Guest Posted February 15, 2002 Report Share Posted February 15, 2002 Two days ago I was given a pair of old Heathkit AS-2 speakers. I did research and found out that these are really just AR-2's with Heathkit names on them. I took them home and tried them out. Sounded pretty good, but I can tell there is room for improvement in the highs when compared to my Cerwin Vega's. All the drivers work, the level adjust works, the cabs are in pretty good shape with just a few scratches, the woofers look and sound good, with original cloth surrounds, not foam. Both speakers have the (2) 4" mid-tweets in the cross-firing panel and the back connector plate has (3) knurled nuts with a jumper between (2) of them, and (1) treble adjustment knob. I have not opened the boxes up, and probably won't.So, what to do next? I'm tempted to start messing with them in a cheap, non-destructive way, like putting some Radio Shack 4" full-range drivers (the infamous 40-1197's that I snagged for $5 each the other day) in place of both of the mid-tweets. Or, I could just put in (1) RS 1197 in place of (1) of the mid-tweets and leave the other mid-tweet in place but not electrically live, almost like a tiny passive radiator for the mids. Or I could fab a new plate and airtight mini-enclosure to hold (1) 1197 in a flat position in place of the plastic cross-fire assembly. The options are limitless.OR, should I leave these beauty's alone since they are pretty classic and are all original. I'm not hurting for speakers, or projects for that matter. Does anybody want/need them enough to cover shipping and make it worth my while?Just wanting some opinions. I don't want to change anything on them if somebody out there cringes at the thought. I know how bad I cringe whenever I see an old railroad lantern converted into an electric lamp, and I don't want to be guilty of a similar crime.thanks,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2002 Report Share Posted February 16, 2002 Layne Audio has upgrades. Are they the 2A or 2AX ( or was it just 2X? )? The 2A's had the dual driver midrange and were known to blow rather easy, hence the upgrade 2AX which had 1 mid driver. If they were mine I would just let them buck as they are- then again... If you do upgrade them it is worth it to get some decent drivers rather than the Radio Shack variety. They will still blow away 75% of the speakers on the market under $500.00 maybe more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2002 Report Share Posted February 16, 2002 Hi Chris;Take a look at this page:http://layneaudio.hypermart.net/AR.htmScroll down to the section the on the AR2a/AR2ax.I might be interested in them, depending on your location. I am in OKC area.Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 20, 2002 Report Share Posted February 20, 2002 Thanks for the info, guys. I've been listening to the speakers in their stock format, and they still sound good. I just took some old Magnavox tweeter horns with 1uF caps in series and wired them in parallel with the speaker inputs, then layed the old horns on top of the boxes. It brightened things up considerably, and I didn't have to mod the speakers at all. I think I'll leave it for now. They sound good, probably not perfect since I just threw the little horns into the mix, but fine for me.I'm not going to mess with the speakers in a destructive sense. That would be a shame....thanks,Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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