Best speakers in the world... AR
- Thread starter Filip I
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Filip I
Active Member
Hehehe wish I could play for you that " modest" 43 Hz driven by Sansui. Trust me, you wouldn't43Hz...
anymore...Considering it is just 8 inch woofer in a cca. 20 l box it has bigger and more precise low end than more of the bigger units. No crossover for LF, just running free
I'm a newbie here that has lost my mind and is about to be murdered by my wife. 9 months ago I picked up a Sansui 9090 off craigslist and hence it begins. I have since bought and sold some 15"woofer Kenwood speakers, 2 JBL,s.Bought some Paradigm Monitor 7v3, Just refoamed some Cerwin Vega D3's($25). Bought some Polk 11t's Picked up pristine Genesis 320's for $20, Mission Argonaut v11s and Infinity Reference Six speakers for $50. Okay-I can only keep one. The cerwin Vegas are going. I like the Argonauts and really like the Paradigms. I refoamed the Infinities but one woofer is bad(sending it to Miller speakers this week) The Infinities are very promising. Haven't dug into the Genesis refoaming yet but I'm not expecting much but I do read differently as many love them. Help- This porridge is too hot, This porridge is too cold----but NONE are just right- Paradigms boomy bass-Infinities not enough bass- cerwins loud but lacking separation and character. Suggestions on the perfect Deadhead speaker Oh yeah- forgot the Klipsch KG4's (not right) maybe the KG 5.5 might hit the spot.
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Filip I
Active Member
Frankie, reading your post make me think who is actually novice here, me or you. It seem that you pushed hard from the beggining, maybe too hard.
Look, I started the madness not so long time ago, so far 4 pairs of speakers and 3 amplifiers in the house ( after trimming the rest of surplus ). Ok, some of the members will laugh what I consider too much ( at least to me )
My point, stop for a second, just listen to some tunes, no judment, no analysis. It takes some time to find your preferences, mostly important references about different sound signatures. What would be heplful is maybe description of your room, SPL you are expecting,type of music tou preffer, where the speakers are...( I believe you already know this whole storry ).
This may narrow the search. My experience comes from ar, kef, grundig, jpw, jbl and some electro, folk, ambient, acoustic, jazz, soundtrack tunes and I cannot see myself as relevant reference for the speakers I haven't heard. From what I read we value different sound characters and attributes which is totally normal. I consider bass on my small AR just perfect, rich, deep, defined but very very sweet and mellow, for me it works perfect, some other people probably wouldn't care.
You will get there eventually, maybe sooner, maybe later but back to the point from the beggining: just crank the tunes and enjoy. Try not to swap speakers too often, allow your brain to adjust to the sound.
****, this post is totally useless...
teal'c
Nuclear Cardiac Parent
Don't feel bad. More than he deserved trying to hijack your thread. Not like he doesn't know how to start his own either, he's just being rude.****, this post is totally useless...
Most of people here went trough same sweet hell Franki is probably experiencing now. 
I’m a born again audiophile who took a long break but has been back at it with a vengeance. I again had a discussion with my wife this morning about the need to have 16 speakers in the house. I feel you, man! I keep finding deals and I can’t seem to pass them up...woe is me.
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turnitup
No, the stereo won’t break the crystal...Oh CRAP!
Ran across a set of AR12’s a few years ago from a local retired engineer that used to work for Teledyne. They were original, not in the best of shape, but without a doubt refurbishable (is that a word!?!) - you get the point...
Got them for a good price, and started to work on them. @GD70 (Glenn) had refurbished a pair, and had wonderfully documented his efforts to bring them back to life, so I had some great documentation to reference. Long story, short, I recapped, replaced the surrounds on the mids and woofers, and refurbished the enclosures...then I fell in love with them. Likely some of the best speakers that I have ever run across!
To my delight, I ran across ANOTHER set of these rare beasts, in early October. This set was absolutely THRASHED, but fortunately all original. I’m working on them now, and hope to have them completed in the next few weeks. When I get them done, I’ll post a few pictures of the journey. Someone had stained the top of one of them with old “redwood fence stain”, so I had to sand the crap out of it, hoping that I wouldn’t burn through the veneer - lucky me, it was thicker than normal and I (and it) survived the effort to return the enclosures to their original beauty. These are going to be pretty when done, a fun project!
I also share the OP’s passion for ARs. If you run across any of the Teledyne vintage ARs, especially any of the 3-ways, grab them - they are different from the original line, but true to their superior engineering roots (usually a rarity for a speaker company who has been bought out).
Can’t wait to get all 4 speakers singing together! Think I’ll try them out of one of my matrix quads for fun!
Got them for a good price, and started to work on them. @GD70 (Glenn) had refurbished a pair, and had wonderfully documented his efforts to bring them back to life, so I had some great documentation to reference. Long story, short, I recapped, replaced the surrounds on the mids and woofers, and refurbished the enclosures...then I fell in love with them. Likely some of the best speakers that I have ever run across!
To my delight, I ran across ANOTHER set of these rare beasts, in early October. This set was absolutely THRASHED, but fortunately all original. I’m working on them now, and hope to have them completed in the next few weeks. When I get them done, I’ll post a few pictures of the journey. Someone had stained the top of one of them with old “redwood fence stain”, so I had to sand the crap out of it, hoping that I wouldn’t burn through the veneer - lucky me, it was thicker than normal and I (and it) survived the effort to return the enclosures to their original beauty. These are going to be pretty when done, a fun project!
I also share the OP’s passion for ARs. If you run across any of the Teledyne vintage ARs, especially any of the 3-ways, grab them - they are different from the original line, but true to their superior engineering roots (usually a rarity for a speaker company who has been bought out).
Can’t wait to get all 4 speakers singing together! Think I’ll try them out of one of my matrix quads for fun!
GD70
Lunatic Member
Look minty fresh!
GD70
Lunatic Member
Glad my thread was helpful! Keep us posted on your two restos!
WaynerN
Addicted Member
I got these in March from a guy in La Cross (over in Wisconsin). All drivers work, cabinets had zero dings, no grill cloth, but someone stapled the empty grill frames to the inside of the speaker grill opening, then they stuffed some Marantz foam grills in them. Cleaned up the pots with Deoxit and some elbow grease, replaced the caps and found some almost like original grill cloth on the Bay. Also found some AR-2ax badges on the Bay. They were from before the foam surrounds era, so no repair on the woofers needed. My God, do they have bass power! My 4xs are just as clean, did the same routine to them do (L-pad, new caps) no need for woofer surround repair on those either. Original grill cloth and badges. They both are very minty. Just lucky I guess, but I did wait a long time for the right ones to come along.
GD70
Lunatic Member
Bass and ARs is always something worth hearing, and owning. It pays to be picky, and you’re patience certainly paid off! I had a set of 2as for a while and liked them very much. Paid 5 bucks at a yard sale, were original in very good condition. I did recap them, and had to replace some mid drivers as those paper cones are very brittle from age, and were cracked.
Filip I
Active Member
Mine had both tweeters bye bye, one woofer badly centered,both sorrounds gone and completely glued wrong by some idiot ( wrong side of the cone), coil rubbing, old capacitors,no grills. Cabinets were decent, at least something...
One of these hysteric,impulsive moments if you know what I mean...
Took them dissapointed to the best guy in business, a true tech with 40 years of experience. Oh yes payed them too much...( around 150 usd )... Still remember him laughing at me asking me " how come you didn't notice tweeters are dead, woofer scratching, what were you acctualy looking?! "
After a few days he called me back, said basicaly they are restorable but a price tag was another 150 usd. F...k it, I said, let's do it!
He did new coils with exact gauge and number of circles, did some woodoo crystal coating on them, put new sorrounds on woofer, put wima film capacitors and change hf crosover ( 2nd order instead 1st originaly)
Long story short, fired them up and it is true what some say about AR, they don't impress imediately, at least me. Day after day, tune by tune I started to see the beauty and magic of these little babies. Made some improvment with cables and a good front end cdp over the time. Today, when I look at the fact that I paid over 300usd for 40 y speakers I don't regret for a second, would do it again and probably will when madness strikes again.
Love your AR, save them from the curb and idiots, allow them to sing a little bit more.
One big thanks to Sinisa Rankov ( best guy in business) who did imecable job and showed me that some designs are timeless.
One of these hysteric,impulsive moments if you know what I mean...
Took them dissapointed to the best guy in business, a true tech with 40 years of experience. Oh yes payed them too much...( around 150 usd )... Still remember him laughing at me asking me " how come you didn't notice tweeters are dead, woofer scratching, what were you acctualy looking?! "
After a few days he called me back, said basicaly they are restorable but a price tag was another 150 usd. F...k it, I said, let's do it!
He did new coils with exact gauge and number of circles, did some woodoo crystal coating on them, put new sorrounds on woofer, put wima film capacitors and change hf crosover ( 2nd order instead 1st originaly)
Long story short, fired them up and it is true what some say about AR, they don't impress imediately, at least me. Day after day, tune by tune I started to see the beauty and magic of these little babies. Made some improvment with cables and a good front end cdp over the time. Today, when I look at the fact that I paid over 300usd for 40 y speakers I don't regret for a second, would do it again and probably will when madness strikes again.
Love your AR, save them from the curb and idiots, allow them to sing a little bit more.
One big thanks to Sinisa Rankov ( best guy in business) who did imecable job and showed me that some designs are timeless.
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