The AR-2

[patrickw]

Sorry for all the threads, but I like I said I am just digging into all these speakers. 

I acquired these over the summer and I just started working to update them. From digging around here and on AK people seemed to think that these early AR-2's usually have good capacitors so I left those alone. I carefully removed the grills which had about a 30 staples in each. They appeared to be mismatched grill fabric. I imagine they were not originally purchased together, especially since one is finished on all 4 sides and the other is finished on three. 

What I did find was that one had a bad woofer and the other had bad mid speakers (tweeters?)with no sound coming from them. I understand the controls can go on these and are an easy replacement with new PE L-pads that was what I decided to do first and then re-assess. Also I was going to strip the speakers rather than sand. Looking closely at the finish it was obvious that while they look badly scuffed up, most of that comes from the finish failing. So using a safe stripper I was going to get it down to the veneer and then see what might need to be done with the finish

Stay tuned for the number one speaker all cleaned up

 

[JKent]

Nice! They look a lot like mine but yours are earlier.

Oil-filled caps are probably.

Those are NOT the infamous Aetna-Pollak pots. Maybe wait for someone who knows about these early speakers to comment.

Good luck!

-Kent

[dxho]

Can't tell if you tested bad drivers out of their circuits.

Original pots appear to be fairly stout. Just don't hear complaints, though,
to be honest, there aren't that many AR-2 resto threads.

I love my old pair of 2s, but I finally relented and upgraded them with
AR-2ax midranges.

[patrickw]

Here is a few photos of the work on the first one.

I used the 3M Safest Stripper and let it sit for about 90 min. I scraped it all off once, then another coat and scraped it off again. Then sanded, 220, 400 600 and I am happy with how it looks. 

I am going hit it with Danish oil to seal it. 

[patrickw]

2 hours ago, dxho said:

Can't tell if you tested bad drivers out of their circuits.

Original pots appear to be fairly stout. Just don't hear complaints, though,
to be honest, there aren't that many AR-2 resto threads.

I love my old pair of 2s, but I finally relented and upgraded them with
AR-2ax midranges.

I have only dug into the first speaker as of now, the one with the woofer that was not working. And now I need some help. 

I tested the bad woofer with the a 9 volt battery and I got it to emit noises and pops. That made me confident that there was not a fundamental issue. So I switched out the L-pad and hooked everything back up and everything sounded great. 

But then bass notes were making it rumble and suddenly it stopped. I disconnected the speaker, and removed the woofer and could see no damage on it. I then pushed it in and out a few times and reconnected it. It worked again, intermittently. 

Hmmm... So I headed here and over to AK and I saw that it could be an issue with the spider or the voice coil. However I could not spot anything obvious. No tears, no separations.

So now it works sporadically. If I press a little bit on the woofer, about 1/4 in,  I can get it to work. If I leave it alone it works intermittently. 

Here is a shot of it. Do any of those with lots more AR woofer experience have any thoughts? Is the woofer toast? Is it something with the voice coil that I cannot see? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!

-Patrick

 

 

[dxho]

Could indeed be a voice coil problem. It's also not that unusual for the spider and/or surround
glue to let go. If needed, used replacements are fairly plentiful, though not all that cheap any more.