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New member Username: Y2p1988Post Number: 1 Registered: Jan-05 | My dad is a stereo nut and he has tall floor boxes with like 3 tweeters 2 horns and two subs all in one box. He's got two of the bozes. The symbol on the outside is AR9 has nayone heard of the company or brand. Their really old. |
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St. Louis Blues Unregistered guest | Acoustic Research-- sounds like some classics. http://www.smr-archive.com/forum_2/messages/1818.shtml |
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Anonymous | AR's were often used as reference speakers for hi fi testing in the 1960's. They were among the best speakers made at the time. They were considered a notch above even Rectilinear and KLH, 2 big names at that time They were very high priced, very high quality, unaffordable for many. I believe by the 1980's japanese speakers did them in, unfortunately KLH I believe basically sold off their name, as they could no longer make cost-competitive high qaulity speakers. Some like Klipsch did manage their way through the storm. |
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J. Vigne Unregistered guest | The history of AR is a bit more complex and interwoven with other brands than what is laid out above. AR was the inventor of the acoustic suspension loudspeaker in 1954. AR begat KLH, which begat Advent, which begat Boston Acoustics, etc. If you want to know more about the history of the brands, put names such as Edgar Vilchur, Henry Kloss and Roy Allison into a search engine. The AR 9 was a top of the line speaker for AR back in the late '80's and early '90's. By the time this speaker was produced, AR had long been owned by Teledyne. The AR 9 introduced some revolutionary technology and thinking in speakers when it was introduced, and, was considered a landmark in loudspeaker design. The biggest contribution the AR 9 made to hifi was the rethinking of directivity in a consumer speaker. The acoustic absorption panels on the speaker became a popular way to get the frequency response the designer wanted out to the listener's ears with little effect of the room contributing its share. The method used also meant a very directional speaker that has an undeniable sweet spot for the listener. As an acoustic suspension design, AR's always had excellent bass response, and the AR 9 was able to shake the room. It is, however, a low efficency speaker with a complex crossover. As such it demands an excellent amplifer in front of it. A receiver off the shelf at Best Buy isn't going to make the AR 9 happy. Unfortunately, AR has gone the way of many of its decendants and is no longer the company it once represented. AR doesn't even build acoustic suspension speakers now days. |