carlbarry Posted March 7, 2019 Report Share Posted March 7, 2019 Hi. I'm new to this forum. Great to see AR lives! I have two AR 3A for my front speakers, two AR 4X for my back. All bought new way back when. I've replaced some pots, and one 3A mid range (speaker wire broke), but otherwise 50 years on, they still sound great. However, my right front AR 3A has developed a problem. The tweeter sometimes cuts in and out. Sort of like as if there was a dirty potentiometer, but that's not it as the pot is new and makes no noise. This is intermittent; it comes and goes. One day I have the problem, the next day it seems fine. So I need help from you experts: Is it likelier that I just need a new tweeter, or could it be a capacitor problem? Thanks. I love my ARs and sure don't want to replace them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted March 8, 2019 Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 Welcome carlbarry Nice surround setup! Intermittent problems are tough to diagnose, so I hope others will join in. But here are some random thoughts: How long ago did you replace the pots and what did you use (potentiometers or L-pads)? Pots can corrode again. Twisting the knob back & forth may scrape them clean temporarily. It's possible your solder connections are cold or otherwise bad. There are no new tweeters. You could replace the AR with a new Hi-Vi, which works well but another consideration would be to send both tweeters to CSP member Chris1this1 to be rebuilt. Members here say he does an excellent job rebuilding these ancient tweets. btw--did you save the mid with the broken wire? RoyC can fix that. I doubt capacitors would cause the problem you describe. OTOH, those old caps have probably drifted and are due for replacement. Same goes for the 4x's. Be sure to download the AR-3a resto booklet: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_schematicss/restoring_the_ar-3a/ -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickB Posted March 8, 2019 Report Share Posted March 8, 2019 Chris1this1 and the Hi-Vi have gotten wonderful reviews but this link shows another replacement(maybe).https://www.midwestspeakerrepair.com/shop/home-audio/mw-audio-mt-4121-75-inch-dome-tweeter/. Has anyone tried these yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aadams Posted March 10, 2019 Report Share Posted March 10, 2019 On 3/8/2019 at 11:49 AM, RickB said: Has anyone tried these yet? This is the latest opinion I have seen on CSP. Summary is not a first choice for 3a w/o crossover changes which no one has worked out. Starting top of page 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlbarry Posted March 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 On 3/8/2019 at 10:18 AM, JKent said: Welcome carlbarry Nice surround setup! Intermittent problems are tough to diagnose, so I hope others will join in. But here are some random thoughts: How long ago did you replace the pots and what did you use (potentiometers or L-pads)? Pots can corrode again. Twisting the knob back & forth may scrape them clean temporarily. It's possible your solder connections are cold or otherwise bad. There are no new tweeters. You could replace the AR with a new Hi-Vi, which works well but another consideration would be to send both tweeters to CSP member Chris1this1 to be rebuilt. Members here say he does an excellent job rebuilding these ancient tweets. btw--did you save the mid with the broken wire? RoyC can fix that. I doubt capacitors would cause the problem you describe. OTOH, those old caps have probably drifted and are due for replacement. Same goes for the 4x's. Be sure to download the AR-3a resto booklet: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_schematicss/restoring_the_ar-3a/ -Kent Thanks for the help! The pots I am sure are not noisy. But the cold solder suggestion . . . it was not easy working in there, so maybe that's it. I will have to check. And by "new" tweeter, I meant "new" to me LOL, not newly manufactured. I wasn't able to fix the wire on the mid range, so I bought a replacement on ebay. That was a few years ago. And of course, I did not throw out the old mid range. I did download the book. It's fantastic! And it confirmed my suspicion about my speakers, that they are the original edition--the woofer has that weird cardboard part. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted March 11, 2019 Report Share Posted March 11, 2019 42 minutes ago, carlbarry said: And of course, I did not throw out the old mid range. Did not? RoyC may be able to repair it and then you'd have a spare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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