If there truly is a beauty in simplicity…the Acoustic Research AR -2ax has to be that cliché’s most shining example.  It is not often that one is fortunate enough to find anything in any facet of life that can truly be tagged as exemplary…but only upon ownership of one of the world’s finest loudspeakers such as the 2ax can one take issue with modern types sporting high price tags and low performing high distortion boomy ported bass.  My great but somewhat port noisy Polk R-30s come to mind here.  Come to think of it...even my $840 p/Pr of Vandersteen 1C loudspeakers couldn't match it nor could my Bose 901s.  You have to spend upward of $1000 in the B&W line to equal this bass!  No wonder we need subwoofers!

How and why we audiophiles of meager wallet let such high performing sealed gems of the past get away…I’ll never know.  …But we did!  It seems as though these gloriously crafted Made IN U.S.A. boxes were stolen from our sights by some mystical thief in the night that lured us to another frontier like the Pied Piper Of Hamelin while performing a hypnotic trance that told us that somehow sealed acoustic suspension  designs just simply weren’t good enough for the digital age…and of no further use to the audio community.

The Acoustic Research AR2ax was designed by the late Edgar Villchur…the co.’s founder and inventor of the acoustic suspension principle.  The airtight box would be densely packed with fiber glass insulation and foam surrounds used on the woofers to act as a piston for controlled long excursions that dramatically decreased woofer distortion at deep lowest frequencies…20% for vented systems as compared to 2% for sealed types.

This model stood two feet tall by fourteen inches wide by one foot deep.  The cabinet was made of real wood with a beautiful walnut finish that would shame some models of today.  The grills were bright off white types as opposed to the dark gloomy sinister-looking types of modern times.  Yes…we have truly entered the dark ages of audio!  The 2axs are spectacular looking and sounding…if driven by the right amplifier.

When selecting a decent amp for these vintage speakers that are sometimes auctioned off on Audiogon and Ebay…make sure you windup with plenty of muscle as the 2ax is a classic example of low efficiency.   You need a high quality amplifier capable of delivering at least fifty watts per channel at all frequencies.  Anything less would be marginal at best.  Although AR posted a minimum of twenty watts per channel…this would ideally be a tube type amp.  Solid state units generally speaking need to be of a higher power rating otherwise you are just wasting your time and money.  The 2ax is very similar to the various Magnepan models in this regard.

Acoustic Research posted an efficiency rating of 87db @1 watt 1 meter.  In my opinion this is a rather optimistic figure at best [it's really more like 85db] and use of a puny amplifier will render some rather frustrating results…even for those of us that do not require extremely loud sound pressure levels [SPL}.  When I purchased my pair brand new back in 1972 at the USAF BX in Alaska for $212 p/Pr… they were special ordered and military discounted in brown boxes with the green AR model & logo printed on the box with the "A Teledyne Co." also printed on the cartons.  


The rear of these substantial cabinets had model specs and warranty cards attached.  Also in the rear were the two knurled nut speaker binding posts that accepted bare wire or lugs.  Use a good quality Calibre Xtreme 12 ga or Kimber 4PR here for best inner detail retrieval. I hitched them up to a glorious classic Pioneer SX-990 receiver capable of twenty seven watts per channel from 20Hx to 20KHz both channels driven simultaneously.  The initial setup turned out to be poor.

My first lesson in ownership of these gloriously crafted in USA transducers was not to place them directly on the floor up against the wall facing perfectly straight forward.  These speakers need to put on 12” to 16” high sturdy pedestals and tilted back.  Make sure the pedestals are of high quality and can support thirty pounds.  The ARs are hefty!

The loudspeakers need to be placed at least a full six feet apart and pulled out from the rear wall by about a yard while being toed slightly inward.  This will render a superior stable image when compared to the way the benevolent speaker maker and other top brands of the day demonstrated in the detailed well written Owner’s Manual.  Everybody had these things standing straight up on bookshelves and end tables halfway up the wall….NG!!

This arrangement renders a room null at around 250 Hz that is most unpleasant to deal with.  Stick to my guidelines.  The second thing this audio newbie at that time learned was that this speaker is particularly finicky about its driving amplifier.  It did not like any of the early Pioneer models.  Even my classic forty watt per channel Sony was marginal at best.  


It does absolutely LUV the AR amplifier at fifty watts per channel,  the Sherwood S-8900 at seventy watts per channel and a classic sixty watt per channel Sansui receiver that one of my USAF buddies owned.  The amplifiers in these classic integrated amps & stereo receivers had no problem driving the AR-2axs effortlessly while all of the Pios sounded strained.

A word to the wise here is sufficient.  If you do purchase this three-way speaker system from an auction site…expect to replace the rotting pots, crossover capacitors and nasty fiber glass insulation.  The new acousta-stuff is great….and much healthier.  Parts Express or any decent hardware store should have some for purchasing.  Also when removing the woofer for new cloth surrounds…spray some good De-Oxit cleaner e.g. CRC QD generously on the two L-Pads that control the mids and highs as these tend to become dirty even after only a month’s use as I personally found out back in 1972.  A good practice here would to vigorously work the two controls back and forth repeatedly.  We tend to leave these pots in one position after finding the ideal flat response for our rooms.


If the pots are really in bad shape….they can be replaced at relatively low cost by purchasing the three terminal basic L-Pads from Parts Express.  Simply wire the terminal marked # 1 on the L-Pad to the Mid/Tweeter + terminal on the crossover…# 2 to the driver + terminal and # 3 on the L-Pad to the crossover - and driver - simultaneously.  This will give you the continuously variable control over the AR’s midrange and tweeter while stabilizing the 8 ohm impedance rating of this three-way system.  The system itself consists of a ten inch woofer crossed over to a three and a half inch domed midrange and a   one and one eighth inch domed tweeter.


When properly setup and driven….the stereo pair presents an extremely neutral but warm and sweet detailed three dimensional image that does not quite equal today’s best of the best...but betters them in deep bass and places the popular Dynacos slightly behind in upper frequency dispersion.   The low frequency driver does need some power to get going as mentioned earlier and I can heartily recommend AudioSource’s AMP 102 or even better yet…AMP 110 as minimum modern day amps to drive these classics.  The 2-ax is rated to handle amplifiers of twenty to one hundred watts p/ch.


Once properly positioned and driven….the AR 2-ax exhibits a soundstage that slightly favors the upper bass and extreme treble.  This can be effectively dealt with by adding some carpeting to the floor and tapestry to the walls.  This is not a speaker to be placed in a “Live” room.  The room itself requires some acoustic dampening.  The two rear L-Pads also while subtle in action…do effectively deal with room acoustics in their respective ranges.


These speakers have a lovely extended liquidy sound quality although not quite as in your face as the more efficient ported Boses and JBLs…still giving an interpretation of musical program material that is intimate, emotional and involving on all genres of music.  It is not a totally forgiving transducer either and program faultiness will be exposed on occasion.  It is not quite as authoritative as its bigger more expensive classic brother the AR3a but holds its own down to 40Hz on organ pedal stuff and tympani gut punchers while bettering the 3a in the mids and highs in my opinion.  It is also tighter in the deep and mid bass frequencies but not quite as tight as the Dynaco A-10 or A-25 models.

It doesn't compress like the Smaller Advent Loudspeakers at high volumes.  It most assuredly disperses better than the Larger Advents and is more dynamic when appropriately driven.

The AR3a has a slight tendency to sound like it is wading through molasses in the bass area but is extended down to 20Hz in the deepest notes.  The 3a obviously is the better window rattler here but the 2ax can at least cause your windows and rafters to buzz a wee bit and the walls to shake rattle and roll!  

It’s just not as authoritative…but appears to be more accurate  Back in 1972 some rockaholics claimed the ARs not to be good Rock transducers.  I disagree.   These are great for all kinds of music so long as you don’t use a  puny amp to drive them and set your tone controls to a level that would shame Woodstock!  Once these ARs have enough muscle behind them…they can reproduce just about anything most accurately…just not with the frequency exaggeration some audio freaks prefer.  Yet they are very dynamic when the music calls upon them to be so.

I can remember a room filled with USAF Rockaholics {including myself} back then listening to the classic Moody Blues LP...."A Question Of Balance" and our jaws dropping as the album embraced every kind of acoustical nuance one could imagine.  The strumming acoustic guitars, deep kick drum sounds and even human breathing all shined through in exemplary form.  One of the guys remarked how clean and clear the detailed bass and highs were.when "Question" rang throughout the dormitory.  Give that CD a listen now through the AR 2-axs and you'll understand what I am saying about this speaker.


 Music reproduction should touch your emotions.  The classic AR2axs accomplish this perhaps better than most.  They were created at a time when the creator himself decided to sell the co. to Teledyne.  Unbeknownst to me in 1972 he was already gone a full five years and on to his new home with EPI.

The AR2ax represents both what was good about acoustic suspension….low distortion extended bass response….and also what was bad…very low efficiency.  The latter was the reason these acoustic suspension companies gave for abandoning this very principle although it is most interesting that later sealed types sported efficiencies of 90db or better!  My reference Boston A-70s although similar in sound accuracy betters the 2axs in efficiency.

I really regret parting with my AR 2-axs but….like most of you that have delved into the hobby….I had to move on at that particular time in my life to higher end stuff.  Little did I know then what I know now….that I was already there!  I highly recommend the classic AR2ax loudspeakers.  Good listening my friend!…PJSII

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 212/Pr