Giorgio AR Posted December 31, 2018 Report Share Posted December 31, 2018 Hi everyone, here is a rare vintage candle kindly supplied by mom Acoustic Research. The wax donor was the 4/6 mF capacitor that belonged to my AR2ax (about 1972/3). I did not want to throw away anything of the condenser and I thought, given the quality raw material, to make me a candle AR: the process to get the candle is simple and well understood from the attached photos. I confess that I have only lit the candle for demonstration purposes, and I sincerely would not consume it soon, probably today, before the New Year, I will have to burn a couple of cm., I hope the light emitted by the candle is to wish my many AR speakers and speakers of all AR enthusiasts. I wish the best 2019 to all AR fans, Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alkermes Posted January 1, 2019 Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 How cool is that ;--) Felice anno nuovo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted January 1, 2019 Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 12 hours ago, Giorgio AR said: I did not want to throw away anything of the condenser and I thought, given the quality raw material, to make me a candle AR Cool candle. Now if you want to try something really ambitious, try Roger's (owlsplace) method of finishing the speaker cabinets with wax salvaged from an AR capacitor. Scroll down near the bottom of the page to see his beautiful AR-5s. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio AR Posted January 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 Thanks Kent for the advice of the further use of wax, I had already read Roger's report on the mod of AR4x, beautiful aesthetic result and unique realization. The wax of the 2nd condenser will be reduced to the shape of a stick (always using a plastic syringe cut), without the wick and its use will be to wax a pair of AR4x cabinet (it was their destiny, but better to use wax original Acoustic Research). I joined CL recently, but over the years I have read almost everything written and this has helped me both in the restorations of my speakers and has made me know many fans and experts AR: the site is an incentive to improve the passion, the restoration and conservation of these magic boxes. I wish you (Alkermes best wishes to you!), To all AR fans a happy new year, better if accompanied by the sound of our speakers AUGURI ACOUSTIC RESEARCH Giorgio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie J Posted January 6, 2019 Report Share Posted January 6, 2019 Hello, a first post here, Charlie J. from Central IA. Found this site searching for AR2a info. A fellow has some for sale on Craigslist, he has replaced mids, tweeters, caps and resistors per the upgrade mod to AR2ax (original cloth surround woofers). The cabs are sanded and ready for finishing. My mains are a pair of Apogee Centaurs with the rare basses. Best speakers I've ever owned. During our move a couple of months ago, I trashed them pretty bad. Destroyed the ribbons, busted off the basses and trashed the outsides. Very depressing... Our new house is a good bit smaller than our old one, and so is my music room. I'd like to acquire the ARs to use while I save my sheckels to get the Apogees repaired. I listen to a wide variety of music, but mainly classic rock, metal and industrial/IDM. I can sometimes get carried away with the volume. My sources are a heavily modded Lenco T75, a heavily modded VPI HW19, a Marantz CD player and an Onkyo cassette deck. They feed a Conrad Johnson PV5 preamp and QSC 3800 power amp. Marinating on a smaller power amp as the ARs don't have near the power appetite as the Apogees. Any recommendations on refinishing the AR cabs? Capacitor wax is unavailable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted January 6, 2019 Report Share Posted January 6, 2019 Welcome Charlie A couple of thoughts: Are you sure the 2a to 2ax upgrade is according to spec, with AR drivers and maintaining the acoustic seal? What is the veneer? If mahogany, they should be lacquered. If walnut they can be either lacquered or oiled. Watco Danish Oil is a good modern alternative to boiled linseed oil. Somewhere in this forum there's a chart showing the finishes available on early ARs. Take a look at the pdf below for finishing methods. I'm guessing the Lesco T75 is really a Lenco "Danger Will Robinson!" The old tweeters in AR speakers WILL blow up if abused. I have no idea what industrial/IDM is but if you turn the volume up to 11 with classic rock and metal there will be "smoke on the water" Having said that, AR speakers like a lot of power and your QSC should play nicely with them at reasonable volume levels. Good luck and keep us posted. Pictures are always welcome. Try to edit them down to about 100KB. -Kent Veneer.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 5 hours ago, JKent said: ...but if you turn the volume up to 11 with classic rock and metal there will be "smoke on the water"... Thx, Kent - - that line gave me the best chuckle from this site in a very long time. 6 hours ago, Charlie J said: ...he has replaced mids, tweeters, caps and resistors per the upgrade mod to AR2ax.... Welcome to CSP, Charlie J. From the original AR-2a, it sounds like the dual mids have been replaced with the single 2ax mid (or AR-4 tweeter), but am curious about the tweeter replacement - - is this the Hi-Vi driver? Cap replacement sounds good, but am curious where the resistors are in this speaker? 6 hours ago, Charlie J said: Any recommendations on refinishing the AR cabs? As JKent has indicated, recommendations for refinishing would probably depend on the wood cabinet veneer species. The image attached lists the original cabinet finishes for the 2a model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie J Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 On 1/6/2019 at 2:20 PM, JKent said: Welcome Charlie A couple of thoughts: Are you sure the 2a to 2ax upgrade is according to spec, with AR drivers and maintaining the acoustic seal? What is the veneer? If . If walnut they can be either lacquered or oiled. Watco Danish Oil is a good modern alternative to boiled linseed oil. Somewhere in this forum there's a chart showing the finishes available on early ARs. Take a look at the pdf below for finishing methods. I'm guessing the Lesco T75 is really a Lenco "Danger Will Robinson!" The old tweeters in AR speakers WILL blow up if abused. I have no idea what industrial/IDM is but if you turn the volume up to 11 with classic rock and metal there will be "smoke on the water" Having said that, AR speakers like a lot of power and your QSC should play nicely with them at reasonable volume levels. Good luck and keep us posted. Pictures are always welcome. Try to edit them down to about 100KB. -Kent Veneer.pdf Thank you both for your input, greatly appreciated! I will attempt to answer point by point: 1. Are you sure the 2a to 2ax upgrade is according to spec, with AR drivers and maintaining the acoustic seal? I don't know of it was done to spec, drivers from PE, don't know right now if seal was maintained. 2. What is the veneer? Not sure. Per seller. "Some are dark, some are light." All are sanded and ready for finishing, again per seller. 3. I'm guessing the Lesco T75 is really a Lenco. Yes, actually was a T78 but the mods render them identical. 4. I have no idea what industrial/IDM is but if you turn the volume up to 11 with classic rock and metal there will be "smoke on the water" That was an excellent reference! Industrial is a genre kind of like metal but not. More synth, less guitar, drum machines, futuristic, lots of industrial sounds sampled. Classic examples include Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, some Fear Factory. IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) is Industrial with a driving dance beat, usually VERY heavy on the bass. Praga Khan, The Crystal Method and most Frontline Assembly are IDM. 5. Having said that, AR speakers like a lot of power and your QSC should play nicely with them at reasonable volume levels. My QSC 3800 has 20 output transistors per channel and is stable down to one Ohm. It puts out 850 wpc @ two Ohms or 600 wpc @ four Ohms. Very high current PA amp I used to drive huge 18" and 15" subs simultaneously (2100 watts bridged mono @ 4 Ohms!) I'll use the QSC for now and see what shakes from under the tree! Back last century I did PA for some metal bands in the KC area and acquired some noteworthy pro audio pieces. The 3800 was one of many pro audio power amps I used. I sold the Lion's share a while ago, too old to schlep around all that heavy stuff. Did manage to keep a few interesting items, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie J Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie J Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 On 1/6/2019 at 7:52 PM, ra.ra said: Welcome to CSP, Charlie J. From the original AR-2a, it sounds like the dual mids have been replaced with the single 2ax mid (or AR-4 tweeter), but am curious about the tweeter replacement - - is this the Hi-Vi driver? Cap replacement sounds good, but am curious where the resistors are in this speaker? Thank you both so much for your warm welcome! I don't know if the ARs have resistors in their x-overs or not. If the tweets are Hi-Vis, I hope the xovers have the recommended resistors... As per the photos, one enclosure was converted into a powered sub. 12" Pioneer driver & Bash 300 watt plate amp, expect it'll sound better than my Polk sub that'd be better for ht... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 Here are a pair of AR2a's that were upgraded to Ar2ax's. I have subsequently changed them back to the original dual midrange configuration. No resisters in the 2a or 2ax speakers at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 As per the photos, one enclosure was converted into a powered sub. 12" Pioneer driver & Bash 300 watt plate amp, expect it'll sound better than my Polk sub that'd be better for ht... So, one speaker is a 3-way and the other was converted to a sub? I wish you well but IMHO those ARs were ruined. If I'm reading this correctly you have 2 cabinets (possibly unfinished pine?) and one original AR 10" woofer. I would never buy those but it sounds like you already did. I guess you can just enjoy them but some day you may want to buy a non-bastardized pair of the real things. Sorry to sound harsh. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted January 8, 2019 Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 2 hours ago, Charlie J said: I hope the xovers.... Wow, hard tellin' what's been done to the speaker in the first pic - - both the mid and the tweeter are most certainly not AR drivers. And that powered sub????? - - - have never seen anything like that built from an AR cabinet. 2 hours ago, lARrybody said: Here are a pair of AR2a's that were upgraded to Ar2ax's. I have subsequently changed them back to the original dual midrange configuration. No resisters in the 2a or 2ax speakers at all. Those are the rare Korina veneer, yes? They look simply terrific. Re: resistors - - I've never seen it in person, but I think there is one version of 2ax that has a parallel resistor on the mid driver. 9 minutes ago, JKent said: ....possibly unfinished pine? Yep, looks like the utility pine cabinet to me, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Pierre Posted January 11, 2019 Report Share Posted January 11, 2019 On 1/7/2019 at 7:13 PM, Charlie J said: Thank you both for your input, greatly appreciated! I will attempt to answer point by point: That was an excellent reference! Industrial is a genre kind of like metal but not. More synth, less guitar, drum machines, futuristic, lots of industrial sounds sampled. Classic examples include Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, some Fear Factory. IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) is Industrial with a driving dance beat, usually VERY heavy on the bass. Praga Khan, The Crystal Method and most Frontline Assembly are IDM. Kudos Charlie! You just summed up so much of my early 90s listening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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