No, it was never the best. But when it first came out in the '60s, it was a whole lot better than much of the competition.
?? The Empire was better, the Lenco was better, Thorens, the Garrard 301, Dual, Miracord, even some of the higher end BSRs... The AR was terrible. We hated seeing them come in the shop. The trick to making them work was a bit of talcum powder on the belt, since the motor was so underpowered. The plastic headshell often had fit problems going into the arm tube- the plastic was often deformed. The suspension couldn't manage a proper platter pad, so it had a foam pad that was loaded with static electricity. The platter and bearing were its main strength and it had good looks, which is what sold it.