sWilly

Thanks, yes. I had some left over from my 3a restoration.

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks.

Me too.

Update to these AR-2ax's. They have been completely restored: new caps, pots cleaned, woofer surrounds sealed. A Dremel with a wire brush works great for cleaning the pots. It took some serious sanding but the tops of the cabinets that were trashed turned out pretty nice. I know that some will consider it blasphemy, but I stained them with an ebony stain to give them a dark walnut look (the reddish walnut wasn't going to work with the room these are going in). The original grills had permanent stains so I dyed them black and made a second set with some vintage looking fabric from Amazon. I guess I can switch them depending on my mood. Comparing them to some '68 3a's it surprising how different they are. The 2-ax's seem to have more pronounced mids while the 3a's are boosted in the upper mids. The 3a's seem more balanced overall and generally win out over the 2ax's for me. There are some songs where I prefer the 2-ax's so it depends on the material to some extent. Both are great sounding speakers.

Yeah, that seems improbable, doesn't it? The serial numbers are 77623 and 78028. The '58 stamps are on the 77623. I haven't opened the other one up yet but I'm going to predict different date stamps on that one. I do believe they were assembled at the same time though, as both crossover/control boards were originally installed upside down. Unfortunately, the original owner used them in the upside-down position so the tops are really scratched up.

Huh. Everything would indicate that these are very early 3ax's using parts from '58 then.

The grilles were still glued on with the original glue and everything indicates these are original. Were the red dome tweeters even made in 1958? It could be the stamps are wrong, but it's odd that it appears on both the mids and tweeters. Couldn't read the woofer stamps.

A few days ago I was walking the dog and came across an estate sale that was giving away everything for free. I didn't see anything interesting but I asked if they happened to have any old stereo equipment. They did! They ended up giving me a pair of AR-2ax's (along with a Pioneer PL-518 turntable and a Kenwood TK-66 receiver). Quite a find! As usual, the hi and mids were not working. Today I opened them up and cleaned the pots. Thankfully, all the drivers work and sound great. I think I am going to go ahead and do a full restoration on these: new caps, new pots, seal the surrounds with the good stuff from Roy, new grill cloth, and refinish the cabinets. Question for all of you: I took some pictures of the stamps on the drivers and it looks like they say 1958. Is that possible? I didn't think 2ax's were made until later. ??

Yessir, I cleaned and rebuilt the pots so I am aware of their existence and purpose. I may still do that someday. I'm just not really feeling the need to at the moment.

Yeah, that's exactly where I've ended up. I was waffling about getting the tweeters rebuilt, but the other day I was listening for a long time and realized I'm really enjoying them as they are. Besides, if I need some overly in-your-face treble I can listen to my B&W's. ha!

Interesting. I was originally going to send my tweeters to Roy for a rebuild but I no longer feel the need to do so. They now have the sparkle and "air" that was missing originally. Audible even though my old ears start to roll off at about 11k these days. They are far from modern sounding which is ok, and actually what I was looking for. My other listening rooms are B&W's and studio monitors so I really wanted something mellower. I can listen to these 3a's for hours where I tend to burn out on the other speakers pretty quickly.

Yeah, I did consider that, but honestly I think they've opened up a bit. When I first got them I would turn the tweeters all the way up and could barely hear them. Now the seem to match the other drivers nicely. It's possible I've tricked myself I don't think so, the difference is significant. I do plan on making some stands, but only a few inches. The wife nixed anything taller

No, they are original.

Just a quick update on this AR-3a restoration. Here's what was done- full recap with Mundorf caps, cleaned and re-installed the original pots, one woofer rebuilt by Roy C, and new sealant on the surrounds. Interestingly, at first I wasn't super impressed, particularly with the tweeters, which seemed really quiet. However, after a few hours things started sounding really good. I suspect that speakers sat unused for many years. I wonder if it's possible they needed a "re-breaking in" period? In any case, I am loving these speakers! Thanks for everyone's help in getting them restored. Despite the small, less than ideal, room they sound great. Now to build to some low stands to get them up off floor a little.

Thanks Roy. After reinstalling the woofer and rotating it 180 degrees the problem is worse. If I depress the cone with a little more pressure on one side than the other I am hearing some scraping/rubbing. Are you up for another repair?

Well, the AR-3a's are recapped, pots cleaned, surrounds are sealed, and reassembled. I gave them a try last night and they sounded fantastic. I started with my 100wpc AV receiver because it's the highest wattage amp I have. It's sounded ok but I had to move the volume up quite a bit to get the AR's to respond. Meh. Then I hooked it up to my 20wpc NAD3020 (about 58wpc at 4 ohms) and they sounded awesome. I was barely pushing a watt and had some nice volume. The 3020 never fails to surprise me. What an amazing little amp. Anyway, things were going great until I put on Billie Eilish's "Your Power" which is my go to test for deep bass. At a moderate listening level I started getting a buzz in one of the woofers, sounded like the coil hitting the magnet. I turned it down quickly and gave the woofers a push test. The good speaker took about 2-3 seconds to return. The one with the noise definitely returned faster but took at least a second. I'm going to try reinstalling that woofer to get a better seal and see if the noise goes away. If not, what are your thoughts? Rebuild?

Yes, thanks, I've been chatting with Roy. I'm just trying to determine if they need to be rebuilt or if what I'm hearing is normal for these speakers.

I did a quick sound check on the speakers to verify I did the recap correctly. Everything seems to be working but I do have a question. The tweeter sounds really nice but seems to have a lot less output than the mid and woofer. Is this normal for these speakers? Or maybe I'm not using enough watts (tested on a 50 watt Marantz). I understand these speaker have a pretty mellow high end but they currently seem to lack air or presence. Thoughts? I gotta say, the midrange is stunning. Female vocals felt like they were right in the room. Piano and upright bass- also stunning.

Thanks. I did quite a bit of searching/reading last night. Opinions vary but in general it seems like more watts brings out the best in these speakers.

Thanks Roy, much appreciated.

Thanks Norman. I've been eyeing some Adcoms. I will look closer at the GFA-555. Regarding watts, what might be a good minimum for the AR-3a's? I'm not a super loud listener anymore. I just want them to sound good at low to moderately high levels.

I got one of the speakers recapped tonight. I'm wondering if someone with more experience with these can verify that I've done this correctly. The large cap is a 47 with a 3.3 strapped to it to replace the 50. The small pair is a 3.3 and 2.7 to replace the 6.

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts on the Emo. I'm leaning towards the BasX A2. Andrew seems like them:

I'm wondering if the Emotiva BasX A2 Might be a good fit with the 3a's? 250 WPC at 4ohms.

Woops, typo. It was supposed to be 2238b. There's some NAD's in that price range but yeah, the only way I could get a vintage Marantz, or other power amp in that range would be to find a non-working one and restore it myself. Which is a consideration.