12" Woofer opinion

[zcon67]

Single 3A listed for sale in a craigs post that I cannot figure out so I need expert eyeballs.  I've been through lots of posts and, to me, things don't add up on the woofer.  Looks like a stamped steel frame with foam surround.  But color of the cone looks brown and it has a dampening ring.  Serial # 3A 36840.  I'm confused!

Thanks, Pete

 

[Aadams]

The frame looks genuine. You can't even find empty frames anymore to recone.  This rest looks odd.  You need a RoyC scan and opinion. 

[frankmarsi]

That appears to be an AR woofer from the early seventies with a AR-3 woofer center damping ring glued in. The older inner foam ring was added later to a newer woofer.

The center dust cap is an early seventies cap and that's the most obvious. On  the auction site, two AR-3 woofers are going for an outrageously, ridiculous price. I've also seen AR-3a cones at times in a slightly lighter shade of grey due to fading, sunlight and age. Your photo is contrasty and therefore showing extremes of tone from light to dark.

I'm happy knowing I started my habit of stock-piling woofers in the early 2000's and like an old car they don't sit well when not in use. Beyond rotating the stock to equalize their springy positions. I'm confident when the time comes to use them, I'll be able to coach them back into shape as there's no sense in refoaming until needed. Though, I may start to stuff the backs of the cones against the frames with soft foam or plastic bags to support the cone and spider from sagging too much. I've tried it already but, even the plastic bags sag and actually do not offer even and equal support of the cone. I any event I'll be planning on a harder foam of uniform size to support the cones in a better way. My current problem is having 18+ of them taking up so much room along with spare tweeters.

I think you'll be O.K. as long as all other performance criteria and cone alignment are correct.

FM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[RoyC]

The cabinet's serial number does date it to late '70 or early '71. This was the transition period between the cloth surround/damping ring/alnico magnet woofer and the next version, which had the new smooth cone/foam surround/ferrite magnet. For a short time, the damping ring was used with the new cone when it was first introduced. Although the color of the cone seems off, I agree with Frank regarding the photo.

Roy