They have not been used in over thirty years except to test. They have not been in use since the original owner used them in his office system in the late 1960s, and they are in superb overall condition, especially considering their 52-year age. The cabinets for these speakers are in excellent condition with only one small chip on the edge of the front of one speaker, and it is not very noticeable. There are some minor marks where the speakers were placed by the original owner on a shelf without a cloth or felt pads, but there are no marks or scratches. The grills on both speakers are excellent, overall, with minor darkening with age. The AR logo plates are in great condition, showing virtually no appreciable oxidation over a half-century of storage. The staples have been removed from the grills and the front baffle plate was blackened by AR in this pair as they were factory demonstration speakers originally; it’s unusual to see the front panel treated for photographic or file-picture purposes. The level controls are oxidized, as expected, but they work fine and have not been replaced; the speakers are 100% original and have not been opened in any way. Both speakers required a lot of movement back and forth of the level controls, but the sound will appear bright and clear from the tweeters with some jiggling of the controls! This is true of nearly all old AR speakers with the Aetna-Pollock level controls: the contact surfaces get dull and oxidized (sometime beyond the point of finding a sweet spot on the controls), and it requires patience and some twiddling back and forth of the controls. If everything works correctly, and there is clean, clear output from the tweeters, it is much better not to try to open up the speakers and get in there and start changing things. A quick (low-input-power) frequency scan was run on both speakers, and the output was clean and effortless up through the normal range for these speakers. Harmonic distortion was checked on both speakersdenoting the proper acoustic sealand both speakers fell under 8% harmonic distortion all the way down to 30 Hz at 1 watt input; better than probably 95% of all loudspeakers out in the world today! These are superbly engineered little speakers in every respect! No effort was made to re-oil the oiled-walnut cabinets, but a light finish of boiled linseed oil (or Watco Satin Oil) will return these cabinets to their original luster if desired by the new owner. The value of any AR speaker will decline if someone has begun replacing parts and controls. Some older speaker are in miserable, neglected condition and require a complete refurbishment. But original-condition, unmolested AR speakers in excellent, untouched condition are like collectable antique automobiles: if you find one in excellent condition and unrestored, it is worth much more than even a completely restored example! The simple collector’s rule-of-thumb: if the speaker is original and in excellent condition, don’t tamper with it! These are excellent, high-value AR-4 speakers in every respect. AR made this beautiful little speaker for only one year before introducing the AR-4. Model, so finding this rare little speaker in this condition is very unusual, and the value is thus quite high and this is a very collectible loudspeaker. The cabinets are generally in excellent shape with only minor marks and perhaps one small chip on an edge, easily fixed. Both AR logo plates are intact and completely original; the lacquer has given way somewhat and both logos are a bit dull because of tarnish and oxidation. This can be fixed, but the tarnish is not that bad. Acoustic Research AR-4 General Description. The AR-4 was introduced in October, 1964 and it included a new 3½-inch, treated-cone tweeter also used as the midrange driver in the 2. , in conjunction with a newly developed 8-inch acoustic-suspension woofer of outstanding performance and low distortion. This tweeter had excellent transient (tone-burst) response and smooth, undistorted and uniform frequency response, both on- and off-axis. The crossover was set at 1.5 kHz. The AR-4 was a brand-new compact design for Acoustic Research, a departure from the larger AR-1, AR-3 and AR-2 bookshelf designs, and it was built in relatively low numbers and for only one year until the introduction of the AR-4. The following year; thus the AR-4 is comparatively rare. This new series brought a complete sea change to the world of high-fidelity audio by bringing in very high performance and value-per-dollar in an affordable package. Both the AR-4 and the more common AR-4. Were considered to be the finest small loudspeakers in the market for many years, and remained unsurpassed in smoothness of frequency response and low distortion for at least ten or fifteen years in this market segment. To this day, there are very few speakers this size that can matchlet alone surpassthe bass performance (low distortion) of the AR-4. It was a remarkable achievement in loudspeaker design. Julian Hirsch of Hirsch-Houck Labs, HiFi/Stereo Review , said of the AR-4, Unlike some smaller speaker systems that either go dead or distort badly below 70 Hz, the AR-4 produced very clean if diminished output down to at least 30 Hz. The smoothness of the system is attested to by the fact that no peaks or dips greater than 2.5 dB were measured from 30 to 15, 000 Hz. In short, the AR-4 was (and still is) one of the finest small loudspeakers ever produced for high-fidelity sound reproduction in the home. Noteworthy for its smooth and natural sound quality, this speaker has been a favorite for decades. The sheer quality of this little speaker also created a competitive spirit in the high-fidelity speaker industry for models in this price range that could compete with the tiny AR-4, and many competitive modelssuch as the KLH Seventeendid emerge that were generally on a par with this little speaker, but no small speaker built during this early period was truly comparable to the little AR-4 and AR-4. In terms overall sonic performance, accuracy, smoothness and natural sound reproduction. This was a fitting testimonial to this extraordinarily well-engineered little loudspeaker. Reproduction or copying of any of this material without the express permission of the writer is unlawful and strictly prohibited. These loudspeakers are 51 years old, and. Guarantee as to long-term performance, safety or efficacy can be made for them. Original specifications and have been thoroughly tested. Given in this listing. The item “Acoustic Research AR-4 Loudspeaker Pr, OW, Superb, Rare Condition, AR Cartons” is in sale since Tuesday, March 22, 2016. This item is in the category “Consumer Electronics\Vintage Electronics\Vintage Audio & Video\Vintage Speakers”. The seller is “acoustic-research-inc” and is located in High Point, North Carolina. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Brand: Acoustic Research, Inc. [“AR”]
- Model: AR-4
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
- Year of Manufacture: 1964 only
- Type Design: Acoustic Suspension, 2-Way Loudspeaker