AR5 Rebuild

[Guest baumgrenze]

I am rebuilding a set of AR5's.

One of the tweeters had a burned voice coil.

I purchased as a replacement an AR3a tweeter with backmounted leads from Bill Le Gall at Millerspeaker in Lansdale, PA. The DC resistance of 6.1 ohms matched that of the working AR5 tweeter in my other surround.

The replacement is labeled "service replacement unit." There is a second white label which is placed near one of the terminals with a red dot at the end near the terminal. Next to the dot is the number 200011-2, and below it, 5618046 and Made in USA. There is a black overstamp. What can be read of it says TTF and A.

Am I correct in concluding that the terminal nearest the red dot is the + terminal?

For the sake of clarity I've attached photos from of both sides of the driver.

Thanks,

baumgrenze

[Guest hilltroll67]

That's what the red dot is supposed to indicate.

The 6.1 Ohms dcr indicates that the driver is nominally 8 Ohms impedance. Didn't know the 3a had an 8 Ohm tweeter.

Bob

[frankmarsi]

5-2-07

Where'd you purchase the tweeter from, I could use several at least to replace my A_Tech ones, you must of heard the story?

And yes the 'red-dot' is the positive side. Definite problem would be is; this tweeter is too low of an impedance for the AR-5 as they are 8 ohm speakers. AR sometimes attached a 4 ohm resistor in line with the positive lead to make it match the 8 ohms of the drivers when their stock demanded so it would work. It's refreshing to read of a collector who speaks of the 'Classic-ARs" instead of the as of lately reading on this site of the speakers from the '90s and other lesser non-important AR models.

For example; when I belonged to the "Riviera Owner's Association of America" a Buick car collector's club circa ’84 to ‘89, there was a debate whether or not to permit the owners of non-classic Buicks to belong. Dyed in the wool owners of the classic years 1963 to 1973 felt any Riviera made after those years was not a classic and certainly couldn’t measure up to or compare- I agreed as I owned three 1973 coupes.

As the battle raged on maddening many club members, the association finally gave in.

I personally felt there was no sense in including models that in no way garnered the same accolades nor had the same level of collect-ability, not to mention the magnificent styling and quality of the classics. I have at times felt a similar mood when I sometimes read things like I see here on this site. I mean the questions about mass-produced junk from the 1990’s by some ‘non-cognoscenti' asking if it "may have value" talking as if it’s like my AR3a's or "how can I get parts" for his retagged (not the original) AR-9 “floor standing speaker” sometimes makes me feel the inevitable dilution of the classic AR series of speakers will shortly be taking over and we all will become 7.1 home theatre system listeners.

Wait I feel something coming into my mind, an epiphany perhaps, maybe a drug flash-back from 1968, or ’72, no not another out of body experience, not again......

O.K., I'm back and I decided to go underground and work on and listen to my classic AR's and not care about the rest of the world around me, I never really did care as they don’t know what I know about the pleasure I get from listening to my ‘classics’. So what if I was so over joyed about finding this site a few years ago, so what if it was a good thing to relate to and hear from fellow “CLASSIC AR” lovers and noble men.

Let me be the fire-starter here and suggest that this site permit only members who own classic AR’s from the beginning of what is it, 1954 to about what 1983 or so?

From under the floor boards down in the basement,

Frank Marsi bottom dweller and AR listener.

[Guest matty g]

Whoa, now, hold on there Franky! I too love my AR3a's, 5's, 4x's and 2a's, but I also think my TSW-610's are of a much higher quality than what other speaker manufacturers were putting out that year.

What about the 303 series? They absolutely can not be lumped in with the dreck that was being produced at that time - they are most definitley respectable loudspeaker systems worthy of mention.

I do understand your point and appreciate your taste in cars, music and audio equipment (had a '69 Riviera and was an ROA member for years) but is it right to condemn a brand by the decade in which it was produced?

By the way - did I hear Ray Knott was coming out of retirement?

Matt

[Guest baumgrenze]

Thanks to everyone for reassuring me that the red dot = +.

As I indicated in my initial post, I measured the DC resistance on the working tweeter in the second surround that I have. It was 6.1 ohms. When Bill said his also read 6.1 and indicated that that meant that it was for an 8 ohm system, that was good enough for me. He does nice work. He remounted the spider on one of my AR2-AX woofers. He also refoamed the AR5 woofers. He managed to reconnect the 'thread-fine' tweeter lead right next to the cone on my old tweeter, only to discover that the coil was fried.

I was fortunate that he had a 'matching' driver from someone's inventory that he'd purchased when the seller retired. As you can see from the photo, it is unused.

I saw a pair of these on eBay in mid-March. The price was ~$22 the pair until the last hour of the auction. They went for $62.65 + $16 S&H.

baumgrenze

[RoyC]

baumgrenze,

Your tweeter was manufactured in late 1980 and is actually the cloth dome tweeter used in the 8 ohm, AR-12 system. It is the 8 ohm equivalent to the 4 ohm AR-11 and 10pi tweeter...so it was mis-labeled, but should work OK.

I have dropped the AR-12 version into the 3a and 5 with better results than the AB Tech tweeter (with no crossover modifications), but the response is different than both of the original hard dome versions. It is best to use the same type in each speaker if possible.

The red dot does mark the positive side.

Roy

[frankmarsi]

>Whoa, now, hold on there Franky! I too love my AR3a's, 5's,

>4x's and 2a's, but I also think my TSW-610's are of a much

>higher quality than what other speaker manufacturers were

>putting out that year.

>What about the 303 series? They absolutely can not be lumped

>in with the dreck that was being produced at that time - they

>are most definitley respectable loudspeaker systems worthy of

>mention.

>I do understand your point and appreciate your taste in cars,

>music and audio equipment (had a '69 Riviera and was an ROA

>member for years) but is it right to condemn a brand by the

>decade in which it was produced?

>By the way - did I hear Ray Knott was coming out of

>retirement?

>Matt

5-2-07

You're correct I did *omit that nice 303- that K.K. can vouch for and maybe AR stuff was better than some other stuff out there, but let's admit it, the company's last real effort was in 1990-91 with their new high power line of an amp, a pre-amp and that wonderful floor standing black metal-screened model that Minh knows so well- now that was an AR speaker- their last ditch, come-back attempt. it didn't work. Need us not forget that 'high-end' stuff like Logans, Apogees, etc. etc. ad-nauseam, they were completely dominating the market for hi-fi.

That�s a whole other strata, too rich for my pockets and conscious. Those guys who have that budget might only be AR vintage appreciators, but also think we�re nuts. But having said that I will still defend the sound I get from my gear. I�ll stand by the fact that my 3a�s and LST�s are therapeutic or something like that, they really are for my head. The obvious of course being the �throw-back� theory or psych-trip to recapture the seventies, these last few decades have been a roller-coaster. High-end these days is at such a point of extremism that it�s absurd.

Has anyone seen what the hell is going on at the Bay? Vintage stuff flying all over the place, scary! I have, in a small way become addicted surfing, my eyes and mind reeling-having scene a lot of the stuff new on shelves back then in the �70s. I have bought stuff like an amp here and there and it scares me so much to sit back and wait (it�s not healthy) for the box and its contents to either fail or work.

I stave-off the urge to bid but have gotten trapped and regretted it on occasion. To satisfy, I dabble in small turntable accessories; fans for the amps, no longer manufactured blank 10-inch chrome tape and cassette metal tape, which is becoming scarcer than an AR speaker or muscle power amp. I fell for two mid priced AC filters/surge boxes, monster3500 mk2 and belkinPF60, it was a steal at $100. and $149. respectively. The doctors have said only playing with cables will be the next step, but that�s crazy talk!

I still have to restore all of my speakers, but I drag that out like a ritual cause that�s one of the best things to do besides listening to them.

But Matt, you gotta agree about the Rivs! And no the 2 boat-tails are dormant and have been for many a year now, they�re patiently waiting also, Mr. Ray better come here and help me.

Frank Marsi

*must have been that out of body thing again��

FM

[Guest matty g]

Yep, you are right about the Rivs, cars are another matter altogether. Why the hell do all the TU-717's keep slipping through my fingers? You are also right about eBay being scary, my freind!

Matt

[frankmarsi]

>Yep, you are right about the Rivs, cars are another matter

>altogether. Why the hell do all the TU-717's keep slipping

>through my fingers? You are right about eBay being scary, my

>freind!

>Matt

>

>

Those tuners are perfect for my AR's. I go after them too.

FM

[JKent]

>> Why the hell do all the TU-717's keep

>slipping

>>through my fingers? >>

>>

>Those tuners are perfect for my AR's. I go after them too.

Hey--in about 2 weeks I'll be selling 1 or 2 KLH Model Eighteen tuners on ebay. Now THOSE are REALLY perfect with the ARs! ;-)