersey) and if that doesn't get results I'll go to Ebay.

Bummer. That's a crying shame! If it were me I'd be getting a larger hammer before putting them up for sale

 

[VintageGuy45]

I am listening to the AR Holographic M3 near field in my photo studio and I love them I have a lot of speakers but I would love to have a pair of M6's for the living room to test them against my Allison Ones ... so if anyone wants to sell a pair contact me. .... please!