[Phil Spector Wall of Sound... kinda]

On 4/2/2023 at 1:34 PM, RoyC said:

Nice work!

Have you decided on your primary system yet? How are the AR-11 tweeters (per our discussion) doing in your 3a's?

Roy

Well after listening to Larry's rebuilt tweeters on his 2Xa, I think the ones in my 3a;s are weak, and the mids sound rather crass. So, I'm likely going to rebuild the tweeters, or have them rebuilt that is. I was tied up this week and haven't been able to sit back and run each set through a good listening test. I don't plan on setting any of them up in pairs or otherwise. I'm limited to my 100 WPC amp, and these 3's use every bit of it. I'll be reporting back soon. Once I've done a listening test and decided which speakers sound best in my living room, then the rest will be offered for sale. Until then, I still have some tweaking to do.

[Phil Spector Wall of Sound... kinda]

15 hours ago, lARrybody said:

Very Very Impressive. Are your cats well behaved?  

LOL. good eye! First thing I did after taking the picture was to surround the speakers with a cardboard "fort".. 

[Phil Spector Wall of Sound... kinda]

Here they are with their clothes on...

[Phil Spector Wall of Sound... kinda]

Whew. That was a marathon month. I just finished this stack of speakers. 

All have new surrounds, some have new cones, all have been recapped, Pots cleaned and/or replaced, new fuses for the lst's, and all tested. The cabinets on all but the LST-2's have all been sanded and my special blend of tung oil and spar varnish applied. The Ar2-ax and the Ar3-a I have added a small tab to allow easy removal of the grill.  On the AR2ax I removed the gunky black gunk from around the outside rim to expose the nice metal rim.  All have near perfect grills, I'll post a picture of them once I get them re installed.  The baffles of the Ar2ax and Ar 3a have been refinished and painted. (Removed the old crusty grill glue).

I cant seem to get the hang of being "retired!" LOL.

[Acoustic Research AR LST-2 Schematic]

While going through a pile of manuals and paperwork from an estate I acquired, I found the following drawing of an AR LST-2 schematic. I had actually been looking for one, since I am restoring a nice pair of LST-2's. I was unable to find anything online. I hope this drawing is useful to someone somewhere.

[A couple LST questions]

14 minutes ago, Aadams said:

The betting line on your tweeters performing anywhere close to original spec would be a 1,000,000 to 1 even if they are perfect on a volt/ohm meter. All of us who have had our tweeters rebuilt know this a near universal pragmatic truth.

After my abysmal NCAAM bracket failure, I'm not betting on anything LOL. I'm going on Roy's advice to get the crossover taken care of first. I'm crossing my fingers, as having tweeters rebuilt on 2 sets of LST's will make a serious dent in my lunch money!  I did luck out on the AR3's, the tweeters were OK.

[A couple LST questions]

You guys are great. 

Just a small update. 

Replaced old FNM-10 (previous owner?)with new FNM-2

New woofer surrounds are drying as we speak

Cabinets are sanded and ready for finish

Testing capacitors later today

Ordering replacements for the old wax caps and any other caps that show out of spec.

Once that is all installed, I'll be testing the tweeters to determine if they need to be rebuilt.

I'll post up some pics of the progress.

 

Again, thanks guys!

[A couple LST questions]

Thanks JeffS, you might be on to something there. Aadams, are you recommending to leave the 5000 cap?

[A couple LST questions]

I haven't been able to find a schematic that replicates the existing crossover in my LST. I have attached 2 photos. The first shows the existing crossover with the capacitors labeled. The second is an old diagram (which shows a 2500MF setup). The question is, the old AR LST Drawing is missing two capacitors present in my existing crossover. A 4 and a 6.  In addition, the schematic shows a 40mfd, which I presume is the 30mfd in my existing crossover. Thoughts?

[A couple LST questions]

Good on ya Jnolan! We'll be on this journey together. I've looked at the various schematics and LST discussions, but Really didn't get a strong sense of whether to replace that cap with a 2500 (and accompanying cap add on). I've been in touch with Roy, who has been very helpful about the tweeters. I figured the best approach was to get the crossover right, then go from there.

[A couple LST questions]

Hi gang,

After combing the site and reaching the end of the internet, I'm left with a couple questions regarding restoration of a couple sets of LST's.

Over the past month I have restored both a set of 2ax and 3a's. Now I'm onto 2 sets of LST's and a single set of LST-2's. After opening them up and checking them out, I have a few questions before I dive in.

Set 1 of the LST's have a serial number of 139 and 140. The set has all the original tweeters and midranges, and have TGN 1210003-2A replacement woofers. I plan to fully recap them. As you can see in the picture, they have the old 5000 60V capacitor. I've read that AR changed over to 2500 caps and the reasons why. My question is simple.. would you guys recommend going ahead with replacing the 5000 with a 2500? Or, go with the OEM 5000 set up?

Set 2 of the LST's is more of a historical cabinet question.  The previously mentioned Set 1 is set up with a removable back panel, allowing easy access to the crossover. Set two has no such panel. Having no serial number on set two (back papers missing...grrrrr) I am curious if anyone can shed light on the cabinet change?

As always, I appreciate you guys and your knowledge. 

Richard

[AR2AX 10" slightly muddied sound]

I tried to contact RoyC through the message link, but when I hit send I get a note stating RoyC cannot be messaged. So I have no idea how to reach him. I have some tweeters that need rebuilding.  Any help would be appreciated.

[Thanks for the add. Working on mld restoration of a pile of AR's.]

On 2/18/2023 at 9:39 AM, Aadams said:

Assuming all the drivers are present and correct, the combined value of all the electronics in the room is lower than the value of the speakers that are sitting in direct contact with a concrete floor, being used as equipment stands. 

yup

 

[Thanks for the add. Working on mld restoration of a pile of AR's.]

Hi, I've been a follower of this forum for some time now. I recently bought out an estate up here in Washington State. Included in the purchase were (2) AR LST (pretty nice) (2) AR LST (need work) (2) LST2 (fairly nice) (2) AR 3a (fairly nice) 2 AR 2Ax (fairly nice) and an unusual homemade subwoofer derived from the working of an A25. It appears the previous owner did the needed repairs of new surrounds, cleaning pots and such, and new grill materials. From what I can see, this work was done around 10 years ago or so.

Most of the work I intend to do will be cabinet work, but I won't know the full extent until I have tested each one.  Once they are finished I will likely put them out on the market, as I already have a Marantz 4100 set up with JBL L7's that I really like.

I know the hazing around here includes showing pictures, so here is one after I destroyed the guest bedroom with all the gear from the estate sale.  once my old tired bones are up to it, I'll dig the speakers out into a stack and post some proper pictures.

Again, thanks for the membership, and I look forward to the mentoring as I work through the projects.  As an added note, I'm more handy than handsome, and have done a lot of woodwork and electronics in my day.  Taking the way back machine to 1974ish, you would have found me working for Speaker Factory in Bellevue, WA (I was fired for dropping a speaker in the warehouse LOL).  My main hobby these days is restoring old Italian motorcycles, so I'm used to the fine art of drinking wine while staring at illogical wiring diagrams. Talk at you later.

Richard AKA Sunnbobb