Congrats! I have never heard a pair but envious nonetheless. Would really like to find a pair of AR11s. I wouldn’t consider the refoam a bad thing and I really like the paper tweeters from AR and others of that era and of course, earlier.
I own a restored pair of AR3A, which I consider amazingly great and a keeper. Like your speakers, they like to be against the wall, which makes for a very easy to use speaker.
Yep, had a pair for my student days with a NAD3020 and a Dual CS505. Very enjoyable and probably my first proper system.
The 3020 spunded great but with soft clipping could easily overheat speakers…did you ever have these issues???
Like @steviebee, above, I had a pair of AR7s in the early 1970s - they replaced a pair of B&W DM3s (too big). Really didn’t feel I lost much. The AR7s didn’t make it across the Atlantic when I moved to the US in the mid 1970s, so I got… a pair of AR18s! These served me well until I heard a pair of LS3/5As. The rest, they say, is history!
No, the combination survived many a student party!
I remember seeing a pair of LS35A’s which caught fire on the end of a NAD3020…the NAD was being supplied by a cheap cassette deck playing a rather distorted home recording of Bob Marley Exodus… apprantly this was cranked up… I saw the speakers the bextrene cone on one was totally burnt and the other was all distorted…that was some party…pass me that spliff…
My understanding has always been that speaker damage is more likely with an over driven small amplifier - rather than a large amp, run modestly.
YMMv, as always…
Absolutely…speakers hate clipping…it will toast the biggest of speakers…quite effectively.
Have a look at the Cheshire Audio Utube blog for January 2024.
He is doing a refurbishment of these speakers
Yeah I watch Cheshire Audio regularly … he got me thinking about the AR18s … I remember considering a pair. I recieved mine today…they are pretty much imaculate…amazing for the age. Drivers have been refoamed professionally and look really good. The binding posts on the back…may not be original…I thought AR’s used the old spring loaded terminals…these have binding posts…which also accept banana plugs. I was surprised the box seems very very rigid and non resonant…they are quite dinky…about 15% bigger than a Kan but shallower… I have not tried them yet… I will check out the capcitor inside and wiring…etc and upgrade accordingly…once tested etc.
Yeah those are the ones…cheers
I will take a picture of them when insitu and give a full writeup…this will be a while off… I am excited at the prospect of these cranking up these speakers… infinate baffle…virtually no crossover…simple paper drivers…they should work really well in a small room…like mine. I know they won’t be the last word in neutrality…or give huge depth.but they should be very detailed, tight and rhythmic…
Well I have hooked them up…wow they are really good…lovely midband detailed expressive…top end sounds very good well integrated. The bass is very tunefull pretty fast…I would say good as apposed to excellent. I think the low tech cabinets are given a hard time…by the 8 inch woofers…fabulous upper bass fast punchy… The real low end is a little rich but not unpleasant…I think some bracing and no res panels would work a treat…
Anybody interested in historical hifi … I can thoroughly recommend these they are fun fun…and love Naim…I cant believe they are over 40 years old…
I told you they were funky fun. 
You bet they are kinda like the big daddy of the Linn Kan…they are like a super version of the Wharfedale 708 (I loved those speakers)…where that was laid back…these offer all the same coherence but in a really funky way…I have a grin from ear to ear…
I don’t doubt this!
Soon after I moved to northeast USA (New England), I began experimenting with older speakers either through buying or listening in a local shop that trades in these items (most which were made in this area of the country like Acoustic Research).
It’s been quite an illuminating experience and thus far most of what I have heard is surprisingly good. Also surprising has been exposure to speaker manufacturers made here that I never heard of. They are numerous. Some, short lived and/or only a few models.
Yes they were indeed studio favourites, intended to allow producers to check the mix for “an average hifi” … in between the horn loaded Eastlake monitors with 2 x 15" woofers per channel (now THAT is bass) … and the tiny (and tinny) Auratones, supposedly resembling portable radios. The 18’s never really grabbed me, possibly because, situated on the edge of the mixing desk, they lacked the necessary rear wall and sounded a bit quacky .
