Heathkit AS-2A
A 30-pound bookshelf speaker you sealed, stuffed, and wired yourself, and it reaches down to 55 Hz from a box small enough to disappear into a shelf.
Overview
The Heathkit AS-2A measures 23 inches high by 12 inches wide by 11½ inches deep and weighs 30 pounds each. It fits where a floorstander won't. It's a 2-way acoustic suspension system sold as a build-it-yourself kit, part of Heathkit's AS series of speakers. The 8-inch woofer and 2-inch cone tweeter went into a walnut veneer cabinet that the customer assembled, wired, and stuffed with fiberglass before the first note left the grille.
Acoustic suspension is the whole design argument. A sealed cabinet with no port or vent traps air behind the woofer, and that trapped air acts as a spring controlling cone excursion. That's how a compact box reaches down to 55 Hz. Owners report the bass is surprisingly good for the size, and that the speakers sound particularly sweet with tube amplifiers. They are not the last word in high-end audio, but for a kit speaker you built yourself and probably kept for decades, they're genuinely great.
The components were reportedly supplied by Acoustic Research to Heathkit, and the speaker was sold as a kit version of the same design, with Heathkit using a different cabinet maker. A forum poster draws a direct line between the AS-2A and the AR-2a, describing "the AR midrange used by the original AR2a and the Heathkit AS-2a clones." Treat that lineage as enthusiast consensus rather than a factory-stamped fact. The sources don't consistently name the exact AR equivalent. The AS-2 is a separate model, an AR-2 sold in kit form in the late '50s and early '60s, and forum discussions conflate it with the AS-2A. They are not the same speaker.
Key Features
8-Inch Woofer in a Sealed, Fiberglass-Stuffed Cabinet
The AS-2A uses an 8-inch woofer working into a sealed acoustic suspension enclosure. The cabinet is partially filled with fiberglass, which dampens internal reflections and makes the trapped air behave as a larger volume than the box physically provides. That's the trick that lets a 23-inch-tall box reach 55 Hz. The trade-off is real: acoustic suspension designs need more amplifier power than ported boxes. Heathkit's literature only promises "modest power requirements" without a number, so the 8-ohm impedance is the useful spec here. It keeps the AS-2A friendly to a wide range of receivers and integrated amps. The sealed cabinet also gives placement flexibility. You can push these back against a wall without port noise or boundary reinforcement messing with the tuning.
2-Inch Cone Tweeter with a 2,500 Hz Crossover
Above the woofer sits a 2-inch cone tweeter, crossed over at 2,500 Hz. That's a fairly low crossover point for a small cone driver, so the tweeter carries a meaningful share of the midrange. Owners say this gives a coherent, unified sound through the vocal range rather than a noticeable seam between drivers. The crossover components are mounted securely inside the cabinet, which matters more in a kit than in a factory speaker, since the builder is the one doing the mounting. The 5-way binding posts accept banana plugs, so connecting modern amplifier cabling is straightforward.
Walnut Veneer Bookshelf Cabinet
The cabinet measures 23 inches high by 12 inches wide by 11½ inches deep, finished in walnut veneer. It's a proper furniture-grade box. Heathkit expected its kits to look good in a living room, not just survive in a workshop. The bookshelf form factor means the AS-2A was designed to sit on a shelf or stand rather than on the floor. Heathkit's own manual copy says the system was designed to provide excellent wide-range audio reproduction from a relatively small enclosure. The manual also walks builders through resistor and capacitor color codes, which says something about who Heathkit expected to be doing the work.
Historical Context
Heathkit sold the AS-2A as a build-it-yourself kit, part of the company's broader speaker line. Heathkit was best known for test equipment and amateur radio gear, and the AS series was a serious push into consumer audio. The kit format let Heathkit offer a genuinely high-quality speaker at a price that undercut finished competitors. You traded your own assembly time for the savings. Customers assembled the crossovers, mounted the drivers, and stuffed the cabinets themselves.
Dating is murkier than the marketing suggests. No production years are documented anywhere in the research, and the April 1963 advertising that turned up is general line advertising for Heathkit's stereo and hi-fi kits rather than a launch announcement for this model. The strongest single data point is an owner's pair finished in June 1963, with the builder's name and date written on the back. The AS-2A is described as the smaller model in the AS-2 series, though the research also calls it an AS-series speaker. Both refer to the same family.
Collectibility & Value
The AS-2A is not a blue-chip collectible, and the market reflects that. The only concrete listings in the research are assembly manuals, one at $11.76 and another at $12.10. A pair has surfaced listed as "RARE Pair HEATH AS-2A Acoustic Suspension loudspeakers 1963" with a "Sound Nice!" description and no stated price. Complete-pair pricing isn't well documented, so treat any asking figure as anecdotal.
Restoration is a sensible project, and three things go wrong. The fiberglass stuffing may need replacing if it's collapsed. The crossover capacitor can drift out of spec after decades. New capacitors are available from parts suppliers, and recapping the crossover is considered a worthwhile upgrade. And the tweeter surrounds can dry-rot. Because the speakers themselves are cheap, none of this is daunting.
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