ACOUSTIC RESEARCH SPEAKERS
"Acoustic Research was founded in 1954 by Mr. Ed Villchur. AR is one of the oldest and most recognized names in audio and is responsible for many innovations that have become standards in the industry today. The development of the AR-1, the world's first acoustic suspension speaker system, allowed AR to become the first loudspeaker manufacturer to offer high performance at affordable prices."
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/ar/history/history.htmhttp://www.classicspeakerpages.net/ar/history/history2.htmI am an ardent fan of the AR speakers. I have an AR90 and an AR18 and will probably acquire another pair or more before I die. If you have a pair/pairs of vintage AR speakers you're a lucky person.
Please post your AR speakers here...if you have pictures please share.
AR90
SYSTEM TYPE Floor-standing columnar acoustic suspension 4 way system with 5 drive units (including side-firing woofers) and AR Acoustic Blanket.
DRIVE UNITS Two 250mm (10") acoustic suspension woofers. One 200mm (8") acoustic suspension lower midrange driver in its own sub-enclosure. One 38mm liquid-cooled dome upper midrange driver with semi-horn. One 19mm liquid-cooled dome highrange driver.
VOLTAGE SENSITIVITY 2.83 volts produces 90dB SPL at 1 metre on axis.
EFFICIENCY 1 watt produces 87dB SPL at 1 metre on axis.
POWER REOUIREMENT 15 watts pPr channel minimum.
POWER HANDLING ABILITY May be used with amplifiers capable of delivering up to 300 watts continuous power per channel, being driven into clipping no more than 10% of the time on normal speech and music source material in non-commercial applications.
SYSTEM FREQUENCY RESPONSE -3dB (half power) points at 32Hz and at 25000Hz.
SYSTEM LOW FREQUENCY PERFORMANCE -3dB at 32Hz with an effective Q at resonance of 0.8.
IMPEDANCE 4 ohms nominal (3.2 ohms minimum).
CONTROLS Three 3-position switches for lower midrange, upper-midrange and highrange level control
CROSSOVER NETWORK Woofers have a modified half section network for improved impedance characteristics and optimal network to driver matching. Lower midrange has quarter section lower slope network and half section upper slope. Upper midrange has half section networks coupled with an impedance equalizing network. Highrange has full section network. Only the best components are used. air-core, chokes wound with solid copper conductor, high grade bipolar electrolytic - capacitors, non-inductive high power ceramic.resistors :
CROSSOVER FREQUENCIES 200Hz, 1200Hz, 7000Hz.
CABINET INTERNAL VOLUME 90 litres (3.18 cu. ft).
CABINET DIMENSIONS 1102 x 368 x 386mm deep including grille panels.
CABINET FINISH Oiled walnut veneer.
WEIGHT Packed in carton 41kg (90 Ibs.) Unpacked 34kg (75 Ibs.)
AR18
SYSTEM TYPE Bookshelf acoustic suspension 2 way system with drive units in a vertical array.
DRIVE UNITS 200mm (8") acoustic suspension woofer. 32mm (1.25 ") liquid-cooled cone highrange driver.
VOLTAGE SENSITIVITY 2.83 volts produces 88dB SPL at 1 metre on axis.
EFFICIENCY 1 watt produces 88dB SPL at 1 metre on axis.
POWER REQUIREMENT 15 watts per channel minimum.
POWER HANDLING ABILITY May be used with amplifiers capable of delivering up to 100 watts continuous power per channel being driven into clipping no more than 10% of the time on normal speech and music source material in non-commercial applications.
SYSTEM FREQUENCY RESPONSE -3dB (half power) points at 62Hz and at 22000Hz.
SYSTEM LOW FREQUENCY PERFORMANCE -3dB at 62Hz with an effective Q at resonance of 1.0
IMPEDANCE 6 ohms nominal (5.5 ohms minimum).
CROSSOVER NETWORK Woofer has a 12dB/octave mechanical crossover. Highrange has a first order electrical network plus mechanical slope to give a total of 18dB/octave.
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY 2000Hz.
CABINET INTERNAL VOLUME 9.86 litres (0.35 cu. ft.)
CABINET DIMENSIONS
419 x 244 x 167mm deep (16.5 x 9.6 x 6" deep).
CABINET FINISH Walnut grain vinyl veneer.
WEIGHT Packed in carton (2 speakers): 12kg (26 Ibs). Unpacked (1 speaker)- 5kg (11 ibs).
I am now using the ar90 and ar18 as the fronts and surrounds for a QUAD system powered by a Sansui QRX9001.
Needless to say, I am very happy with the results.
regards,
Foo