VERY FIRST AR MODEL, yeah right...

Copa1934

My ears are bleeding
Subscriber
Came across a listing on the "bay" and the listing says...well look it up and read for yourself.

Images posted have me in doubt, as does the driver and the fact it's a full range system (one driver). I'm no AR expert by any means, but thought some AR experts will either get a good laugh or a "OMG" moment. Time will tell eh?

I have my doubts for other reasons, speaker terminals aren't AR standard, craftsmanship is not there. But, if an experimental, who knows eh?
 
I'm with ya in your doubts. First off, I'd expect a prototype to have been found in MA, not PA. That driver looks nothing like those used by Edgar Villchur in the earliest ARs. In fact, it doesn't look like anything Hi-Fi related in the early 50s when AR was started. Half-roll foam surround? They look DIY to me.

That sure as sh!t ain't no full-range driver.

Dave
 
I was at the house when the equipment was picked up, it was chock full of vintage gear. When I arrived a Hammond tube organ along with what I believe was a Leslie tallboy organ speaker w/ tube amps inside was being wheeled out.

The amps he mentions, which I saw are cosmetically in good shape. The house was in disarray but in an upscale high money neighborhood and supposedly there are more amps, the adult son of the owner doesn't know where they are. Kinda of house you might imagine would be on "Hoarders", stuff all over the place.

The guy, selling the speakers, is going on what the son was telling him, He's pretty knowledgeable and I doubt he's trying to hoodwink anyone with his listing.
 
notice he is not selling any of the "Good" stuff he states he also picked up.

I can assure you they will be on their way to the shop. The tech I use and he uses is a an old school tube mechanic who will make sure the units are brought back to working order. They looked like they had been sitting for quite awhile.

Also the guy listing the gear is on this forum so go easy on him, He knows what he's doing.
 
I saw that listing earlier this morning. It was on the side of my-ebay page for some reason. I guess it's because I searched for AR speakers in the past.

Anyways, I doubted the drivers were of AR at first glance, too, but upon looking at it closer, they "might have been" reconed. The dust caps are almost like new, but the surrounds look very familiar and similar to some of the Altec drivers I've seen. Maybe it's just me.....

I think he should take the cabinets apart to make everything clear. I'm sure he can put them back together if needed.
 
The seller should verify before he lists something like that....otherwise he is fishing. AR has a tremendous history and high acclaim....therefore the story on this shouldn't be much of an effort. Otherwise it is junk....IMHO of course...:)
 
Also the guy listing the gear is on this forum so go easy on him, He knows what he's doing.
So?

He's already rendered his knowledge level as well as his willingness to parrot without qualification.

Sometimes, it's better to leave them guessing than to remove all doubt.

The seller should verify before he lists something like that....otherwise he is fishing. AR has a tremendous history and high acclaim....therefore the story on this shouldn't be much of an effort. Otherwise it is junk....
Facts.
 
would have been easy to come on here first and try getting a correct I.D., you know, being a member and all....
 
Avast, me hearties. Yar be me vary first, me matey. Them's the ARrrr-0, no doubt in me mind. Shivers me timbers to see 'em again.

(yeah I know, a couple months early but couldn't resist. :))

Seriously I think it's obviously they aren't any actual AR speaker or prototype. But no telling what Henry Kloss might have whipped together as a one-off in his early days. I've seen a couple other odd ball speakers he made to sell (but these don't look anything like them. :no:)
 
I looked at the listing yesterday. I looked at it again today. I've decided I don't have any problem with the way it's advertised. If two people happen to know that these speakers are indeed something special then he could make some money. If not he won't. Pure and simple auction and not unlike just about every in-person auction I've ever gone to.

Nice boxes, whoever made them.
 
I don't think they are ARs in any meaningful sense. Maybe something that was cooked up by Vilchur's MIT class, but the surrounds don't seem to have any relation to the surrounds of old ARs that I know of, nor does it look to my eye like the Western Electric full range used as a tweeter on the 1.
I do remember seeing one of Kloss's early products when he was making cabinets, a Baruch something, and it didn't look at all like this item. The veneer is much too nice and the grill frame looks not at all like the rather elegant/severely restrained AR aesthetic.
 
Baruch Lang eh?
Interesting read http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=2384

Not sure why this got moved to D&S, no links, no connection, no dollar amounts mentioned. It was more about "history" and facts.

I don't disagree about finding "the right buyer" so to speak, but it certainly would be nice to offer more details or substantive info to qualify the claim. There are more things wrong with the speakers than correct. While possible I can't imagine Vulcher or Kloss using such cheap terminals for something as important as this. Even an experimental is going to have components that would be representative of the final product, and surely they wouldn't want the weak link to be terminals.

And this is nothing to say they are bad, poor, etc.

As a final note, the whole idea about posting this WAS to find out if someone with AR knowledge could verify that these in deed are early "experimental" speakers. Heck, look at the postings that turn up for Bose 901 clones, which there are a pair currently listed as well. If these are AR, it's just another tidbit of history. That would be cool, would it not?
 
Came across a listing on the "bay" and the listing says...well look it up and read for yourself.

I'm no AR expert by any means, but thought some AR experts will either get a good laugh or a "OMG" moment. Time will tell eh?

As a final note, the whole idea about posting this WAS to find out if someone with AR knowledge could verify that these in deed are early "experimental" speakers.

I"m not trying to cause any trouble here as I respect everyone's right to their thoughts & opinions but I do not see where the OP WAS asking for verification.
 
I don't disagree about finding "the right buyer" so to speak, but it certainly would be nice to offer more details or substantive info to qualify the claim.
<snip>

Am I reading the same listing as everybody else, or has it been recently modified:

"ORIGINAL OWNER'S SON TELLS US THAT HIS FATHER STATED ON MANY OCCASIONS THAT THESE WERE "THE VERY FIRST AR SPEAKERS" BUT WE CANNOT FIND ANY INFORMATION SUPPORTING THIS SO WE ARE SELLING AS "UNKNOWN""

I see the ad was updated a couple of hours ago, was this just added?

bs
 
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