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Hi TomK, that's a great story....except for the part about these speakers spending 35 years in a basement closet. Those speakers appear to be in fully restorable condition, but right now your biggest challenge is to conquer that buggered-up set screw in order to remove that center grille on "other".

Yep, I was certain that you knew this upon closer inspection, but still felt the need to curb the spread of propaganda about the phantom 4ax model.

It can get a bit confusing with all of the letter suffixes, but the tweeter shown is for the AR-4x (not 4xa), as well as for the later version of the AR-2x; and additionally, there is no AR model known as the 4ax.

I don't want to derail David's thread here, but I'm sure the differences in those mid drivers goes beyond the felt damping and wire cage. The 338 interests me because I want to hear an AR three-way with 8-inch woofer, but I tend not to like vinyl cabinets - - faux wood especially. And with the 302T with it's 10-inch woofer (or 338T with 8-inch) - - - well, I don't particularly have a taste for vertical speakers either. But it's always interesting to second guess the cost evaluation decisions that go into these speaker line-ups within a series. It's good to hear that David likes the Midwest tweeter option - - I think I recall that RoyC had pretty much the same evaluation.

That was a really great thread about that tweeter re-build. The mid driver from Simply Speakers looks to be robust and well-built (it should be at that price!), but alas, no personal experience to report. Have never seen or heard this model, and it does hold a lot of interest, but the dome mid driver in the 338 is different from the one used in the 302 and 303.

Hi zelgy, you are correct to want to have the same type and amount of stuffing inside each cabinet, but I am having the same difficulty following this thread regarding the terms and precise materials: "pieced fiberglass", "batting", and "pieced foam". Not unlike the sales numbers of the respective speaker models, there is much more information on this site regarding the 2ax model as opposed to the AR-5. Since the two speakers shared a common woofer and interior cabinet volume, perhaps you can locate a thread which describes the proper amount of fill used in the 2ax, and then use this as your basis for filling your AR-5's with an equal amount of new or new + original fiberglass.

Hi vishalk, I will continue to offer my comments in your thread on the other audio forum, but you have come to the best place here for advice on AR speakers.

Correct. Aside from the face plate and the sticker label, these are fully identical according to the original AR drawings for these parts.

Re-foam looks very good - - - did you use any method for centering voice coils? For future reference, there are water-based white glues that work just fine for re-foam process, and they have no objectionable fumes and liberal set-up time. Your photos in this thread are terrific. Thx.

New foams and capacitors. Refreshed cabinets and grilles. You'll be very pleased.

Hi Justin, and welcome to the forum. It will be most helpful to show some pics of the midrange drivers and explain what might be wrong with them. Also, some pics of the crossover panels or other caps may be useful to a future restorer .

Yep, early or mid 70's. But if you want more detail, many of the drivers from this era have parts number stickers with red ink on the backside near the terminals. The large type top number designates the specific driver, and below that will be a three digit and a four digit number - - - the four digit number indicates the week and year of that driver's assembly. And welcome to the forum. Since you are a new member with LST speakers, as part of your initiation routine, the traditional hazing ritual is for us to request pics and detailed description of your pair of speakers.

This is a great question/comment, and exactly why I typically defend or advocate for the inclusion of built-in HF controls: different interior room environments.

As far as I can tell, Kent, your schematic looks entirely accurate. The speakers I worked on were model Thirty-Two, but very similar. My schematic is attached, and while you can see minor differences, the basic circuit construction is the same as the Thirty-one, and my sketch shows wire nuts just like yours. My speakers used an iron core inductor, but did not include an added resistor for the tweeter. Instead, my tweeters have alnico slug magnets and originally used some external fiberglass damping to tame or shape certain driver characteristics. Glad to hear about this, George - - I was following that auction and had mistakenly thought that you were outbid. For the cabinet interiors, you've probably done enough - - now just let them air out a bit before re-stuffing them. For the powder dust on tweeter magnet, I usually wipe down with paper towel dampened with white household vinegar. About the (extremely) short woofer wires, you'd be well-served to solder on a couple longer ones. And for re-wiring crossover, I can't follow all of your observations and comments, but if you re-wire per Kent's diagram, you should be just fine. Please report back with progress or additional questions.

This seems to be the most important statement here, so ........."If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Kent's comments about the 4x woofer are spot-on regarding air passage through the dust cap, and what is normally a rather quick rebound of the cone when doing the push test on this particular woofer. More importantly, perhaps, are the suspicions he raises about the sealant product used on the surrounds. Carl was a very knowledgeable speaker restorer and an extremely generous sharer of information and supporter of this site, but it would still be a good idea to confirm how your surrounds were treated back in 2009. Maybe you post a couple pics here?

I gotta agree with you, claudel - - your offer here is extremely generous and I'd have thought that they would have landed in a good home by now. Very kind of you to give first crack to CSP members, but with no takers here, maybe you list them in free section of CL for Manhattan. For those unfamiliar with this speaker model, pic is attached.

Hey, Double_D, and welcome to the forum. The sx-980 is rated at 95wpc into 4 ohms, and assuming the receiver is fully functional, should provide plenty of juice for your speakers. Your speakers look very nice. Regarding date of production, some members here might be able to provide a good guesstimate based on s/n, but it is not uncommon to find date stamps somewhere on the backside of the drivers. Before proceeding with any level of restoration efforts on your AR-3's, you'd be well served by reading through the entire restoration guide for the AR-3a. This document also has a great deal of specific info on the model 3, and many of the components and procedures described have application to many of the classic AR speaker models.

Yep, I thought so, and if you look at the final post in the CSP thread, you'll see the same configuration. I don't know anything further about differences between drivers, crossover components, or performance specs. Post some pics of yours and perhaps you'll get feedback from members with more Dynaco experience.

Welcome to the forum. No Dynaco expert here, but it is well-known that the very popular A25 model had a few different configurations. Per the final post in this thread with pic, yours might be very early versions? http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/3947-dynaco-sound-better-pics-of-rare-looking-a25-seas-version/ And a similar pair shown here: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/dynaco-a-25-scan-speak-restoration.637010/

Sounds like you are making fine progress. As you now know, Roy's sealant is very easy to apply, and occasionally these cloth surrounds may require more than a single coat. But before you proceed to add extra goop unnecessarily, make a close inspection of the masonite ring under the outer diameter of the surround. It is very common for these to separate from the metal basket - - even when this occurs on a small scale, another opportunity for air leakage is present, and it might not be immediately apparent.

You are correct - - the nominal impedance rating for this speaker model is 8 ohms, but actual DC resistance measurements for individual drivers are typically less. I believe that auction listing shows a measurement of 4-something ohms in one of the pics, which is reasonably consistent with my notes above. Additionally FYI, my tweeter measurements are 6.3 and 6.7 ohms, and all drivers function properly. Good to know you may try to nab these, because if you didn't, I may know someone who would. Keep us posted.

Hi Bill, and welcome to the CSP forum. Giorgio's comments and pics are all helpful, and I agree it would be best if you could post some pics of your speakers, particularly the "shot" woofer. Maybe it's got a torn cone or surround; or as Giorgio mentioned, perhaps the voice coil is damaged. Maybe a tinsel wire has become disconnected. Various finger tests can indeed be valuable for providing bits of information, but the brief report from your service shop inspires little confidence as a conclusive diagnosis. Before you proceed further you might want to conduct some of your own diagnostic work. Remove the questionable woofer, give a thorough visual inspection, and then connect it directly to an amplifier channel at low volume. These simple steps may provide new information that is more meaningful for understanding whether this woofer is functioning or at least salvageable. If you read through the many threads here on the AR-4x model, you will soon learn that two other issues requiring attention are extremely common. Very often, the capacitors may have drifted in value and will require replacement; even more frequently, the tweeter control pots have developed corrosion resulting in rough and spotty performance, and these, too, will require careful clean/rebuild or replacement.

The 8-inch woofers from my KLH Thirty-Two's have the following measurements: * basket, outer diameter: 8-1/4" * screws, center-to-center: 7-3/4" * cone, outer diameter: 5-1/2" * DC resistance: 4.7 and 4.8 ohms There is currently a pair of these woofers (online auction), dated 1969, for sale in New Jersey with a starting bid less than a Hamilton. Seller notes them as 6-inch, but that's probably a cone dimension estimate. Take a look, ask for more info from seller, and see if you can negotiate shipping expenses.

Hi George, Last year I found and restored a nice pair of Thirty-Two speakers, and some parts of this thread might be useful to you. KLH-31's are also discussed.

Here's all I have on the Thirty-One. It is very similar to the Thirty-Two (which I like a lot), but I'm pretty sure it has a vinyl wrapper rather than real wood veneer.