Jzad77

So I forgot that I never posted a picture of the finished product. I’m very happy with how they turned out. The cabinets are really in pretty decent shape. I may wipe them down with some Howard’s feed and wax but for now I’ve been enjoying them everyday. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t find the wichelt 18 count lambswool fabric. I’m guessing Corona and the supply demand we are looking at lately took care of the last of that. I just used some Amazon fabric until I can source the goodstuff. Just doesn’t feel right but it still looks nice.

It’s not an easy process. The grill cloth on both my speakers had slight tears and I was not concerned with preserving it as I replaced it so access was much easier. Yours however seem to be in excellent shape. There are posts on this forum about this topic but here is one that came to mind. Roy c is an AR guru and has a wealth of information on this site. The only thing I can add is a selection of tools. I like to use cell phone repair tools as the plastic spudgers are really good at getting under the grill and prying glue without damaging the wood. Welcome to the AR world and good luck on your project.

They aren’t. The output is just fine. They definitely don’t seem as loud or bright as my 18b’s but everything is there. The ar-5s seem to be quite inefficient compared to the 18’s. I don’t think I could run them in a system with multiple speakers without there own amp as the db output is quite a bit less then the 18’s. I may test that later to check how much less they actually are. When I ran them together the 18’s were noticeably louder. I may have the mid range driver rebuilt on this box because I have been hearing a bit of crackling at times between 850-1250. I’m gona run a sweep as well and see if a can figure out what’s going on.

The more I listen to this speaker the more I’m liking it. The mid driver is just incredible. I have it in a system with my 18b’s and it just adds so much subtle depth. It’s worth it just for the mid and hi drivers. I find myself listening to elements in songs I never really paid that much attention to.

Here is the driver from the other cabinet and the driver from the first cabinet. Interesting how the terminal block are different when these were manufactured just one day apart.

Here’s a few pictures of the first AR-5 Box. Finished up the insides today. Going to refinish the box as well as it is pretty scratched and beat up. First song through it was Chris Cornell’s version of Patience. The clarity is amazing. Compared it with An Ar18b and Advent /9 running through a Pioneer SX-535. It’s definitely power hungry. The 18b had a brighter overall tone but the depth and overall clarity of the 5 was better. That midrange driver is pretty fantastic. It’s very smooth and non fatiguing. Low end wasn’t what I anticipated but I imagine that new surround will take some time to break in. Compared to the advent /9 the 5 pretty much destroyed it. The nine sounded unnatural boxy and hollow. Pretty much just been using those as speaker stands anyway. Listening to Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue I did notice a slight distortion in the midrange driver. I was running it a little past half backed it down a hair and it cleaned up. Maybe a dirty spot on the pot? May look into having it serviced if I notice it again. All in all not bad for a almost 50 year speaker.

I’ll post the entire restoration when I’m finished. I have several projects going right now and unfortunately this one is not priority.

Thanks. I really wanted to keep the inside nice and not cluttered up with capacitors glued or zip tied to the board. Had all that beautiful beeswax from the old wax block figured why not let it live again inside its old home.

New cap ready to go in.

Patfont on audio karma suggested a great solution. He just uses plastic spacers and then back fills with the beeswax. I just used 1/8 fiberboard.

I’m in the process of restoring a pair of unmolested AR-5’s. They are in really nice shape other than the usual need of a refoam and caps. Surprisingly there was zero corrosion on the Aetna-Pollak pots so I pulled them out cleaned them up a bit and lube. I want to keep everything looking as original as possible. This pair use the 4uf cap from industrial condenser Corp. I want to use the original bracket for the wax block capacitor after I build a box and cover with the original wax paper diagram. I also hollowed out the 4 uf cap. My plan is to fit the new 4 uf inside the old industrial Corp cap and use the beeswax from the wax block to fill. My question is would doing this compromise the integrity of the new cap? Could pouring the hot beeswax over the new cap cause it to melt and leak?