Jump to content

AR-ax blown woofer / what to do?


IvanB

Recommended Posts

Well i am sick and more than a little pissed at myself.  I scored a pare of AR-2ax speakers (Serial #'s in the  75000's) on craigslist from the original owner. He got the unfinished cabinets and put a rosewood veneer on them, they had not been used in many years. They worked but the pots were bad, i set them aside and  i saved my money and got new pots put them in and fired them up.

Everything was great, tweeter and mids worked good and the new pots function well. Woofers also sounded great until i got a little over zealous with my Dark side of the Moon sacd.  I got half way through the cd and in the middle of "Time" one woofer gave out. (ran out of time)    So sad, these are   woofers with the cloth surrounds,  6 mounting holes, round magnets stamped Jan 1968.  I pulled it and I get no reading with a multi-meter on the posts What are my options.  let the flogging begin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ivan,

The cloth surround AR-2 series woofers do pop up on the auction site fairly often.

I keep a pirate stash of my own as I too have applied too much power to the series two woofers.

After receiving the replacement, it's a good idea to determine whether the cloth doping has disappeared.

My experience with the cloth surround drivers has been that the surrounds are all porous to some extent.

The proper sealant, judiciously applied, will make a world of difference.

Use the correct stuff (available through Vintage AR or others ) or disaster may befall you.

I had read that Shoe Goo was a nifty sealant for this purpose and so had used it on a pair of KLH 6 woofers.

It was great at first but the stuff continues to harden as time goes by and soon the cone was not nearly as compliant as needed.

Luckily, Shoe Goo dissolves with gasoline and so I was able to remove it without dissolving the original glue adhering the cloth to the cone.

So a word to the wise is to do it right the first time!

 

Best regards,

 

Lou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Lou, i will keep an eye out for one. In the mean time if i want to use the speakers until i get a match what are my options? If i am not concerned ( should i be ? ) with sticking with the cloth is  A pair of  foam surround units from a later model equal or better, or replacement reproductions, or upgrade.? 

Anybody with thoughts on options would be appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you choose to use the later foam surround drivers you'll need to obtain the Masonite adapter rings ( available from Vintage AR ).

The hole pattern and diameter of the earlier die cast drivers and the later foam surround units is different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Just to update: i posted on another forum as well and i was gifted a replacement woofer by a kind anonymous person. Wow.

It works great,  after listening to a few acoustic Dead, Garcia band and jazz albums i have determined that i  have one issue with one tweeter to deal with.  Thanks  for the replies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome Ivan.

Glad that worked out so well! The 2ax is a really nice speaker and I like the cloth surround woofers.

Another option for your tweeter issue: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ACOUSTIC-RESEARCH-AR-3-AR-2ax-TWEETER-REPAIR-SERVICE-LOW-VOLUME-NO-OUTPUT/163067804716?hash=item25f7993c2c:g:fRcAAOSwCNpaw-sP  This is also the source for the surround sealant.

-Kent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...