lance G

That little gap, so near and yet so far !

Can you remove, are you willing to remove the dust cap to confirm your thoughts ? Likely some careful micro surgery could solve the issue? The laquer coating might need scraping back on both sides of the "broken" wire with an x-acto blade followed by some careful soldering, rejoining of the wires. Maybe a small length of fine wire might be needed to lay alongside and bridge the gap and strengthen the join against future vibration, if possible try to put something behind the join while soldering to help protect the cone from excessive heat/splatter. A little sealant to hold the join in place, similar to existing method, should hold the join in place. A continuity meter might be a useful addition to your toolbox, both for this job and potential future use. I can appreciate that the above may be too daunting/scary for you, and you may lack the confidence/experience to try, if so it makes greater sense to pass the whole driver to a "professional" who can carry out the work on your behalf. Good luck whatever route you choose, it sounds like you picked up an excellent pair of speakers at a very good price, so you can afford to invest some money in them without too much concern. Enjoy ! 😉

Living in the u.k. I anticipate that I will eventually need a refoam kit for my AR9's. I further anticipate that I will most likely need to source it from the U.S. with additional, somewhat distasteful, customs/import/shipping costs. Can members possibly let me definitively know the best supplier for the CORRECT kit ? With the additional cost considerations mentioned above I would like to be absolutely sure I am not going to have any later, post fitting, regrets. It does not necessarily need to be the cheapest, just the correct one !

Drifting somewhat from original subject, these do look nice and snug ready for the winter ! But perhaps questionable regarding acoustic transparency ?

Before I start, genuinely not now trying to win an argument, or potentially rattle anyones cage, just trying to help and perhaps I am more likely to in the end gain some knowledge for my own benefit. But, asking as somewhat of an amateur, could not an out of specification capacitor/component cause a driver to be subject to frequencies/distortion outside of the range for which it was designed ? Or is it the case that whatever the full range of frequences that any given driver is subjected to it will only reproduce the frequences for which it was designed accurately and without distortion ? Even if a faulty component is connected in series/parallel with it ? The op mentions the distortion becoming apparent at a frequency/frequencies around 800 Hz ? Again, I am not trying to be clever, but I am most happy to be, kindly, enlightened. Thanks in anticipation.

Maybe a relevant re-cap might cure the issue ?

Nice condition cabinets. Did you use paint stripper ? Perhaps you may need to ? To remove as much of the paint as possible from the grain of the wood ? Grain looks a little too straight and regular for walnut ? Sorry, lots of ???? !

Stimpy, interesting to see (item 7?) that the high range driver is 200029-1. Is that not the same as the AR9/AR90 (ferrofluid ?) drivers ? Probably not the right thing to do, but there is a potential to harvest these from 925's to keep the AR9/90's alive ?

You are too kind !

Thanks again Stimpy !

Enquiring on behalf of a colleague in the U.K. Does anyone have (at least) the part number for the AR925 midrange driver please, with the intention of sourcing a replacement. Thank you !

Is there a massive marketplace for this stuff ?

Tung oil is lovely stuff for finishing wood, I have used it on many things with great results. However I believe the original treatment for the AR9 was boiled linseed oil, therefore that's what I used when I treated mine. Fully agree with Stimpy regarding the Callins capacitors and their likely need for replacement. They are considered by many as very good speakers in their original form. Good luck with the restoration. Well worth doing properly.

"I'm using surrounds that came in a repair kit that I got some years ago". If the proposed replacement surrounds are already several years old, maybe consider a new set before embarking on doing the work ? To not do so may be a false economy if you are intending to keep the speakers ?

Briodo/Brian, you deserve some serious recognition for this, if only for the amount of effort you have put into the project and the production of your pdf write up. Consider it as having been seriously recognised ! Likely useful to raise it to the front of the forums page/s again.

Well done for updating and reminding all of the importance of this. 🙂👍

Crikey Stimpy ! I thought you had finished them ! I was grateful for your input and help with the crossover rebuild on my AR9's. They might be due another rebuild by the time you finish those 90's ! I used to have some 90's years ago, regretted selling them, hence my eventual bucket list purchase of the 9's. Kind regards to you.

Absolutely brilliant ! I am so glad that you got these, from what I have seen of your prior experience with other AR speakers, the right man ended up with them and will do them justice. They do appear to be somewhat different from the norm. Do please keep me/us up to date with your progress and your opinion/s when they are done. I believe it is a step outside what you usually deal with, I hope the change in experience will prove to be a good one. You were obviously keen to get stuck in ! I don't know how relatively unique these may prove to be, hopefully some of the old sages will provide some answers ? Hopefully I also contributed in bringing them to your attention ? I await further progress reports !

But who is/was he ?

I am really hoping that there will be some follow up on these. I have personally never seen or heard of such beasts, and there is little (if any ?) result from an internet search. Hopefully someone with some prior experience/knowledge will chip in. If in truth it is a site member that has procured these, please relieve me/us of some of my/our sense of intrigue with an update ! The grain in the veneer, hopefully real wood and not a plastic wrap of some sort, appears to be matched, and what I think would be the usual front decal describing/illustrating the various drivers is also absent. Other than the drivers, cosmetically they appear to be in a sound, possibly good or when closely studying the pictures even great condition considering their age ? The grille covers seem to be relatively unfaded ? Perhaps as a result of being stored in the original shipping boxes ? Hopefully they were put away in the boxes as a consequence of driver foam rot, and have survived relatively unscathed ? The depressed midrange, and any other domes can likely be teased back into shape ? An intriguing pair of speakers, and it would out of interest be (to me) fascinating to be made aware of the motive/s behind their initial build/provenance. An out there (and possibly sacriligious !) scenario, but if all the drivers were exchanged from an existing working set of speakers, and the crossovers rebuilt, it should result in a somewhat unique set of speakers ? And finally, who is/was David Lentz ?!!!!!

Excellent news ! I hope they let us know the outcome of their purchase, both in the short and long term. These things can be a gamble, but again, on the face of things, these seemed to be reasonable bet.

I thought you had high ceilings in the U.S.A. ? You could stack them on top of you 9's !

My interest has sparked a reduced offer via the "sale site" by the seller. Looks like $230 could currently secure them. Must be worth a physical look if anyone is local. They do on the face of it seem to be "fairly" priced ?😉. The seller might even be open to some more haggling on the day ?!

Seems a shame that these might go to someone who might not do the best with them or even break for parts. I am in the U.K. so with customs/shipping it would not make sense for me. I am lucky enough, particularly in the U.K. to already have a pair of AR9's. I was still tempted to buy/secure them on behalf of someone from this site, and pass on, on a non profit basis. Must be some form of AR fever, or maybe going a bit daft in my old age ! Surely a great Covid restriction project for someone to pass the time with ? If they were in the U.K. I would have grabbed them. However, still interested in any information on these, as I have not heard of an anniversary edition of same, with these apparently being the 3rd and 4th speaker in the series judging by the serial numbers ? I also see what may be the original boxes in some of the picture backgrounds ? I hope someone on here hooks them, and follows up with their rebuild experience/s.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233844785096?ul_noapp=true Interesting item, Interesting comments from anyone please ! Looks like they are still available at the time of writing. Time for someone to wake up in the U.S.A. ?!