Vintage record player and amp seek speakers for threesome!

[The Grand Wazoo]

My system has been developing towards having a purely classic audio alternative for some time now. It started with a Radford STA15 a long, long time ago. That amp has been in all sorts of incarnations of my set-up through the years. I have a big love of old tuners and receivers but have just a few of those now. A couple of years ago, a Goldring G99 came into the house and it will be staying. I wanted one of those because a family friend had one and I loved it - despite coming from a Garrard household! And now I appear to be acquiring all sorts of things that made a big impression on me back when I was under 10 years of age. That's fine because I like to be able to mix and match different permutations of stuff and it's nice to be able to listen to a different presentation every now and then. The main elements of the system have remained static for a long time now, but it's fun to tinker round the edges!

Having been exposed to a system which used AR 2ax speakers when I was a mere lad, I've always felt that they were such an important part of my hi-fi DNA that I ought to own a pair at some time or another. So I've been and gone and got me some!

http://imageshack.us/a/img547/3118/tw6h.jpg

They've had some work done on them - all the necessary re-foaming has already been carried out, so they are sounding pretty good. There are one or two things that I need to attend to before I'm going to be completely happy with them. I know that other Acoustic Research speakers of this vintage are far more desirable and sought after than these but that's not the point of this exercise - there wouldn't be room anyway, as my big Mirage M3si speakers aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

http://imageshack.us/a/img28/5105/8goh.jpg

The cabinets are in pretty good shape and the old Radford is doing a fine job of rattling the windows with the 10" bass drivers. I now have rather a lot of pairs of speakers, however, so something has got to go! There are another three pairs in the house apart from these.

http://imageshack.us/a/img706/9366/pysk.jpg

[MartinT]

Ah, AR 2ax, my best mate of the time had a pair when we were teenagers (yes, he had wealthy parents) and I remember them well. True acoustic suspension where the air in the cabinet forms part of the 'spring'. If they are well sealed, as they should be, any push on the woofer should result in a slow recovery. Surprisingly good when some serious control and power is fed into them. The tweeter is prone to failure, as I remember. What a nice looking pair. Can we have a piccy of the baffle, please?

[The Grand Wazoo]

Yes, the tweeters fail!
I have the originals in boxes - one working, one not. I'm wondering if it's worth (or actually possible) getting a repair done. They've been replaced with something else, as recommended by the AR freaks and they sound pretty good really.
I'll do some more pictures shortly Martin.

EDIT:


If they are well sealed, as they should be, any push on the woofer should result in a slow recovery.

Did you get mixed up Martin? If you push the bass driver in, it returns immediately, like.....well, just like a spring really!

[DSJR]

I loved the 2ax and they really weren't so far off the slightly larger (IIRC) 3a Improved model. Try them with treble fully up and mid backed off a little from max. I think this gave the most even sound from memory.

I think these sort of turned into the AR48 some years later and 'Choice liked them, despite finding the sound a little 'old fashioned,' which I put down to the slightly 'dry' presentation.

From memory, another speaker that can disappear from the music once you've got used to the 'character.'

[The Grand Wazoo]

Thanks for the tip Dave - I've have got the treble all the way up & was thinking that the mid needed a tweak, so it's interesting to have my thoughts echoed. I knew the 3a quite well once upon a time and I'm being pleasantly surprised that these don't seem so different from that memory. As I said earlier, I couldn't house them anyway, so it's academic really. Additionally, they go for a lot more than the 30-odd quid I paid for these!

Best of all, I'm having great fun with these! The Radford is doing a fine job, but tomorrow I'll be taking them for a wee introduction to Mr Levinson - I suspect he'll make them come to life somewhat!

[DSJR]

Thirty quid? Fuggin 'ell :D

[The Grand Wazoo]

Yeah, I know! Good innit?!

[MartinT]

£30 is a steal - well done! The MLs should be just what they need ;)

[The Grand Wazoo]

I've got the first album of the day playing with just the ML9 feeding them.
My word! I've still not found the best setting for the mid, but they are sounding rather fine at the moment.

[istari_knight]

AR's from that era are fantastic... I've enjoyed AR2ax/AR3a/AR4xa over the years. I'm not aware of the tweeters being prone to failure though... Usually the rheostats that need replacing ;)

If you fancy tarting them up this chap is very helpful: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-AR-PARTS-AND-SERVICE

[The Grand Wazoo]

Thanks James.
Yes, all 4 of the twiddly controls have been replaced, so all is good on that front.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, I've spent two whole days with the ARs now and I've played a lot of music through them - the verdict is that I'm absolutely delighted with them and they'll be staying, probably for the duration!

[Audio Al]

Chris , welcome to my world ,

I love old hi fi and coupling various items into a system just to see how good they sound

Looks like you have found some gems ;)

Enjoy :)

[MartinT]

Nice outcome, Chris. And a lot less work than I had to put into my Gales :lol:

[The Grand Wazoo]

......welcome to my world

Al, no-one on my planet has enough mains sockets to be anywhere near even orbiting your world matey!

[Gordon Steadman]

Al, no-one on my planet has enough mains sockets to be anywhere near even orbiting your world matey!
:lol::lol::lol:

[The Grand Wazoo]

Carrying on with the messing about with old AR speakers, my next (just for fun) job is to compare the 2ax with my 44-BX, which are being used in the office system. The 44, of late 1980s vintage is a bit bigger (in height) but of the same sort of footprint. However, like the 2ax, it's also a 3-way sealed box stand mounter with a 10" woofer.
We'll see what happens!