AR-5 Value

[Guest]

Hello,

I was curious what the value of a pair of AR-5's would be. I picked a pair up for $10 at a thirft store today! :-) When I got them home, only one mid and no tweeter would function. I read the notes about wiring around the pot's and low and behold they work great!

The cabinets are in great shape, a dark cherry finish. The grill cloths look quite good. They are serial number 706 and 707, so I gather they are older in the line. I suspect the woofer is newer, or at least rebuilt. Is the original woofer a stainless steel color? They also have a funky square magnet, which I gather makes them official.

The tweeter domes also look a little new, but I think the mids are original.

Anyway, I was very stoked to find them. I think the overall sound is a little lackluster, IMHO. The speakers are very quiet, I had to turn my sub nearly off to match them. It seems the tweeter needs a bit of a boost as well. Also, I gather imaging was not very important at the time, as the speaker alignment is off for that. (Unless I have two right speakers, or something. )

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-Kevin

[Guest Nigel]

Hi Kevin;

Classic AR speakers are not efficient, and sometimes do nasty things to amplifiers with weak output stages.

I recommend that you replace the capacitors in your speakers, as they do degrade, which will result in destroyed mids and/or tweeters.

Also check out http://www.arsenal.net/speakers/ar/ar-9/ar-94/AR94.htm

AR5 are AR3a with 10" woofers instead of the 12". They have a -3dB around 45Hz. Try your speakers without the sub.

Consider a high current amp like an Adcom 5400 or 5500 to drive your AR5 speakers. (Adcom 545, 545 II, 555, 555 II are good too).

Read the AR9 owners manual elsewhere on this site for a discussion on imaging and AR's experiments in this area in the '70's. There are no classic AR speakers made in mirrored pairs.

Every once in awhile AR5 speakers show up on ebay, and go for about the same as AR3a speakers do. Some people prefer the sound of the 5 to the 3a, due to the 10" woofer better mid-range.

Nigel

[Guest]

Here's the crossover, before I wired around the pots.

Gotta love the enormous dual capacitor with all of the tar coming off of it!

It was a shame to pull out their nicely packed fiberglass, as my replacement does not look as nice. However, most of the stuff disintegrated as soon as I pulled it out.

-Kevin