The AR91 arrived yesterday and I thought you all would be amused by what I found. I expected, of course that the silk dome tweeters would provide gentler though somewhat less detailed highs than the Studio 60. To my astonishment, the highs seem almost EXACTLY the same in both speakers - in fact the AR91 sound more like the Studio 60 than some other Paradigm models I listened to when visiting a dealer a couple of days ago! It's uncanny that these speakers, separated by 35 years of technology, sound so similar.
The Studio 60 seem to have mellowed a tad in the past couple of weeks - or maybe my ears have broken in, but they, and the AR91, still sound more bright than I would personally like. So I still have a lot of suggestions to follow up on!
I wasn't sure which speakers to sell - I certainly can't keep both. Being an old acoustic suspension system, the AR91 have the advantage of backing right up to the wall without a large effect on sound, an advantage in my small living room, but the Studio 60 would undoubtedly be more reliable being newer and with metal rather than cardboard and foam speaker drivers. The 60's also seem to carry a lot more detail in the sound.
In the end, though, I'll probably keep the AR91, not only because the tattered grills and the burns on the walnut veneer nicely match my bachelor decor, but also because I can get probably get enough $$ by selling the Studio 60 to actually try out some of your great suggestions. I do look forward to playing some more with 'real' audio and am grateful to all of you. The funniest suggestion was that I should just head to Best Buy - but think of the adventure I would have missed!
Thanks,
Bob
