newbie, ar02ax, rebuild

[Guest spgjmf]

hi all,

first, this looks like great list, good stuff.

now the fun part.

I pulled from the attic my dad's old ar-2ax speakers.

looks like the have miss matching woofers. one is foam, rotten and square magnet, other working, coth surround and round magnet. all other drivers are working ( yes!). voer all not bad for 30 years in storage

first question is, should I just look for one woofer with cloth and round magnet or replace both so they "match"? $24 buy it now on ebay.

oh, what do I do about the rubber putty sealent aroud the woofer...scrape off and replace with what??

also I am going to replace the old cross over caps with new PP caps from parts express...seems easy enough and required ;-). clean pots too.

I hooked up the working speaker to a curb found technics 35 watt

receiver ( analog 70 style) and I liked the sound, music just sound nice and sweet - not in your face or harsh ( I listen on little polks, which are ok, but muddy). I think I like the 10" woofer and

drivers...

I am ahppy to be back in the worls of AR...having listened to music as a kid on these, its a nice sound.

thanks,

JEff Foster, Oakland CA.

[Guest tgw]

You will not be sorry in your efforts to restore your newly discovered AR-2ax's. I would replace the foam surround on the one speaker for now and keep an eye out for a match for the cloth surround, which probably is the original. Or if you can find immediately a driver with the cloth surround, get it.

Replace the caps, but you may well find the ones in there now are probably within spec. However, most restorers will tell you to replace the caps just for good measure.

Clean the pots and they should work fine. I have done that with my numerous AR-4x's and a pair of AR-3's and they now work OK.

Clean the cabinets, perhaps new grill cloth depending upon the condition of what you have now, and you will have a pair of speakers better than anything new you might buy in a store or on the internet unless you are willing to spend thousands.

Check the library and you will find an excellent article about the differences in the various versions of the AR-2a and AR-2ax.

[charger3834]

.

>

>Check the library and you will find an excellent article about

>the differences in the various versions of the AR-2a and

>AR-2ax.

Thank you for your kind words.

Jeff,

From what you are saying you are dealing with two different animals and you need to treat them as such. You can replace the caps if you wish or test them. Cap values will be the same for both systems. However, you have bigger fish to fry here.

Firstly, if both speakers are untouched since new, you have two different versions/vintages. Understand that all the parts are not designed to be 100% interchangeable.

Could you share with us the serial numbers of both systems if possible ?

As for the putty, that is good stuff and you can reuse it.

The easiest solution is to refoam the original woofer and build each speaker correctly for it's vintage. This will still result in a slightly mismatched pair, but they will be operate more or less to factory spec.

Best wishes and good luck,

[Guest spgjmf]

hi brad,

thanks for the info about the sealer and caps.

I installed a cloth woofer in the cabinate with the foam woofer and all seems well. I think it was a later replacment because the speaker

were bought at the same time. all inside conponents look the

same. SS number for speaker is 119,xxx or something. I recall it was below the 125,000 cutover number. and the remaining label says

ar-2ax.

the sound is very smooth - guess its a70's sound. nice bass, butter than the

projected bass sound of current speakers. the ar are replacing a pair of 80's polk monitor serise book shelf speakers. big change.

need to work on the wood, anyone stripped the finish with damaging he venneer?

I wold like to DIY a pair of AR-14...I like 10" woofers :-)

best,

Jeff

>>

>>Check the library and you will find an excellent article

>about

>>the differences in the various versions of the AR-2a and

>>AR-2ax.

>

>Thank you for your kind words.

>

>Jeff,

>

>From what you are saying you are dealing with two different

>animals and you need to treat them as such. You can replace

>the caps if you wish or test them. Cap values will be the same

>for both systems. However, you have bigger fish to fry here.

>

>Firstly, if both speakers are untouched since new, you have

>two different versions/vintages. Understand that all the parts

>are not designed to be 100% interchangeable.

>

>Could you share with us the serial numbers of both systems if

>possible ?

>

>As for the putty, that is good stuff and you can reuse it.

>

>The easiest solution is to refoam the original woofer and

>build each speaker correctly for it's vintage. This will still

>result in a slightly mismatched pair, but they will be operate

>more or less to factory spec.

>

>Best wishes and good luck,

>

>

>

>

[charger3834]

Hi Jeff,

Your assumptions are sound. Those serial numbers indicate that those are some of the last pre-1970 AR-2ax's. The cloth surrounds are quite correct for that system.

Good Work,