AR-2ax question

[Guest rek 2-3-4]

For no apparent reason, after only 34 years, one of my 2ax midranges started crackling this week.

A used replacement is enroute.

Please tell me I can replace it from the front!? With little clip-on attachments I hope? My soldering skills are lacking.

Will I also need to replace the gasket?

[Guest rek 2-3-4]

Well, poop!

I got the replacement midrange today and made the change.

Nuthin. Nary a squeak coming from the replacement. I was going to complain to the seller on eBay since his listing said it had been tested and was working.

However, being the reasonable fellow that I am, I wired the old one back in to make sure it was still mostly working.

Nada. Nothing coming out of it, either. I fiddled with the pot to no avail.

So I bit the bullet and removed the woofer to have a gander at the crossover to see if any wires had come loose. Nope. All intact.

The woofer and the tweeter both seem to be working (using the toilet paper tube test on the tweeter).

Have I got a crossover problem? The only hunk of semi-electronic pieces on the crossover is a brown waxy looking box with three wires coming out of it and I believe it was labeled condenser (I'm not taking the woofer out again today). If it is a crossover issue, how do I fix it?

Thanks in advance!

[RoyC]

Nuthin. Nary a squeak coming from the replacement. I was going to complain to the seller on eBay since his listing said it had been tested and was working.

However, being the reasonable fellow that I am, I wired the old one back in to make sure it was still mostly working.

Nada. Nothing coming out of it, either. I fiddled with the pot to no avail.

Thanks in advance!

Even though you fiddled with it, the pot is still the most likely culprit. It needs to be completely dismantled and cleaned...or replaced.

Roy

[dynaco_dan]

Even though you fiddled with it, the pot is still the most likely culprit. It needs to be completely dismantled and cleaned...or replaced.

Roy

Hi there;

Roy has a valid point.

My comment is to place a, 1 1/2 volt maximum battery, across the replacement driver.

There should be a quick beep with that temporary connection.

You can also test the original, connected driver, but first disconnect the speaker wire from the amplifier.

Next, you must touch the mid-driver connections, not the speaker cabinet connections.

Connecting a battery to the speaker terminals on the rear will only work with the woofers, the crossover will not allow the mids or tweeters to function (beep).

Vern

[Guest rek 2-3-4]

I connected the replacement to the speaker cable directly this morning and got sound.

The thing is the pots are less than a year old. Can they fail that fast? I'll go back in tomorrow to see if I knocked a wire loose.

Thanks for the advice!

[dynaco_dan]

I connected the replacement to the speaker cable directly this morning and got sound.

The thing is the pots are less than a year old. Can they fail that fast? I'll go back in tomorrow to see if I knocked a wire loose.

Thanks for the advice!

Hi there;

You are not saying that you connected speaker cable from the amp direct to the mid driver are you?

Vern

[JKent]

Hi Vern

I don't think that should be a problem at low volume. I've used that method, connecting a raw driver directly to my receiver or to the output of a KLH table radio and everything passed the smoke test Am I missing something?

Kent

[onplane]

Hi Vern

I don't think that should be a problem at low volume. I've used that method, connecting a raw driver directly to my receiver or to the output of a KLH table radio and everything passed the smoke test Am I missing something?

Kent

At LOW volumes this should be no problem. The battery test is ideal for drivers wired into a complete speaker.

Regards,

Jerry

[Diamonds&Rust]

I connected the replacement to the speaker cable directly this morning and got sound.

The thing is the pots are less than a year old. Can they fail that fast?

As you implied you know, they shouldn't, but that doesn't mean they didn't.

This is almost like trying to diagnose a computer "blue screen of death" long-distance. Nobody is going to know what happened unless they can see it or you describe everything in gut-wrenching, eye-glazing detail. Having said that, my take is that your instincts are good about this. Something got knocked loose. But how?

You said your soldering skills might not rise to the level of a pro, and you said you replaced the pots. I'd be looking for a wire that looks as though it is still connected, that looks soldered solid, that is really isn't making connection and wiggles on the pot terminals easily despite having solder on it. That kind of thing can happen if you "heat the solder and not the work (thing solder is being applied-to)."

The big wax condenser box is another story for another day, but it is remotely possible that your problem is there.

[Guest rek 2-3-4]

After trying multiple suggestions from you all and folks over on AudioKarma, I just said the heck with it and totally disconnected the pot and redid the wiring following Larry's (Vintage AR) original instructions.

Uh, now I don't know why the midrange was working at all? I completely screwed up the wiring from the capacitor to the pot.

Everything is working fine now, and I'm wondering if I was hearing the midrange at all?

Well, thanks for the help!