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Great info. Thanks so much @AR55

Yes, thank you @fedeleluigi! So to me it appears the 1-2100450B is the Tonegen version of AR 200045 and the Tonegen version has a factory seam split (I wonder why).

Here’s a couple more photos including the seam from the back. Unlike the foam surrounds, the seam seems competently done. Nothing about the spider seems disturbed either.

I see the AR part no for the Lsi LMR is 200045. Would that be related to this driver, the 1-2100450B? I ask because all of the woofers in my pair are Tonegen-made and have the longer, alternate part no. Could the English factory have been using Tonegen drivers instead of regular AR parts?

A pair of English-made AR-9Lsi’s came my way today. The previous owner had a terrible refoam job done on the midrange and 12” woofers (but forgot the 10” woofers). They also used a brittle glue so the foam is separating easily from the cone. Before I refoam these, does anyone know if this midrange cone is correct? There is a seam split on the cone which I’ve never seen on an AR. The owner said they had been reconed but I think he meant refoamed. edit to add: The driver appears to be correct but is the cone correct? Tonegen part no. 1-2100450B

I saw that auction @frankmarsi and put in a losing bid. I was hoping to pair them with AR-2’s I’m working on but that wasn’t meant to be.

So after removing some walnut veneer from an old 3a cabinet, it didn’t match well. I decided the cleanest way to do this patch would be to buy new veneer. I got a sample pack that contains Cherry, Mahogany, Maple, Red Oak, Walnut, and White Oak. Of course they aren’t labeled so I’ve been trying to figure out which is which. Could anyone confirm I have this correct? Photo is of the 6 samples laid on top of the AR-2. I arranged them in what I believe to be the order above from left to right. The veneer on the left is the one that most closely matches the cabinet in both grain and color.

I’m also one of your “lurkers and monitors.” What engagement did you want with last night’s post? Was I supposed to ask what toppings you got on your pizza pie?

That looks great @JKent. I still need to make permanent cables for mine and I’ll think I’ll pursue your route. Nice job.

Price reduced: Now $700 if you pick up from me; $800 including delivery to Boston.

@genekHow do you apply your NGR? I read spraying is the best method but I’ve also seen a retarder can be added to extend drying time to allow brush/wipe on.

Thank you @genek. I have some tung oil and solvent on hand. I’ll look into NGR stain and reducer.

Thanks @genek. I think I would prefer a cherry stain personally. I decided that I’m going to stain these, but I haven’t done that before (Danish Oil is what I’m most familiar working with). I saw another poster in an archived thread had some really nice results with a gel stain and poly over it. I’m still early in my research on this. Do you have any recommendations? In the meantime I need to replace the caps and clean the pots. No luck on oil caps for me; they were wax blocks in mine. Tomorrow I’m going to try to replace a small missing piece of veneer on a top cabinet edge. I recently saw one of Glenn’s threads and how neat his repairs are cutting out spare pieces of veneer. I have a busted pair of Classic-era walnut cabinets I can steal a little veneer from.

Thanks. The lacquer on these cabinets is certainly going to complicate each step of this.

Sanded down today. This is walnut, right? I’m second-guessing myself.

Thanks @JKent. I never would have thought about steaming dents. I’ll keep that in mind. I’m worried this has the same lacquer finish as the Five. Looking at the most damaged top again today, I can scratch off some of the most damaged finish with my fingernail. I’m also concerned some of the black spots will need to be bleached out of the wood.

Here’s a couple specific questions about the cabinets: 1. Would clamping the corner split in any way improve it or is it too far gone since the boards have swollen from moisture? Is there anything else that could be done? 2. Is there anything that can be done about the finish on the top and on scratches? Does the Twelve use the same, hard to remove finish that the Five does? Normally I might try Howard’s Restor-a-finish as a first attempt but not sure if that will work on these. The parts that are rough, are pretty rough. They’re not complete eyesores, but they’re not beautiful either. I think these are very nice sounding speakers and deserving of better looking cabinets, just not sure of the feasibility of some of what needs to be done. This is something I’d tackle longer term—probably late summer. My confidence with crossover work is much higher than with cabinets. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I’m looking for some cabinet advice. Since these have external crossovers, I wanted to listen to these awhile before deciding to undertake any cabinet work. Now I’d like to know, what could be done about the cabinets? Pictures are of the worst of the two; the other doesn’t have water damage. The corner splits are cosmetic only and the interior of the cabinet is still sealed. Lots of miscellaneous scratches like the one pictured on the front.

Here’s a few more photos of the cabinets before I remove the drivers. I’ll try that. Likely it will be effective since the varnish is just rubbing off on my hands while moving the cabinets around.

I picked up a set of AR-2’s recently and figured I’d document my progress here. All original parts and no one has been in them before. Today I removed the grill cloth and the cardboard grill that was glued and stapled to the baffle. I plan on making removable grills with Masonite leftover from my Model Five project. The most noticeable flaw with the pair is that someone with even less cabinet knowledge than even me attempted to varnish over the original oil finish I think. The varnish is flaking off everywhere and the cabinets have a sickly greenish hue. I’m hoping to get these sanded down this week. Tomorrow I’ll take out the drivers and look at the crossover. Hoping to see oil capacitors.

Finished these up tonight. The silver cap was actually an Industrial Condenser Corp. cap. Those two 100 mfd caps measured 148 and 126, so I replaced them.

I would be interested in this. I have a pair of 4x with the tweeters from Vintage AR. I was showing my wife this and we think we could get an adapter done. This is beyond my abilities alone but she’s a trained theater tech and has helped me with projects on here in the past. I also have a turntable part I’d like to get 3D scanned so I could kill two birds there. For evaluation, what do you seasoned vets use to compare the tweeters and get quantifiable results?

Well I’ve spent my listening time today split between the Model Five, Model Twelve, and AR-3a. It’s not necessarily an even playing field; the -3a’s mids and tweeters have not been rebuilt, while I don’t believe the KLH drivers need any more restoration. But a couple of observations: In terms of pure, low frequency response, I think the -3a has the edge. A/B’ing between the -3a and Twelve using modern electronic music and some organ music, the -3a handles very low tones better. But it’s close. Between the Five and the Twelve (all tone controls flat), the Five sounds more forward on the mids and highs. I like both the KLH models over the -3a for rock music. Another fun experience was playing the Fives and Twelves together. That’s an impressive rock setup. Here’s a pic of the stack at the moment. All three of these projects wouldn’t have been possible without this forum, so thanks as always for that. George

Thanks @DavidR. It’s nice to have external crossover boxes (or easily-removable crossover boards like the Model Five). Much easier to make work look neat when you’re not working inside a cabinet. I thought the Five and Twelve crossovers were both fun projects.