Acoustic Research AR18 .. anyone know of them ?

Sure do-I had two pair-they were my college dorm speakers, way back in the fall of 1978. They were ARs first vinyl-veneer covered speaker. They were slightly smaller than the otherwise identical 17s-which were in turn a cosmetic (and slightly improved) version of the older AR7. All were acoustic suspension, of course-mine worked until 1996. They made various versions of it-improving the efficiency, and other things (mine had foam grills-later versions-'b' and 's' into the very early 1980s-went with nicer cloth grills). If you find some old 1977-1978 magazines, you'll see an ad AR did, putting these speakers next to their large, floor-standing AR9s, and titling them 'Mutt and Jeff.' They were pretty good, played through mostly mid-fi 1970s integrated amps and such-I had them equalized like crazy. Relegated them to bedrooms, backs of cars in parks, etc. Mine held up nice-foam now rotted out-I keep them in my kitchen just as a nostalgia piece. If they still work-enjoy! By the way-the cost was 130.00 a pair, moving up to 145.00 a pair by 1980.

Thanks actung .. if you ever need a spare set of speakers try refoaming them. There are plenty of sites on the internet. I used these guys http://www.wooferrepair.com/

For $25 and a couple of hours of time it beats buying some modern junk speakers at one of the electric retailers.

Old thread, but I want add some considerations. I have them, and they are little killer speakers. It's not true they don't get low in bass. They can do a lot of music, with a very deep bass for their size (the today little bass reflex speakers can't simply match their extension and lack of coloration), at least in non-very-large rooms. In my room I don't loose any of the bass, and a 32 Hz sine is still audible. Good mids and gentle highs too. I think they're still worth a lot of consideration. Any time I've tried to change with another little speakers, AR18 won.

Andrew