Martin_H Posted June 18, 2019 Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 Hi all, I've had a pair of AR94 speakers since they were new. I think they are the original model. They have been in various garage / storage spaces for about 30 years since the foams went, but I could never quite bring myself to get rid of them. This last winter I bit the bullet and got a refoaming kit. I've never done it before but the job turned out to be quite straightforward. I got some fabric and made new socks for them and they sound pretty good. That's all I was planning to do, I didn't want to go down the big upgrade rabbit hole! I would show pictures but can't seem to be able to upload, maybe it's because I'm new here? But while I was refoaming I played some tones through them to make sure the cones were nicely centred and noticed that the bass/mid roll-off wasn't working the same on both speakers. I put it to the back of my mind but it keeps coming back, so today I ordered a pair of 100uF capacitors that I can solder in to replace the one(s) that have obviously blown. That ought to improve the lower midrange sound quality a bit. I can feel that rabbit hole sucking me in... While I'm doing some work, should I replace the 4uF capacitors that balance out the tweeter sound, just in case? Should I have a go at pulling out the dented tweeter cones? Also, the finishing touch: anyone know a source for "AR" badges to stick on the front, the original ones got broken and fell off a long, long time ago... Thanks for any advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted June 18, 2019 Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 I love looking at pictures. Especially of things like food, pretty women, pets and AR Speakers. Seriously though try resizing them to 100KB or so. You can also use a image hosting site such as imgur or flicker. Oh and by the way welcome to the best place on the planet for help and opinion about your classic speakers. Hope the caps brings your woofers in line. Like I said pictures are great especially with AR94 speakers because there were several versions of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 Those look quite a lot like my ones, lARrybody. Thanks for the tip about resizing the pictures! Here's some of the work so far plus one of the capacitor I am going to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted June 18, 2019 Report Share Posted June 18, 2019 Welcome Martin Lookin' good with the new sox. There were several versions of the 94. I restored/modded some 94Si's a few years ago. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/8149-ar-94si-improved/&tab=comments#comment-99906 Definitely replace all of the caps as long as you're in there. Those black and Red Callins (or Whale) caps are notorious for leaking. New 4uF film caps are cheap and worthwhile as preventive maintenance if nothing else. -Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Mine do look like yours. Mine are AR94R models. A guy at work has a pair with walnut top caps. They may be Si or Sx models. Like most AR speakers they really like power run thru them. I re-caped mine with Dayton 5% Metalized Polypropylene Capacitors. They sounded good with a Pioneer SX-780, but when I powered them with a Adcom GFA 555II they really came alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 OK, so it turns out mine are AR94ER models. Whatever that means. There seem to be as many models as there are actual speakers. Maybe "E" for "Economy", I seem to remember these were the cheapest AR floorstanders in the shop. Or perhaps "E" for "European market"? Anyone know? Anyway, when new they sounded great with my Cyrus 2 amp. Unfortunately I managed to fry the power stages of that amp somewhere along the line with a short circuit at the turntable end. It had no protection circuts, I guess. I sent it away to repair but they said it had basically melted down to slag and was unrepairable. I'm currently using its replacement, a Linn Majik I integrated amp. It has a nice phono stage and it seems to have enough oomph to drive the ARs. Hopefully once I've re-done the capacitors the whole setup will be back to its their former glory. I'm now thinking of upgrading the turntable. Damn these rabbit holes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Kent, I like what you did with your 94Si restorations, replacing the socks with grills. Very smart. I considered building front covers for them, but I don't have your skills. Also the chipboard is pretty scruffy and would have needed a lot of sanding and staining, so I went for sock replacement as the simpler option. Thanks for the tips on cap replacement, and yes one of those 100uF caps had definitely leaked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio AR Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Hi Martin, the E written on the label of your speakers stands for England, the country where they were assembled (electrical components: speakers USA. Cabinet built by English furniture maker!). Beautiful speakers, once finished they will give you years and years of great music! Giorgio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted June 19, 2019 Report Share Posted June 19, 2019 Hi Martin, and welcome. I was going to suggest that the "E" might signify the Euro market, but England is an equally plausible explanation. Not sure if this schematic or parts list fully matches your pair, but there might be something helpful here. In the schematic, you can see that the 4uF cap is directly in line with the tweeter, and as Kent has already noted, this should be replaced at the same time. Many people find that film caps work well in this application and are also very affordable, but a 100uF film cap will be huge and expensive, so a simple electrolytic cap suits this purpose well and is easy on the budget. Edit: almost forgot to say that your re-foam looks good, but trying to get rid of the annoying dents in the tweeter caps can sometimes be a frustrating process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 Thanks for the schematic, ra.ra. The crossover circuit matches and so does the model number on the 8" lower midrange unit, so I expect the rest matches too. One more question you might know - I lost the manual for these speakers a long time ago, but I seem to remember it recommending the speakers be placed flat against the wall. Although I've currently got them a foot or so away, I was thinking of experimenting - but it would be interesting to know what the recommendation was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted June 20, 2019 Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 Here's the 91/92 manual. The 94 was in the same series so my guess is they are, like the 91/92, meant to be against the wall. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/ar-9_series_1978-1981/ar-9_series_manuals/ar-91_ar-92_manual/ar-91_ar-92_manual_pg1.html#previous-photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 20, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2019 Wow, thanks Kent, what a great resource this site is, I hadn't found that library! The wording in that manual about positioning definitely rings lots of bells from my AR94 manual back in the day. Room re-arrangement coming up. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted June 21, 2019 Report Share Posted June 21, 2019 Although not a user manual, these bits are part of a four-page Teledyne brochure from 1980 for AR High Tech Speakers (AR-93 and 94), which does acknowledge that these floor-standers are related to the AR-9 lineup. I particularly like the section view, but the text is very good, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_H Posted June 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2019 Thanks again, ra.ra. Of course it meant I had to rearrange my listening room to get the left speaker out of the corner. Rules is rules! But they do seem to sound smoother in the low frequencies now. Listening to UB40's "Tyler", my favourite track for checking out bass response, there are no nasty dips or resonances, so I'm happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn E Posted August 31, 2019 Report Share Posted August 31, 2019 Martin H, I would have thought that you would get better stereo imaging without the bookshelf between the speakers. I have a pair of 93s and place them about 30cm from the wall and toe them in a tad. I have also ditched the original bases and put the speakers on 25 cm stands. Having said that, all rooms are different so whatever works for you. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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