AR-2 AX SPEAKERS

[Guest]

A friend of mine gave me two AR-2 ax speakers. I am not sure if there's something wrong with them, but they basically cut off on my system, and then come back on. My system is the old Sansui rack system that I've had quite a lot work done on, but its working great with my old Sansui speakers. Is it possible that I just don't have them connected properly? It has three connections on the back, a "T", "1", and "2". I have no idea what combination to use. Which is the positive and which is the negative. I have no tested for shorts, but basically the sound is barely audible and when I try to crank it past "2" on the audio, it cuts off, after 2-3 seconds it tries again and then cuts off repeatedly. I know nothing about how to repair speakers. Does it sound like I need to bring them in for a look?

Regards,

Ken

[Guest Nigel]

Hi Ken;

First; shorts. Get your multimeter our - if you do not have one, invest less than $10 in one from Radio Shack, Lowes, HomeDepot, Menards, Sears, Harbor Frieght - where ever you want to do business. The most basic model will do fine, and sometimes you can find those for less than $5.

Disconnect the jumper between T and 2. Put your meter on the 10 or 20 ohm resistance range, measure between 1 and 2. It should be around 8 (6 to 10) ohms. If it is not, there is a problem in the woofer or the wiring to the woofer.

Next measure between T and 1. This should be very high, change the range to the 100 or 200 ohm, and it still should be very high. IF it is low there is a problem in the capacitors in the crossover, which will need replacing BEFORE continuing.

Second, connections: the terminals marks T and 2 should be wired together, and to the + on your amplifier. The terminal makred 1 goes to - on your amp. See the picture at the bottom of this page:

http://www.arsenal.net/speakers/ar/documen...werhandling.jpg

Next to your amplifier; I am not familiar with Sansui's line up. It may not be happy with the large inductive load that classic AR speakers present to it. In my opinion, the best price/performance compromise amplifier for classic ARs, like your AR2ax is an Adcom 545, 545II or 5400. There are better amplifiers out there, but not for the price, and with the available service.

The 2ax are very good speakers, and there modifications available to turn them into great speakers, see:

http://layneaudio.hypermart.net/AR.htm

Nigeg

[Guest SteveG]

Ken,

Make sure you have the T and 2 posts connected together with one speaker lead to them. The other speaker lead should be to the post labeled 1. I have a pair of AR 6 speakers with the same post confikuration and this is how it works. You can see the picture in the listing of a 2a listed on ebay---

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1340145496

I believe the connection between 2 and T can be taken out if you want to power the woofer and other drivers separately, but it this is not likely what you are trying to do. Hopefully you have these hooked up incorrectly and have done no damage. I assume that if you put speaker outlet leads across 2 and T you might create a short, or nearly so. This would cause your receiver to shut off. If this doesn't help hopefully someone else will be able to.

Steve

[Guest]

2 common causes:

#1 is that the amp simply can't take the low impedance load that the AR speakers present

#2 not very common, but if you have a driver [typically the woofer]with a partially shorted voice coil, at certain frequencies it can cause the impedance to dip too low and cause most any amp to shut down.

Try to borrow a good receiver from a friend, if it will driver the speakers then suspect your amp, if the second unit shuts down too then thre's a problem with one of the speakers. If this happens, try running each speaker individually to determine which cabinet has the fault.