Jump to content
The Classic Speaker Pages Discussion Forums

genek

Administrators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,663

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Everything posted by genek

  1. genek
    Wonder how much to ship four of them to Italy. If money really isn't the issue, why not just pack the originals up and ship them to wherever they'd need to go for a proper refoam job? No tools needed except a screwdriver and box cutter.
  2. genek
    If you install new drivers, the only way you'll ever get even halfway decent bass response will be to give up trying to match the originals' resonant frequency specs and modify the cabinets so their volumes meet the requirements of the new drivers. You'll likely also need to bore a port into the back, because your new drivers will almost certainly have been designed for use in bass-reflex speakers. Look for better drivers that come with suggestions for cabinet volumes and port sizes; it's unlikely that anybody here will be able to help with that. You'll also need to change the crossover, because the old crossover's bass-mid turnover frequency will probably be wrong for the new drivers.
  3. genek
    You're wrong about them being "nothing special," because today there are virtually no new drivers being sold with suitable resonant frequencies for use in acoustic suspension speakers. You will definitely not find any that are upgrades or that will be less expensive than having the originals rebuilt. Why do you think there are so many people refoaming, reconing and even rewinding the voice coils of old ones? It's because what you seem determined to do has already been attempted many, many times, with no success. If you really don't want to do it right, just sell them as-is and buy something new. You'll get better sound and make someone else who's looking to restore some vintage ARs happy for the opportunity.
  4. genek
    The problem with this approach is that what you're going to lose is bass performance, and hearing loss is mostly in the upper frequencies.
  5. genek
    Every user is allotted 200Mb of attachments. If the site is saying you can only upload 10kb, you have used up your allotment.
  6. genek
    The new "replacements" are probably made in China by Shenzhen, Ningbo or Lingyin, three companies that make the majority of Chinese OEM drivers. They won't be "right," but will be as close to spec as anything you're likely to find at Parts Express (probably because they make most of those, too). If it was me, I'd start by looking to see if there's anyone local who does refoaming. My last time was when I refurbished my AR-3a's, and the cost to have someone do the job for me amounted to two or three hours of my income at the time for both woofers, including the parts.
  7. genek
    I think I recall reading somewhere that Levinson made his first run of Amati's by modding some LSTs he bought from AR. But I can't imagine him not removing the AR labels and nameplates and substituting his own. Is it possible that at some point Levinson may have offered Amati mods to LST owners?
  8. genek
    If what you want is to skip the work and potential screwing up of drivers if you do it wrong, I'd just order some of the "AR replacement" drivers being offered by Simply Speakers. A halfway decent 8" woofer from Parts Express is only going to be $20 or so cheaper, and while the SS replacements won't be exactly "right," they'll likely be closer than anything you'll find after spending hours comparing no-name drivers to the old AR specs.
  9. genek
    I wonder where all those screechy, boomy speakers I've heard fall in this. I haven't auditioned any new speakers in at least 10 years now, so no idea what Harman's current lines are like, but I'd be very surprised if new JBLs sound remotely reminiscent of ARs.
  10. genek
    To my eye, it appears that the AR curves are closest to Toole's "Trained Listeners Only." Do we know which of these curves Harman was producing speakers to conform to in the 80s and 90s?
  11. genek
    I wonder how the "Harman Curve" compares to the old Harman standard, which, IIRC, was whatever the majority of listeners in Floyd Toole's 1980s blind listening tests said they liked best.
  12. genek
    Different. Check the AR-5 schematic in the Library for values.
  13. genek
    Someone who is an "original aficionado" would most likely want to see some new response curves to determine how the speakers with rebuilt tweeters compare to published curves for the speakers when new. This is the crowd who would care that the level controls don't line up with original settings and would be looking into things like adding resistors or coils to bring response back to original. There are others who will be more flexible. These are the folks who replace original tweeters with HiVis and don't bother with adding coils, or are satisfied with L-pads instead of pots. For them, you'd probably be ok just specifying the ways in which the speakers have been modded from original.
  14. genek
    Hopefully, you are not planning on reselling, because a vintage AR "aficionado" considering buying will be unhappy to discover that the white dots no longer correspond to AR's factory Normal settings.
  15. genek
    Microstatic marketed these as devices to widen high frequency dispersion, as opposed to just adding more highs. Their advertising brochures had photos of them on top of AR-3as, but IMO their biggest impact was when I added them to ARs that didn't have domes, like my AR-6s. I think they'd be utterly redundant on top of speakers like the LSTs and MSTs.
  16. genek
    I have two sets of Microstatics left (I sold the other set to one of our members a few years ago, don't remember who). The units with two small and two large tweeters measure 9.188" across. The units with four identical tweeters measure 9" even across.
  17. genek
    Even NOS would be age degraded by now. Best you can do is measure frequency response and compare to old measurements.
  18. genek
    My thought was a Microstatic-shaped cabinet with four HiVi QiRs. They have a response range from 2.5k-20k, the same as the the Microstatics. If this discussion takes off, I'll move it to Mods, Tweaks and Upgrades.
  19. genek
    So if rebuilding a tweeter produces more output, do we know how it compares to the tweeter when new, and would more output than when new always be good...?
  20. genek
    Ouch. That means that when the speaker is positioned properly, there will be exposed holes. BTW, if that is a 2a with the cross-fired mids, proper positioning is laying it down horizontally. Cross-fired drivers should not be vertical.
  21. genek
    A portion of this discussion has been banished to The Kitchen. Disagree all you want about equipment and components, but not about each other's motives or behavior.
  22. genek
    First thing I would do is try tapping the back where the terminals on an AR would be to see if there's a hollow sound. Someone's veneer job may have been interrupted before a terminal opening got routed out and the terminals may still be there under the veneer.
  23. genek
    Most modern supertweeters are not going to provide the added "highs" that fans of modern speakers are after, because the sound most modern listeners are missing when they say ARs have no "highs" is actually mostly in the upper midrange (2kHz-4kHz) and presence (4kHz-6kHz) regions. Aperion ribbons, for example, don't kick in until 8kHz. By comparison, the Microstatic array can be set to go as low as 2.5kHz. Longtime readers of this forum may recall that our late friend Carl Richard (Carlspeak) designed an "updated" version of the 3-series called the "Super 3a," that replaced the original dome mid and tweeter with SEAS drivers. Maybe what's needed here is a "Super 3t," with the HiVi Q1R and one of HiVi's dome midranges in a small box.
  24. genek
    Yes, but it's a supertweeter that produces vintage AR highs. If someone wants to boost highs to modern levels, another one will be needed.
  25. genek
    Sounds like a job for a supertweeter.
×
×
  • Create New...