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KLH Model 23 or Acoustic Research ar5

Acoustic Research ar5 or KLH model 23

  • Total voters
    10
Blue Shadow said:
Born after I bought my AR-5s is what John was talking about.

Have you caught up with all the reading we did before buying gear back then looking through the magazines on worldradiohistory.com?
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It's all good. Glad to hear there are younger folk interested. When I was young(and I started really young) I remember waiting for the complete fall annual issues of the Lafayette and Allied Radio catalogs. The school library had High Fidelity, Audio, and HiFi/Stereo Review(or just Stereo Review). I graduated in 72 so that was the 3a, 5, 2ax(the version with foam surround woofer, ceramic magnet, and 2/4" dome tweeter), 6, 7, 8(the 8 was a huge marketing failure. It was AR's Rock and Roll speaker), and LST.
 
baco99 said:
AR5, hands down. Not even a question.
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Having owned both (and sold both), totally agree. The AR5 is a class above.

I actually preferred them to the AR3a's I had...they don't go quite as low (by about half an octave), but to my ears the bass was tighter, more realistic (both sets fully restored). Note that the AR5 is even less sensitive than the 3a (by a couple of dB).

EDIT: Most may know this, but the AR5 was positioned in the product line as superior to the AR2ax (the later version of which it shares the woofer and tweeter) and inferior to the AR3a. The conventional wisdom is that there was not enough of a price difference for the 5 to carve out a strong place in the market (that, plus AR's dominance was coming to an end as a multitude of good and lower-priced speakers was coming into the market at that time).

The AR5 midrange seems to be the same (or very similar) to the AR3a midrange, other than being 8 ohm (vs 4 ohm). The AR5 crossover is more complex than the AR2ax. To me, the AR2ax was AR's first try at a more modern, rock-oriented speaker...an effort that was much better executed in the AR5.
 
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spark1 said:
Having owned both (and sold both), totally agree. The AR5 is a class above.

I actually preferred them to the AR3a's I had...they don't go quite as low (by about half an octave), but to my ears the bass was tighter, more realistic (both sets fully restored). Note that the AR5 is even less sensitive than the 3a (by a couple of dB).
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100% agree.
 
The more interesting comparison would be KLH Model Five vs. the AR5. I would have a difficult time choosing between either.
 
BigRiver said:
I don't think so, I'm 46 and I know of quite a few others here in New Mexico that are around my age and quite a bit younger that are really in to it -- going to the garage sales, flea markets, (covid has kinda killed some of this for now) looking for cool stuff, most of us are pretty in to older gear to. Both of my integrated amps and my tuners are older than I am and I love them.

I just rebuilt one of the ar5 crossovers tonight, pots and caps and it really made a HUGE difference, night and day. Though I have to say the caps I took out measured really good, like a couple were dead on and as far as I can tell these speakers are likely from 1969. I have to say I am really happy with the results so far, cabinets have been sanded a bit and I'll refinish after they are built out. I kept the original veneer even though there are some pretty good marks in them. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

There's a guy on that auction site that has manufactured new pots for a lot of speakers and the ones he has for the ar's are great. They are way bigger than the originals which help with heat and they are sealed so the rock wool and or fiberglass won't corrode them.
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Hey! Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I just picked up a pair of AR 5's and am currently wanting to redo the pots and caps. I've found replacement parts for the pots, but am having trouble sourcing what caps I'll need for the project. Would you be able to tell me what caps you used, or ones you'd recommend? Like the exact caps I need for the replacement. This is my first recap I've done before, so I'm a little lost thanks!
 
frankj389 said:
Hey! Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I just picked up a pair of AR 5's and am currently wanting to redo the pots and caps. I've found replacement parts for the pots, but am having trouble sourcing what caps I'll need for the project. Would you be able to tell me what caps you used, or ones you'd recommend? Like the exact caps I need for the replacement. This is my first recap I've done before, so I'm a little lost thanks!
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It's all good, not interrupting. I think the easiest way (which is NOT what I did but probably should have! lol) would be to source the 4 and the 24 ohm caps from Sonic Craft here: Sonic caps Gen 1

http://www.soniccraft.com/index.php/sonicap-gen-c-301_49_50

Not the cheapest but they are really good. As for the big one the 72, you have a couple of options. One would be to get the Wima 72 from Mouser Here:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/WIMA/DCP5P05720D100KS00/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMukHu%2BjC5l7Yb0%2BoKwpychWiwL0SU7kJm4=

I don't have any experience with it. I have read it is good, but also heard it is a monster cap (in size) though that really should not matter, plenty of room in that cabinet. Mouser is more of an electronics source though, not many use them for speaker parts.

The other is to just use the Dayton 75 from Parts Express:

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DMPC-75-75uF-250V-Polypropylene-Capacitor-027-445

I am using this now and it's good, though I may change it out for a combination of Mundorf EVO oil and Jantzen Superior Z (whole other story)

You can also use these from Parts Express for the 4 and 24's to save some $$ if your tight on the project:

4 Uf: https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-PMPC-4.0-4.0uF-250V-Precision-Audio-Capacitor-027-226

25 uF (for use in the 24 spot): https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DMPC-25-25uF-250V-Polypropylene-Capacitor-027-438


My 2cents anyhow, there are as many opinions on caps as there are fish in the sea, and to be honest, you, me anyone for that matter may not even be able to tell the difference between any of these, or the many, many others out there, but many others will definitely claim to. It's likely that at the end of the day I just want to to justify buying a $30.00 cap over a $4.00 cap and so I must hear the difference.:dunno:

If you really want to get in to the weeds you can spend a couple (hundred) days here figuring out combos, bypasses, etc: This is an awesome source though:

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html
 
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sberger said:
The more interesting comparison would be KLH Model Five vs. the AR5. I would have a difficult time choosing between either.
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I've wondered about that, had my eye on some KLH model fives locally but just can't quite pull the trigger, they feel a little high.
 
BigRiver said:
I've wondered about that, had my eye on some KLH model fives locally but just can't quite pull the trigger, they feel a little high.
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The Fives are the poor mans AR3as. The Fives were designed to compete with the 3a. The Five is an excellent speaker. They don’t command AR3a money, so that’s a bonus. Like most vintage speakers, they most likely will need some restoration work to sound their best.
 
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