lARrybody

Not even FrankenAR. Now replace your woofer with Radio Shack woofers and your tweeters with Peerless soft domes then maybe. You want to install new L-pads because the original aetna-pollak pots are past their life expectancy. Your 20001-1 tweeters are ferro -fluid and will handle more power. Just do the crossover mods. If you must have the original 3/4 in. hard dome tweeters they can be found and rebuilt by either RoyC or Chris1 to like new condition.

Those are some nice looking late model AR3a's. Here are my newest manufactured AR3a. The serial number is about 25 thousand earlier than yours. I think they are from 1973-74. Your tweeters and midranges being backwired must be from 1975-76, about the time AR was transitioning to the AR11, which used those drivers. I would definitely download the AR3a restoration manual and make sure you get the correct foam surrounds. Look at Vintage AR and loonytunes2001 (Rick Cobb) on ebay listings to get those. Before Stimpy recommends the same thing JKent has recommended I will also put my vote in for a 6 uf Metalized Polypropylene Capacitor in the tweeter circuit. Basically new woofer foam, a few caps and some L-pads will have them singing for many more years.

Stimpy is right about the AR 91 and AR 92 boards sharing the same blank. The AR 91 crossover has 6 resisters compared to 5 resistors on the AR 92 crossover. Yes the AR 92 uses a 80uf cap on the woofer as opposed to the 100uf cap used on the AR 91. The AR 91 40uf cap is missing altogether. The 4uf, 8uf and 24 uf cap appear to be the same. I would not be surprised if the inductor coils have different values also. Just count the resisters (5 instead of 6) and Capacitors (4 instead of 5) to identify AR 92 boards. Identifying the inductor values will take more investigation. As others have said, my AR58s speakers never cease to amaze me.

If you are using 1/8 in.thick crossover boards you will want the 8 ohm 15 watt mono L-pads with the 3/8in shafts. The 1 in shafts will work, but the 3/8 in shafts are a much better fit. I have made this mistake myself before.

A few years ago I picked up a pair of your TNB 1210079-0B poly cone woofers at a swap meet while on vacation in Florida. The seller said they were from some Connoisseur 50 speakers which I believe is correct.You can see the cotton balls I used to keep the cones from banging the voice coils on my way home. I refoamed them and tested them unmounted, but have never installed them in some cabinets. At the same time I also refoamed some TNB 12121003-2A woofers which I have listened to in AR3a's and AR58s speakers. They sounded excellent with plenty of bass. I wound up reinstalling the refoamed original woofers eventually. I would very much like to here some Connoisseur 50 speakers someday. Of what i understand that the differences between the various examples of these woofers is small, I do believe the correct woofers are going to reach lower. The 1210003-2A Tongen replacement woofers are very impressive.

When I first started restoring AR speakers I did a couple pairs of 2ax's by wiring two Dayton 3uf polys in parallel and a 4uf and inserting them back into the empty wax block and filling it with siliconized house caulk. I was into keeping everything original looking, by cleaning and repairing the original type pots and keeping the original screw terminals. Nowadays I no longer keep the original pots and just replace them with something new. I have also just left the wax block in place and placed the new caps to the side. The main thing in my opinion is to make sure the speakers are as air tight as possible. Your restoration is coming along great. Make sure we get to see the new crossover boards installed.

I have had four sets of AR2a's and two sets of early AR2ax's and all have had the grills stapled on. Also a pair of AR4 with stapled on grills. I have no experience with AR2's, but I would guess they are also stapled on. They have small heads so look around the perimeter. I use a dental pick tool to carefully pry them up enough to grab with needle nose pliers..

I have seen several different solutions to do it yourself speaker surrounds from cut down surrounds, duck tape, cotton balls and expanding foam. There are a pair of Euro AR3a's currently on the auction site that are different. Not sure what kind of tape was used, but definitely unique.

The only 8 in. AR woofers with 8 mounting holes I have ever ran across are the 200001-1 woofer used in the AR 18, 17, 15 and 25. They all have smooth cones and foam surrounds.

Today I picked up a pair of AR3 speakers, serial numbers C35565 and C35411. They look pretty much original except the mids are A.13 type from some MkI AR11 or 10pi speakers. I don't know yet if any crossover mods have been done. I have a pair of nice A.11 front wired mids (the type without the center dot) from some 1969 AR3a speakers. I know Roy does suspension work on AR3 tweeters and midranges, but does anyone work on the AR3a midrange suspensions which have probably degraded by now?

Wow I really would like to see what those woofers look like. A lot members here are all in on preserving the originality of these vintage speakers which I agree with, but I also believe that sometimes different modifications can be a good thing. Also some times not so good. Here are my AR9 lower mids that I refoamed last year with slightly different filled fillet Boston type foams.

Are both cabinets the same size? The height and width should be the same. The 3 cabinet should be 11 in, deep and the 3a cabinet closer to 11 3/8 in. deep.

I remember reading a thread by Doug G (the Advent guy) where he brought up the theory that solvents never completely disappear from being absorbed into the cone material and over time can weaken the bond of the new glue. He went on to recommend just mechanically removing the glue residue by scraping it off.

A lot of people here like those economical binding post. I keep several pair in my parts box. The Single Pole Dual Throw Center Off switches came from Parts Express. I was impressed with the quality for a two dollar switch. https://www.parts-express.com/spdt-medium-duty-toggle-switch-center-off--060-552

The speaker on the left is with the original crossovers and replacement woofer. The speaker on the right is with the recapped AR 91 crossover and original refoamed woofer. I compared them for 5 days with the new crossover set to flat (0db) most of the time because the original crossovers were not adjustable. Both speakers sounded excellent to me at first, but after time the recapped speaker opened up and just kind of disappeared into the room. Sometimes I thought the original sounded better and other times the recapped excelled. I moved them around and varied my listening position. I swapped channels. I had tried them with several receivers and amps, but settled for a recapped Pioneer SX-1010 which was slightly better than a Sansui 990DB not recapped. I listened to a lot of vinyl, FM, CD's and Bluetooth streaming. Everything from Beethoven to Bon Jovi . A lot of Natalie Cole, Donald Fagen and Neil Young. They both were excellent, but finally decided that the new caps were more transparent and smoother. It was time to finish the second speaker. After the second speaker was done I realized the serial numbers were on the old crossovers. I glued small labels on above the openings. I should of included them inside the cabinets like Advent did, but I was not going to open them back up. I also glued tiny ones in the corner of the front baffle. Now my banana plugs fit all the way in. The new switches have longer levers and a nicer throw. I have decided on -3 db on the tweeters and 0db on the midranges. They are on stands approximately 8 in. above the carpet, 10 ft.apart and 1 ft from the walls. Bass is solid but not as overwhelming like my 9's. Either my ears or my mind have convinced me that my efforts have yielded a improvement. One last thought. During the process I got to swap in a set of AR11's and some AR3a's which was a nice experience except for moving them around. I am going to ask for one of those mini folding hand trucks for Christmas. Peace Out

November 4th I posted in Dareen James Thread about my recap of some AR 91 boards to install in my AR 58s speakers. I have finished the second board and swapped one into the first AR 58s. I was lucky that the crazy glue person wasn't involved when they were assembled. Neither was the mega staple employee because they only had 14 staples. After the staples were removed and with a little heat the boards lifted right out. The new boards are 2 inches longer and after aligning the binding post and switches in the opening they were attached with construction adhesive and fourteen #8 1/2 in. truss head screws. I also put a bead of glue around the perimeter of the new board. I used the foam tape from Parts Express around the baffle cutouts. 3/8 in wide around the tweeter and midrange opening and 1/2 in wide around the woofer. The poly fill batts were reinstalled in the same position as they came out. I just want to say that the poly fill is so much nicer than the fiberglass to deal with. The refoamed original woofer was reinstalled and the Tonegen replacement went back on the shelf. Now on to listening to the two different configurations and letting the new caps and surrounds settle in.

When I got my AR12's they had generic replacement woofers. Talk about dinky magnets, but they sounded decent. They were replaced with the correct 200004-2 woofers. Here they are next to each other. Generic weighed 2 lbs 2 oz and the AR weighed 4 lbs 1 oz, almost twice as much.

The progress you are making is impressive. You certainly have given some thought on how to proceed. My thoughts are that when you are finished you may want to keep both pairs. My living room where my 9's are has just slightly under 9 ft, ceilings. At 52.75 inches tall, stacked 9's are certainly a possibility. That would be different.

Mills resisters are very good. 1% tolerance and excellent leads. They are getting pricy though. Parts Express now has them at $6.79.

Almost done with the second crossover board, but this is Darren James thread about his AR 91 restoration. I just wanted to add the possibility that some of the original Components may well be in specifications. I have a Mastech capacitance meter and one of those inexpensive circuit board devices with the readout screen. Also a Fluke 177 that test capacitance that I did not use. The original 100uf Callins cans tested out 97.04 and 99.9 respectively. These may well be just fine. The 40uf CRX black with red ends tested 46.68 and 46.5. The silver 24uf CRX caps were way off at 57.85 and 55.2. The 8uf black and red CRX tested 8.1 and 8.55. The white 4uf Mexico caps 5.02 and 5.03. I don't know if Darren James can test his original caps,but mine seemed acceptable except for the 24uf midrange cap. I sure hope Darren James keep us informed with his progres with his 91's. I won't post anymore about the my 58S's until they are complete.

I also have a extra set of AR 91 boards that I intend to swap into my AR58S speakers. I acquired a nice set last May. Almost in perfect shape except for rotten surrounds on the woofers. I swapped in a set of Tonegen Woofers I had and have been listening to them since. I have subsequently refoamed the original woofers but have procrastinated on recapping the 91 boards since they sound so good with the original unicom caps and the replacement woofers. Stimpy's comment got me motivated and today I worked on one board. I had my choice of NPE or polly caps for everything except the 4uf tweeter cap. Here is what I went with. 4uf Dayton Percisission Poly, Erse 8.2 poly, 22uf and 2.2 mundorf Ecap Plain. for the 24uf midrange cap. All caps are bypassed with Dayton .01uf Dayton film and foil caps. I really wanted to use .01uf Vishay bypass caps, but the wire leads were too short. This is exactly what I used on my AR9's upper midrange as per ARpros recommendation, and have been very happy the results. Jantzen Premium Elko NPE 33uf paralleled with 6.8uf with .01 Dayton F&F bypass for the 40uf cap. Lastly Mundorf 100uf Ecap Plain NPE with .1 Dayton F&F bypass. The resisters were replaced with Vishy Mills wirerounds that are paralleled for the the three 20 watt resistors. I used the Parts Express recommended binding post and installed new Parts Express switches which are much nicer.The new caps are held to the board down with shoe-goo I used the original wires. masonite board and inductors. What do you guys think about these choices?

Hey Peter, I have two sets of AR4x's. One set (1968) has smooth cones and the other set has ribbed cones like yours. I don't know what the differences may be, but I would look for one that matches. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Larry

My AR9's have the chrome trim around the sideovers, but my 90's dont. I think all 90's came that way.

Those AR2a's came to me from a co- worker of my middle son in Chicago. His grandfather had left him the 2a's and a excellent H H Scott R77s receiver which I also purchased. I already had a very nice pair of 2a's in the rare Korina veneer and a so-so pair in utility pine cabinets, so I sold these to a guy I know from Audiokarma. It wasn't very long that I had sellers remorse. Then a couple months later I run across this pair of 2a's. I was alerted to them by a post here from Owelsplace in which he called them "Museum Grade". I was immediately on the phone to the seller and they were on the way here. Yes those serial numbers of 552 and 551 are for real. Haven't even hooked them up yet. I guess they are waiting for me to win the lottery so I can open a speaker museum.

Giorgio your packaging looks bulletproof to me. How far do they have to travel? Two years ago I let go one of my pairs of AR2a's. They had to ship to Boise ID approximately 1800 miles away. First I wrapped them in 1/8 in. plate wrap. Then I placed them in a box completely surrounded by 2 in. thick extruded polystyrene. I then placed another box over the top and taped the stuffings out of them. Here they are stored in the garage till they were hauled to the FedEx drop off location. They arrived a few days later unscaved.