AR 90 side grill disassembly observations and questions

[Mr. Weather]

I made new slim side grills for my AR90 speakers, so the original 4 side grills have been waiting to be stored.  I am not a fan of the original thick side grills and I've always wondered why they're designed like they are. One of the 4 was coming apart so I decided to pry it open and see what was in there.  Opening it revealed that the outer grill assembly (3/4" thick) has holes for mounting pegs that are not used.  The thinner plastic frame (1/4" thick) was glued to the larger frame that holds the fabric, and the thinner frame is what attaches to the cabinet with pegs.  For some reason, AR glued this plastic frame in the middle, even  though the outer frame was designed to be mounted to the cabinet.  I have no idea why this thinner frame was added.  It just makes these side grills protrude more.  Maybe that was the point, to draw attention to the side mounted woofers.  The thicker outer frame and inner thin frame add up to 1+ inch.  The cabinet has two of these, plus a small gap where they mount to the cabinet, which adds more than 2 inches to the width of the overall cabinet.

Clearly someone in the past attmpted a sloppy repair of these and I found two other kinds of glue that was not the factory glue.  The factory glue is slightly brittle and when pried with a flat screwdriver, it snaps and the parts release.  The origial glue can be scraped off without too much effort.  But the other 2 glues were different. One was gummy and one was a hard foam like Gorilla Glue.  Anyhow, the bonds released without damaging the original plastic frames which are very study.

I will finish removing the glue, wrap these up, label them, and store them somewhere safe so that they can be paired back with the cabinets in the future at some point should someone want to make them 100% original again and ditch my new side grills.

[uarnutz]

I just finished a restore of a pair AR 90, including new grill cloth all around. Mine looked original and the side grills were glued together with hot melt adhesive which came apart fairly easily and was not too difficult to remove. I just used black silicone RTV adhesive sealant to put them back together. I could not imagine working with hot melt would give me enough work time and this is not really structural or permanent attachment anyway. The sealant has the added advantage of damping any vibration between the pieces. I am curious what your side grills look like. Can you post some pics?