Jump to content

They are here, my AR-3a's


Guest OldRelayer

Recommended Posts

Guest OldRelayer

After all my looking on Ebay and wherever I finally have them.

Ebay wasn't the place to look, the speakers available were really all mismatched crap.

The infamous Roy C. put together a matched pair with all the right stuff and they sound terrific. And even though he doesn't think so they also look great. Got the wife approval "those are beautiful", it doesn't get any better than that when it comes to wives and speakers.

Even with my Haromn Kardon they sound terrific, they will be awesome with my Marantz when I get it back.

I couldn't be more pleased and well worth the wait for something so much better. When I think of the crap I was looking at on Ebay for more money, I think myself very lucky.

Enjoying

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest postjob62

Barry,

Glad you're enjoying your 3a's. I too have a pair from Roy C. Not knowing how much work he is interested in taking in, I haven't said too much about him, but since you "outed" him let me just say that if you have a pair of Roy's speakers you now own a work of art; Roy will agonize over drivers, caps, coils and pots/L-pads until he gets the sound exactly right. It would be a much easier restoration I'm sure if he were to just replace components with similar ones of original specs, but his theory seems to be that of working backward from the correct sound to the blend of components that produce that sound. And yes, he is hard on himself regarding cosmetics, but mine too are beautiful to me and enjoy enough WAF to have earned themselves a spot back in the family room where previous speakers had been banished.

You are precisely correct about ebay; no matter how good they look or what the seller says, the vast majority of classic AR's on ebay are really just a jumping-in point. They will almost always need caps, surrounds and pots as a minimum. I don't think most sellers intentionally misrepresent them, I just think they really don't have the specialized knowledge to know what is needed. I have started to judge ebay purchases mostly on cosmetics, since in most cases the electronics are more easily restoreable.

If I could ask you, what sort of HK are you driving them with, and what sort of Marantz will you be using?

Congratulations again on an excllent decision on the 3a's from Roy. I hope yours bring you as much joy as mine do me.

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest OldRelayer

Thanks for the reply Ed.

I couldn't be more pleased. They are beautiful and even my wife said "I didn't realize what we have been missing". We had AR-5's and they went away as a result of what I call speaker wars. But she loves the look of the 3a's, who couldn't they look great.

The HK is a nice one, a PM655, it has great turntable capabilities trim caps MC and MM inputs and for someone that has digital and analog it is a nice amp. It is quite powerful and is high current. I may just keep it and use it in my office with a pair of Minimus 7's. The Marantz is the tour de Force, a 4 channel 4140 that just has the sweetest 70's Marantz sound. I brought it in to have it brought up to spec, just like speakers the caps and resistors need to be replaced over time. I bought it when I thought I was going to bi-amp but I also knew it would be the sweetest 2 channel amp if I didn't use it that way and I was quite right. I am trying to get the same sound I had with my Marantz 1070 and my AR-5's and I have no doubt that is what will happen, if not better. My AR-XA arrived today as well, need to cover that in another post.

When John O. sensed my frustration looking for a nice pair of matched speakers he suggested I contact Roy. He knew that I wasn't just looking for a run of the mill piece of crap. I must send John a fruit basket or something, that was the best move. I don’t' have your post in front of me, so I don't know if I answered everything, if not I will get it next time.

Thanks

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Barry and Ed,

You are both too kind! Restoring a pair of speakers for you guys is not like "fixing up" a pair for a non-audiophile relative:-).

My obsession is to make them seem new while maintaining authenticity.

That means matching drivers, and measuring everything from crossover components/level controls to cabinet stuffing.

For example, Barry, in one of your cabinets I found an out of spec #9 woofer inductor which I replaced with another #9. That inductor had a deformed bobbin and appeared to be "over-wound". I would be willing to bet it came out of the factory that way.

Ebay is indeed a crapshoot, but it is pretty much our only source for authentic parts. New replacement drivers are very expensive and are only *similar* to the originals. They therefore must be purchased in pairs, resulting in a very expensive "approximation" of the original speakers...so, I pan for gold in Ebay, yard sales and Goodwill type stores, as so many of our fellow forum members do.

Of course any remaining cosmetic imperfections always bug me because I want them to look brand new at the end of the day.

John deserves much credit (and more fruit baskets:-)) for my attention to detail. We have been comparing notes, sharing parts and generally helping each other out for over a year (though shipping charges between NY and Arizona are a pain:-)). He is relentless when it comes to investigating and researching what is required to make things technically correct.

Much of the enjoyment and satisfaction for me is in "sharing the hobby"..which of course is what this great forum is all about. Who would have thought 35 years ago that we would be sharing it through computers located in every corner of the world!

Thanks again guys. You made my day!

Roy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest postjob62

Hi Barry,

I'm not an expert on the old Marantz's but I do have a 1060 integrated and several 2230's. These sound great with 3a's as long as volume requirements are reasonable. Part of the reason is that the 30 wpc rating is very conservative; the other is that they put out as much or more power into a 4 ohm load as they do into an 8 ohm load. Keep in mind that the 3a is a 4 ohm speaker, while your 5's were 8 ohm. Therefore, an amp that pushed your 5's nicely might not do well with 3a's.

I only mention this because somehow in my mind I seem to think that the 4140 is basically two 2270 amp sections in the same box. (The classic-audio.com site is down again so I can't find out for sure right now). Anyway, point is that while the 2270 sounds great with 5's and many other 8 ohm speakers, it is a really bad matchup with 3a's. It's not just that it won't drive 3a's, but it also sounds not too good trying. So if the combination does not match your expectations, you might want to check out the 4140's 4 ohm rating to make sure it is as much as (preferably more than) it's 8 ohm rating.

I apologize if you are already aware of this, or if I am mistaken, but just thought it was worth mentioning.

Regards,

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest OldRelayer

I am not really sure what the 4 ohm rating is for the 4140 but it is 70 w/c, I guess into 8 ohms, these old Marantz amps were rated very conservatively. I purposely didn't get another 1070, which I liked quite well. I am hoping it sounds great but I guess if it doesn't I have a couple of other options. The H/K sounds good and probably even better than good, but it doesn't have the Marantz sound. I do have a Marantz AV Receiver that does sound good and is 100 w/c. I don't have the 4140 right here so I can't say, but the H/K has a 4 ohm/8 ohm switch, not quite sure what it does different, I didn't hear any difference when I switched it. The H/K is probably a better amp than I give credit, it is powerful 90 w/c and supplies high current or so the literature says. If I had to live with the H/K I guess I could, but I don't want to. I would either use the Marantz AV Receiver which is really over kill or just pick up a high powered Marantz from the same era. I find it hard to believe that it will be neccessary but I have been wrong oh so many times.

Thanks

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest OldRelayer

Ok, mystery solved. Got my amp back, finally. Drives my 3a's like Babe Ruth hitting one out of Yankee stadium. The guy took 3 forevers, but I told him I wanted the amp to sound like the day it was produced and it was worth the wait. OMG, sounds great.

Happy is the Man,

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest OldRelayer

Thanks for the post Frank. Indeed it was worth the wait, Roy did a fine job of putting these together for me. The missing part of the puzzle was the amp, which is also working superbly. Now I am in the same situation you were, need to sell some of this equipment, don't have any place to keep it. We landed up driving back in a snow storm, it would have been hard to meet up that day. I trust everything went well for you, I am sure he got a great pair of speakers.

Thanks

Barry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...