AR-2ax Woofer electrical connections

[Guest kevemaher]

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum. I will start with a question. I have opened the 2 AR-2ax apeakers I recently bought so that I can replace the pots. The woofers are in great shape, but the electrical connections appear reversed. One woofer has the red wire connected to the terminal with the big red "+" (#51493). The other speaker had the blue woofer wire connected to the big red "+" (#52322). Both speakers appear to have never been opened as the grill was intact on both with no sign of tampering. I've listened to them and it appears that the audio image is correctly phased (and only one midrange works).

Does anyone know why the different woofers are apparently hooked up out of phase? And what should I do about it?

Thanks.

[JKent]

>Hi,

>I'm brand new to this forum. I will start with a question. I

>have opened the 2 AR-2ax apeakers I recently bought so that I

>can replace the pots. The woofers are in great shape, but the

>electrical connections appear reversed. One woofer has the red

>wire connected to the terminal with the big red "+"

>(#51493). The other speaker had the blue woofer wire connected

>to the big red "+" (#52322). Both speakers appear to

>have never been opened as the grill was intact on both with no

>sign of tampering. I've listened to them and it appears that

>the audio image is correctly phased (and only one midrange

>works).

>Does anyone know why the different woofers are apparently

>hooked up out of phase? And what should I do about it?

>Thanks.

Hi and welcome.

I came across the same quandry about a year ago when I was new here and working on my first restoration project (AR4x).

Here is the question I posed and the reply from "johnnieo" (John O'Hanlon}--one of the true experts here:

Q:

>When I took the woofer out of one speaker, I was surprised

>to note that there was a red dab of paint on the speaker basket, and that

>the BLUE wire was soldered to the lug closest to the paint mark. Your

>diagram reminded me of that, since it shows the red dot on the woofer.

A:

The red dot is the + termninal on the woofer. That "convention" means when you put a 1.5 V AA cell on it, with + to +, that the woofer cone will move outward. Reverse and it will move inward. the tweeter cannot be seen, too small a movement. dont put battery on tweet!

Look at the circuit. Does the red dot (blue wire) go to the #5 inductor,and from the inductor to the #2 terminal on the back of the unit? If so OK... By same reasoning, the other wire (-) is usually black and goes to the #1 or minus terminal on the speaker input. Sometimes red was used as positive, sometimes blue. Try to "trace the circuit." Don't worry so much about the wire color--just what is connected to what. If you can "trace"

the wiring, we will give you "certification!!!" :-)

[tysontom]

>Hi,

>I'm brand new to this forum. I will start with a question. I

>have opened the 2 AR-2ax apeakers I recently bought so that I

>can replace the pots. The woofers are in great shape, but the

>electrical connections appear reversed. One woofer has the red

>wire connected to the terminal with the big red "+"

>(#51493). The other speaker had the blue woofer wire connected

>to the big red "+" (#52322). Both speakers appear to

>have never been opened as the grill was intact on both with no

>sign of tampering. I've listened to them and it appears that

>the audio image is correctly phased (and only one midrange

>works).

>Does anyone know why the different woofers are apparently

>hooked up out of phase? And what should I do about it?

>Thanks.

Disregard the speculation of whether one or the other speaker was originally wired out of phase; there is about a 99.999% chance that it *never* left the factory out of phase. AR carefully checked each and every speaker for that sort of thing. No one is perfect, so the .001% chance reflects the possibility of factory error. Most likely, of course, someone has been inside that cabinet futzing around and managed to wire it incorrectly.

Don't dispair: simply take a flashlight battery (1.5 VDC but not greater) with wires soldered to each end, mark the positive lead, and test each speaker by placing the positive battery lead to the #2 AR speaker terminal and then "touch" the negative lead to the #1 terminal. Observe the woofer cone during this procedure: it should move outward, away from the cabinet when the positive lead is touching the #2 terminal -- that simple. If both speakers don't respond this way, then one of the leads internally is indeed reversed.

--Tom Tyson

[RoyC]

AR was inconsistent as to which side of their woofers the "+" label ended up on, or for that matter, which terminals were actually the "-" and "+" sides. Both varied, and it is therefore prudent to conduct the simple polarity test described above.

It is very possible that your "+" label was attached to the wrong side, and that it is actually the "-" side, which is wired correctly with the appropriate color wire. This was probably picked up during assembly and testing, resulting in the correct wiring to the incorrect label.

I ran across 2 AR-3a's that had the AR "+" label on BOTH of the woofer terminals! One label was under the screen on one side, and the other side had the label on the outside. The correct "+" was the one outside the screen, indicating that it was added later (probably after testing for polarity during manufacture).

I agree with Tom regarding the wiring. I have never run across an AR speaker that was not correctly wired from the factory, only some variable woofer polarity and labeling.

Roy

[Guest kevemaher]

Thanks to all of you. This has been a very useful discussion. I also found a crossover schematic in the library. Upon inspection, the boxes are wired correctly, with the correct color code and terminal connections. The colors were switched on the speakers. I looked at the speakers for symmetry. All I found was the AR logo stamped on the back. When I orient the speakers with the logo up, the red "+" is on different sides. So it looks like one speaker was mislabeled in woofer testing, but discovered on final test and assembly (these 2 boxes had never been opened). Mystery solved. I will re-wire them as I found them.

Thanks again,

Kevin

[RoyC]

Kevin,

It wouldn't hurt to make sure.

Attached is a photo of a common flashlight battery set up as Tom described above. If you are not into soldering, the masking tape I used for the photo will hold the wire leads against the sides of the battery well enough for a quick test.

The other end of the speaker wire leads in the photo are attached to #1 and #2 terminals of the AR speaker. Simply touching the blue (-) battery wire to the silver (-) terminal #1 speaker wire will make the woofer move out or in. Both of your woofers should move outward when connected in this way.

Roy

[Guest kevemaher]

Roy,

I just did the electrical test. This conclusively verifies that the woofer "+" was mislabeled but wired correctly at the factory. So faith in the old AR continues. Thanks for pushing me to do this test. It really is very simple and reassuring.

Kevin