I have a set of AR-3a's I bought in 1969 and still have the invoices. In my opinion, speakers should be "transparent." These always have been and continue to be. I have located a set of AR-9Ls in pristine condition. It will be interesting to add these to our "family".
Note this from Wikipedia website on AR.
"In the early 1960s, AR conducted a series of over 75 live vs. recorded demonstrations throughout the U.S. in which the sound of a live string quartet was alternated with echo-free recorded music played through a pair of AR-3s. In this ultimate subjective test of audio quality, the listeners were largely unable to detect the switch from live to recorded, a strong testament to Acoustic Research's audio quality.
These "old" acoustic suspension speakers are "life time." And if they'll still do this...and they will...what else would you want a speaker to do?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Research
Note this from Wikipedia website on AR.
"In the early 1960s, AR conducted a series of over 75 live vs. recorded demonstrations throughout the U.S. in which the sound of a live string quartet was alternated with echo-free recorded music played through a pair of AR-3s. In this ultimate subjective test of audio quality, the listeners were largely unable to detect the switch from live to recorded, a strong testament to Acoustic Research's audio quality.
These "old" acoustic suspension speakers are "life time." And if they'll still do this...and they will...what else would you want a speaker to do?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Research