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Acoustic Research AR8S - the surprise of small boxes

Sean K

Sean K

pfm Member
My girlfriend has a rather nice early 80s brushed aluminium Yamaha integrated, paired with some dreadful, tiny 'outdoor' speakers, a brand I've never heard of; the sound through her TV is better. It's almost as if she listens more to the music than to the hifi, imagine! I went birthday shopping for her yesterday, for some kind of Chromecast Audio equivalent, to make connecting to Spotify (her main source) more easy than her current arrangement.

I spotted these little 2-way boxes at the back of the shop, with 6" drivers going almost the full with of the baffle. They stood out, as the rest of the stock is all brand new mostly brands I didn't recognise, narrow baffles, multi driver modern stuff; all very 'lifestyle'.

I haven't owned or listened to any small boxes for years, other than the Mordant Shorts in the kitchen system (150 quid from Richer, some time in the early 2000s), which are rear ported and just plonked on a shelf, so boom like hell. I'm more used to Briks and big ATCs.

The ARs had just been refurbished with new surrounds, the cabinets were in great condition; basically mint and only NZ $250, about 130 quid. "Can I have a listen?" Dealer hooked them up to a 150wpc NAD.

Played some Agnes Obel, Jonny Cash, Sinatra (wee small hours), Stevie Wonder and Flamenco sketches via Tidal and some kind kind of streaming thingy. Bloody hell, they sounded lovely. Crystal clear, precise imaging, no obvious peaks, troughs, nastiness or distortion and remained warm and sweet sounding, staying musical, engaging and enjoyable, even when they went (surprisingly) loud. I snapped them up on the spot. I'm almost tempted to keep them for myself.

Anyone else owned/heard these?
 
Not had those, but my first system used AR18s, which were a classic back in the day. I loved them. No idea what happened to them. Think my brother borrowed them for uni and they didn’t survive :(.
 
I loved my AR18s but tortured them mercilessly (penchant for heavy metal and a large silver amplifier)

Tony Visoconti swore by them and bought up every pair he could when they were replaced with the LS

Dave
 
There's one redeeming feature with Kans.
If you can find a very early pair, remove the baffles.
Do what you will with the drive units and crossovers.
The cabinets will be ex. Chartwell LS3/5a ones.
These are valuable, and the Far East Obsessive LS3/5a Collectors will pay lots of lovely money for them.
I know that for certain, as I had 3 pairs of used '3/5a cabinets.
The Chartwells made double what the Audiomaster ones did.
Bought by a Chinese LS3/5a Collector.
 
Sean K said:
Anyone else owned/heard these?
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I don't know if I've heard that particular model but there were loads of great speakers around at that time. The fashion was for bigger boxes with light drivers, usually paper, to suit the lower powered budget amplifiers of the day. Made for a bold, dynamic and lively sound.

To my mind much better than a lot of the speakers sold today which are less distorted but also dull and lifeless too. A lot of vintage stuff is brilliant.
 
Very much agree with the above - AR18s were brilliant fun - maybe a bit uncouth, but perfectly suited my musical diet back in the eighties - antisocial post punk played at dangerous volumes, probably whilst sharing a bottle of Thunderbird and the occasional doobie... Those were the days :)
 
Those paper tweeters + bad bipolars were a disaster. I had AR38 speakers with the same.
I remember seeing AR18’s in many pubs back in the day! They had rave reviews (Hi-Fi Review loved them).
 
chartz said:
Those paper tweeters + bad bipolars were a disaster. I had AR38 speakers with the same.
I remember seeing AR18’s in many pubs back in the day! They had rave reviews (Hi-Fi Review loved them).
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Yeah I couldn't see how or why they got such good reviews either! Coloured screechy things whose only saving grace was they could go surprisingly loud. I can't say I've been impressed by any AR speaker (AR9, 90 and 925 all left me cold) in fact but would like to hear the legendary AR3a and AR LST, which I've seen in the flesh but were unusable due to guess what... yes! Surrounds had disintegrated...
 
ARs are great! I prefer the generation before the 18, i.e. the 3a, 4, 6, etc as they had a much nicer real veneer cabs (18 is a vinyl wrap IIRC) and the wheat grilles look cool in a ‘mid-century modern’ way. A friend has a pair of AR 6 in his kitchen driven by a wood case A21 and they sound lovely, as ARs do. They are obviously a bookshelf/wall-proximity speaker so become unbalanced when pulled out into the room, but they are really good speakers. Ed Vilchur was one of the great audio designers. An amazing legacy.

PS Rob got one of the best sounds at Scalford one year with one of the smaller ‘70s Marantz and I think a pair of AR 4s. They really work and show just how good a sealed-box speaker with an 8” paper bass and simple tweeter can actually sound. Surprisingly big, warm and punchy without any harshness. Rob had rebuilt to amp and replaced the foam driver surrounds as one has to with these speakers.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
I thought AR18's were bloody awful!
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Of course you did. The OP is clearly excited and delighted having just found a pair of vintage speakers that cost buttons that he is thoroughly enjoying. Enter Arkless stage left to rain on his parade. One day you'll surprise me and post something positive.
 
Tony L said:
ARs are great! I prefer the generation before the 18, i.e. the 3a, 4, 6, etc as they had a much nicer real veneer cabs (18 is a vinyl wrap IIRC) and the wheat grilles look cool in a ‘mid-century modern’ way. A friend has a pair of AR 6 in his kitchen driven by a wood case A21 and they sound lovely, as ARs do. They are obviously a bookshelf/wall-proximity speaker so become unbalanced when pulled out into the room, but they are really good speakers. Ed Vilchur was one of the great audio designers. An amazing legacy.
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I agree completely. My first proper loudspeakers were a pair of AR94. The 2.5-way design meant it worked well away from walls. Shame the foam surrounds lasted less than three years.
 
James said:
I agree completely. My first proper loudspeakers were a pair of AR94. The 2.5-way design meant it worked well away from walls. Shame the foam surrounds lasted less than three years.
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Must be something about that model and Kiwis. A friend from Christchurch had those at Uni and when I moved to Sydney another NZ acquaintance had them as well. They could move serious air! I being a poor student had only the AR28LS, a QED230 amp and a Dual 1220!
 
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