Guest daniel1221 Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 Hello everyone,I am new around here, and new to the hobby. What I am wondering about is a pair of AR 3A speakers I have, they are not original, the HI and MID pots are disconnected, the crossovers have been recapped (I have not looked for specific values the brand is TRW however), the original drivers are ALL gone. The tweeters are Vifa and mids are Seas, the woofers are poly cone 10" refoamed, they say made in Canada on the frame (I should have wrote down all the numbers also.)I am interested in finding an original set of the cloth surround alinco woofers (I understand nothing that old is going to be like new.) I have located some but am unsure if they are really going to be worth it. I am leaning towards yes.I have never heard a pair of AR 3As before at all, I do have a pair of AR 4X which are original and in great shape but they are just little guys compared to the 3A.I should mention I have them hooked up to a Hafler XL-280 amp and NAD 7100 pre-amp.Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daniel1221 Posted May 3, 2008 Report Share Posted May 3, 2008 No ideas eh? I will assume that everyone agrees my speakers should be run over by a Cat 11R dozer or fully restored to their original glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted May 3, 2008 Report Share Posted May 3, 2008 No ideas eh? I will assume that everyone agrees my speakers should be run over by a Cat 11R dozer or fully restored to their original glory.The dozer is a bit harsh , but the original woofers alone will not be enough. Crossovers are very specific to their intended drivers.Don't doze the cabinets!Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teknofossil Posted May 4, 2008 Report Share Posted May 4, 2008 No ideas eh? I will assume that everyone agrees my speakers should be run over by a Cat 11R dozer or fully restored to their original glory.Don't trash the cabinets. So far as the different drivers go, if it was a well reseached modification the speakers will at least be listenable. If someone merely purchased drivers from where ever and installed them using the original crossover you likely have a inaccurate system irregardless of the quality of the drivers installed. (Vifa units are generally considered good quality btw). Also, from what I understand AR made some crossover changes to allow for changes by upgrades to the drive units. So constructing a crossover based upon AR schematics, assuming you can aquire real AR drivers, may be problematic. Another thing to consider is that authentic drivers in good or properly restored condition for the AR3 / AR3a will likely be fairly expensive. I myself have some AR2ax woofers that I'd like to clone back into a AR2ax, but locating authentic mid and HF drivers will take a while and will it be worth the effort? (since it won't be a real AR2ax) Not sure.One final thought. Speaker Builder magazine in the 1997, 1998 volumes had a multipart series about rebuilding the AR3. There also was another speaker builder article (late 80's early 90's) which was about changing the midrange dome to a Vifa cone and dome tweeter and mirror imaging the driver baffles. This article was by a Speaker Builder author (Bruce Edgar I think) known for horn speaker designs (the production horns are ugly as sin IMOP). Both articles, while well intentioned by the authors, are generally considered by AR enthusiasts to be abortions. Your sytems may have been spawned by one of those articlesIf you want a set of real AR3a systems you might want to contact Carls Custom Speakers (a member of this forum). I was at his shop a couple weeks back and he had a decent set for sale ($150.00). All original drivers. I would have snagged them but "she who must be obeyed" is concerned about where they would end up in the house (I have a fair number of speaker systems already) http://www.classicloudspeakerservices.com-T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest daniel1221 Posted May 5, 2008 Report Share Posted May 5, 2008 Honestly I am not sure what the crossovers are done like, I have not bothered to look. IMO they are listenable, and I believe the work done was researched and done by a professional. I really would not run them over with an 11R CAT (check one out on youtube) The only problem for me is that I live in Canada and shipping hurts....but I would like a true pair, would be interesting to see how they frankenspeakers stack up. In the meantime I have bought a pair of large advents Don't trash the cabinets. So far as the different drivers go, if it was a well reseached modification the speakers will at least be listenable. If someone merely purchased drivers from where ever and installed them using the original crossover you likely have a inaccurate system irregardless of the quality of the drivers installed. (Vifa units are generally considered good quality btw). Also, from what I understand AR made some crossover changes to allow for changes by upgrades to the drive units. So constructing a crossover based upon AR schematics, assuming you can aquire real AR drivers, may be problematic. Another thing to consider is that authentic drivers in good or properly restored condition for the AR3 / AR3a will likely be fairly expensive. I myself have some AR2ax woofers that I'd like to clone back into a AR2ax, but locating authentic mid and HF drivers will take a while and will it be worth the effort? (since it won't be a real AR2ax) Not sure.One final thought. Speaker Builder magazine in the 1997, 1998 volumes had a multipart series about rebuilding the AR3. There also was another speaker builder article (late 80's early 90's) which was about changing the midrange dome to a Vifa cone and dome tweeter and mirror imaging the driver baffles. This article was by a Speaker Builder author (Bruce Edgar I think) known for horn speaker designs (the production horns are ugly as sin IMOP). Both articles, while well intentioned by the authors, are generally considered by AR enthusiasts to be abortions. Your sytems may have been spawned by one of those articlesIf you want a set of real AR3a systems you might want to contact Carls Custom Speakers (a member of this forum). I was at his shop a couple weeks back and he had a decent set for sale ($150.00). All original drivers. I would have snagged them but "she who must be obeyed" is concerned about where they would end up in the house (I have a fair number of speaker systems already) http://www.classicloudspeakerservices.com-T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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