thedelihaus
Nocturnal transmissions
My friend Rodney, a semi local friend here from AK under the name Rod G-6000 refurbed some AR4x I had, with help from a box of parts sent from, I believe, AR Guy, another AKer here (Rod, correct me if I'm wrong). I'm posting here first, and will follow later (hours, days, dunno) over at AK as I promised him. He wanted to hear the 4xs, and asked to borrow my ailing pair and single orphan. I explained the situation with them- intermittant L-pads, a bit of a twwack from the two working woofers (he caught that one), one dead speaker- turned out to be the woofer, and water-damaged cabs.
Well, he bypassed the L-pads (stopped the intermittantcy), re-capped them, re-doped the surrounds (stopping the thwapping), resealed the drivers to the cabs, and then refinished the cabs with a sanding, steel wool, tung oil, and lots of elbow grease.
They came back amazing, and sound wonderful. Much better than they should, judging by their humble appearance.
My first impressions with them are this-
The bass from these little speakers is quite amazing. These diminutive delights are much bigger than they sound- much, much bigger. I dunno how they did it, but for most recordings (bar the AC/DC), there was plenty of rich bass. But even AC/DC sounded great with them. Very nice.
Presentation is great, separation very good, although with some recordings not as sharp as some of the upper-end speakers I've used recently. Imaging was good- but after hearing a set of B&W speakers earlier that day, I wanted a tiny bit more. Damn that earlier listening session- otherwise, these humble speakers would have left me even more impressed. But, at a cost 10 to 20 times more than a pair of AR4xs, and 30+ years of development, whaddya expect?
Voices came across, for the most part, very clean and warm, but I'd find a nasally effect on two or three recordings. Rodney agreed. Recordings played were Towns Van Sant's "Poncho & Lefty" and Neko Case's "Deep Red Bells", among others.
And on a Tom Petty disc (I can't recall the disc but one of the tracks was "American Girl"), the tweeters on the AR4xs became a bit painful- the recording was very treble-heavy, and the ARs, to my suprise with those cone tweeters, became a bit much to bear. Also experienced it to a lesser extent witrh a Neko Case recording. A turn down of the treble cured it for the most part, worked great on Neko, made Tom tolerable but still not as pleasant to listen to as I'd have liked.
My room is lively, so by adjusting your seat height, even by a mere 8 inches, the sound of the speakers would change noticeably- almost as if you had two different speakers going at the same time. Lower gave a heavier bass delivery, and a slightly laid back sound, all with a very well-blended coherency, move upper and definition increased, accuracy, separation, and the sound became much more forward.
I spun CDs from a Sony ES deck, and played FM through a Sansui 5900 tuner hooked to an outside antenna.
Power was an 80's black Kenwood integrated amp, at around 100 or 120 wpc (can't recall).
Speakers were off the ground, on stands, about 12 inches- I'd recommend a tiny bit more- and at an approximate 7 to 10 degree angle.
For what it's worth, the re-doping of the surrounds is crucial- as is the re-sealing of the drivers of the cabs.
After listening to them, I'd now reconsider a decision I made with Rodney earlier- I personally would install new L-Pads, instead of bypassing them- I was in agreement to bypass them at first, but I'd say one may prefer the control over the speaker, and it's worth the extra effort and money.
Overall, for a smallish speaker, the AR4x is quite a performer, sounding much, much bigger than they should.
No regrets here, though I think I may move them along within a few weeks back to Rodney, to make room for further adventures in audio.
I really like them, but with EPI 100s, Dynaco A-25s, Boston Acoustics A70s, Genesis IIs, and many others to waddle through, there's only so much I can manage.
Edit- a few notes to remember about this review-
1- the AR4x were recapped and this made a big difference over initial sound. From laid back, warm, fuzzy, "wooly", to much more articulate and clean and more forward in presentation.
I don't always agree with re-capping, but certain speakers seem to benefit from it, such as EPI 100s, Advent 5002s and 5012s, and these ARs.
My room is new, and still lively, and will take a bit of time for me to tone it down. This will obviously affect the sound of the speakers. Your room may (most likely will) have an affect on the sound of it.
Placement of the AR4x can really affect the sound- like I stated above, even an 8"change was noticeable. Keep that in mind. I should experiment more with placement here.
Well, he bypassed the L-pads (stopped the intermittantcy), re-capped them, re-doped the surrounds (stopping the thwapping), resealed the drivers to the cabs, and then refinished the cabs with a sanding, steel wool, tung oil, and lots of elbow grease.
They came back amazing, and sound wonderful. Much better than they should, judging by their humble appearance.
My first impressions with them are this-
The bass from these little speakers is quite amazing. These diminutive delights are much bigger than they sound- much, much bigger. I dunno how they did it, but for most recordings (bar the AC/DC), there was plenty of rich bass. But even AC/DC sounded great with them. Very nice.
Presentation is great, separation very good, although with some recordings not as sharp as some of the upper-end speakers I've used recently. Imaging was good- but after hearing a set of B&W speakers earlier that day, I wanted a tiny bit more. Damn that earlier listening session- otherwise, these humble speakers would have left me even more impressed. But, at a cost 10 to 20 times more than a pair of AR4xs, and 30+ years of development, whaddya expect?
Voices came across, for the most part, very clean and warm, but I'd find a nasally effect on two or three recordings. Rodney agreed. Recordings played were Towns Van Sant's "Poncho & Lefty" and Neko Case's "Deep Red Bells", among others.
And on a Tom Petty disc (I can't recall the disc but one of the tracks was "American Girl"), the tweeters on the AR4xs became a bit painful- the recording was very treble-heavy, and the ARs, to my suprise with those cone tweeters, became a bit much to bear. Also experienced it to a lesser extent witrh a Neko Case recording. A turn down of the treble cured it for the most part, worked great on Neko, made Tom tolerable but still not as pleasant to listen to as I'd have liked.
My room is lively, so by adjusting your seat height, even by a mere 8 inches, the sound of the speakers would change noticeably- almost as if you had two different speakers going at the same time. Lower gave a heavier bass delivery, and a slightly laid back sound, all with a very well-blended coherency, move upper and definition increased, accuracy, separation, and the sound became much more forward.
I spun CDs from a Sony ES deck, and played FM through a Sansui 5900 tuner hooked to an outside antenna.
Power was an 80's black Kenwood integrated amp, at around 100 or 120 wpc (can't recall).
Speakers were off the ground, on stands, about 12 inches- I'd recommend a tiny bit more- and at an approximate 7 to 10 degree angle.
For what it's worth, the re-doping of the surrounds is crucial- as is the re-sealing of the drivers of the cabs.
After listening to them, I'd now reconsider a decision I made with Rodney earlier- I personally would install new L-Pads, instead of bypassing them- I was in agreement to bypass them at first, but I'd say one may prefer the control over the speaker, and it's worth the extra effort and money.
Overall, for a smallish speaker, the AR4x is quite a performer, sounding much, much bigger than they should.
No regrets here, though I think I may move them along within a few weeks back to Rodney, to make room for further adventures in audio.
I really like them, but with EPI 100s, Dynaco A-25s, Boston Acoustics A70s, Genesis IIs, and many others to waddle through, there's only so much I can manage.
Edit- a few notes to remember about this review-
1- the AR4x were recapped and this made a big difference over initial sound. From laid back, warm, fuzzy, "wooly", to much more articulate and clean and more forward in presentation.
I don't always agree with re-capping, but certain speakers seem to benefit from it, such as EPI 100s, Advent 5002s and 5012s, and these ARs.
My room is new, and still lively, and will take a bit of time for me to tone it down. This will obviously affect the sound of the speakers. Your room may (most likely will) have an affect on the sound of it.
Placement of the AR4x can really affect the sound- like I stated above, even an 8"change was noticeable. Keep that in mind. I should experiment more with placement here.
And keeping some sort of control in place is a good move.
