Archive / Classics, 1946 to 1969
AR-3
Loudspeaker, Acoustic Research, 1958
Paired the AR-1's acoustic-suspension woofer with what Wikipedia calls the first commercially available dome midrange and tweeter.
A-13, isometric, same camera for both
- Drawing
- A-13
- Introduced
- 1958
- Produced
- Not published
- Made in
- United States
- Designed by
- Edgar Villchur
- Launch price
- Not confirmed
- Size
- 355 x 635 x 305 mm
- Weight
- 27 kg
Edgar Villchur and Henry Kloss founded Acoustic Research in 1954, and Kloss left in 1957 to start KLH. The AR-3 of 1958 added a dome midrange and a dome tweeter to the sealed acoustic-suspension woofer of the AR-1, with crossover points at 1,000 Hz and 7,500 Hz. Villchur received a patent for acoustic suspension in 1956 and designed the AR-3. A later unit listed on hifi-wiki has midrange and treble level controls, and the Smithsonian displays an AR-3 in its Information Age exhibit.
In the collections of Smithsonian National Museum of American History (AR-3 on display in the Information Age exhibit, per Wikipedia).
Specification
| Item | As published |
|---|---|
| Woofer | 305 mm (12 in), acoustic suspension, sealed enclosure |
| Midrange | 50.8 mm dome (Radiomuseum listing) |
| Tweeter | 35 mm dome (Radiomuseum listing) |
| Crossover | 1000 Hz and 7500 Hz |
| Impedance | 4 ohms |
| Frequency range | 20 to 20,000 Hz (Radiomuseum listing) |
Out of production
Find an original
The AR-3 is out of production. Originals change hands on the marketplaces listed here; buy restored, or budget for recapping and new valves.
The house
- Founded
- 1954
- Founder
- Edgar Villchur and Henry Kloss
- Origin
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- Today
- Owned by VOXX International, which took over Recoton's US audio operations in 2003.
Further sheets
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Research
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Villchur
- https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/acoustic_ar3.html
- https://hifi-wiki.com/index.php/Acoustic_Research_AR-3
Notes for the record: Launch price left null: a Japanese glossary page (jisaku.com, which cites no sources) says US$216 at release and 18 kg per unit, 630 x 360 x 280 mm, and 12 in, 1.25 in and 0.75 in drivers; Sound and Vision reportedly gives US$216 a pair, 47 lb and 25 x 14 x 11.5 in, but soundandvision.com returned 403 and was not opened. Radiomuseum's page is for a 1963 to 1964 unit priced at 1,298 DM, and its drivers (305 mm, 50.8 mm, 35 mm), dimensions (355 x 635 x 305 mm, 14 x 25 x 12 in listed as W x H x D), weight (27 kg) and 48.1 litre volume differ from the glossary page, so the figures here are Radiomuseum's. Hifi-wiki dates the AR-3 1964 to 1969, which conflicts with the 1958 launch in Wikipedia. The Smithsonian record URL comes from a search result; that page returned 403 to me, and the holding is stated on Wikipedia's Edgar Villchur page. Wikipedia credits Villchur with designing the speaker.