Michel Pe

Hi Don, I just restored a pair of AR9... here’s my take on a few things you might want to consider. First, it might not be necessary to re-veneer them... I thought I would have to do so myself but after careful sanding, I managed to get the veneer back to a clean enough surface to re-finish; and mine were pretty bad! Secondly, before you recap anything, try them out once re-foamed. I was concerned with the condition of the crossovers and talked about it with my speaker technician; basically, he said that if the cans haven’t leaked or haven’t swollen up ... they should still be good! Luckily, I have an honest tech and I can’t stress enough the importance of having work done on your drivers by anyone else but a specialist! Thirdly, I replaced both tweeters... found replacements at simplyspeakers.com ... they had the best price! forthly, the AR badge on the front grill of my speakers were a screw-on type ... check before you try to pry them off; you might just have the same and just need to unscrew them! Lastly, like someone mentioned above, these are well sealed enclosures ... there’s no need to re-enforce in any way. Though you might want to change all gaskets; check they’re condition first... they might be ok! Good luck with your project, AR9’s are amazing speakers! Well worth restoring methinks! cheers