Aadams

I thought you would have had an answer by now. All of the frequency filtering occurs before the lpads. You are changing the loudness of the individual drivers in the range of the frequencies that are passed to each driver through the crossover network. Your lpads are probably 8 ohm and the original potentiometers were close to 16ohm. If your lpads do not have 25 ohm parallel resistors on the lpads you are hearing balance adjustments that were not part of the original design. Someone else may be able to shed more light. Edit: They resistors don't have to be on the lpads. They can be anywhere as long as they are parallel in the circuit. Adams

OK. Everything you are experiencing has already been answered at some time in the AR forum. Some reminders: AR 2ax woofers are the same woofers that were in all but the earliest AR5s. Your replacement woofer needs a one ohm series resistor. The sound of a 4 and 8 ohm mid is identical if you get the DC resistance matched to the 8ohm driver. Measure the 8ohm mid, the resistance won't be 8 ohms. You need parallel resistors installed on the lpads for the midranges. Your speakers will sound like AR5s except for the low tweeter output. Your tweeters are not working correctly..........guaranteed............but if you are satisfied with what you hear that is all that matters. If you do not repair the tweeters the lpads don't need resistors.

As genek stated the AR5 mids are perhaps the rarest of the classic AR drivers. You have three options that I can see. 1. Purchase a working original. They sometimes come up for sale 2. Purchase a 4 ohm original and adapt it. 3. Purchase a Midwest AR mid replacement and adapt it using parts from your broken mid. 4. Purchase a pair of new Midwest replacement AR mids and adapt them. This would be my last choice and is also the most expensive. If you do this be sure and keep your current mids, they will be needed for reference. I would try option 1 or 2 first because adapting the midwest drivers will require some extra work that could get tricky unless you are experienced at partial disassembly of dome mid ranges. Which mid was it? Adams

If you had said they were all Sprague Compulytics you would have reason to leave them in place. You should replace the lot. Adams

This post is about using silence to increase the power requirements of your system. Acoustic music thrives on soft, intimate moments and large scale acoustic music, such as Classical, thrives on the contrast between the very soft and the very loud moments. The dynamic range of Classical music provides the practical test of power needs for an audiophile system and from 1980 to roughly 1999 the most reliable source for audiophile level orchestral recordings was Telarc. The dynamics and sound presentation of Telarc were never equaled, in my experience, though a couple of labels, Decca and Phillips, occasionally came close. The dynamics of Classical music range from ppp to fff, softest soft to loudest loud. The loudest percussive moments have provided the tests for audio systems, such as the cannons in the 1812 Overture that took Telarc to prominence. The fff has been conquered by digital recording but the delineation of volume between p , pp, and ppp between instrument while maintaining concert hall perspective is rare. In a concert hall the softest string and wind solos can linger near and then vanish into silence in the same piece of music that harbors thunderously, loud moments. Even Telarc struggled with this and usually made the softest instruments sound a bit too big, too near or too loud. There is a new class of orchestral recordings that push the softest passages down near the noise threshold of digital, which reveals layers of texture and instrument groupings that enhance the realism. The music gets so low that the volume must be turned up to hear the music even in a normally quiet listening space. When you turn up soft passages the loud passages are even louder and possibly doubling or quadrupling your normal power peaks. All the recordings I have found with this type of sound engineering are from three labels and not consistently across any one label, BIS, Naxos and DG, all since 2005 and all except BIS before live audiences. Here are some examples.

This link takes you to frankmarsi Dec 2004

His epic capacitor post is still there. This link will take you to a number of Carlspeak posts https://community.classicspeakerpages.net/profile/100237-carlspeak/content/page/5/?type=forums_topic&sortby=views&sortdirection=desc

I see at least four problems. 1. Someone has worked on these speakers 2. Whoever worked on the speakers installed LPads without the parallel resistors, not fatal but a source of sound imbalance between the drivers especially on the mid. (These could be later version replacement potentiometers but they are probably lpads). 3. One of your mids is a back wired replacement that might be 4ohm instead of 8 ohm which could cause a real sound imbalance. I don't recall seeing an AR5 with a back wired mid range driver but others more experienced can comment. You can connect the signal wire to the T & 2 terminals instead of 1 & T to hear only the mids and tweets and check for equal output. You might need to remove the driver to verify the model or at least test the DCR to see that it is not significantly lower than the original mid. If it is 4ohm it should have added resistance installed to be useful. 4. The Woofer labeled AR2ax is a correct replacement for the AR5 but the red labeled woofer is a service replacement unit that is a bit more sensitive and needs a 1 ohm resistor added in series to bring its output inline with the midrange driver. The capacitors all need replacement but they are probably not the cause of the gross differences you are hearing at this time. On a larger viewing monitor it appears that Giorgio is correct that your replacement woofer has been incorrectly refoamed but you can worry about that later. Your tweeters are probably barely working if at all but don't worry about that right now. The priority is on the woofers and mids. After reinstalling the fiberglass and woofers, my first step would be to remove the jumper wire from the 2 terminal and connect the signal wire to 1&2 to check that the woofers have identical or close to the same output. Connecting to 1 & 2 with the wire jumper off removes the mid and tweet and most crossover components from the circuit. Keep in mind a huge factor in woofer performance in these speakers is having a quality seal around the woofer hole. Edit: Use a mono signal from your amplifier.

The image of the interior shows what appear to be lpads but possibly very late model replacement pots. Do you know which?. This one looks like it needs new caps and a decision made regarding the tweeter. Where are the second speaker front and back images?

Agree. Also I had a similar cap arrangement like that in some 3as. The reddish cap was a Sprague but the silver can cap was an ICC Royalitic. It probably makes more sense to replace all of them. Just my 2c.

2 things first. Download and read the AR3a restoration guide, much of which applies to the AR5. Post images of front and back of both boxes with grills off. Help will arrive.

Polyfill is the correct material. The 910 was TOTL in its series and has flat bass response to 32hz if you follow room placement instructions, which are not rigorous. Fiberglass, which was abandoned by AR in the decade previous to the TSW, works well but cannot be used as a quantity for quantity replacement because it has different damping properties. If the Polyfill has not been previously tampered with it is not the source of your bass problem. Off hand, have you checked all connections for phase differences? And if you are biamping with two different models of amplifier you really need to analyze the connections for phase differences including the prospect that the amps are natively out of phase. Adams

shakes-head-ralphie.mp4

Don't reconnect the broken wire by simply soldering because it will reduce the mobility of the connection between terminal and cone. Wait for expert advice on how to handle. Even with the broken wire you should be able to use a D cell battery to test if the speaker coil has continuity and moves freely. If it checks ok, you can go to the trouble of repairing the wire.

Nice catch. That appears to be the early long throw woofer. Be careful, they are rare and practically irreplaceable.

Have you swapped the fuses to see if the problem moves? Have you tried new fuses?

All AR ever stated was to achieve flatest bass response the cabinet should be placed "with its back against the middle of a wall", equidistant from boundaries such as floors, ceilings and intersecting walls. If you have a pair you would position them symmetrically with regard to boundaries, at least that is the way I take it.

My first AR3as were a coddled, one owner pair built in 1974. They needed refurbishing but everything was in place and working. The tweeters passed the cardboard tube test and being the only ones I had ever heard I assumed they were ok. Same with a pair of AR5s I later picked up. One of the AR5 tweeters failed about the same time Chris began rebuilding tweeters so I sent the pair to him. When they were reinstalled I heard the difference between the original 3a pair and the new rebuilt pair in the 5s and sent the 3a pair for rebuild. Same with another set of 3as I acquired with working tweeters. The output of the old orange dot tweeters degrade with time. The chances of them operating correctly in their original form is near nil in my experience.

Nice. Looks like it is set at 16k. I can't hear that high.

In 1974 the AR3a selling price was around $500/pair. An AR5 was around $400/pair with the LST2 and LST, around $800 and $1200/pair respectively. In today's CPI adjusted dollars that would yield price tiers of $2000 for the AR5, $2500 for the 3a, $4000 for the LST2 and $6000 for the LST. Intuition would suggest higher price equates to better sound but AR's published measurement profiles showed they were all nearly identical in the way they sounded. The only difference is ease of setup, bass extension and power handling. I think LSTs would be easier to setup optimally, compared to the 3a with the 5 being easiest of all.

Just my two cents...that missing woofer will be difficult to replace with an original. "For Sale" examples are scarce so you could be waiting a while. My opinion is you are looking at a collection of parts in which the only items with immediate realizable value are the working mids and the derelict woofer, if it works. The tweeters are shot and need rebuilding. It would be a worthy project if the cabinets are sound, with no joint damage. I would give $350 max but start lower. Its already costing you fifty cents a mile to take a look. Good luck Adams

You make some good points here but this is a mods and tweaks post.

To me, this implies that disassembly has commenced. Please supply photos. To see what we are working with, begin by at least posting images of the faces of all cabinets with grills off, so we can clearly see the drivers.

Welcome Merry2014 Yes there are reasons not to do this. You are in the UK, which could make some recommendations impractical or certainly more expensive. How correct do you want to be? Is "ok" good enough or are you looking for the classic AR sound?

Don't think anyone has reported doing this. The HiVi is not a mod that would be popular for post AR3a now that Midwest Speaker sells a reportedly excellent replacement unit for all ADD and 9 series that works well when installed in pairs.