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Hoping for some help on this tung oil finish. I've put the speakers in my attic since I applied the tung oil. I took a look at them today and the color appears much more uneven and blonder than I'd hoped. I'm a novice at this and I'm guessing I didn't apply enough coats. It's been a week and a half since sanded the veneers and applied the two coats. The finish has been curing since then. Can I simply apply a few more coats? I don't want to sand the veneers again and start over. Anyone have any advice? Thanks

So I decided to go with a tung oil finish based on something @genek recommended in an old thread. I sanded the veneers with an orbital sander, cleaned them with TSP, then applied two coats of tung oil. I'm very pleased with the results. I picked these 2x's up recently and don't have much attachment to them, but I wanted to try out tung oil on these before I redo the veneers on my 6's (which I am very attached to).

For sale is a pair of AR-3a's that I personally restored using the "Restoring the 3a" guide. Asking price is $1200. Speakers are located in Bath, Maine and can be heard before purchasing. Alternatively, I am willing to meet within one-hour's driving distance to deliver them. I recently upgraded to AR9's and haven't used these much since finishing their restoration. Caps were replaced with Solen capacitors. Pots were opened up but still in excellent condition; I applied some dielectric grease and reinstalled them. There is no scratchiness on the pots. The knobs on the back of the pots are gone. Veneers were sanded and I applied two coats of Danish Oil for a beautiful, oil finish. Grills are in fair shape. There are a couple spots on one grill where the fabric is pulling away, but they are overall in nice condition. The purple embossing on the badges is gone. When I bought these, someone had put cheap replacement woofers in them. I sourced two woofers from Vintage_AR. One is an authentic 3a woofer. The other is an aftermarket replacement. If there is a sonic difference between the two, it is not audible to me. Here is text from the original Vintage_AR posting about the replacement woofer: "About 10 years ago, a Warranty Shop for AR contracted to have a replacement woofer manufactured for the AR-3a. This replacement is now sold by other companies. We were likely the first to test it. The overall appearance as well as the fit is outstanding. However, the spider is too stiff which limits the low end of the range and the cone is too light and passes some of the low midrange tones. We choose not to offer it as is but to rebuild it, replacing the spider with one correct for the AR-3a. We added weight to the cone to eliminate any midrange transmissible. We rebuilt about 3-4 for our own use but it's not economical for resale. The original woofer resonance frequency manufactured by Tonegan for AR is about 21 Hz, this "as is" woofer resonance is about 42 Hz. Once rebuilt by VINTAGE-AR, the resonance is about 24 Hz."

I recently acquired an early pair of AR-2x speakers. Serial numbers are in the 700's and the date stamps inside the cabinets read Oct. 1964. The masonite rings attaching the spiders and surrounds to the basket have pulled away and one cloth surround has come off entirely. Repairing these is beyond my skill so I'm working on having the woofers professionally repaired. For now, I'm wondering about the pots. Does anyone know the specs of the pots in these early 2x's and if replacements are available? These pots are larger and of a different design than the ones I've pulled out of sets of 3a's and 6's. Is there a schematic available for the early 2x? It's relatively simply but I haven't seen one. I've attached some photos of the speakers and pots. Oddly enough, the pots were each covered with half a Dixie cup with a pack of silica stapled over the opening, then the cup was wrapped in skirt material. -George

Bumping this up. Still in the market for one of these center channel speakers.

Great article, @tysontom! Thanks for sharing.

Anyone have an AR205VC speaker they are willing to part with? Can't find one on any of the usual places online...hoping someone here may have one.

A little off-topic, but I'm using a Luxman LV-105u hybrid integrated amplifier to drive my 9's. This amp uses 2x6CG7 tubes in the amp (not pre-amp) section. These amps are kind of looked down on since they're from the BPC Alpine era of Luxman. But the amp delivers 170W into 4 ohms and has powered the 9's without any problem. I usually see these amps list for around $450. I think they're a good budget option if someone wants to power 9's and wants a touch of tube sound.

I recapped my 9's last month. I bought them for a song and figured the caps would need to be replaced due to age. I tested them briefly before recapping, and there was definitely some odd performance issues with the high-range tweeter which went away after the recap. Ended up using a mix of Dayton and Jantzen film caps on the HF and mid-range circuits. For the woofers I used a Jantzen elecap for the 470uf and a bundle of MDL npe's for the 2500uf. All told I spent about $300 on caps and surrounds. I picked this mix of caps based on my price range and these threads: These 9's are the only ones I've heard, so I can't comment on how much a different set of caps would change the sound or if these sound as well as designed. I will say that I love the amount of clean, accurate bass these put out. One of my favorite bass test tracks right now is 1st 44 by Aphex Twin. That track sounded great on 3a's but you really bathe in the bass when played on 9's.

Thanks @Aadams. I think I'm experiencing the slight bass boost below 100hz the manual mentions. I'm going to experiment with EQ-ing the bass a small amount. I know in the winter I'm going to need to pull them at least a few inches away from the heaters. I'm also going to insulate those wires. The room, like the speakers, is a work in progress.

Thanks for all the help previously, everyone. I'm in need of some more advice. 1. How should I attach new grill fabric? The previous owner had the fabric replaced at some point to a tan fabric (I hate it). The larger grills have the fabric attached just using glue. The smaller, side grills appear to be glued with a chrome frame stapled onto the grill (I assume this is the chrome piece I've seen people talk about omitting on other threads). If there is supposed to be chrome frames on the larger grills, they're missing. I've only replaced grill fabric on one set of speakers before (AR-6's) with sub-optimal results. And the only hi-fi store near me doesn't do grill fabric replacement unfortunately. If glue, any suggestions for a glue/fabric combo? Or should I just get a power stapler? 2. What about speaker spikes/feet? I noticed there are screw threads on the bottom of each speaker. Does anyone know a spike set that fits these threads? Or what the thread measurements are? I figure elevating the speakers may help keep the floating floor I'm on from vibrating during heavy bass passages. 3. Finally, any advice on placement in a small room? The centers of the vertical arrays are about 7 feet apart. Unfortunately there isn't much room between the LF woofers and the walls and a record shelf (see pic). Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks @DavidR. Directly behind the woofers is empty in mine but there is dense material further up the cabinet. I believe my speakers are as they should be with regards to wadding material.

@AadamsThanks! Glad there's one less thing I need to worry about.

Hi Everyone. I'm working on my first pair of AR-9s. My question today is about the wadding material. Attached is a picture of the material that is in there now. The larger cabinet has the same material. Is this the correct material for these cabinets? I've only ever worked on earlier models of ARs and none had material like this. I'm wondering if this is replacement material since the LMR woofers had been replaced at some point. Thanks for your help. -George

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to this community and the authors of the AR-3a restoration guide. I just restored a pair that had been bowdlerized with generic, 8-ohm woofers. I sourced proper replacements from Vintage_AR, replaced the caps, and sanded and varnished the veneers with Danish Oil. They're singing again and I couldn't be happier right now. I have pairs of AR-6s and AR-8s but these 3a's are a different beast. Incredible stuff.

Just bought a pair of 3a’s that have all original parts except for the woofers. Dm me if you have a pair. Thanks.

Well I bought my second pair of vintage AR speakers...I might be hooked. These are a pair of AR-8s in overall nice condition. They need new crossover capacitors and surrounds and to have the grille cloth cleaned. Posting this here mainly because the tweeter is interesting to me. Looking around online, I've only seen the AR-8s with the front-wired tweeter similar to the AR-6s I have. These have back-wired tweeters and all the parts appear to be original. Both speaker labels indicate a Feb. 1975 manufacture date. I knew these weren't made for long, but it's also interesting that these were made in 75 but there isn't a listing for them in the 75 catalog. I'm curious what other AR models use these back-wired tweeters? I haven't tested these yet, but in case I need a replacement tweeter down the line, this would be good info to have. I didn't see a part number on the back of the tweeter (only what I thought was manufacture date info), but the front of each has "SFT 6" very lightly stamped. Thanks. IMG_1495.HEIC

Well after family left following Thanksgiving, I got back on the AR-6s. After a couple hours, I was able to resolve the remaining issues with the electronics. (I still can't fathom that I got the voice coil lead soldered to a single strand.) They sound terrific and today is mostly going to be me enjoying these. There are still some lingering issues--for instance, the old foam gaskets aren't sealing well and need to be replaced--but nothing that prevents them from functioning. I'll slowly work on resolving these issues and later the grills/badges (which are just about toast as you can see in the pics below). Please excuse the rudimentary wedges but I don't have any real stands (or bookshelves) in my listening room. Thanks again for all your help @RoyC.

Thanks @RoyC. I'll give it a go this weekend. Fingers crossed this will be the last work I need before the pair is functioning.

Finally got to work on the AR-6s this week. First, the good news. I got one speaker completely reassembled and working. Capacitor and surrounds replaced, pots cleaned. I spliced in some extra wire to make reassembly and service easier in the future. And of course I replaced the cut tinsel wire on the woofer. I was able to play test some music in mono mode on my amp and I'm really impressed with the sound on the single AR-6. As for the bad news. The tweeter on speaker number 2 didn't work after reassembly (and I didn't test before disassembly). I discovered that the tinsel wire connecting the tweeter is severed. After pulling back the duct tape (and making the problem slightly worse), there is about a 1/2" wire missing. Is it possible to save this tweeter by rewiring it? Should I attempt to source an original replacement woofer instead? -George

Thanks @RoyC. I'll post updates once I have them.

I finally have some time to work on these this week now that some parts have come in. Thanks for weighing in. I think I am going to try to do the repair you suggested, @RoyC. What would you recommend using to dissolve the adhesive that is safe for the cone? And what adhesive would you use when gluing them back down again? Thanks

Inexperience possibly. I think the guy I got them from may have opened them up initially. He told me the "cones" needed work (I assumed he meant surrounds) but that the capacitor was good. The capacitors were the old wax block kind, and with this snipped tinsel, I'm assuming maybe he didn't know what he was talking about. Still, no complaints from me. It's all original parts and has apparently been sitting in storage since the mid-90s. I forgot to take 'before' photos. It seems people on here like seeing process photos, so I'll take some as I work on them and post them here. I've never heard classic ARs but I'm excited from everything I've read. Currently using AR5 Hi Res speakers from 2000 or so. Very nice speakers but I'm looking forward to the vintage equipment.

That was my thought too and has me scratching my head. I'm trying to do this restoration the right way, so I'm taking everything slow and trying to do my research correctly.

Hi everyone. This thread has been an incredible resource for me so far. I was lucky enough to pick up a free pair of AR-6s from a local couple. The only other minor speaker restoration I've done in the past was refoaming a pair of Advent Legacy 1s, so the work on this project is much more significant...I could use some help. All of the parts present appear to be original. I have taken a picture of the insides...it appears that I have a US Crossover A configuration (yellow fiberglass not pictured) with the early alnico woofers. One of the woofer stamps (pictured) shows a date of Jul 19 1971. I am performing many of the recommended procedures suggested by this thread and others (replacing the capacitors, cleaning the pots, refoam, etc.), but need some advice on the woofer. As pictured, you can see that one wire connected to the cone is severed midway up. What would be the best way to fix this? Keep in mind, this is my first lengthy speaker restoration. I'm relatively handy (used to repair woodwind instruments for a decade), but audio electronics are new to me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. -George