AR-3As: Marantz 2270, 2250 or Pioneer SX-850 Receiver?

[lbella22]

Have a pair of AR-3a speakers for '69 that have been totally rehabbed, top to bottom, inside and out. Looking at a Marantz 2270 or 2250 or a Pioneer SX-850. One thing maybe worth noting is the system will play in an open, large room with 40ft tall ceilings and glass windows along one side. Area rugs in place but otherwise a 'cold' room.

 

[sberger]

Have a pair of AR-3a speakers for '69 that have been totally rehabbed, top to bottom, inside and out. Looking at a Marantz 2270 or 2250 or a Pioneer SX-850. One thing maybe worth noting is the system will play in an open, large room with 40ft tall ceilings and glass windows along one side. Area rugs in place but otherwise a 'cold' room.

Welcome.

Lucky you. Great speakers. Do you own the amps, or thinking of buying? If the latter, can you audition before buying? If not, go for the one with the most power and is in best shape electrically. If the former, experiment. They should all work well.

 

[Oerets]

Welcome to AK.

Marantz 2270 then the Pioneer SX-850 be my pick.


Barney

 

[KentTeffeteller]

None of the above, buy separates which don't freak at an inefficient, 4 ohm load which is reactive with frequency. 125 watts/channel into that load, and very high current demanded.

 

[Parkermike]

I just went through the same thing, I have 3a's and ran them through a Marantz receiver which was over
100 wpc and blew the outputs twice. And not at high listening levels. I switched to a Pioneer 850 and they sounded good, but was still a little nervous as these speakers are power hungry, so I bit the bullet and got a McIntosh MC2105 which is very stable with heavy loads. This was two weeks ago and I couldn't be happier!

 

[Drugolf]

AR3a are not easy on receivers. I believe all of those have preamp out capability so you could try whichever you like and then roll in a separate amp later if the receiver isn't carrying the load.

40' high ceiling? Is this a palace or something?

 

[onplane]

For 9 years now I have been bi-amping my 3a's using just the three terminals AR provided. This is not for the faint of heart, but if you are careful, it can be done.

Huge advantage is you are "splitting the load". That is, you dedicate an amp to the woofers and another (can be lower power) amp to the mids/tweeters. Further, if you look at the 3a impedance curve vs frequency, things are going in the right direction as the impedance over just the woofer range is fairly stable.

The other huge advantage is you gain some control over "voice" and this lets you "level out" the frequency response (see AR's curve attached with both pots set to max). You accomplish this by using two volume controls ... one for each speaker half. You cut back on the mid driver (using the speaker pot or padding resistor) and this puts it in balance with the tweeter, but way behind the woofer. So, a bass heavy speaker becomes even more bass heavy. Then you simply apply more voltage (volume) to the mids/tweeters to bring everything back into balance.

As I said in my opening this is not easy with dissimilar amps. It is simple, however, with the Sherwood RX-5502 that has 4 100 wpc, full range amps in a single box. Voice is varied in this case via remote clicks.

Just something to think about...
Regards,
Jerry

 

[GD70]

I wonder if these are the 3a's I just finished restoring. The room description sounds similar to what she told me where they would be.
I demoed them for the young lady I restored these for when she came to pick them up, on my M-7050 & P-L10 preamp and they sounded great!
I also run my 3's with my A-X9 integrated in a 18 X 22 with with no problems.

 

[larrybody]

None of the above, buy separates which don't freak at an inefficient, 4 ohm load which is reactive with frequency. 125 watts/channel into that load, and very high current demanded.

I first ran my 3a's with a SX-1010 and later with a SX-1250, but I was not convinced how 4ohm stable these receivers really were. Finally settled for some Adcom separates ( GFA-555II) and now listen less apherensively. Ken Teffeteller is right about AR3a's needing clean stable power with some headroom to spare. I would like to know what these speakers were typically played (driven) with 45 years ago.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

My dealer when new, sold many an AR3a with a McIntosh MC 2100 or MC 2105 and a McIntosh preamplifier or tuner preamplifier. He also sold them with Crown DC 300a and IC 150 and fused the speakers,

 

[GD70]

lbella is the young gal I restored the 3a's for.
Glad she joined AK!

 

[superdog]

Me...If I had those I would run a Yamaha RXV1 into them.

 

[malden]

Me...If I had those I would run a Yamaha RXV1 into them.

Hmmm, I don't know, not enough inputs...

 

[superdog]

Hmmm, I don't know, not enough inputs...

All you need is two.CD and Phono and the excellent amplifier sections these have.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Me...If I had those I would run a Yamaha RXV1 into them.

Not recommended unless it can drive a reactive 4 ohm load which is known to dip as low as 2.5 ohms. That Yamaha would likely be emitting smoke doing that.

 

[UncleBingo]

If you like the look of those receivers, you could use any of them as a preamp, and run the pre-amp out into any one of a number of decent stand-alone power amps. Hafller, Carver (or some of the newer stuff I don't know much about- hopefully others will chime in on that).

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Carver not recommended, Hafler is a maybe.

 

[superdog]

Not recommended unless it can drive a reactive 4 ohm load which is known to dip as low as 2.5 ohms. That Yamaha would likely be emitting smoke doing that.

What about the receivers in the original post?

 

[Marine0811]

I know my 2270 doesn't handle 4 ohm loads too good. Low volume is fine but nothing above 10:00.

 

[leesonic]

Anything NAD or Proton. These are legendary at driving low impedance or difficult loads.

Lee.