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The pine 3a's are officially done!...


lakecat

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Was waiting for my tweeters from Chris. Got them installed....put on some tunes....and was floored!..lol. Had no idea how much I was missing and I have been thru many pairs. These are keepers and the sound is incredible. The alnico woofers...the awesome mids...and now the new tweeters will have me in music heaven now...:) New caps...pots working...new grills....just killer speakers! 

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Cool! Did you happen to have the Hi-Vi tweets in any 3a's and if so, what would you say about the comparison of those with the rebuilds? I have Hi-Vis in my 3a's and wonder if I should try to replace them with refurbished originals.

Kent

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8 hours ago, JKent said:

Cool! Did you happen to have the Hi-Vi tweets in any 3a's and if so, what would you say about the comparison of those with the rebuilds? I have Hi-Vis in my 3a's and wonder if I should try to replace them with refurbished originals.

Kent

Hi Kent....tough question. I do have my original 3a's that has those tweeters but will need to compare. I feel the originals are better but not enough for the money spent.

When I do a big project like these pine beauties, I fall "in love" with them...just for the fact my mind needs to justify the time and cost!...lol. So I would be a rotten judge right now. Wish I had an audio pal close that could come over and be a fair judge. But when I bent over and put my ear close to the new tweeters while playing...I was shocked on how clear and precise the sound was coming from it. Big difference from them originally and was shocked.

You have the cost of the Hi-Vi's plus the time to install vs the time and cost to replace them. I am not changing my Hi-Vi's in my pair. They have always sounded good. To have to go out and find the originals..the cost of redoing them plus shipping...meh...

But if I bought a pair with originals in them...then yes...would certainly have them redone. I never realized how inept they were in sound until I heard my new ones. That mid was doing much of the work...

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4 hours ago, Giorgio AR said:

Simply beautiful,great job Lakecat! These are a splendid AR3a unfinished pine pair, better than an original AR pair.

Thank you! These were a lot of work to get them in this shape. I am trying to figure out a "protection" for them.

I was thinking satin water poly but afraid to use it as I don't want to change the look. There is a protective wax they have for chalk paint they use on antique furniture. Have to look into that. Any ideas? ...as it does need protected.

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My experience with poly: I did some natural pine paneling about 15 years ago. Downstairs I used oil and upstairs used water. The oil has darkened and yellowed over the years while the water has not.

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🤤

 

Amazing job!!. Enjoy!

 

And I agree about Chris' mastery. Was able to purchase a pair of his 3's a few months ago that he restored everything on and in all my years of listening to and being a fan of various AR speakers I have never heard a pair sound as great as these do. He's an artist.

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15 hours ago, JKent said:

Cool! Did you happen to have the Hi-Vi tweets in any 3a's and if so, what would you say about the comparison of those with the rebuilds? I have Hi-Vis in my 3a's and wonder if I should try to replace them with refurbished originals.

Kent

I had the Hi-Vi tweets in a pair of 3a's before I sent the originals off for a rebuild by Chris, and for me the difference was subtle yet obvious. The originals did a better job of blending in overall with the mids  making for a smoother presentation. I liked the Hi-Vi well enough but from day 1 they were just brighter then I would've preferred, even with the tone pots turned down quite a bit. The originals displayed none of that and were much more natural sounding to my ears. The same now goes for my 3's.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/4/2021 at 11:05 PM, JKent said:

Cool! Did you happen to have the Hi-Vi tweets in any 3a's and if so, what would you say about the comparison of those with the rebuilds? I have Hi-Vis in my 3a's and wonder if I should try to replace them with refurbished originals.

Kent

OK. I answered my own question. Replaced the Hi-Vis with a pair of Chris's excellent rebuilds. These speakers are not in the ideal spot--literally in the middle of the room on top of a bookshelf that divides my workshop from the rec room. But my ersatz 3a's* never sounded better. Put on a Lionel Hampton vinyl and even played on my un-restored AR-XA and with the poor speaker placement, they sounded great. More alive and "there". I had the Hi-Vi's cranked all the way up but these refurbed originals sound right about half-way. Thanks Chris!

*Ersatz 3a's: Originally purchased from our late member ToastedAlmond, one mid and both tweeters were toast (no pun intended) so he sold the speakers at  a very low price. Today I might try to replace those but at the time I decided to upgrade to 3a. So a built-from-scratch crossover, AR-11 mids from Roy and the Hi-Vi tweets joined the original alnico cloth-surround woofer and Bingo! AR-3a's. This was the writeup on the original restoration, 10 years ago: https://community.classicspeakerpages.net/topic/6284-my-ar-33a-saga-a-csp-group-effort/?tab=comments#comment-87255

 

Chris 3a tweets.jpg

Edited by JKent
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