I presently own a pair of Type A3's bought from the original owner's son. Since they came from New Canaan, CT the likely dealer was Audiocom of Old Greenwich, CT. Presently in storage, awaiting a larger room for setup. I listened many times to the Type A's at Audiocom, starting around 1977! Amplifier of choice then was the GAS Ampzilla. Signal source was a Denon DD TT with the DA307 arm, DL103 mc into a custom clone Levinson JC-1 headamp. I forget what preamp was used - could have been Thaedra. Later an Apt Holman was in use. Price of the original Type A's was $1390 pr. To this day some of the best sounds I have ever heard! The Snell's were the main demo speakers at Audiocom for years! When I found a pair of Type A3's on EBay (for $395 + shipping) I had to buy them! Truly a great speaker and still competitive with today's multi-kilobuck systems!
Which Snell Type A do I have? A-I or A-Original?
Any Snell afficianados out there? I have owned many pairs of Type As over the years and now have a superb pair. The tweeter, if memory serves, is different than I remember from my first set of Type As, though I am pretty certain they are original. I have read that there may be two early versions, the Type A-I and the Type A-Original. Is this true, and if so what is the difference? My pair is serial numbers 243/244. Separately fused tweeter/mid/woofer. Ugh this won't allow me to add a picture! Well the round plate surrounding the tweeter is white, and a dispersion bar across it diagonally. There are no felt pads near the tweeters but they may have been removed by previous owner. It does have the insulation pads hanging inside the speaker grilled.
How can I tell which model I have, assuming there really is such thing as a "Type A-Original"?
Thanks for any thoughts!
How can I tell which model I have, assuming there really is such thing as a "Type A-Original"?
Thanks for any thoughts!
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- 23 posts total
$395 is an absurdly good deal for A-IIIs. I have owned two pair of A3s and paid three times that very recently. Take a look at the woofers when you get them out of storage to make sure the surrounds have been replaced or are intact. They are an incredibly capable speaker with huge Dynamics and bass and room-filling sound. The earlier versions do not have the deep bass capability that yours do nor the high frequency extension but I like the mid-range better. All three versions have extraordinary strengths and compete very well with expensive modern speakers. For listeners whose goal is organic musicality it is striking how little speaker design has evolved over decades. |
I was a Snell dealer back in the day. Became really good friends with Peter. The way I remember it was there was a Type A, then the A/II, then the A/III, then the last version was the A/IIIi. IIRC, there was only one version of the original (Type A). http://www.snell.no/the_archives_type_A.htm |
- 23 posts total