Speaker ID?

[jcidave]

Trolly90: Sounds like you were in an interesting auction situation. I don't really see things like that around here. Was this an estate sale? The AR3 is the quintessential East Coast or New England sound speaker with a cult following and very collectible. If they are not beat up and functional, you did extremely well. I am not a follower of AR speakers and don't know what they need from a restoration standpoint, but I'm sure there are people on this forum who would give their eye teeth for them in any condition. Good find!

 

[Trolly90]

Trolly90: Sounds like you were in an interesting auction situation. I don't really see things like that around here. Was this an estate sale? The AR3 is the quintessential East Coast or New England sound speaker with a cult following and very collectible. If they are not beat up and functional, you did extremely well. I am not a follower of AR speakers and don't know what they need from a restoration standpoint, but I'm sure there are people on this forum who would give their eye teeth for them in any condition. Good find!

Jcidave, it was an interesting estate auction. In my town of about 40,000 we have had an air force base since the 40's that has brought a lot of different and interesting characters in and out of our area, and with this movement, especially in the 60's and 70's the airmen would bring back audio equipment back to the states that they bought reasonably cheap overseas. A lot of those airmen and their families retired here so there is a few auctions, estate sales, or garage sale where this equipment occasionally pops up. We also have a state college about 20 miles away that brings in similar people. I've been lucky (with a lot of detective work) to have found quite a few high quality vintage setups since I've entered this hobby about 4 years ago. Not a lot of competition in my area for vintage audio equipment, so I usually do quite well if I can make the auctions. I was really wanting to get the AMT 1s, as I've never heard/seen them in my area before, although the son of the gentleman that had the estate auction said his dad purchased those at a local hi fi store in the early 80's, but I dont really have time currently to restore those like they needed. I'm happy about the AR3s as I have vintage KLH 6, and KLH 17 so I really like that East Coast Sound.

 

[jcidave]

It is probably good then that you got the ARs rather than the ESS. The ESS are west coast sound, somewhat bright and projected. If you are still interested in the ESS, it would be best for you to try to hear a pair before you buy a pair.