Have just purchased a really nice pair of AR18s speakers … They are being dispatched…I will feed back when they land. I bought these because - I nearlly bought a pair back in the the early 80’s … they are technically rather intresting…
The main drive unit plays direct…no crossover and the tweeter is simply protected by using a capacitor…as simple as it gets…rather like the Epos ES14’s. The main driver is 8 inch paper unit…and is fairly light and fast…and it’s an infinate baffle speaker. The downside…is the speakers have had new foam surrounds as they always rot. The tweeter is rather humble - being a curious little paper unit… The speaker also has fairly limited power handling - and will complain if pushed.
The charaterstic of this speaker is great clarity and a speedy nature of delivery. It has deceptive levels of detail and depth. Bass is not the deapest, but its tuneful. Frequency response is a little mid centric with a mildly rolled off treble…they like being against walls. These little chaps were used to master some rather famous albums … one of the most notable is Peter Gabril 3 …aka ‘Melt’.
So…looking forward to a good session with these cheeky chaps…does anyone else remember having these…they used to be sold with the old NAD3020 as a starter system…back in the day.
Almost certain I had a pair……sounded good with a technics amp and my cd102.
Yeah they were fairly common and not that expensive…there were allot of different derivatives…the S probably being best…they are so different to todays speakers… I do tend like infinite baffle speakers…
I am finishing my shed…so will get back onto the Kans…and finish them…just need to rebate the drivers in.
I remember them. I have a feeling they could be stonkingly good on the end of a shoebox Nait and a Rega Planar 3 or better
Had a pair , my first “serious” I had a lovely pair of very warm sounding Sony before, these were a complete contrast .
Ran them with a Technics receiver
A long, long time ago
Takes me back. My first ‘proper’ speakers were AR 7x…I loved em until I heard Kans…
They’re probably still playing somewhere & still with my Cambridge A60 (I hope).
Had a pair of the AR9s as my first serious loudspeakers.
Do the 18s have the spring loaded clips for the speaker cables as well ?
DG…
Thats what I thought!
These ones don’t but they have been mildy refurbished…
Very punchy and dynamic slightly bass heavy but fun.
Hope in good condition as the woofer surround rubbers usually perish.
Long time since I heard them. 
I kinda hope…they will sound like a big Linn Kan…apprantly there -3dB point for bass is 60hz…not too shabby…they were designed to go up against or close to a wall…
I have a soft spot for speakers with no or virtually no crossovers…
If they are electrically safe…I will try them on the end of the 500dr…that should be fun…until the 40 year old vouce coils let go…!!! I think they are rated at 50w…
Great speakers. Some fun budget speakers around then.
I had a pair of these back in the mid eighties. I got great sound from them by placing them on Linn Kan MK1 stands and positioning close to the rear wall.
Grahams HiFi did a modification to them. They sealed the tweeter in using a white mastic. I guess this made the cabinet air tight. This might be worth investigating if it’s not already been done. Big uplift in sound quality as I remember.
Sound wise they were fast, punchy and dynamic but nothing like the Kans which left them for dead. Good fun little speaker that punched well above it’s weight and partnered with the NAD 3020 was a very musical combo at an affordable price point. I had a LP12 with basik tonearm as the front end for many years.
Thats what I thought…they are not the last word in neutrality…but hopefully they should boogy…woogie
I’ve still got the AR18s and a NAD3020 in the loft, no idea what condition they are in but served me well for many years back in the day
Those AR18s refoamed and in good condition are worth a fair wedge…
I’ve a pair of AR7’s also, dating back to about 79, the suspension on the main drivers has disintegrated though, not sure if they’re available or replaceable, I’m guessing not. I was thinking of buying some drivers & crossover from Falcon and reusing the cabinets as a sort of pseudo LS3. I recall they sounded pretty nice back in the day and were fired by a Pioneer tuner amp and deck.
You can get foam kits for AR speakers…don’t throw your speakers out!