"We wrote the book on the bookshelf loudspeaker."
Above: AR 303 book shelf speaker. Introduced 1995?
The Ten Second Pitch:
Acoustic Research invented the modern home loudspeaker in 1954.
For over 40 years, they have been the leader in bookshelf loudspeaker design, technology and sound reproduction.
To this day, you cannot buy a better loudspeaker for the money.
The Two Minute Pitch:
AR loudspeakers are designed for optimum performance in real world use.
Their sound patterns are designed to interact with the boundaries in your home -- doors, bookshelves, walls, furniture -- so they are less particular as to their exact placement.
The wide baffle design and exposed dome drivers produce a wide and consistent sound field, resulting in a proper tonal balance from more listening positions throughout the room.
Due to their true acoustic suspension technology, they produce stunningly powerful and accurate bass from relatively small cabinet enclosures.
They are high-value, no compromise loudspeakers engineered with the essential materials and technology needed to reproduce superior sound.
The all-day pitch:
No company in the history of audio has done more to improve the sonic accuracy of musical reproduction in the home than Acoustic Research.
For forty years, AR's sound philosophy has centered on the belief that technical innovation would only be incorporated for the benefit of tonal accuracy -- not at its expense.
AR's design philosophy remains to this day, to focus and improve on the fundamental speaker technology needed to reproduce music as accurately and beautifully as the original source.
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AR Firsts Throughout The Years:
- The Acoustic Suspension Loudspeaker The Dome Driver
- The Belt-Drive Turntable
- The High Current Amplifier
- The Multi-Driver Vertical
- Array Loudspeaker
- The Liquid Cooled Driver
- The Subsystem Loudspeaker
- The Powered Partner
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For AR, this means flat frequency response. Wide dispersion. Low distortion. High power handling. Exceptional bass extension. Musicality.
AR began its journey to capture sonic accuracy in 1954 with the introduction of acoustic suspension technology an innovation which truly revolutionized the audio industry. Prior to ARs acoustic suspension design, loudspeaker technology primarily utilized some form of vented or baffled enclosure where a relatively stiff mechanical spring force was applied to the moving cone to return it to its resting position. This spring force tended to become increasingly non-linear in its action as cone movement increased from either higher output levels, lower frequency, or both.
In order to reproduce lower bass at higher output, large woofers were needed, resulting in larger cabinets. In addition, the large cones became more massive, and in order to maintain reasonable efficiency without an enormously costly magnet structure and voice coil assembly, cones had to be designed with low density. The net result was the loss of stiffness which resulted in driver 'break-up and uneven frequency response with resonance, thus trading one form of distortion for another.
AR's solution was the revolutionary AR-1, the first loudspeaker to use the air compressed inside the sealed enclosure to control the excursion (movement) of the woofer. The woofer was given a very "soft" mechanical suspension, including the now legendary "half-roll" surround. The voice coil and mag net pole piece were redesigned for long excursion while a very stiff cone was fabricated for rigid, piston- like action. The woofer was then mounted in an air tight enclosure. The trapped air within the speaker cabinet exerted consistent pressure on all points of the woofer to precisely and evenly control and dampen the woofer movement. The result of this acoustic suspension design was reduced distortion and greater bass response in a substantially smaller speaker enclosure.
(Story continued at your AR dealer)
Source: Stereo Review (09-1995)