Acoustic Research AR 18B Speakers

My second pair of Acoustic Research speakers to grace this blog the AR 18B speakers. My last pair was a pair of AR-15's that needed extensive restoration.

The AR 18B is a early 80's refinement of the AR18 and AR 18S, this pair uses well matched woofer tweeter combo where a single 5uf cap is used for the roll off for the tweeter at 4000hz. The woofer is designed to roll off naturally.

This pair needed a re foam given that they are 30 years old and I figured a new Solen 5uf cap was pretty easy to replace and upgrade.

Straight forward these speakers sound much better through the Noresco 2570 than they do with the tube amp. There is ample bass from the 8" woofer and very smooth across the lower mid range. The upper mid range is a little less forward, perhaps laid back. The high notes are typical of a cone style tweeter that tend to roll off reducing the crispness that a dome tweeter produces. Cymbals sound a little blurred when A/B comparisons with the EPI A70 speakers. The efficiency of the AR 18B's is reported to be 86db at 1 watt which could benefit from a mid range power amp of 25-50 watts per channel.

Over all these are a nice compact bookshelf speaker that seems to have a small cult following on the interweb machine. Some even some go on to say that these have been used in studio's in lieu of the Yamaha NS-10's.

March 23 update:

I had a good long session with these speakers through a Single Ended tube amp, and these speakers really do sound fantastic, the front to back imaging is spot on and they cover the mid range perfectly. This is a great little speaker for tight space and is one I would seek out on a regular basis.

EPI 100V Speakers

Another wonderful pair of EPI 100V speakers arrived yesterday, following the EPI C70 that arrived a few days earlier.

Any reader of this blog knows that I am a fan of the EPI 100V speaker. These speakers are very musical and do just about everything right. Lucky for me both pairs have been re foamed already, I will open them up and replace the 10uf capacitor with a Solen metal polyester type along with adding banana plug terminals and upgrading the internal wiring..

I spent time with the EPI A70 and the EPI 100V stacked last night and all I can say is WOW!, not often does one get a chance to listen to these speakers in this configuration. One can not put it into words.

I have been powering it through the wonderful Noresco 2570 receiver which I find it to be an absolute gem of a receiver. I have a new agenda to keep my eyes open for more Noresco receivers or Rotel receivers of this vintage, these are worth picking up, believe me.

Yamaha NS-690 Speakers

Another top of the line Japanese speaker arrived a while back the Yamaha NS-690 speakers built in 1972.

This was one of Yamaha's best selling speaker and was on the market a few years before the NS-1000 reigned supreme in the Yamaha line up.

according to the literature Yamaha engineered with a European sound and design in mind. these do look very similar to the Dual CL490's that I recently picked up.

These speakers matched best with solid state gear over the tube amp and I have paired it with the Noresco 2570 which sounds fantastic.

More on the history of the Yamaha NS-690 can be found here.

Paradigm 5SE Speakers

Mid 80's Paradigm busted onto the audio scene with their original "S" series speakers, it was not until the "SE" series did the audio world take note.

I remember the Paradigm 7SE was directly competing with the Energy 22 and Mission 770 Freedom IV's but at a much better price point.

A Pair of Paradigm 5SE speakers were dropped off with some woofer surround issues and I was asked to work some magic. For some reason the butyl surround was cracking and separated from the cone. Trying to find the proper surrounds is difficult.

Lucky for me I had secured a pair of donor Vifa woofers from a  pair of Angstrom  Radix 300 speakers, these are a direct drop in with a much larger magnet structure, black polypropylene cone and rubber butyl surround.

This woofer was a perfect upgrade, I was surprised to see the build quality of the cabinet with proper cross member from the front and back baffles, also the crossover was built with metalized polyester caps with twin bypass caps for the tweeter. This is a well built speaker with great attention to the small details that make a great speaker.

I have had a few days of listening to this speaker and it sounds fabulous, the bass is nice and tight for a Paradigm ported system. I have had the 3SE's in the past and always found them to be boomy/muddy in the bass and I tend to pass on those speakers when they come up locally.

Aesthetically this pair looks better than the original, I have been listening to these for the past few night connected to the Noresco 2570 and they sound sweet together, I could listen and have listened to this combo for hours without ever a hint of fatigue. In fact it begs me to put on more music and to listen well past my time to retire.

The highs are spot on with smooth mid range, the bass is full and tight without any hint of boom or muddiness. Although it does not go as low as the 10 and 12 inch speakers I have I am not missing anything.

The front to back imaging depth is perfect along with the side to side imaging. I tried these speakers with the tube amp but these speakers are better suited to a solid state unit.

I am very impressed with the way this project turned out and I am sure the owner will have years of listening pleasure with these speakers.

Noresco 2570 Receiver

Re branded for the Canadian market, this Noresco 2570 is a Rotel RX-402 from the 1974-1976 era.

Conservatively rated at 25WPC into 8 ohms this little receiver sports a robust power supply with a hefty transformer and two Elna 6800uf filter caps. It is unusual to see such large caps in a 25WPC receiver. Rotel rated the RX-402 at 40WPC into 4 ohms which this unit easily sounds like.

The build quality is exceptionally clean on this unit. With such large capacitors for its' rated WPC the sound is very robust with the loudness switch off, similar as a tube amp.

My first foray into Rotel was back in the early 80's with the purchase of my first budget audiophile amp the Rotel RA-840BX amplifier. I had this unit for over 25 years and was a formidable, over built 40WPC unit capable of driving any speakers I could throw at it.

 
So far I have paired this unit up with the Mission 770 Freedom IV's and this unit does everything right, tight full bass, clear mid range and nice sparkling highs. I always opt to run these units without the loudness switch on as it gives a proper indication of how robust the power supply is.

(The difference with tubes vs. transistor amps is tubes give you a full sound stage at low volumes where as transistors usually sound best when they have some power coursing through them, Tubes sound amazing from the 1st. watt all the way through to they peak out. Transistors usually do not give you that fullness until 5-10 watts per channel.)

This unit was in exception condition, super clean on the inside, the wood case was immaculate, only one bulb needed replacing although the stereo indicator bulb will not work even though I soldered in a new bulb. The silver brushed face plate is blemish free. Once apart I cleaned all the pots and switches.

Noresco is probably a brand that gets ignored in the used market which is good for anyone wanting a fantastic Rotel receiver that was built with quality first. Unlike those who clamor over the same era Pioneer, Marantz, Sansui and Kenwood should find incredible value in either the Noresco line or Rotel's of this era.