Is Acoustic Research (AR) really dead? I'm not so sure

I miss my AR1's. I picked them up for $40 bucks about ten years ago. Sold them for a nice profit. Now I have a pair of AR4's and need to refurb them. Not the most accurate, but what a sound when hooked up to a vintage amp.

 

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Is it your woofer surrounds need replacing? http://www.newfoam.com/

 

Maybe the $$$ aren't that far off -- if memory serves, my dad bought a new Buick in 1965 for something on the order of $3500.

 

Cloth surrounds. The nasty pot needs to be replaced and I'm sure that it could use a good reseal. I tried cleaning but it's too far gone.

 

I had a pair of 1961 AR-2a's that served me well for 40 years (LOL) until one of the crossovers died. Those, and especially their big brothers, the AR-3a, sounded great in their day, but, let's be honest, modern technology has surpassed them.

 

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What these boutique manufacturers know is that many affluent folks are now buying high end Marantz and McIntosh gear that sounds great, and their gear sounds every bit as good, or nearly so. But their styling differentiates them. So they buy up NOS parts, paint the cases nice, add unique styling, and use various tubes that offer a style and sound that is excellent, but not necessarily SOTA, but very marketable. I do not fault them for what they do as they are successful in business and that is a great thing. They are filling a need in the market.

Why are there more speakers over $10k and $50k now than ever before? People will buy them. Do they sound great? Yes, and so do speakers at fractions of those prices. There is often spectacular cabinet work involved that is also value added. The fact that a great company like Ayre is now offering only one disc spinner, the C7-XE mp, anymore is telling. Many people loved the C5-XE mp more. They know that the market is computer playback now. Many of these usb devices approach $5K or more now.

Yet they know that with the erosion of the middle class that is not where the market is as they have gone to cellphone listening on questionable quality earbuds, so their move their business up scale and succeed nicely with low volume. They market to the high end 1%ers and are doing well. There are many customers who also what style as well as great sound.

The headphone market is thriving with new models approaching $1K or more as they are trying to entice the phone-crowd to upgrade their portable experience. Yet some of those sales were based on style over substance in years past, but that is changing as well. Some great new headphones are in the market from $100 to $500 that did not exist even a few years ago, even in the pro audio markets.

The fact that websites of Innerfidelity.com and Audiostream.com exist now when a few short years ago it might not have worked, but that is a very good thing that can bring some education to the buying public and let them know that they can hear more for only a decent investment.

90% of the people I know do not even have one audio system close to the 4 I own, yet think they are music lovers. I don't own anything that I would consider Class A Stereophile, so I am not bragging. They love their "soundbars" and think they are swell. Their best audio system is probably in their car. My wife would fit into this category and is quite happy listening on her little Altec computer speakers. I have offered AudioEngines and she has declined. Go figure.

 

I'm a fan of vintage sound. Most of the music I listen to was played back on these units and speakers. To me, it's what the lp's were cut to compliment. Im sure modern gear sounds great and maybe even better than the old boat anchors. I'm just partial to the sound.

 

So you hear that acoustic suspension speakers are not made any longer, but there are some. I wonder how these compare to the classic AR speakers?

 

The direct descendants would be those from NHT....its co-founder, Ken Kantor, was a designer for AR.

 

I have a pair of AR-11 acoustic suspension speakers with 12-inch woofers--I believe the final iteration, within Acoustic Research, of the vaunted AR-3 model. Due to the decay of the woofer surrounds I had to have them re-woofed with OEM woofers at one point, but they are still rockin'. Even when my hands are cold and dead, it will be hard to remove the ARs from my presence.

All that said, here is Ken Kantor's take on acoustic suspension designs in the modern era: https://kenkantor.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/acoustic-suspension-issues/

 

The AR-M2 hi-res digital music player gets reviewed in the April 2016 issue of Stereophile.

 

I still use vintage AR speakers. AR-3a's, AR-LST's and AR-9's in my other setup.

 

Way sweet!

 

I think the only thing that matters is that they're all enjoying music. The audio system doesn't have to be anything special in order to enjoy music. I don't even think it has to be anything more than the 8-transistor little piece of mono, plastic and who-knows-what-else radio with a cheap metal telescoping antenna (a radio that we used to refer to as "Japanese junk" in the 60s - how times have changed), on which I listened with absolutely rapt attention to the hits of the day. I didn't care about the "sound" or the "system" and neither did you back then and neither did any of our friends. I should know better, but I've become gear-arrogant and it basically implies that I've come to think that nobody can fully enjoy music unless they're listening to it on something that I consider to be a good system. That's nonsense and I know it, but I need some way to justify the amount of money I spend on all this stuff.

 

How true, how true! I can remember placing that little transistor radio UNDER my pillow and listening to the muffled sound so that my Mom would't hear and come beat my a$$ because I was supposed to be sleeping! I can't recall one thing about sound quality, but I was just in LOVE with the music!

 

I still have a pair of 312 HO from the '90s. They're not my main speakers anymore but I still enjoy listening to them. They got great reviews in their time.

 

I bought a new pair of AR-11's in 1975. Installed them in my medium-ish size den/library/home office room and used them very happily until (two house buy/sells later) 1989 driven by a variety of Marantz receivers, and after 1984 a McIntosh receiver. Excellent speakers and I wish I still had them. But the new stuff is not that - it's just junk meant to capitalize on a famous brand.

AR was great because of the people who designed, developed and built great products. A great many of those people are long retired or long dead. A bit of poking around online did not reveal any notable new or old designers or developers associated with this revived brand name. I do hope that somebody at Voxx International with real skills has picked up or been given the brand name as a serious project, and I hope that Voxx is preparing to run hard with it. Utter lack of industry buzz means that this is probably nothing more than yet another lifestyle-type product release. The new AR-80B looks interesting, but it's a ported box, which means it's not a great AR clone (and it certainly isn't even vaguely close to my great AR-11's). If it's not acoustic suspension, it's not the great AR. I don't care what the badge says - it's a Voxx.

So basically, if anybody has a working pair of AR-11 speakers, PM me ASAP.

 

What was shone in the picture is not classic AR. Just a generic ported speaker with an AR label. I own several classic AR speakers...3a, multiple 2ax prs, 5, 2pr of 11, 92. In the late 90's AR introduced an updated AR3a. It was voiced to be similar to the original 3a, ie a downward sloping response curve. It came and went very quickly. Stereophile reviewed it and damned it with faint praise. They suggested that a redesign for a flatter FR would make for a better speaker.

 

Wow...

Me too, btw

 

LPs were not cut to compliment any particular vintage gear. In fact old lps were cut so they were playable on the cheap integrated record players of the time - that is were they are compromised (of course some sound much better on modern high end players). It's likely you are losing the potential of many lps if your gear is purely vintage. Of course some gear does stand up fairly well - but it is really limited to a handful of products that were the best in their day. I would agree some of the old AR models and large Celestions still sound great when restored but LS3/5A and Spendor BC1s never sounded great to me back in the 70s - so modern speakers loosely based on the BBC type designs are far superior (modern Spendor and Harbeth). Most modern speakers are made using cheap drivers in a nice cabinet with an inflated price tag. Many of the better ones are priced for the far east and too expensive for the UK home market. Most affordable products are made in china or other far eastern countries - hardly genuine designs following the heritage of brands that have been bought up. Some exceptions such as some of the IAG product (Quad).