AR3's on e-pay....FYI

heiney9
heiney9 Posts: 25,259
edited September 2005 in Flea Market
Just checking e-pay as usual and I came across these and right away thought or Mr. AR, George Grand. No afiliation to seller

FWIW here' the link

http://cgi.ebay.com/AR3-AR-3-TUBE-FLOORSTANDING-SPEAKERS_W0QQitemZ5808146099QQcategoryZ14993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Puritan Audio PSM136 Pwr Condtioner & Classic PC's | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node3 - Tubes add soul!
Post edited by heiney9 on
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited September 2005
    thanks for the link.. they are in my back yard... to bad i'm not in the market for any speakers at this time.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited September 2005
    ...I'm still trying to talk my Dad out of his AR-2's... been stored in the basement for the last 20 years, but he swears he's going to break them out "sometime soon"
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
    Gallo Ref AV, Frankengallo Ref 3, LC60i : Bryston 9b SST : Meridian 565
    Jordan JX92s : MF X-T100 : Xray v8
    Backburner:Krell KAV-300i
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  • madmax
    madmax Posts: 12,434
    edited September 2005
    They look like ****. Looks can be deceiving I guess.
    madmax
    Vinyl, the final frontier...

    Avantgarde horns, 300b tubes, thats the kinda crap I want... :D
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited September 2005
    madmax wrote:
    They look like ****. Looks can be deceiving I guess.
    madmax

    Chuck, you don't mince words do you? :eek:

    i was thinking they looked a little rough too. but then i've never seen a pair of those before. so i dint' know if because of their age.. that has been to hell and back or not.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,259
    edited September 2005
    madmax wrote:
    They look like ****. Looks can be deceiving I guess.
    madmax

    I hope I don't look than worn-out by the time I reach that age...I'll get rid of every damn mirror in the house if I do, or atleast keep my clothes on all the time :D . They look like they have seen better days...but I have no idea what they generally should look like.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Puritan Audio PSM136 Pwr Condtioner & Classic PC's | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • amulford
    amulford Posts: 5,020
    edited September 2005
    Believe me, it ain't that...
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,098
    edited September 2005
    Nope, that's a pretty accurate representation, the AR's weren't much to look at, sans grills, but to listen to..........different story.

    scroll down in this thread and you'll see a pair that I had (that Tour2ma now has)

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3708

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited September 2005
    Yeah, AR and Advents both were never much to look at with the grills removed. That's one of the reasons they weren't priced as high as the speakers that could try to compete with their SQ. They were no frills, balls to the wall, bad **** speakers, that when matched with the right gear, could compete with speakers costing upwards of 3 to 5 times as much.

    I will say though that someone looks like they tried, in vain, to dress them up a bit :rolleyes:
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited September 2005
    Yeah, my dad's have that same nasty glue crap all over 'em... and the foam surrounds will just about always need to be replaced.
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
    Gallo Ref AV, Frankengallo Ref 3, LC60i : Bryston 9b SST : Meridian 565
    Jordan JX92s : MF X-T100 : Xray v8
    Backburner:Krell KAV-300i
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  • caseymou
    caseymou Posts: 327
    edited September 2005
    What do the vintage AR's bring these days? What about their effeciency for use with vintage tube gear?
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,098
    edited September 2005
    Not unusal for them to go 300 and up.

    The AR-3..and 3a (paraphrasing George) were THE loudspeaker to own. They set the standard for other loudspeakers to follow.

    Not sure on the efficiency but any reasonable amp SHOULD do.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • caseymou
    caseymou Posts: 327
    edited September 2005
    Wow 300 and up? Thought I might be able to find an inexpensive gem but it sounds like they have been discovered. They must sound awful good for people to pay that kind of jack and have them look so rough:)
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  • halo
    halo Posts: 5,616
    edited September 2005
    I asked George about the efficiency a long time ago and this is what he said:

    "They are as in-efficient as speakers come........but they're sooooooo damn good. - George".
    Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
    HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited September 2005
    ARs and Advents are acoustic suspension speakers that need POWER to really sing. Most likely they are rated around the 86db mark, like my smallers are. They are SWEET sounding speakers.

    Chuck, I don't think that your HK tube gear will have enough balls to make them sing. You would need somewhere in the 50-60 tube watts, I would guess.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,098
    edited September 2005
    I ran mine on a 15wpc Marantz receiver for a time. Now, I didn't play them at rock concert levels and I would agree that more power is better but, as I said, I'm of the opinion, any reasonable amp will do.

    However, George knows a hell of a lot more about them than I do so I'd defer to his opinion over mine.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited September 2005
    I'm not talking about huge power, just good clean high-current power. I ran my smallers off a Marantz 1060 integrated and they sounded fabulous, but still could have used a little more. Chuck's HK tube gear is probably only in the 10 watt range from what I could tell. It was enough for the KG2s he had hooked up, but even those weren't pushed. But yes Troy any good clean high current amp will suffice, but I would think that about 100 wpc would be just about perfect. A smaller Advent set was measured at 108 db with 100 wpc driven into them steadily and didn't have any significant distortion detected. They also handled peaks of up to 400 watts without damage. I'll see if I can find that article again.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • caseymou
    caseymou Posts: 327
    edited September 2005
    My HK is rated at 25 wpc I believe. The model is Award Series A500. It doesn't really push the KG4's like I thought it would but then again, the KG4 is less than 90db/watt if I remember correctly.
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited September 2005
    Oh, I thought you had the KG2s :o . Is that thing really rated at 25 watts???
    Maybe it just needs new tubes or something, it just didn't seem to be pushing that many watts through those Klipsch. :confused:

    BTW, I have a line on some KG2s from the original owner if you're interested, I could see if they are still available.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • caseymou
    caseymou Posts: 327
    edited September 2005
    ND, I agree it didn't seem very lively. Without taking it to a technician I'm not really sure the direction to take in order to improve performance. I feel capable but without direction. The AR speaks or even some nice vintage Advents (which I prefer the look of) would really cap off a nice vintage rig.
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  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited September 2005
    I might be able to hook you up with some Advents, I'll let you know soon.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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