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Acoustic Research 4xa's

Bracksy

pfm Member
Thinking about buying a pair quite locally.
My main listening Room is 5 1/2 long by 3 1/2 mtr's wide. Speakers at the moment are on the short axis across the width.With an alcove then going to the dining room. Which is about 4 by 4 mtr's.
They would at the moment be used with a nad 3020e.
Any opinions on these? have read many good things about them.
Also at the moment speaker costs need to be low.
 
I take it you cant take your amp to them to audition ... I recall the 4xa was quite ... er a party animal. lively and loud

Id be tempted to use the soft clipping setting on the NAD though as tweeters are the worry bit about old AR's. personally I would not use them on transistor amps anymore as I would expect them to still be too harsh with that NAD which was also a party animal

Google is your friend as theres loads of enthusiasts for them, something less than £50 seems right to me. At their peak they were well turned out and built, I was sad they didnt last longer as they were a trend setter
 
Just make sure the drivers are ok and treat them as a work in progress, since they'll be performing well below par if they've never been touched.
The bass unit uses a cloth surround and these last well, though sometimes you need to re-apply the flexible coating which makes them air tight. Also check that the surround is still glued to the basket, and that the spider is still glued to the cone and basket.

Budget to recap them - the existing caps will be well off spec but the crossover is simple so it's a cheap job.

Make sure the tweeters work ok. The crossover point is low so the tweeter handles more power than is usual for a modern day dome driver.

The cabinet should be airtight as these are acoustic suspensions designs and rely on the box air-spring to work as intended.

If you like what you hear you can use the newer drivers as used in the 17, 18 and 8 in them which are more robust (foam surround accepted) and the performance is comparable or slightly better, since the driver performance actually changed little over the years. Hundreds of thousands sold so plenty around cheap. I did just that when restoring a pair recently:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8011

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8004

I think they sound excellent, and you can pay thousands and not get bass quality and overall coherence this good.
 
Thanks for your reply's,Ian the Nad wont be staying to long so i will look into something more suitable if i buy them that is.
Wonderful Build Rob, I did come across this via google, Thanks for your excellent advice i may call on you again if you don't mind.
My Knowledge with these things is very limited
 
Thanks for your reply's,Ian the Nad wont be staying to long so i will look into something more suitable if i buy them that is.
Wonderful Build Rob, I did come across this via google, Thanks for your excellent advice i may call on you again if you don't mind.
My Knowledge with these things is very limited

HTH anytime.
If the AR4s are going cheap, which they often do as folk don't realise how good they are, snap them up and worry about fettling later :)
 


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