My New AR-11's Arrived Home

I just purchased some incredible looking and sounding Acoustic Research AR-11 speakers today from an AK'er near Indianapolis. It was worth the all day trip down there from Chicago for the following reasons: 1) I got to meet Indyhawg (Jeff) first thing to pick up the beautiful AR-11's before he went to his employer's Christmas party; 2) I always wanted to visit Columbus, Indiana due to its wealth of simply incredible architectural wonders due to the benevolence of the Miller family, the founders of Cummins Engine & Diesel - we're talking world class architects like Eero Saarinen and his father, I.M. Pei, Harry Weese and many others, all in a town, with no offense to those residing in Indiana, literally in the middle of nowhere!; and 3) last, but certainly not least, I got to spend an hour or so with one of my favorite AK'ers, a true gentleman, scholar and all around nice guy, McCarty350 (a/k/a John). His and Jeff's collections of speakers included AR-11's (Jeff's now mine), AR-9si's, Klipsch Chorus and Forte, some huge Norman speakers, IMF RSPM's, Dahlquist DQ10's and 20's, and the list goes on. Simply incredible. All lovingly restored to most likely better than new condition, with all of the modern caps which simply weren't available 40 or so years ago when many of these speakers were manufactured.

A great day and I am cranking out the 11's right now with a powerful, fully restored and recapped BGW power amp softened up with a Conrad Johnson ET3SE tube preamp which sounds stellar.

Wow, what a fun hobby this is, bordering on addiction, but is that so bad?

Regards,

RDSChicago (a/k/a Rob)

It was great meeting you today. Enjoy the speakers.

Thanks Jeff. Great meeting you, too. I am listening to Sade right now on the AR-11's. If you are not familiar with her, listen to "By Your Side", the original studio version. I am streaming it right now over Tidal and it sounds simply incredible. I am hearing things, like fingers sliding down the neck and frets of a guitar, that I have never noticed before. The detail and depth of these speakers is incredible. If anyone has not heard them, I would recommend you do.

Now that big debate/dilemma we all have it whether more current speakers are superior due to the progression of innovation and technology. After listening to these AR speakers, which are certainly spiffed up with modern capacitors, I am not buying into the conception that newer is better. That theory just doesn't stand up when you have a well cared for and maintained vintage speaker which were the TOTL way back when. As far as I am concerned, they are TOTL today!

Caveat: I may be gushing a bit more than usual as I am literally listening to these right now, on the date I acquired them, and after driving around 400 miles round trip to get them!

Congrats on getting the 11's, they are one of my favorite speakers, you can check out the results of my AR shootout and see how well the 11's did. :thmbsp:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=590951

Congratulations! There are a few things better than getting new speakers, but not a ton of 'em for folks like us. I won't put up the rude "worthless" banner so many love to do on this site because I too well understand logistics are sometimes not favorable, but pictures would be nice, if possible. Merry Christmas and Happy Listening!

Thanks RS Steve and Musichal. I appreciate the kind words. The speakers originated with AVGUYTX a few years back and there are a few threads he posted detailing his restoration of these speakers, which are one and the same as the speakers I purchased yesterday.

Congrats and let the addiction flow through you!

Quite a trip... and now let the AR addiction begin. I listen to them more than the others....especially the 303.

Ah, Rob, the audio addiction continues to spread, eh?? It's not so bad or dark once you're all the way down the rabbit hole.... I may have indirectly helped to further enhance the addiction spread via mccarty350. Ask John sometime about a truckload of speakers that traveled from NE Ohio to the Springfield area. It's become a two-way street with us. He now helps feed my appreciation of Acoustic Research speakers. Lately been nudging me with tales of KEF and IMF (Fried). I think the key is to keep moving things along so you don't get too attached. And it allows others to enjoy different speakers too.

Congrats on the purchase. I can relate to making long roadtrips to pickup speakers. Now you can bask in that vintage AR glow with your '11's. :thmbsp:

Yea, the addiction is quite common 'round here, so enjoy that fine AR sound!

Rome

Where are the pictures?

Lets see .... tap rapa tap tap tap

Pics please.......

OK, I guess I have to be the red one!:worthless!
Can't you tell, we wanna see these babies!

Some Pics

These speakers are beautiful, built like tanks and sound incredible!

Rob, glad you are enjoying those! No joke those things are just incredible giant killers. RS Steve's thread is a phenomenal comparison, many thanks to him, I read his thread several times (and am going to read it again now!) before pulling the trigger. I was really glad to have you over! I will reciprocate in Chicago when I can

Good to see so many of my AK buddies in one thread, it's a small world. Indeed Jim/GoRNR fed my addiction early on and totally steered a lot of my audio tastes. Now we all have a synergy of bouncing things back and forth, I now consider him a family friend as well.

Hawg and I get together all the time, good buddy, all around awesome AK'er. I've met some really great people here and feel truly blessed to have become involved in such a great hobby.

Also the AR9LSI disease spreads! Let me show the progression:
1. I picked up a pair.
2. Hawg loved them and picked up a pair.
3. GoRNR loved them and picked up a pair.
4. Now I see Robert inquiring about a pair

Let me also add that Hawg and I had the same audio mentor and he stated that the 9LSI's were some of his favorite speakers of all time. Massive endorsement there.

What I like about the AR11's is how huge the sound is and how deep the bass is for such a small cabinet. They are just amazing. Also the highs are nice and sweet, they aren't rolled off like some of the prior works by AR. Just great great speakers and they do everything right.

Indyaudio another good local buddy of ours is the one that got Hawg and I started on the AR11's. He's got a crazy collection and the AR11's are in his keeper category. That's another strong endorsement.

Wow...I forgot that Ken Kantor actually weighed in on RS Steve's thread and said "AR11 by a landslide"....

John, thanks fior the kind words.

Us AK'ers may be from different towns, states and even countries, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes, but it doesn't matter. We are all brothers and sisters who have a common love for music of all types in any form, and the machines that play the music.

What an amazing bond that is. Thousands of people who, in the words of the great Phil Lesh, are looking for the music and searching for the sound.

Rock on!

Rob the pleasure was all mine. I agree with your sentiments, so many good people from all walks of life. It's great.

It's also a great boon to type A people that need help winding down at the end of the day...it has to have positive health effects right??

I also am a new owner of some Minty AR-11's that I purchased from Rob in Baltimore. He was kind enough to deliver the 11's and the stands to my sons place in Arlington. I won't be able to get them home in ND until April. Its going to be hard to wait that long. But my AR58s speakers will entertain me through the rest of the long winter with no problems. I'll post some pics in the coming days. AR speakers will get you to go through your vinyl collection again just to see what your were missing out on.