Reel Man

Your pots look pretty good, real good, in fact.It seems that the fiberglass used earlier in AR history was/is harder on the pots than the later fiberglass. My very moldy AR3-a speakers had pretty good pots. I did use a little dielectric grease when I put them back together.

That's pretty impressive cap performance. My wax-block caps were roughly 4 times out of spec, using a multi-meter. I used a chunk of wood, and another 12'' long, one by one board, to leverage out a mid after using a plastic scraper(carefully) to remove the sealant around the outside gap. I need to do that a few more times this weekend, to send out another mid and tweeter for service.

Check other thread photos for installation ideas, also.

I recommend the daytons for a clean install. This 6.2 has a 1% tolerance, the rest 5%. https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-PMPC-6.2-6.2uF-250V-Precision-Audio-Capacitor-027-236?quantity=1 . https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/crossover-components/crossover-capacitors/metalized-polypropylene-crossover-capacitors/capacitance/50-uF https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/crossover-components/crossover-capacitors/metalized-polypropylene-crossover-capacitors/capacitance/100-uF,50-uF

Ooooooouch, that was disappointing. I worked hard this week on the second crossover for the other cab, installed it, but the mid AND tweeter aren't working on this one. I'm hoping it's these terrible leads causing the issue. They're too small for my meter to check for continuity. I put some bits of copper wire to solder the delicate leads on, as a few were broke. My second try did get sound out of the tweeter briefly. If I understand correctly, Roy C puts new leads on these when he services these? I do get continuity to the posts. EDIT: I see vintage AR repairs these, so off to Roy they go. I'll assume I should I send the working tweeter as well? For balanced output? Yeah, probably. I'll have to compile the shipping materials (I build industrial equipment, and the parts come in good packaging).

What kind of glue? Hot glue gun type, maybe? I'm thinking I bought one(haven't seen it in awhile).

Yeah, I planned on sending the mids to Roy anyways for servicing; hopefully, the other one is just low on output. On a related note, does anybody fix AR-3a mids and tweeters? Pretty sure a tweeter is out on my 3a; I have to ohm it soon. Also, how hot will the resistors get? Do I need to be concerned about them being too close to the masonite?

Arghh.....now I remember why I took a break from this. Looks like the mid is toast in this one, however the tweeter seems fine(see link). No sound out of the mid, and I can't get it to ohm, it goes bananas. I was thinking the pots were why this was parked, it might have been the mid. I'll pop it out, and start packing the fiberglass, and fitting the woofer. https://youtu.be/JkFs3WcOXSo

Yes, I'm aware of that now (16 ohm pots). I ordered the L-pads in 2017. I plan to have the mids serviced, but have to verify they function - ohming it got very jumpy readings. Not splurging on 16 ohm pots gives me more cash for speaker servicing/issues. I'll have at least one speaker ready to test during Thanksgiving break.

More tinkering. I can probably lower the caps for a straighter shot at the pots; I'll do that for the next one. I didn't have my good strippers and crimper, so I stopped here. Anybody contemplating this for their speakers, I would recommend a 24uf 400v Solen cap, (which I didn't think to google first), I went to Dayton audio first. One cap is easier than two. 16ohm pots would also clean up the wiring, as the resistors make it trickier to solder.

The AR3-a restoration post mentions using an Ohmmeter to check the mid and high drivers; 3.5 ohms. Does this apply to the 3's drivers as well?

Ooooo, very nice condition, and very cool, being so early. I'm not re-using the wax cap block in my AR-3 speakers, as I don't trust their age to be reliable, and getting to them is not especially easy; I'm putting in new ones while it's apart. I also am getting the mids serviced, as the material/compound around the paper hardens a bit with age, although yours has the 4 blob setup of the tweeters, while mine have a white compound; maybe it's not as necessary for yours.

More tinkering. We've had exceptional weather this fall, even on weekends, so I haven't had much time with these. I did get the L-pads and a new terminal mounted, but found it frustrating to solder inside the cabinet, and the Dayton caps take up a lot of room. It's apparent to me now that the electronics were a sub-assembly built outside separately,then mounted on that pressed cardboard material(not sure what it's called), then stapled/glued into the cabinet. I'm electing to do something similar. I removed the wax capacitor block, and turned the choke, and am experimenting with the layout of the new caps.

An update. Worked on the water-damaged cab over the week - gluing the pieces that had fallen off, and gluing and puttying the corners, which ended up taking a few tries. Not especially pretty, but being in the back, and at the bottom, it isn't very noticeable. I got some new speaker terminal screws from work, and some new star-washers, as the originals were rusty. It looks like nice weather for the next week, so I'm not sure when I'll get the pots and caps in and wired; I definitely plan to work on these during Thanksgiving break.

I dunno, I keep mentally flip-flopping about the finish. It makes sense to have it done when I have the speaker seals broken, and the mids being worked on; not that much extra work to remove the tweeters at that point. I'll have to get a quote from my woodworking friend, as I just won't have the ambition to do that work myself. I checked your 1960 AR-3 post on AK again. What kind of putty did you use on the corner? It looks darker than what I'm familiar with. The moisture damage didn't affect the acoustic seal, surprisingly enough, though I'm going to inspect the inside corner there to verify the condition. My caps came in, so I have some options to play with this weekend.

Good to know. I did order the resistors for the 6uf , as they were $3, but wasn't likely to use them, as I doubt my ears would notice. It will also make for a cleaner install. My short term plans are cab repair, installing the L-pad/wiring harness/caps, and making a silcone-rubber gasket to test on the woofer. I just want to hear sound from the mids and tweeters, even if not ideal. I plan to send the mids out for restoration, then use proper woofer sealant if the gasket doesn't seal (I already have it).

I have Dayton audio polypropylene caps in a shopping cart, and noticed in the 3a guide about using resistors on these caps. They're cheap enough, but what should I use for the 24uf(combined) caps? I doubt my ears will be able to tell, but might as well order them,anyway.

Incidentally, I used the 3a guide for these speakers. I need cloth, and maybe a new tweeter, or a repair. I've been playing with them with a more appropriate amp.

I also share your pessimism on the tweeters, which is one of the reasons these have sat - tweeter resto, Mid resto, and the cabs. Snowballed pretty quick. One has some water damage, but on the bottom, and it didn't affect the acoustic seal, surprisingly. I'll have to look up testing the speakers with a meter, before I send them for restoration.

So you do think they are Mahogany? I wasn't sure I would recognize Cherry, but the wood looks like the Gibson guitar(s) I've owned over the years. I also thought the hard finish was factory, but did they do that? I bought L-pads 5 years ago, with resistors, as these pots felt terrible, and didn't work a bit( I just recently stumbled on a thread on here about your heavy-duty pots). I was going to use this picture below as a wiring template, with the appropriate caps for an earlier design/serial.

Good to know that I might not have to get the tweeters done. Any suggestions for touching up the scratches? I'd like to keep the original finish, if possible. My other pair have some patina. I have a friend with a wood shop, so I have that option. Might as well test the mids and tweeters first for function, though.

Some "Glamour" shots. They appear to be lacquered Mahogany. I'm really motivated to hear the mids and tweeters work on these, as I haven't yet. I've read that they generally need restored at this point, but a squeak from them would be an improvement.

I've had these for 10 years now ( https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/ar-3-score-advice-sought.448012/,) but found a pair of 3a's that were in worse shape, that I worked on first, as there wasn't a challenge removing the woofers on them. Those speakers, along with other gear, burned me out on fixing up this old stuff, but I did buy some stuff for the 3's in 2017 (jeez. 5 years ago), l-pads, resistors, and the caps I thought I needed. I was motivated last winter to work on these, but that sealant dissuaded me; I decided to wait until summer, when I could put them on the sun porch to soften the sealant, and it worked. My informal date code guessing of 1964/1965 assembly was pretty close, I found this stamp of the assembler. I also found that the pot wipers were Shot, and the caps I ordered were mostly incorrect. I apparently need a 6uf and 24uf cap, and that's it. I did manage to find the AR-3 specific wiring diagram from this site by googling it. My initial question is if a 25uf cap is close enough, or should I get a 20uf and a 4uf and tie them together. https://www.daytonaudio.com/product/226/dmpc-25-25uf-250v-polypropylene-capacitor

Is this a service that you perform?

That's what I want mine to look like, or close to it....beautiful. It's fun giving dignity back to these old classic, expensive pieces.