owlsplace

You should know... I think yours have the AR-58 crossover installed if I remember correctly! Quite a legacy we inherited ...

Nice, I have seen a pair of AR-10's recently for sale. Drifting off-topic here but I have a spare set of mids and tweets so I could easily restore the 58's with some woofers or used the reconed woofers from the original AR-3a's.

The AR-3t's is not anything AR produced. It is an AR-3a cabinet and crossover slightly modified with AR-58 Teledyne era drivers installed. This particular set of 3a's had been abused. Only one of the tweeters was original. The woofers had been reconed and the mids had been replaced with some 8-ohmn drivers of unknown origin. RoyC provided guidance on the crossover mod. I wanted the cabs to match my AR-5 vintage look. I still have the AR-58 cabs and crossovers although it is unlikely I will ever put them back into service. I don't have the time or space for those projects these days. There are only a few of us who still enjoy these old dinosaurs anyway. The AR-3a's that I see occasionally for sale on CL don't last long. They usually disappear quickly especially if they are offered at a low start price. The later models not so much. AR-5's are even rarer to see as production was only around 50,000 units I believe. They don't command a high price though.

I am still sandbagging 2-pairs of 5s although I haven't fired either up in quite awhile. I haven't posted here in a long time either but saw a CL listing today that made me drop by. One of the AR-5 resto threads on here was mine. I still have those with the original drivers. The other pair was later production with the original Sprague caps from 1974 which would have been the same as the ones I brought back from Germany in the mid-70s. These had the Hi-Vi put in. I don't think I ever got around to doing an A/B as the differences were obvious anyway. I'm listening to AR-3t's. That would be with Teledyne drivers installed.

Glad you are up and running again. I have a set of fives that are all original and a set with the Hi-Vi conversion and it is obvious that I need to have Chris rebuild the dome tweeters. Love the AR-5s for sentimental reasons Here is an easy way to find more info on them here by using this search phrase: "AR-5 site:http://www.classicspeakerpages.net" Roger

What differences should I be looking for here as mine are currently in progress? Roger

Having similar thoughts about some ADS L980's. Roger

Superb -- thanks for the Z-poxy tip. Roger

Smoothe ...

A Cinderella story ...

Looks like it has been eight years since this was discussed?

I'm all for making them more accessible.

Nice catch ...

Bill gets rave reviews for a reason.

Replacing spiders is a task usually beyond the average speaker jock. Just sourcing replacement spiders would be a challenge. Tell me more about your rebuild ... Roger

Nice, when it rains, it pours as there is a NIB pair of AR-5's on the auction site for the same price also. That would be a tough choice for me

Yes, correcto mundo ...

Normally, I wouldn't do it that way though as I prefer to let the cone self-center while the glue is still fluid and workable. I think I did around eighteen woofers before I really felt comfortable doing it. I would really be edgy with the fast-set solvent glues used by the big boys although I have used it on two polypro cones I wasn't that happy with the result even though it was fully functional. Adam, I don't see an issue on these and I think your daughter will be well-pleased when you get them up and running. They look correct for the period -- early 70s would have alnico magnets with yokes. Roger

Well, if there is any damage to the voice coil former you will find out quickly by shimming. RoyC (noticeably absent these days) liked the Carli caps since their esr value was closer to the originals. Roger

Rick Cobb should be here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEST-Speaker-Foam-Surround-AR-Acoustic-Research-4-4AX-6-7-8-9-9LS-10-15-16-18-/172316450385?hash=item281edc5e51:m:mXXu7fItk-EzydhfglnYpfw The last foams I got on ebay were from Audiodogs. Not sure if Boston FF surrounds are recommended for the 8" woofers. I know Audiodogs will have a strong opinion but I've never dealt with Rick ... maybe someone will chime in here. The link to Rick's auction does not show Boston FF foams so they may be JBL's. Madisound is good source for the Carli caps that I use. Roger

Good to know, Rob.

I don't have any 5mfd caps around so two 10's in series makes 5mfd.

Yes, nice collection of 18s models ... on the set here one of the cabs had some heavy water damage hence the driver donor status. The cabs have an internal stamp showing they were made in Brooklyn. Roger

Caps are Unicon 5mfd NPE on these that measure within 10%. I will replace with (4) of the old Madisound 10mfd surplus which will boost output a bit due to half ohm lower esr and zero voltage loss compared to the Unicons. If I don't like the sound I'll order some new NPEs. Interesting to note the "mechanical" xover specs in AR's literature for the AR-18s: I will go ahead and correct the AR-7 xover polarity to match all of AR's other speakers since I have a tendency to play speakers in multiple pairs. The next person who gets these can scratch their head if they sound out-of-phase with their other AR-7's. Roger

Just curious if the Teledyne era AR-18/s was AR's biggest little speaker? I grabbed a pair of the "s" version today locally for the drivers -- the cabs are very marginal. Some fun old posts from the archives: I wonder if he had any issues with the AR-7 reverse phasing ... I'm not very impressed with the refoam job and it seems there are or have been some caveats from the past regarding 8" foams: Robert (ra.ra), any reservations about dropping these drivers into AR-7 cabs with the appropriate crossover components. It looks like a slight reduction in cabinet volume. Roger