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Acoustic Research Speaker Shootout

RS Steve · 2014-05-01T16:45:16+00:00

After a few years of collecting, and restoring some nice AR model speakers, I decided I would do something very cool and do a comparison. The best part of this is that all I do is push the desired speaker button to instantly switch between them, no hooking / unhooking involved. This gives me the chance to instantly switch from one to another, which is key to hearing the difference. The reason I decided to do this was because I recently aquired, and fixed a pair of early AR-3a's that really made me wonder about which is the best sounding model. It is very rare to have the chance to do a real comparison, between so many good models. It would be nice to have a checklist to use, and mark off as I switch through them. Maybe some suggestions from fellow AKers as to a list to use with such things as efficiency, balance, bass, midrange, highs, dynamic range, Imaging, etc. I hope other AK members can chime in with helpful suggestions while I set this all up. The amp I decided to use for this is a Carver M-500t and Phase Linear 2000 preamp. I will be using my Ipod for the first run through, and the sound tracks will be from Dire Straits, Blues Traveler, Pink Floyd, and Bruce Hornsby. Next will be spinning vinyl on my SL-1200 to get the impact of modern and old school. Hope this fun little AR battle will help others get an idea of the different sound of the models involved, that's if you can trust my ears. :D The Players: #1 - AR-58B #2 - AR-48S #3 - AR-11B #4 - AR-3a (Alnico woofers) #5 - Heathkit AS-103a (kit version of AR-3a later model)

Thread starter RS Steve
Start date May 1, 2014

twiiii

Lunatic Member

Apr 12, 2018

#141

You can't be scientific about this challenge, to many variables. But its an idea. Make sure you can't see the speakers when you are doing the switching.

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