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AR3a/2a alternative?

Jayrosc

Jayrosc

Super Member
I've been looking for a pair of early AR's for awhile now, but lately I've been wondering: Does anyone know of a more recently produced and therefore more available speaker that emulates the sound of these? I'm gonna keep looking for any of the older AR line, but won't pay used car prices for them. Still kicking myself after a blunder last winter in a local goodwill. There was a pair of intact but really dismal looking AR2a's there...no grills but with torn, gold fiberglass curtain material stapled over the fronts and really beat up cabinets. They wanted $200. I decided to hold out for half price day. Went back and they were gone.
Anyways, been itching to experience that sound ever since I found a set of Optimus 1b's. I'm told they have an east coast sound but are no AR's.
 
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The story I've heard was that Henry Kloss was aiming for the AR3a at a lower price point when designing the Advent Loudspeaker.

My $0.02 on the matter is that for what vintage AR speakers are going for now you can buy lots of better, newer speakers. Think Snell, Vandersteen, Thiel, Dahlquist, ADS, etc.

More vintage-y, I like Rectilinear Highboys a lot.
 
Altec Segovia 874a's. These are reputed to be Altec's answer to the AR3a's and can be found for very reasonable prices. I haven't heard any AR3a's but my Segovias are keepers!
 
Other candidates to look for are KLH, Boston Acoustic, EPI/Epicure, Genesis, Avid. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/ is the place to look for info on the AR and similar 'New England' sound acoustic suspension speakers. Agree with previous poster that AR's in particular, but others also have gotten overpriced relative to their quality, but this is an ongoing discussion or (should I say "dead horse whipped":biggrin:).
 
Vintage KLH is a definite competitor to a lot of AR stuff... but IMO there isn't much that will beat the AR-3a sound. It's just that distinct, and just that good.

Lots of fantastic suggestions have been offered already. I can also recommend Classic Speaker Pages as a good place to go for this type of speaker/sound.
 
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