HarryM
-
Posts
230 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by HarryM
-
-
Thanks genek,
That is something to keep in mind.
I know for myself, the cabs that I did refinish needed to be done. The cabs that don't need it, like the 90's, are just going to get a fresh coat of BLO.
Harry
-
Don,
The first things you should do is recap the 11's and get the woofers cleaned up with the correct surrounds. It will make quite a bit of improvement from what they are now. What I would do with the surrounds is try peeling it off very gently. You could be lucky and it's not sticking very well to the cone. If it doesn't want to come off nicely for you, you can send them out and have them redone. You can't use any kind of chemicals on the cone so peeling and scraping is the only way. Hopefully some others will chime in with good tips.
The difference in sound between the 3a's and the 11's to me is the 11's highs are more noticeable, less mid range and a little less very low bass.The 3a's are mellower sounding then the 11's and are very well suited for orchestral type music on vinyl. If you find when you are listen to your 11's that you are turning down the treble and turning up the mid range and bass the 3a's would be great speakers for you. I personally don't find the highs lacking with the 3a's, I think it's more the sound level of the tweeters is lower if that makes sense.
I have the same problem with my digital meter. The one with the sweep gauge doesn't do that.
Harry
-
2ax's is a restoration I'd like to do. You'll have a great pair of speakers when you're done them. The reddish brown cloth I don't mind, some of the smaller AR's I have use that cloth. The black cloth on the 4x's bother me because it doesn't belong. LOL. I wish I could help you on resizing pic's but I don't have a clue.
-
I've kept working on refinishing cabs. I have decided that I much prefer the cleaning, light sanding and then a couple of coats of BLO. It's a little more work then the Howards but I like the results a lot more. In the group pics the only ones not refinished are the 90's because they look good anyway but you can see they are now lighter then the rest. In the pic of the stacked 4x's you can see the upper pair are quite abit lighter then the other pair even though I refinished both pairs the same. The PO was very proud of the fact that he had a friend of his lighten the color because he felt the original color was to dark. I don't know how he did it but it worked. He also didn't like the original white grill cloth. I'm going to make new white grills for it someday.
I guess I'm going to have to clean the grills a bit and finish the walnut stands to match the speakers better. LOL They don't look as bad in real life.
-
Thanks Don,
Still aways to go but they are coming along.
-
These are are the 11's that I mentioned.
I cleaned them first and them gave them a light sand with 240 and then applied a coat of BLO.
The way I cleaned these is not a method you will find on the internet. I had tried using paint thinners but that didn't do anything so I grab a spare 4x cab that I don't have drivers for and used my favorite all purpose cleaner. I didn't want to test it on the 11's.
Before I go any further I have to warn you,
DO NOT USE THIS UNLESS YOU PLAN TO COMPLETELY REFINISH THE CAB.
It's called SPRAY NINE. It cleans very well including any waxes and oils. It cleans right down to the bare wood so you have to sand after and apply at least one coat of BLO. The way I did it was put the SPRAY NINE in a spray bottle and start spraying from the bottom up. I had the cab sitting on it's back. I did one side at a time so the spray nine did not sit for any length of time. When you start spraying you will see the dirt and oil and wax running down, this is why you start at the bottom. Make sure you have a cloth underneath to catch the drips. As soon as I was finished spraying I rub it with an abrasive pad to help it along and then re sprayed with spray nine, again from the bottom up. Then wiped off with a damp cloth, rinsing it as I went until there was very little residue. You do not want to give the spray nine time to dry on the veneer. Each side took no more then 2 minutes. You also do not want to get the veneer very wet. It works very well for me but you do have to move quickly.
-
I don't know if it's the easy part. LOL
I am figuring things out though and with practice it will get easier I'm sure.
I did read about fixing dents that way while doing research. Someday I may need to try it.
I don't have dents to fix but even the bottoms of my AR-11's have water damage. I would have to guess that they sat on a damp floor for quite awhile because they are cracked and split only on the bottom. The sides have no damage at all. The build up of dirt and crap on the sides and top is nasty. I've got one clean, it needs a light sand and then a few coats of BLO.
-
Thanks for the advice Don,
If you check out the link that Kent posted with the instructions for care from AR it say's to leave the last coat for at least 4 hours and then wipe off, then apply a thin coat of wax. I guess the recommend the wax because it will go hard over top of the BLO.
Some tricks I've learned when refinishing hardwood are, use a course sand paper like 120 or 150 with a block. That opens up the grain so what ever you use will go into the grain easier. After each coat you use finer and finer sand paper. A friend of mine told me this. He worked for a furniture manufacture that did all their own finishing. Most of their products were made with hardwood veneers.
Another thing to do is wipe it down with a damp cloth and as soon as it is dry apply what ever product you are using. The water opens up the pores in the wood so it absorbs the product better.It also gets rid of the dust from sanding.
Hopefully this thread will help other people who are learning to refinish cabs by trial and error like myself.
Harry.
-
Thanks for the comments Don,
I'm going to try tinting the BLO a bit. I have a few light spots I'd like to darken up on the 3a cab. I going to look more into the Mohawk products Monday to fix up the major ugly's on the 14 cabs.
My ProPlan bin is about 12 years old so I should get a few more years use out of it. LOL.
Thanks,Harry.
-
This is the 3a with the first coat of BLO. I was going to take a pic before the first coat but I got carried away and had the BLO on before realized that I forgot. It goes on easy and fast and doesn't stink like Howards. It is interesting that it says it is very flammable and yet, does not say anything about using it in a well ventilated area. That worked out well for me because I did it in my kitchen. When I was done I threw the cloth in the sink with water so it could not self ignite.
My plan is to do one 3a and one 14 and then compare them to the unfinished ones. Hopefully I can get the Mohawk products soon so I can get one 14 done. You can see it in the pics all sanded.
-
I picked up the BLO for the 3a cabs but ran into a problem getting the Mohawk products so the 14 cabs will be on hold but I'll keep working on the 3a's.
-
Thanks Kent,
that's the file I was looking for.
I looked into the Mohawk products and I can get them locally. I will be going over soon to see if they have what I need in stock, if not I will have to order it in.
I got myself confused about which product to use on the teak cabs. Some say not to use boiled linseed oil and others say not to use teak oil. The AR instructions say to use BLO. I'm going to ask at the store which is recommended.
Thanks,Harry.
-
These are next on my list of cabs to refinish, AR 3a's and 14's. After starting to sand the 14's I noticed that the wood seemed very hard and was smoother then when I did the other 3a's so I sanded the top on one of the unfinished 3a's and I was right. The 14's are teak not walnut like the 3a's are. It's to bad because the 14 cabs are very trashed as you might see in the pics. I was just going to refinish them enough so they wouldn't be quite as ugly but now I want them perfect. LOL. I'm going to do both these pairs with boiled linseed oil as per the instructions posted in another thread that I can't find back.
-
These are my refinished 3a's. I sanded them with a block and 120 grit sandpaper and then used Howards restor-a-finish and then minwax paste. I'm happy with them. -
I finally got a picture to post. It only took a couple of hours. Now after a rest I'll see if I can post pics of my refinished 3a's. -
Big difference between the two SHOKDU, looks good. Did you do any sanding or is that just the Howards.
-
Thanks Don,
That's good to know, and yes with any kinds of chemicals you should wear gloves and use a mask. Paint thinners will affect your heart in less then 1 second after contact and causes brain damage when inhaled. Might explain why I suck on computers.
-
Thanks Klaus,
So how many are applying boiled linseed oil every 6 months to thier oiled cabs.
-
Thanks for posting Kent,
The difference in the KLH's is huge. Your 3a looks about the same as mine after I finished mine. The 3a's are what got me thinking because it seemed to
me that in most of the pics of original 3a's the cabs were very light, what I would call blond. The pics I found in the library of the 9 series speakers also
appear to be blond. Non of my AR's are blond, they all have the reddish color to them.
I started to wonder if I had made a mistake using Howards and should have just used boiled linseed oil after sanding the 3a's. I am sure all my veneer
cab AR's are walnut.
The different finishes explains alot.
So now I would like to see pics of members speakers with all the different finishes.
Thanks,Harry.
-
Since the topic of cab refinishing came up in another thread it got me thinking, what does a restored cab look like? So I went in the library to see pictures of AR's when they were new. They do not look anything like mine which is understandable. My question is, when doing a restoration on the cab is the objective to get it to look like it did when new or is it the reddish patina. Also what is your preference. I would like lots of opinions and pics of your restored AR's. I will try to post pics of some of mine but don't hold your breath waiting for mine, I'm computer incompetent.
-
I'll try and explain,it is most noticeable when a singer sings a word that ends in "s" or certain symbols.It was very loud,sharp and to long.It didn't belong.It's not at a very high frequency range so I knew it wasn't a blown tweeter that was distorting although it is distortion.The sound level when I would listen wasn't steady,which is why I recapped the 91's.Also it wasn't a clear clean sound when it should have been.It sounded noisey.I don't know how to explain it well but if you would've heard it you would know what I ment.LOL.Like my dad always said to me"your about as clear as mud".This time it's me and the music.Anyway,I picked up a power conditioner and it cured about 95% to 98% of the noise and would highly recommend one of these to everybody.The difference is huge.The music is smoother and clearer and cleaner.I didn't go out and buy a $2000 one.I lucked out at a local music store that had an ART PS4x4 for $109 canadian.It's on sale right now on the internet for $99 normaly $149.
-
Oldarnut thanks for replying.I thought the same thing but I changed everything out.I took the haflers right out and just had the marantz,I also took the marantz out and ran the amps through the kenwood preamp and that made it worse.I took out the turn table and cd player and just used the marantz.I changed the speakers out.I also talked to a guy that suggested rca cables so I took them out.I think it's a power supply problem.When I get a chance I'm going to pick up a power conditioner and try that.Another thing that makes me think it's power supply is,I had a tecnics system a few years ago that was in perfect working order,the previous owner was very picky about it.It never sounded good or right once I got it home.It always seemed dirty and not clear sounding.I got so sick of it I gave it to my brother,it soundes great in his drive shed.At the time I thought it was the room that just didn't work but I didn't know then what I know now and I didn't know what to listen for.Thanks to this forum and a couple of others I now have a better idea and this time I want to fix the problem.I'll post on if the power conditioner fixes the problem or not for others who may be haveing the same problems.
-
Another update,Hooked up the recapped 91 and the not recapped 91.Noticeable improvement but still there.I then started changing everything else.Switched from the marantz to a kenwood basic c1 preamp,much more noticeable.I then switched to cd from vinyl,no improvement.I then went back to the marantz with no amps and no eq,still there but better.If I set the recapped 91 on -6 for the highs it helps alot but the noise is still there.Could this be a power supply problem.I haven't tried the 8 yet because I'm haveing a hard time convincing myself to put the insulation back in.LOL
-
Update,recapped 1 91 and 1 8.I'll try them out in the morning.
Cabinet restoring
in Acoustic Research
Posted
All I can say is work carefully. Using a block and sanding with the grain is the safest way to go. I did leave in some of the heavier scratches, I think it gives them a bit of character.
Good luck with the refinishing. Post pics when your done.
Harry.