AR-5 help identify replacement woofer

[Guest stonebridge]

I bought a pair of AR-5s for $80. They sound perfect, but the woofers are not the expected ones. What are they and who manufactured them? Are they AR units?

They appear to be at least as old as the AR-5s, but there's an extra layer of sealant goo and a stripped mounting bolt as evidence of replacement.

Details:

AR-5 Serial# K 09501

Woofer has a four-bolt stamped steel basket with tar cloth surrounds.

Numbers on the back are

22-1130-014

575904

Pictures:

http://shawsheen.com/ar/ar5.html

Thanks!

[joelongwood]

First off, let me be the first to welcome you to the Classic Speaker Pages! This is an absolutely wonderful, civil site with some of the nicest, most knowledgeable people around.

Well, you can be pretty sure those are not original AR5 woofers, as the AR5 had the very first 10" foam surround woofer produced by Acoustic Research. I bought a pair of AR5s in 1969, and had the woofer replaced in 1997......the surrounds lasted that long! Unfortunately, the woofers were the current replacement ones, not the originals. And, of course, I tossed the originals. I recently tracked down a pair of original AR5 woofers manufactured in 1969 and I noticed a marked improvement. If I'm reading the codes correctly, and believe me I could most definitely be wrong, the three digits 575 indicate a Heppner manufactured woofer......not a recommended replacement woofer for the AR5, or any AR speaker for that matter.

Here's a link to an ended eBay auction for speakers similar to yours....same manufacturing and date code (they look similar as well) and an explanation of the code (manufactured by Heppner in the 4th week of 1969):

http://cgi.ebay.com/1969-Heppner-12-Alnico...5QQcmdZViewItem

I believe that in 1973 or so, AR standardized the 10" woofer for both the AR5 and AR2ax, so any AR 4 bolt 10" woofer should work in your AR5.

I'm sure the more knowledgeable folks here will correct any errors I've made.

Hope this helps.