genek

The specs do appear to say that you could run 2 pairs of 4 ohm speakers, except that the impedance of 4 ohm speakers can drop to as low as 2 ohms at some frequencies. Which means that 2 pairs of 4 ohm speakers at the same time would present the amplifier with a nominal load of 2 ohms that at certain frequencies could become a 1 ohm load. Very bad. What the 2/4/8 ohm power rating is probably meant to tell you is that you could run 1 pair of 4 ohm speakers whose load could be as low as 2 ohms or 2 pairs of 8 ohm speakers whose combined load could be as low as 4 ohms. The person credited with starting NAD was for a time the president of AR, but left to launch NAD. AR the company did not do it. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/nad-founder-martin-borish-1927-2017/

In the NE where I grew up, the big chain was Tech HiFi. They were big on trying to sell systems, which consisted of name brand electronics and turntables and their own store brand of speakers, "TDC." If you were shopping only for speakers, they were pretty much the last place you wanted to go. As I recall, I and most of my friends who owned AR products got them from catalog discount outlets. Apparently, they sold enough ARs that they were willing to set aside the space the company required them to devote to demos, and with AR's liberal warranty policies, providing customers with post-sales support basically consisted of contacting the factory to arrange for service, repacking things into boxes and handing them off the the UPS driver to ship to MA.

My early experiences with buying ARs was very different. I was introduced to them by older family members who already had them, and by the time I was ready to shop for my own speakers I had narrowed my possible choices to AR, KLH and possibly Advent. So I didn't bother with any dealer who didn't carry all three brands. Competing brands with giant 15" or larger woofers and massive vented cabinets weren't even considered. And once I had chosen my local dealer (Sound Reproduction, a discounter in East Orange, NJ), the fact that the people in their office were using a wall of ARs as the speakers they listened to themselves all day pretty much finalized my brand choice. After that, which model to buy was based on my budget for the speakers and the amplifier I'd be using to power them. My current system is 4.1, a pair of AR-3a for the front, the AR-2as that I bought new back in the 70s as the rear surrounds and the weakest link, a much later model C225PS center channel speaker that is pretty much all that will fit in the available space. I'm playing with the idea of combining Midwest Speakers' repro AR tweeter and mid with the existing woofers, maybe one day I'll get around to it. At one point I actually sketched out plans for a subwoofer that would have duplicated the lower bass chamber of an AR-9 with 2 12" woofers and a plate amp, before I decided that I really didn't want to hear an LFE channel. Modern brand? NHT. Possibly the new KLH, if I ever get a chance to hear them.

The real challenge would be figuring out how to sync the sound with the movement of the train/s so it moves between different speakers as the train goes around the track.

Are you routing railroad sound effects through the audio system?

The film was part of the original factory packaging. It kept the brass from oxidizing. Was not really intended to stay on forever.

Yes, that's the one. Not sure what I would do if I ever acquired AR-3's, because even though it's authentic I don't especially care for the plastic look.

The AR-3 didn't come with linen cloth. It used a woven PVC (trade name, Saran) grill cloth. This is the closest thing currently available:

The library link to the document is down. Here's a PDF. restoring-the-ar-3a-2.pdf

The link you mailed works, but the item number doesn't work in ebay item search. Maybe because the seller is away? Anyway, here are the innards. The wiper looks more like the later A-P than the older.

The item number doesn't come up. Probably expired.

I like these older versions a lot better than the more commonly found ones. I keep forgetting to ask Kent if he's opened up any of the pots he's been selling to see what their innards look like.

What you have there are an older version of the A-P pot. The wipers are formed brass with coil springs rather than the spring steel wipers that are more prone to corrosion in later versions. If you open them up to clean, the insides will look like the ones on the left in this photo (the newer pots are the ones on the right).

One thing worth noting, if you're doing a later AR from the Norwood period, that bit at the end about AR sending you the reprint was not there. If anyone needs one without, I can make it. Does anyone know what, if anything, was on the backs of the ADD and AR9 series speakers?

Here you go. Guarantee card.pdf

I took a shot at this a while back. AR Guarantee card.pdf

Print it on one of these: https://www.12x12cardstock.shop/collections/american-crafts-products/products/vanilla-smooth-8x11-cardstock-american-crafts?_pos=1&_fid=3d0ebfdd7&_ss=c https://www.12x12cardstock.shop/collections/cream-cardstock-collection/products/natural-smooth-12x12-cardstock-bazzill-smoothies-collection

Welcome to CSP. Your best resource available for this is the members of this forum. Post some photos so we can see what constitutes "decrepit." Shoot all sides, and if the labels are still on the backs, closeups of those. A description of how they sound would also help.

Restor-a-finish is not a practical stain. If you want to change the color, you'll need to strip off/out the existing finish, then apply new stain and finish.

If you have an older 2ax that doesn't use foam gaskets, the drivers are sealed into the cabinet with putty that is pretty much the same as glue. You'll need to pry them out. Carefully, because the tweeter flange is plastic and can break. Front-wired drivers are connected to the posts. The crossover connects to the backs of the posts.

The last version of the 2x used the same 2.5" tweeter as the AR-4x. If I was converting a 2, I would probably go that way.

What you are referring to as "tops and bottoms" are actually intended to be the sides. The long face is the top. If you position these speakers vertically, you will be defeating the entire purpose of the cross-fired tweeters and producing an output that is even more "beamy" than a single front-facing tweeter would be. If you're determined to use these that way, you should consider pulling the tweeters and updating the speakers to the single-tweeter 2x configuration.

The finished cabinet on the left in the last photo is birch. Although you don't have a matched pair, birch and pine are two of the rarer AR cabinet types. Changing either will reduce their values. Both seem to be in good condition from your photos, so my advice would be to clean them, apply a light coat of uncolored wax, place them correctly (horizontal and raised up off the floor to ear level so your view is mostly the edge banding on the front faces), then just sit back and listen to the music.

Does the problem speaker have any highs at all? If so, do the highs cut in and out when you turn the pot? If there are highs, but they are just "less," one of the two tweeters may have gone out.

I have an XA sitting in a box in pieces that I haven't gotten round to. If I was in NJ and was considering mods vs restoration, I would definitely take it to Steve, because making the cuts in the T-bar and top deck needed for a different arm is not something I'd want to try doing with the tools and equipment I currently have access to. You can tell him how much or how little of the original AR "look and feel" you want to preserve.