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redpackman

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About redpackman

  • Birthday July 12

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    Music (Classical and Jazz), Baseball, NFL Football, photography

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  1. I restored a pair of AR-5's a few years ago, after cutting my teeth restoring some 3a's according to the guide this forum has. The AR-5's sounded great, truly. You are in for a great reward when you hear them. Go for it!!
  2. I'm still interested in what the amber colored gel is in these obviously original AR-6 speakers. Any authoritative voices on the subject now some years later.
  3. Here's a picture of the back of the original AR-8 woofer from my pair. It's obviously original, though I do not know if they used the same speaker in all AR-8's....or for that matter if the woofer in the 8 is the same as the AR-2.... and AR-5 series though all are 10" woofers. I've read somewhere (authoritative or rumor, I do not know) that the AR-8 woofer was a special design "long throw?" like the 8" woofer in the AR-6. In AR's own literature about the AR-8 (available on Classic Speaker Page's own database" AR writes "In the AR-8 we have used a 10" woofer that is more efficient that some of our other designs, to produce the higher volumes necessary for rock music..." It adds later "Average Resonance of Woofer: Free air 26 hZ; In enclosure 52 hz". I don't know how that compares with the AR-2's many varieties of woofers or the AR-5 woofer. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_brochures/ar-8_brochure/ar-8_brochure_pg2.html#previous-photo
  4. I'd heard of AR-8's. I've restored, variations of AR2's, AR3's and AR3A's, variations of AR4's, AR5's, AR6's (love 'em) and now a pair of AR-8. I'd never seen a pair of AR-8's in person. Yeah, I love AR speakers. The AR8's I have are different from the ones I've done before. Reportedly the 8's were produced by AR to answer to the "rock speaker" phenomenon in the early to mid-70's or so and to be financially accessible to the younger crowd. As a result they are economy speakers with a vinyl veneer covered cabinet (never seen that before in vintage AR). As such unlike earlier vintage AR that strove for absolute fidelity to the original sound, the AR-8 was colored to be a bit bass-heavy and perhaps and what appears to be a long throw 10" woofer (perhaps like the long throw woofer in the AR-6 which punches WAY above it's weight....that's why I like it). I've got restored AR-3a's and the AR-6's are still my wife's favorites. Anyway, looking at the original crossover. No inductor, just the wires, two resistors (3 ohm I think from memory) and the high, medium and low switch for the tweeter. Then there are two 5 uf 50v capacitors wired in parallel (pictured) with both wires soldered together. SO my rudimentary knowledge of such concludes that is identical to one 10 uf capacitor as long as it's rated at 100 v or more. Is that similar to Winslow Burhoe's EPI-100's crossover. Burhoe had worked at AR before starting EPI. Hmmmmmmm............ Is my assumption correct? And, why would AR do it that way? Any other comments on the AR8 would be welcome. As I'm in the midst of putting in new surrounds, I haven't heard them yet.
  5. I recently refurbished a pair of AR6 speakers with the date March 1971 on the woofers. They're done and they sound fantastic: new surrounds of course (shimmed the voice coil, of course), new poly caps, cleaned out the treble controls. Sealed the woofers in with MorTite. I love these speakers. However, when I cut the voice coil dust cover/cap I saw what appeared to be a golden colored liquid/gel in the hole in the middle of the voice coil magnet. What am I seeing? I doubt these speakers have ever been opened up based on what I found inside. The caps on the voice coil seemed to be untouched since the facotory. The substance in the speakers did not "run" but was more the consistency of gel. I gently touched it with a small screwdriver and then left it alone. I know these are some special speakers AR made for the AR6 that were "long throw" and were supposed to render more bass than a typical 8" woofer, and it does. Comments please:
  6. Update. Well, as usual, Roy C was right. I put the new surrounds on and everything felt normal. The AR6's sound fantastic!!
  7. Thank you Roy for your reply that's based on as much AR knowledge and experience as one could reasonably hope for. Appreciate it. I will proceed with care.
  8. I just picked up a pair of AR-6's. I've already got a pair and I love this model. All the drivers seem to work and are original, but the woofers of course (with date of March 1971) need new foams. I'm guessing this may be the second set of surrounds they're going to get. I picked these up off Craigs... I think they may have been stored in a basement someplace. The cone material seems softer than I'm used to, almost like they're damp. I've taken them out of the boxes and before I install the surrounds I'm putting them in a dry room with a dehumidifier and giving them time to dry out. Is this a concern? Is there a way to stiffen the cone material? Starch?? What think ye?
  9. I picked up a decent pair of Boston Acoustics A200 speakers this past week. The cabinet base on one will need some rebuilding and the perpendicular "legs" that keep the speakers upright will need replacement. All the drivers have good ohm readings and check out. I'm in the process of recapping the crossover as well. The one question I have is: are the woofers original? All the info I have on A200's indicate that original woofers have foam surrounds. These don't. I'm wondering if these are originals or replacements. The mids and tweeters all date from March through May of 1982. I'm pretty sure the mid and tweet are originals. The woofers have no date on them but perhaps you can ID them from the markings you can see on them. Undoubtedly in the 40 intervening years, the surrounds had gone out on the woofers and perhaps the owner at that time thought they were shot ( 😞 ) and pitched them and then put in new replacements. The woofers seem to be nice heavy speakers. I also note that eBay has some replacements that are claimed by the seller to be a good sub for the original A200 woofers. They're going for around $94 plus shipping I believe, so they're hardly cheepos, and resemble these woofers. Any input would be appreciate, or other comments on these A200's. MAN the cabinets on these things are heavy!!!!! 48 lbs w/o the drivers in them!
  10. I own a pair of AR-6 speakers I restored a few years ago. I have AR-3a's and Advent Large speakers, EPI 100's and EPI 250. The AR-6's are my wife's favorite speakers. They are tremendous. They are not hard to refurbish as I remember it. Just put in new caps, clean the treble control's or get some that have been refurbished. Do put in new surrounds and get the speakers repaired by an expert. They are indeed long-throw AR 6 woofers and are irreplaceable! The missing surrounds were made of foam and not cloth. Enjoy! You've got gems on your hands.
  11. I am working on both styles right now. They are originals from the late 60's. Both HAVE the discs between the dome and the mesh grille.
  12. Does anyone know the type of adhesive or glue that was used on the four foam supports used around the voice coil in the AR3 midrange speaker. It had to be a special concoction. The white substance applied around the voice coil, has proven to harden and really limit if not eliminate the proper function of the voice coil in the AR3 midrange. However, upon examination of the AR3 mid I have in my possession, after removing the white, hardened stuff the foam supports were still quite flexible. Any authoritative insights into this? BTW, this diminutive midrange speaker only weighs 10 lbs.
  13. OK, I admit, I"m no expert when it comes to crossover electronics. But go to the Human Speaker page dealing with EPI speakers in the late 70's. https://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epimodels.htm#more Both the EPI M180 and EPI M250 have identical crossover schematics. They both have identical speakers in that configuration if you look at the replacement speakers one can order there. I have a M250 that I just picked up. Three of the four woofers in that M250 pair rate at 6 to 8 ohms. One rated at 4 ohms. If you will notice in both the M180 and M250 both woofers are wired in parallel. If you have two woofers in parallel and both are 6 to 8 ohms isn't your overall speaker ohm rating going to be somewhere between 3.5 and 4 ohms, roughly? I know, the tweeters will affect the reading some too, but work with me. The M250 is rated at 4 ohms in the spec sheet which makes total sense to me with two 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel, but the M180 is rated at 8 ohms. And that's from the same schematic with the same speakers. How can that be? Furthermore, I'm finding a lot of EPI 8" woofers test out at around 4 ohms all by themselves. Put them into a parallel wiring configuration like the M180/M250 schematic and what do you have? An ohm rating that's dangerously WAY below 4 ohms, isn't it? And a lot of the EPI 8" woofers on eBay and elsewhere test out at 4 ohms not 8 ohms. I realize that a speaker's ohm rating is not static, but varies with the frequencies flowing through it, but aren't two 4 ohm woofers wired in parallel a real problem unless one's amp can handle ohm ratings down around 2 ohms? I know, some say they can without being damaged but....... EPI must have made their 8"speakers in 8 ohm and 4 0hm varieties. Mixing them, particularly in parallel arrangements like this isn't going to work.
  14. Pulled this from an old EPI M250. The ohm meter says it's 4 ohms. All the other speakers in the M250 speakers are 7 to 8 ohms. Here's a photo of the identification number on it. Is this an EPI manufacturer or an addition later. It has a square magnet just like all the others but there are other differences (dust cap diameter etc.).
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