AR 7 Woofers

[Guest Randy O]

Was curious if the woofer from AR 7 was basicly the same as those from 4x? I picked up a pair of 7's this weekend and one of the woofers was toast and the other in need of refoaming. Having an old 4x woofer I figured I could swap it out, but noticed the magnets were different. The 4x has the taped magnet while the 7 has a sealed magnet with a plastic ring around it. Should I try finding a matching woofer or will it be ok to use the two different styles together? I should say these will be wall mounted in a fish house so I'm not worried about having "true AR 7's". just good sounding and looking speakers for the long nights on the lake without spending lots of money.

[tysontom]

The original woofers on the AR-7 and AR-4x were slightly different to accomodate the different box resonance and so forth; but if the AR-7s are not for critical listening, you could substitute the 4x woofer and not tell a great difference. The 4x woofer is also somewhat deeper than the ceramic-magnet AR-7 woofer, but there is sufficient depth in the cabinet for the 4x woofer.

--Tom Tyson

[Guest Randy O]

Thanks Tom, I'll try the swap with a refoam. This is the first pair of 7's I ever seen so for $5.00 thought I'd try them out. Guess I got spoiled early buying four AR 5's in '72' and a pair of 3a's in '73' which I still own. Now with the internet I've tried numerous model 2,4,6's all sort of dissapointing. As with any product once you use their "top of the line" models the "lesser" models are put at a dissadvantage trying to hold their own, even though they are good products for their own design.

[Guest Randy O]

I tried the 4x speaker tonight. Although it fit in the cabinet, it was a different sound than the AR7 woofer. Not wanting to second guess AR's design and engineering I'll take the "dead" AR7 speaker to the shop and see if they can revive it. Thanks again.