KLH AR-3 (1958–1959)
Here is the complication with this page: every source that documents the AR-3 attributes it to Acoustic Research, not KLH. The Vintage Knob, hifi-wiki, Classic Audio History, and Audio Database all list it as an Acoustic Research product. The query lists KLH as the brand, but no source connects KLH to this model. If KLH had any role in the AR-3's story - as a distributor, a licensee, or anything else - that history is not recorded in the available material. What is documented is the speaker itself.
The AR-3 was a three-way acoustic-suspension bookshelf loudspeaker introduced in 1958 (The Vintage Knob gives 1959; the other sources say 1958). It was the first speaker to use a dome tweeter in a consumer product. It carried a 12-inch acoustic-suspension woofer in a sealed cabinet, a cone midrange, and that dome tweeter, crossing to the tweeter at 7kHz. The same tweeter had appeared in the AR-1. The AR-3 took that driver and built a full three-way system around it, sitting above the two-way AR-2a in the lineup.
Original price was $185 each. Impedance was 8 ohms. Beyond that, the record thins and conflicts: frequency response is given as 50Hz–12kHz by two sources and 35Hz–12kHz by a third; power handling is listed as 50 watts max by one source and 25 watts by another. Sensitivity is cited at 88 dB. No dimensions, weight, or crossover details beyond the 7kHz tweeter point are documented.
HiFI-Stereo (January 1967, p.63) mentioned the AR-3 in an "Installation of the Month" feature. It noted that composer Virgil Thomson used a pair of AR-3s at the rear of his listening room atop a combined bookcase-armoire.
- Type: 3-way, acoustic suspension, sealed cabinet
- Drivers: 12-inch woofer, cone midrange, dome tweeter
- Crossover: to dome tweeter at 7kHz
- Impedance: 8 ohms
- Original price: $185 each
- First consumer speaker with a dome tweeter
No current collector pricing, common failure points, or repair notes are documented. Cabinet dimensions, the midrange driver, and how these speakers hold up today are all missing from the record too.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.