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Acoustic research ar9 vintage speakers


Guest Music monster

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Guest Music monster

Agree. There’s something about the sound of some of the best speakers from the 70s that I find very enjoyable and entertaining to listen to.gary the music monster ?

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1 hour ago, Music monster said:

Speakers delayed,will be definitely delivered to me tomorrow afternoon. These ar9 will be my new vintage reference speakers.they are one of the very best speakers ever made in the late 70s.from what I have seeing on the web, they still sound very good even by today’s standards. We will c once I get to hear them.cheers. Gary the music monster ?

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These are on my wish list to listen to. Unfortunately they just don’t come up for sale very often and don’t know anybody who owns a set.?

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Speakers delayed,will be definitely delivered to me tomorrow afternoon. These ar9 will be my new vintage reference speakers.they are one of the very best speakers ever made in the late 70s.from what I have seeing on the web, they still sound very good even by today’s standards. We will c once I get to hear them.cheers. Gary the music monster [emoji445]
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Beautiful bastards they are. Never seen such large speakers from that vintage!
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Guest Music monster

These ar9 cost me $2500 and just had a full service done on them for $390 from the owner. They generally go for around $3000 or more. They are in excellent condition as well. I sold of my two pair of gale gs401c to buy these as my new vintage reference. Cheers gary the music monster ?

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They also come with original owners manual and date of purchase from Douglas hifi in Melbourne 1979. Gary the music monster ?

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3 hours ago, Music monster said:

Speakers delayed,will be definitely delivered to me tomorrow afternoon. These ar9 will be my new vintage reference speakers.they are one of the very best speakers ever made in the late 70s.from what I have seeing on the web, they still sound very good even by today’s standards. We will c once I get to hear them.cheers. Gary the music monster ?

113FF18D-F1D3-4208-80AD-DB42191867DF.png

You devil, very nice Gary TMM...:thumb:

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Guest Music monster
19 minutes ago, Mendes said:

You devil, very nice Gary TMM...:thumb:

Always wanted a pair of these, being the best speakers acoustic Research ever made. 2 side fireing 12 inch woofers in each speaker takes bass down to a flat 28 hz. A 8 inch midrange driver, a 2.5 inch upper midrange gives a very rich midrange and  a three quarter inch tweeter delivers clean high frequencies so I am told. Not often for sale as peter mentioned, original owners are holding on to them. I hope they are exactly what I am after.Gary the music monster ?

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Just had them delivered. They are in excellent condition. Manual and spare tweeter included.I’m a happy Chappy. Gary the music monster ?

 

 

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In the 50 page manual the actual purchase date and place is written in by the original owner. I wish it had the purchase price as well. If anyone knows what the rrp was in Australia in 1978 I would love to know. Gary the music monster ?

 

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1 minute ago, Ahh- Schnoo Schnoo said:

Congratulations Gary  ?

Interested in your listening impressions

Thanks. As soon as I get to listen to them I will let everyone know how they sound. Cheers . Gary the music monster ?

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  • 2 weeks later...

A rich doctor friend had these back in the day, which gave me a bad case of the 'I wants'. 

Seriously excellent sound quality, hope your amp makes them show you what they can do.

Congratulations, I'm envious all over again! ?

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  • 1 year later...

I accidentally came upon this thread externally. Can anybody recount the rest of the story? Has Gary been able to reap the musical benefits of his AR9 acquisition? PLEASE let us all know.?

Edited by Bisguittin
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  • 1 month later...


  • 3 months later...

Don't know if the thread still alive or not but this just my 2 cents as a proud owner of a pair of these beaut', safe to say I stopped on my hifi nirvana journey as soon as I came across these 2 bad boys.

 

I haven't  heard the Wilson puppies, nor a high end Martin Logans, nor the Duntech Sovereign, nor the B&W 801's (those are my "if only I'd say no at the altar" wish list) and nor I would be able to afford any of them in the near or any future in this lifetime lolz.

 

But by God, the AR9 are the most accurate, 3 dimensional, sweetest female vocals, cleanest percussion and most extended lows a front tower speaker I've ever listened to, and I really doubt even if I had the money to spend on a speakers costing 10k more, I'll be able to hear a 10k worth of a difference in sound. 

 

And what amaze me is how well extended the bass are, effortless not boomy at all, just really nice, low and punchy. I even got rid of my Velodyne sub as I initially added a sub to fill in the gap that most front speakers failed to do, but with these, and additional subwoofer just felt out of place, just don't feel natural at all.

 

I listen to variety of genre, jazz, pop, rock and r&b and these babies never dissapoint, although I must say for my ears the female vocals just sounded more lustful, more lively and just so, so, so pheeww, can't even describe the word. 

 

They do require a decent amp to run them to their fullest potential, initially I had a Yamaha RXV3000, big no no. Then a Parasound 2500, ok, improvement but still missing some bits and pieces. Next is a pair of DIY monoblocks based on the famous Nelson Pass design, can't remember which model but it was 125w each. The sound is now starting to form correctly, however it still sounds like the speakers still demands more, it's like the monoblocks are overshadowed by the 87db 175w of the AR. 

 

I've also upgraded my speaker cables to MIT shotguns, my interconnects to Cardas Golden Reference, MBL DAC, and etc, but the biggest difference, and this is the one biggest impact that makes the AR really sings are Transparent Audio power cables (again, can't remember which model, but it wasn't super fancy ones).

 

It was like magic, suddenly the amp feels like an Tesla, with plenty of power reserve ready to be unleashed without any delay like your normal combustion engine, power just flow effortless and instantaneous and this really make the difference like when you see the night sky fill with stars far far away and the moon kindda shine behind the shadow of the cloud and then suddenly all the stars lit up 5 times than what it was before and the cloud that was covering the moon was gone and it looks like you can see everything more clearer and brighter, more open. And yes, this is when I got rid of the Velodyne, the bass just WOW!!!

 

So this just my 2 cents, awesome speakers, 40 plus years on and still my favourite and my pride and joy. 

 

Oh, and on a side note, I also own a Bose lifestyle 50 and love them too :).

 

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I have the baby brothers of the AR9, the AR90, they are also outstanding, new crossovers last year done by @ozcall and now in the furniture restorers for a well deserved restore

to the cabinets, havent heard better sub 10k, recently listened to the Wharfedale Elysians, which were a step up but can i justify that price increase ! 

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  • 1 year later...

Hi all, just ran across this post. I do believe that the speakers mentioned here are the ones I bought a while ago. Traveled to Melbourne (I live west of Sydney) to buy them. Included was the spare tweeter and original sales info and manual, plus the receipt for the repairs. Beautiful condition and sound excellent. I think they sound better than the AR9 LSi that also drove to Melbourne to collect the year before. They sound comparable to the AR TWS 910's as well. I'll look  at the LSi crossovers soon having update the AR94's with new caps and surrounds they sound fantastic. Now looking for a better amp to drive them.

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