Hello everyone, I am new to this forum, but I registered for an obvious reason: I purchased a pair of AR-3 speakers the other day and am now trying to restore them.
I bought the speakers directly out of the truck of trash-collector/hoarder who had recovered them the day before in a village in the Black Forest, Germany. Honestly, neither did he know what he was selling, nor did I know what I was buying. In the classifies I only had seen a blurry picture, no information on the brand and only an indication of a ‘US patent’, which had called my attention. I bought the pair without further inspection and out of curiosity, for a ridiculous price. I wasn’t aware that I was making such a bargain, but after I did some proper internet research and realized what I now hold in hands, I felt like a lucky bastard. I wasn’t on the hunt for those speakers and never heard of them before… but of course I now have caught fire and I am keen on restoring and listening to them.
Unfortunately, there is no background information on the story of the speakers. I only know that they were recovered in a village in the Black Forest and apparently, they were stored in a rather humid environment for some time and have not received much love in the last years. The veneer is scratched, chipped and stained.
I took the grills of (with bicycle tire levers, which turned out to be excellent tools for this purpose) and noticed that the speakers were never touched or opened before. My attempts to connect the speakers to the amplifier, however, were unsuccessful… I only heard music from the woofer. Luckily, I found this forum and learned that I have to restore the pots. So, I dismantle the box and restored one pair of pots and also ordered new capacitors for the crossover. The other pair of pots had melted away, and in the end, I decided to replace all the old pots with new ones from the US - I am already in touch with Kent. At least I could connect both speakers with the new crossover to have a brief test of functionality. To my delight, all the chassis work.
While I am waiting for the new pots to arrive, I now have time to work on the cabinets. Apparently, they were used or stored upside down for quite a while and so the surface with the most serious damages is the top. It is badly scratched, has significant chip off, and also has discoloring from moisture. I tried to work with sanding and wood filler here, but I am not satisfied with the results yet. I now consider applying a new veneer to the top surface.
Corroded pots
Looking good after polishing
But these parts melted...
The problematic top surface of one of the speakers, before sanding/treatment.
Number 40035, couldn't the decipher the serial number of the second box yet... it somehow faded.
