My new front speakers, Confessions of a speaker addict

NOTE: I like writing, especially about things that stir a passion in me, and a lot of this post is just me going on and on about stuff. If you really feel cheated by that and want to get to topic at hand please feel free to scroll down several paragraphs until at least the first photograph.

I've heard a lot of great speakers (and systems!) over the last couple of years but on a quest to finally own some of my own the really good ones always seemed just out of my grasp... either short on money or time or simply beaten to the punch (more than once!)

Last summer I spent half a day and a full tank of gas to finally put a pair of Cerwin Vega DX-9s back in my living room (the third pair I've owned), a speaker I have always been quite fond of, and for awhile, I was quite happy.

Then I got invited to listen to music at a couple of other very nice Sound-Thinkers where I had a great time at both locations, like porn for my ears, literally! I had to continually wipe drool away listening to Todd's wonderful Vandersteen 2Cs (or were those uber-sexy needles on that yamp a factor too? ) and then later my jaw dropped hearing "Yes" "Owner of a lonely heart", as well as many other great tunes, on Scott's fantastic AR9s, and I loved every minute of both listening sessions... BUT...

A cold, hard ember inside my gut was once again ablaze.

Later last winter I risked crashing my truck on the streets of Burien, iced as smoothly as a giant Krispy Creme donut, to retrieve a pair of Dahlquist DQ-20is from a fellow's storage unit. The flames once again subsided and although the DQ-20i's didn't completely replace my DX-9s (I still preferred the heart-stopping bass of the CVs for home theater) I now had a pair of very good speakers for two-channel music listening as well.

The DQ-20i's really ARE very good speakers, very transparent and airy with a sound stage that is absolutely holographic when placed well and conveying a select piece of music (Diana Krall "Live in Paris" comes to mind) but they just didn't have the bass that my beloved Cerwin Vegas did. Although many speakers I've heard were truly "musical" in an exceptional way only one speaker I've heard in the last couple of years really stirred that specific fire for me the way my CVs do, Scott's Teledyne AR9s.

Ever since I heard his it's like I've had this tiny demon in the back of my head that has been whispering in my ear, making me frown just a little, even when listening to great sound systems, that had me obsessing on finding a speaker that might not only replace my CVs but perhaps the DQs too. I've sat down at the computer on a day off, more than once, with the idea of just casually glancing at Craigslist and ended up spending hours there, trading emails, reading reviews, checking bluebook prices, shopping and comparing on ebay, and more, with no luck. I was spending more time looking for something to put this infernal fire out than I was listening to the equipment I already had!

Well, long, long story made at least a little shorter I sold my Adcom equipment to replace it with a state of the art Yamaha AV receiver, in part because I wanted access to all the new "HD" audio formats and in no small part to my disdain of a relatively expensive Harmony remote's failure to properly control them (the factory Adcom remotes worked flawlessly). I also shuffled around vehicles in my driveway a bit which also left me with a little extra disposable cash so I have been shopping for a good deal on separate amplifiers with which to use the new Yamaha as a pre-amp.

I sat down this morning (Sunday) with my first cup of coffee and inevitably got to the first Craigslist page, again, really shopping for amps. Immediately one ad jumped off the first page at me, posted only minutes earlier, and I think I felt my heart skip a beat.....










I dug my cell phone out of my pants pocket with such excitement that I actually dropped it once, almost twice, before I called the number. After a bunch of rings, enough for me to have already envisioned the conversation... something like "Ah geeze, sorry, a kid from down the street just bought them...", I got an answer.

An hour later, a trip to the ATM and the gas station and a detour to pick up my accomplice in crime -slash- navigator on such trips, we high-balled it up the "car pool" lanes 75 miles north and then 75 miles home again, waited a bit impatiently for the rain to let up, before these wonderful beasts found a new home in my living room. (click the small images for full size pics)











All the woofers recently, and professionally refoamed, new grill cloth, new foam in the bass chamber (is that the right foam?), a few scratches, but the first notes out of them, powered by my Yamaha V663 (supposedly rated for 4 ohm operation, at least on a single pair of front speakers) was like... damn. A thousand words in this post and I can't adequately describe it!

I had perma-grin from ear to ear like the first time I smoked really good grass with that cute looking girl many years ago in high school. Acoustic guitar was... vibrant, alive. And the bass? Ahhh, the bass. There it was! I double checked to make sure the 12" powered Miller & Kreisel subwoofer I usually run for home theater and to accent the DQs was turned OFF and yup, the bass was still there

It's hard to describe the bass from a pair of Teledyne era speakers but that same nuance that Scott's AR9s had so greatly impressed upon me was here too. It's solid, almost tangible. Not really "boomy" or "echoey". Not really "ringing" or "thunderous" either. But very solid, the sort of bass that makes me want to find high-def cello recitals to watch. Very pronounced, as if accompanying a film of a massive anchor chain being slowly winched back on board a ship, hearing and feeling every solid and massive *clank*. Yeah, it's sort of like that.

This post has been edited by Oktyabr on February 22, 2009 11:03 pm

woo hoo! congrats John and welcome to the club. they look to be in fantastic shape and not needing any work is a big plus for speakers of this vintage. by your description of the sound i would not be surprised if they have been upgraded to the LSi model that followed shortly after. check with the owner if you can or possibly open them up for a look-see. if they havent had the upgrade its a relatively easy procedure that will improve the upper and mid ranges.

the how-to is provided courtesy of our friends at The Classic Speaker Pages, the only online AR speaker authority.
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Boar...983&#entry71983

Thanks Scott!

And many thanks for the link too! I DID ask the *previous* owner if these had had the modification and he wasn't sure, having only owned them himself for a little less than a year.

You might notice from the photos that my DX9s are no longer present, carefully stored in the garage for the time being. I really, REALLY want to put a good amp to these before I crown them my ultimate CV replacements but I have a feeling it's pretty much in the bag. My biggest hesitation is if these actually do replace my CVs then that means they need to pull double duty as home theater fronts too and I'm a bit scared. I know they are a very well built speaker and with the exception of having a bit lower efficiency than my CVs are similarly rated for power and crossover points but I also *know* the CVs will take the beach scene in "Saving Private Ryan" at scary loud levels, and I guess I'm not sure I want to put these through that sort of test. What to do, what to do... maybe another speaker selector box and I'll dig the Carver fronts out of the garage for HT, which are much smaller but still do it well, especially with a sub.

You'll note that I still found room for the DQ-20i's!

I NEED a good amp now so I can really do some serious A/Bing listening! You and Todd can both expect invitations as soon as I do and our schedules coincide

Hey, does that look like the right foam in the bass chamber? I wish I remember what yours looked like. This is fairly dense stuff, reminds me of what you might find at a sporting goods store in the way of inexpensive bedroll material to put a sleeping bag on or something. The previous owner suggested that the guy that did the refoaming also did that foam (as well as the cover cloth), "A1" if my memory serves me, so I sort of think it might at least be close?

i cant say for sure, but it does look aftermarket. its definitely not the same material used around the tweet & mid on the AR9, nor is it the acoustic blanket material. as for the LSi tweak, the link i posted is for the AR98LSi, but its supposed to be the same for you AR9LSi's ....

in any case they have the original factory schematics available so you can follow them to be sure.
http://www.sound-thinking.org/index.php?sh...indpost&p=59951

btw, a very good score for that price in this condition!

they should handle it just fine, provided they arent underpowered at high volumes.

they should handle it just fine, provided they arent underpowered at high volumes.

Yup, I worry about that too.

I had the 863, rated at 110wpc @ 8 ohms (I think) and it ran my reference sub/HT track, CH.15 "Depth Charged" from the classic "U-571" through my CVs at possibly the loudest dbs I've ever done the test at. I took it back because it was pretty much overkill with features I'd never use and the 663, one step down, was available for half the price. The 663 is rated for 90wpc @ 8 ohms (not sure at 4 ohms) and I've been very careful about really pushing it with any of my speakers. I think I'll hold off on any serious HT considerations until I find my amp(s).

Thanks! I thought so too! But really I'm just happy they were within the range of my bank account at all. I'm not sure what the roof price would have been but I think I would have paid more than what I did had it been necessary. Audiogon doesn't show a bluebook listing for these but I found an older Orion listing that seemed to put them a bit higher than what I gave for them. Regardless, I'm pretty sure I had decided very quickly that they were worth more to me than the aging SUV I borrowed from my wife to go get them with. Who knows how long I would have had to wait to find something similar had I passed on these?

very true. i've not seen many big AR's locally in the four years since i found mine, and none where the asking price was less than $600. they are getting more and more rare as they are parted out or sold off to folks like us who hold on to them.

Nice score john,

Well......that's just smashing!!!
I never listen to a set of speakers like the AR 9LS, but i'm aware of their great sonic reputation.
Congrats!!! ...and enjoy!

That is a great story, and score. A pair of speakers I'd love to hear myself, as the first "real" speakers I enjoyed were a room mates AR's in college in 1980. You did great by grabbing those.

Thanks guys!

Anyone have any leads on good deals on a suitable amplifier? Preferably local to the Seattle/Tacoma area, maybe Portland Oregon, etc.?

And thanks for the comment on the story. It would have been easy to just throw up some photos and write "Look what I found" but it really was an exciting time for me and I'm glad someone enjoyed reading about it

That is a very heartening story, John.

See, good things DO happen to good people.

I bet those babies sing. And play all of the other instruments quite well.

dennis

Mine are missing most of the foam but it looks like that's a fresh foam job there.

Glad you like them- what pricerange are you aiming for for a new amp to feed them?