Guest WinstonSmith Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Greetings to the board,I have recently come across a nice AR-2 which I purchased from the original owner and I have a question regarding the drivers in this cabinet. I know the AR-1 contains the famous WE/Altec 755A but what HF driver does the AR-2 contain? Is the LF driver the same model as that used in the AR-1? This is not the three-way model with the separate tweeter rather it is the earlier model AR-2. I do not want to pull anything apart as I see no practical way to do so without running the risk of possibly causing damage. The speaker does sound wonderful.Any help/info would be greatly appreciated.Winston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynaco_dan Posted August 5, 2008 Report Share Posted August 5, 2008 Greetings to the board,I have recently come across a nice AR-2 which I purchased from the original owner and I have a question regarding the drivers in this cabinet. I know the AR-1 contains the famous WE/Altec 755A but what HF driver does the AR-2 contain? Is the LF driver the same model as that used in the AR-1? This is not the three-way model with the separate tweeter rather it is the earlier model AR-2. I do not want to pull anything apart as I see no practical way to do so without running the risk of possibly causing damage. The speaker does sound wonderful.Any help/info would be greatly appreciated.WinstonHi Winston;You did right by asking questions first.You would likely have destroyed the grille frame, possibly some grille cloth and maybe even a driver.The AR-2 has a pair of 5"cross-fire cone tweeters bought by AR from Carbonneau and modified slightly.They were then re-mounted at an angle in an aluminum and then later plastic sealed housing.The woofer is a 10" alnico magnet woofer with a cloth surround not the 12" AR-1 model.In it's day a rather outstanding 2 way speaker system.Today, a speaker to be driven with some care due to age and driver fragility.No attempt to remove the grille cloth should be made unless absolutely necessary, such as, replacing caps, pot, etc.Vern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WinstonSmith Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Hi Winston;You did right by asking questions first.You would likely have destroyed the grille frame, possibly some grille cloth and maybe even a driver.The AR-2 has a pair of 5"cross-fire cone tweeters bought by AR from Carbonneau and modified slightly.They were then re-mounted at an angle in an aluminum and then later plastic sealed housing.The woofer is a 10" alnico magnet woofer with a cloth surround not the 12" AR-1 model.In it's day a rather outstanding 2 way speaker system.Today, a speaker to be driven with some care due to age and driver fragility.No attempt to remove the grille cloth should be made unless absolutely necessary, such as, replacing caps, pot, etc.Vern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WinstonSmith Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Hi Vern,Thanks very much for your info regarding the drivers in the AR-2. Your help is greatly appreciated.Winston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dynaco_dan Posted August 22, 2008 Report Share Posted August 22, 2008 Hi Vern,Thanks very much for your info regarding the drivers in the AR-2. Your help is greatly appreciated.WinstonHi again;Sorry, I failed to describe the mods to the tweeters before AR mounted then in the enclosures.I have not read any internal documents about the mods, just my observations.The tweeter surround area was coated with a soft, non-hardening and flexible sealant.They were mounted with 4 screws into the aluminum, later plastic dual baffle angled housing.This prevented the back waves of the woofer from escaping from the cabinet and also from destroying the open backed frame tweeters. Small pre-cut triangular pieces of fiberglass were inserted inside the frame openings on the rear of the drivers.This was likely to reduce cone vibrations, sometimes called cone-cry, I believe.The Heathkit AS/AR-2 series of speaker kit from Heath/AR showed great detail in installing these pieces.Lately, I've seen many examples of old drivers, most all of the cone material has very large bubbles, such as caused from the fiberglass pushing forward on the cone material, perhaps.The cone material is very soft, like a wasp nest, and you must be very careful if touching it with your finger, best not to. Where the wires exited from the rear of the alum/plastic housing, glue was used to seal them.Vern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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