GD70
-
Posts
633 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by GD70
-
-
On 4/12/2021 at 7:12 PM, Illf8ed said:
Glenn,
What other speakers do you have to compare to your Acoustic Research models? I have ESS amt1a and 1b pyramids besides the AR-10pi and LST-2.
Way late response! I haven’t been here in a while.
I have a decent collection of speakers, which all sound great to me.
AR3s completely restored (2sets)
LST-2s restored
AR12s restored
KLH Six’s 1963 restored
KLH Fives recapped
ADS 910 rebuilt mids & tweeters
ADS L980 original
JBL 4301b original
Vienna Acoustics Mozart’s
Nivico/JVC GB-1E omnidirectional globes- need recap, maybe a tweeter replacement, gulp!
Minimus 7s - 3 sets.
Magnepan SMGs Completely rewired, recapped.
Just sold JBL L200s.
Cheers, Glenn
-
On 8/10/2022 at 12:36 AM, scottie munoz said:
Very interested your source for mid foam..5 year's layer, haha.
Scottie
Mid surrounds from Speakerworks. Worked out well on mine.
-
Saturday, October 29th, Fall, Blue Mt. Audio fest. Peekskill, NY.
I'm glad to announce we are back for the next Lodge meet!
Doors open 8am, to 8pm.
The Lodge rental is 250.00. Due at the door 20.00.
We have lots of AKers and audio heads in the tri-state area, and up in Mass, hint-hint, it would be great to see old friends and make new friends too!
If you can, please paypal me and I'll have a sheet to keep track of those attending and that have paid. You can also pay at the door if you're unsure if you can attend. Feel free to bring food, snacks, and beverages of your choice.
My PP is gddavis@optonline.net
Any extra funds will be used to order Pizza.
Tables are limited, so I suggest you bring a table, extension cords and so on.
Please spread the word, and bring friends and family.
There will be demo sessions, and gear, vinyl parts etc... for sale.
I've hosted 4 of these events and they are a lot of fun. Hope to see some of you there!
Cheers, Glenn -
4 minutes ago, JKent said:
Yeah. Live & learn. Years ago I bought a pair of 3s very cheap from CSP member toastedalmond (sadly George is no longer with us). Turned out they had one bad mid and one bad tweet. I only discovered that after the recap and I remember the good speaker sounding great. At the time those parts were scarce and no one was rebuilding them so I "upgraded" the pair to 3a's. Roy provided some AR-11 mids (identical to 3a but with silver screens) and I used the Hi-Vi tweets. The speakers were good but I never loved them. Recently I bought a pair of Chris's rebuilt tweeters and now they're pretty authentic 3a's, with those nice early aluminum frame woofers. Frankenspeakers?
AR detractors often cite the kind of criticism found in the CR piece regarding the 3a: "thick and heavy" and "distant". In this case the upgrade was not necessarily an improvement.
btw, those original mids and tweets were ridiculously heavy monsters with stupidly thin and fragile leads. IIRC the mid was about 5 pounds and the tweeter was nearly as heavy!
Hey Kent!
Yes, heavy beefy drivers, and sooooo fragile at the same time. You're lucky to have the Alnico woofers. My ears like them over the later version. With the rebuilt mids and tweeters, they are very engaging, and are right there with my more modern speakers.
When I was restoring my LST-2's, all 6 tweeters were blown. At the time, no one was repairing them, Roy said they were basically paper weights. Replaced them with the HiVis as per Roys recommendation. Unfortunately I tossed the tweeters. Smack! Wish I hadn't! The LSTs do sound great though.
Did you see the Frankenfest AK meet for this coming Saturday? Looks to be a big one! Pete posted about it in in the News section. Maybe you can make it?
Glenn
-
Hopefully your deal was a success. Post pics if you can.
I personally prefer the 3 to the 3as. I've had several opportunities to do A/B comparisons, and always, to my ears, and some of the 3a owners, preferred the 3s! A big BUT, though is the 3s MUST be properly restored to sound as they should. I have two sets, circa 1960 & 65, both with rebuilt mids and tweeters by Roy. The 1960 set has the original oil can caps, and sound incredible. I've run them with SS power @ 210wpc, and with my Scott LK-72 @ 35wpc, which is superb. The 1965 set have been recapped and again, are amazing.
Roy's comments regarding the 3a though is on the money. Very close sound, for a lower cost.
Cheers, Glenn
-
Hi John,
Have you decided what you want to do? I'm in the keep them, and restore them camp.
One, because they were your grandfathers.
Two, they are amazing sounding speakers when properly restored.
Three, they are an investment.
We can easily guide you through the restoration process. Roy can most likely rebuild the mids and tweeters. Modern pots are available and an easy swap. Have you tried spinning the pot knobs back and forth a lot, to se if you can get a signal to the mids and tweeters? Caps are easy as well. There's tons of pics of how to do it. You can get a decent soldering iron to do this. The cabinets can be freshened up to look new. The grill material, called "Saran" can be washed , or replaced with new that matches the original. The other issue will most likely be the grill frames are cracked and brittle due to age, very common. I made new grill frames from 1/2" thick MDF and new Saran and they look terrific!
Cheers, Glenn
-
-
On 2/11/2022 at 11:57 PM, ar_pro said:
I remember Glenn's grilles for the AR-12, and they looked great.
Has anyone ever used Classic-style linen with the ADD speakers?
Thanks! I was very happy with the end results, keeping the original look & design.
Glad the thread may be of some help.
Cheers!
-
I’m going to be a thorn in your butt! Before you can make an educated and real sonic comparison, both need to be restored. This may not be something you want to do, or invest the money into, but both are excellent.
-
These are historic, investment speakers. Every part can be rebuilt or replaced. Sonically, when properly restored, are phenomenal sounding.
I have two pairs, both found at thrifts, both I’ve completely restored. Mids and tweeters were sent to Roy. He also repaired one of my woofers, replacing the spider because of some distortion. The mids are critical in bringing these back to near new sound. The tweeters are more readily available, used in the 2as as well. If the tweeters in the set you’re looking at need replacing, should not be problematic. Stains on the cabs doesn’t mean they are unfinished pine. Once you get them out of the basement, please post as many pics as possible. I would seriously consider getting them, and restoring them properly.
-
We’re all very lucky to have Roy’s knowledge, help and dedication to these terrific speakers.
Cheers! -
They look great!
My tweeters were all blown when I bought mine from a CL listing. At the time no one was rebuilding these tweeters, basically “paper weights” and I stupidly tossed them, and went with the HiVi tweeters that Roy recommended at the time. Mine were basket cases, needing a reveneer, all the grill frames were broken and needed to be glued back together, and new grill cloth from 123 Stitch. They sound great and look brand new!
Chris does great work. He’s restored some for me for some 3as. Did you reform your woofers as well?Really great sounding speakers, and scary dimensional. They seem to bend sound around corners!
Cheers Glenn
-
Very nice work! Be proud and show them off!
-
So it’s been a while. How are you liking the 910s?
-
My thread showing the restoration of my 12s may be helpful. Lots of pics of the driver and cabinet restoration.
Cheers, Glenn
-
1 hour ago, RoyC said:
Nice restoration work, giovanni56.
Glenn...It's the same cabinet used with the AR-3a Improved of the mid-70's. Very few of these cabinets made it to the US. Care must be taken when moving 'em around, as the thin trim piece likes to snap off. Don't ask me how I know.
Roy
Thanks Roy! They look fragile! Remind me of the KLH Seventeen/Twenty cabs. It's a nice look.
Glenn
-
Lovely! I've never seen this cabinet version for the 3a.
-
-
On 6/13/2020 at 5:10 PM, mike123 said:
Grill covers, one is broken in one spot so I'll probably salvage the fabric and make new, sturdier frames
So these are 3a grills with the linen material. One of my sets has these, obviously replaced.. The 3 grills are a completely different material called Saran. It’s actually a plastic weave, and the frames are plastic.
-
On 6/13/2020 at 4:51 PM, mike123 said:
I'll post pictures of the cabinets shortly, I'm fairly confident in my ability to refinish, I've seen Watco Danish Oil recommended for staining, is dark walnut the "right" color for these or do I pick one of my liking? Also I've checked the hi's and mid's and only the tweeters are returning a resistance value, ~2.3 Ohm. Both mids seem to be open. Does restoration have a chance at fixing the internals or am I dead in the water? Also for the correct woofer, if I find a cloth surround that fits the dimensions is there any reason not to use it?
Send the mids to Roy. See what he says. Regarding the woofers, you will not find cloth surrounds in the wild. You need to get the complete woofers.
The cabs finish And color is up to you, but natural color watcos is what I’ve used on all the restorations I’ve done, and sometimes I mix in medium or dark walnut color where color matching is required.
Glenn -
Beautiful work on those Kent! I’m sure your client was thrilled when they saw them for the first time!
Kudos to Larry for making the grill frames for you!
Cheers, Glenn
-
I agree with briodo, sell them in tact as they are. They can be easily restored. Too bad you can’t keep them and have the Restoration work done, they just might unseat one of your other set of speakers.
-
Hi Mike,
Nice 3s, but unfortunate for the woofers issue. The woofer missing the surround with the foam ring around the dust cap is a correct 3 woofer, but the cloth surround has been removed. It was originally glued to the Masonite ring, which was glued to the basket. The 2nd woofer is a later model woofer. Maybe for the 3a, or another model. We would need to see the magnet and numbers. Being that the 3 is very desirable and valuable, you should really get correct woofers with the cloth surrounds. Occasionally I've seen these refoamed, but could never figure out why, unless they were severely damaged, or, look like yours. Woofers show up on eBay fairly often, so I'd start looking for good clean replacements.
The mids are known to have greatly diminished output due to the original white soft sealer around the dome base petrifying, which keeps the dome from moving. Roy C. rebuilds the mids, in fact he currently has a set of mine as well as my tweeters for restoration. Original mids are very difficult to find, and extremely expensive when they do show up. A set sold on eBay for 400 last month!
The pots are another known issue with many ARs as they corrode inside blocking the signal to the mids and tweeters. They often have no sound. Sometimes twisting the pot knobs back and forth a lot will find a spot bringing the driver back to life.
That wax block contains the caps. Replace them. Match the values printed on the block.
How are the cabs and grills? Please post pics showing their condition. Are you handy working with wood and finishes?
These will require a lot of work, and money to properly restore them back to close to original sound, but well worth it. I've got two sets, one fully restored, and they sound phenominal! Look on eBay to get an idea of the prices these command. You got yours for free!
The 3a restoration guide is an excellent guide to read and follow for repairs. Many can be applied to the 3.
Also, may I suggest you read through my 3 restoration thread here. Lots of good info you may find helpful.
Cheers, Glenn
-
On May 19, 2020 at 1:29 PM, Aadams said:
Shavitz. Forgot to add, if your 3as have Sprague Compulytic caps they are probably good. "Compulytic" will be printed on the side of the can.
Regarding the Spragues, I'd still check them. I removed them in a set of 3as I restored several years ago, and surprisingly they were way off.
Need help for AR-12 refurbish
in Acoustic Research
Posted
Here’s the link to my resto thread. May have some useful info.
Cheers, Glenn