AR-4x Questions

[Guest tgw]

I am in the process of restoring the AR-4x's I use in my home theater and while the tweeters and woofers are still working fine I am wondering about replacements. The AR-4x uses a 2.5 inch cone tweeter. Does anyone know the frequency response? What is the cross over frequency? I see that most cone tweeters in Parts Express have a lower frequency of 2000 hz. Can these be used in the 4x?

I have ordered a second set of AR-4x's on ebay and will use one for my center channel speaker. The pair I have purchased will probably need some work as well. Years ago I removed the tweeter control from the circuit because of corrosion. Now that I know how to take the grill off, I plan on going in and cleaning the potentiometer in the pair that I just purchased.

[cotascope]

the croverover point was very low in the ar 4x and used 20UF caps , you would need a tweeter that goes down to about 1200 cycles . if the tweeters are working i would not replace them and keep them original.in the past i have tried many different tweeters and always thought the original tweeter sounded the best. i have replaced the Lpads on all 3 pair of my ar 4x's, but you can bypass them. most of the time i do have the Lpads turned up amost all the way. regards john cota

[charger3834]

I agree that it is best to stick with the original drivers on the AR-4x. The crossover was 1200 HZ. I would clean the pots rather than bypass them. The smoothest response curve is not going to be with the tweeters wide open. I like my 4x's just slightly advanced from the "normal" position, however everyone will have different tastes.

[Guest tdeutsch]

The Layne website suggests replacing the level control with a $7 replacement he says works better and is more reliable than just cleaning the brass contacts. Agree? Disagree? (from experience, of course...)

I am a new AR-4x owner and have never opened a pair of speakers with intent to fix before. Want to make sure I do it well, but I'm not concerned about re-installing the original parts if others will work better.

[dynaco_dan]

>The Layne website suggests replacing the level control with a

>$7 replacement he says works better and is more reliable than

>just cleaning the brass contacts. Agree? Disagree? (from

>experience, of course...)

>I am a new AR-4x owner and have never opened a pair of

>speakers with intent to fix before. Want to make sure I do it

>well, but I'm not concerned about re-installing the original

>parts if others will work better.

Hi there;

If your AR-4X's work, don't change anything, inside the enclosure.

When the pots are dirty and the tweeters are constantly dropping out, then clean the pots.

If, while cleaning the pots, a small part should break, replace it with a used, but cleaned pot, which are usually available once in a while on ebay, there is at least a few members here who do make them available as well.

If you have to replace a pot, use an original potentiometer, not an L pad.

I cannot explain to you the technical differences properly, there has been very much discussion regarding this issue in the past.

I saw on ebay recently, that a seller replaced the speaker wires from 22 guage to 12 guage, he also replaced the loose fibreglas insulation with a synthetic material.

AR designed the enclosures to be tight, well braced and non-resonating as was feasible and practical.

Replacing the fibreglas with the synthetic wadding may have seriously compromised the woofers performance, if, a lab quality testing wasn't performed on them.

If, you are lucky enough to have AR-4X's with the older cloth surrounds, you may never ever, other than maybe pot or cap trouble or blown drivers, have to remove your grill cloths to service your speakers.

A great speaker for the money.

Good luck and please keep us posted as to your results.

[Guest tdeutsch]

OK, sounds like sage advice. I'll try just cleaning the pots, then resealing with a little bead of plumbers' putty (as per the discussion on this site). I'm sure it will become obvious once I look at them, but will I be just spraying "contact cleaner" to clean these parts or will it involve sanding/polishing (with what -- 800 grit paper?). What about applying an electrician's grade gel (used to make safe splices in aluminum wiring) afterward to prevent future corrosion?

Should I replace capacitors or other components also while I have the cabinet open?

Sorry for the newby questions -- let me know where I can view the info if this has all been covered before.

[Guest gioip]

Anyone know the freq range of Ar4xa woofer?

Is it linear at least 2200hz?

Whath do you think?