AR Acoustic Research (OLDER) model number speaker with elliptical midrange- model no.?

[loafeye]

Many moons ago, I took the opportunity (sans explicit permission) to listen to an "old" tube stereo system from the '60s or '70s, which used Acoustic Research speakers mounted in wood cabinets with expensive-looking speaker cloth, that look from the outside like the 1954 AR-1. What continues to interest me about these speakers was the use of, not the 12-15" woofer or one (or two?) dome tweeters, but an elliptical midrange, 4x6" or 5x7", mounted on what looked like a shelf between the woofer and tweeter(s), which looked to be canted slightly upward and out, as opposed to directly forward like the other drivers, which indicated to me (rightly or wrongly) that it was a sealed-back driver. It was difficult to "see what was going on in there" unless the light was right and the front of the speaker was viewed from a particular angle, so I'm not positive that I knew what I was looking at. Nonetheless...

Can anyone shed light as to what model this speaker system is/was?

Any additional info would also be of interest to me; i.e., was it a good speaker for its time? Expensive? Whatever else?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I lived throught all the ARs over time but this does not conjure any memories. Can you just post a picture?

 

[loafeye]

They looked a lot like these, but I don't remember that the AR logo included the model number.

The cabinets were easily 2-ft tall, but they weren't floor-standers, they were perched on four-legged, 12-15" high walnut stands, the same shade as the speakers, which were the same shade as the "stand-ins" I pasted in above.
I've never seen an elliptical midrange driver mounted on a "shelf" inside a cabinet before or since, other than the pair in question. I guess it's possible that the owner had them modified. They sounded magnificent, though I certainly didn't drive them hard.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I lived throught all the ARs over time but this does not conjure any memories. Can you just post a picture?

I meant of the real speakers.

 

[teashea]

I do not recall any elliptical drivers in AR speakers.

 

[loafeye]

I meant of the real speakers.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I understood your meaning. I didn't own the speakers and don't have a pic of them. If I had a photo, the speakers in the photo that I would have, would look very much like the speakers in the pic I posted except, as I mentioned above, for the logo. It's the best I can do to help to narrow down the possibilities.

 

[restorer-john]

Maybe AR-2s with matching legs. They had a pair of canted midranges/HF units that would have looked somewhat 'oval' when peered at through the grill.

Or these ARs

 

[loafeye]

I do not recall any elliptical drivers in AR speakers.

I've always thought it an odd choice, but if the idea was to maximize the amount of driven air, and with the tweeter at the top and the woofer at the bottom, it might make sense to "go sideways" to squeeze as much cone surface area out of the limited space.
I've only read that there is no reason not to use elliptical drivers, but I have no experience with them, nor have I seen one in any other cabinet (though that's not saying much).

 

[loafeye]

Maybe AR-2s with matching legs. They had a pair of canted midranges/HF units that would have looked somewhat 'oval' when peered at through the grill.

View attachment 254711

Or these ARs

View attachment 254715

The top pic of the AR-2s- not particularly exotic-looking on the inside, is it? A guy halfway decent as a wood worker could remove the HF drivers, enlarge the cutout, put some cleats in the back corners and install a half-shelf, then mount the elliptical midrange, cut the HF drivers' mounting plate and then re-install the one HF driver at the top, and re-wire the crossover as a true 3-way. I think the AR-2ax was a 3-way design. It's so interesting that so many of the photos I've seen on the internet show the drivers or cut-out areas through the speaker cloth, but the ones I heard I could barely make them out, and then only if the light and viewing angle was right.
The cabinet on the left of the bottom pic has the oval area on the left of the cabinet "in the wrong place" (for that model I presume it was designed to be there), but the idea is there.
Thanks for your post and thought .

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I understood your meaning. I didn't own the speakers and don't have a pic of them. If I had a photo, the speakers in the photo that I would have, would look very much like the speakers in the pic I posted except, as I mentioned above, for the logo. It's the best I can do to help to narrow down the possibilities.

OK. I did not appreciate that you no longer had access to them.