Guest tonedog Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Hello my name is tonedog or at least thats my username. I am fairly new to vintage gear and have been reading posts on here as well as AK, I have a Mcintosh setup with a mx113, mc-2100, eq101 and Ml1c's, I also have 2 fisher 400's I haven't been happy with the speakers I have had and after reading a bit i decided to go out and pick up some AR's, KLH's or Klipsch... Well today was present day for me. i found a pair of ar4x and a pair of parts ar4x's on Craigslist got both for 70 bucks. I also purchased a buy it now 4 pair of speakers from a guy last night I drove 130 miles to pick them all up... Here's what I came home with, 1 PAIR OF AR2AX, 1 PAIR OF KLH MODEL 4'S, 1 PAIR OF FLS 4'S MANUFACTURED BY GENISIS and lastly a pair of AR3A'S So I came home with 5 pairs and a parts set of AR4X'S so 6 pairs... I hope that confirms my addiction and or shared problem to this group... Since I am new to this world but have fallen hard and fast down the rabbit hole. I would love to get anyone's input into what I can look forward to as far as sound out of my fisher 400 and tips for restoring or bringing them up to spec... thanks I am listening to John Coltranes ballads and having a glass of cabernet right now through the 2ax's to a bit of jiggling to get some high's out of them but i couldn't be happier. Cheers, TD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tonedog Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Hello my name is tonedog or at least thats my username. I am fairly new to vintage gear and have been reading posts on here as well as AK, I have a Mcintosh setup with a mx113, mc-2100, eq101 and Ml1c's, I also have 2 fisher 400's I haven't been happy with the speakers I have had and after reading a bit i decided to go out and pick up some AR's, KLH's or Klipsch... Well today was present day for me. i found a pair of ar4x and a pair of parts ar4x's on Craigslist got both for 70 bucks. I also purchased a buy it now 4 pair of speakers from a guy last night I drove 130 miles to pick them all up... Here's what I came home with, 1 PAIR OF AR2AX, 1 PAIR OF KLH MODEL 4'S, 1 PAIR OF FLS 4'S MANUFACTURED BY GENISIS and lastly a pair of AR3A'S So I came home with 5 pairs and a parts set of AR4X'S so 6 pairs... I hope that confirms my addiction and or shared problem to this group... Since I am new to this world but have fallen hard and fast down the rabbit hole. I would love to get anyone's input into what I can look forward to as far as sound out of my fisher 400 and tips for restoring or bringing them up to spec... thanks I am listening to John Coltranes ballads and having a glass of cabernet right now through the 2ax's to a bit of jiggling to get some high's out of them but i couldn't be happier. Cheers, TDThere's no highs coming out of one Model 4. there's a pry mark where they attempted to get in and diagnose. One of the 2ax's have been pryed as well breaking the grill wood and chipping the veneer. So far they all sound pretty good considering. The 4x pair sounds great, saving the 3a's for last! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tonedog Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 There's no highs coming out of one Model 4. there's a pry mark where they attempted to get in and diagnose. One of the 2ax's have been pryed as well breaking the grill wood and chipping the veneer. So far they all sound pretty good considering. The 4x pair sounds great, saving the 3a's for last!Ar3a's bass? it has and tons of it. High's ok on one pot. tried jiggling mids with no luck at all, either speaker... I'll look into previous posts unless someone wants to help me along. listening to Cream now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tonedog Posted December 13, 2008 Report Share Posted December 13, 2008 Ar3a's bass? it has and tons of it. High's ok on one pot. tried jiggling mids with no luck at all, either speaker... I'll look into previous posts unless someone wants to help me along. listening to Cream now...Continued jiggling rendered mids out of one 3a, now just missing mids on one 3a highs, lows present from all but one speaker. There's various chips and scrathes but they are coming to life from gingers relentless pounding of the drums. sounds fantastic out of one speaker, compared to no mids at all. I feel there waking up, like from a long slumber. I apologize already but I love music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joelongwood Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 Continued jiggling rendered mids out of one 3a, now just missing mids on one 3a highs, lows present from all but one speaker. There's various chips and scrathes but they are coming to life from gingers relentless pounding of the drums. sounds fantastic out of one speaker, compared to no mids at all. I feel there waking up, like from a long slumber. I apologize already but I love music.Hi Tonedog.....and welcome! Congratulations on your AR acquisitions. I've been addicted to the AR sound since I purchased my first pair of AR4x back in '68.........and still have 'em playing today.First, your statement that no tweeter response in the KLH system leads me to believe it may be a capacitor in the crossover. KLH's are notorious for that problem. The only way to tell is to go inside and test the tweeter by itself. If you still get no response, then it's the tweeter. If you get sound, then it's the capacitor.With the AR3a mids, you can temporarily bypass the pots to see if that does the trick. I have a number of AR speakers which I could jiggle the rear control all day and get nothing......but when I bypassed the pot I discovered the real problem....namely, dirty contacts in the pot. There are tons of threads here dealing with these problems. There is also an excellent guide which details the restoration process of the venerable AR3a, but the info it contains can be used with just about any vintage AR speaker system.I'm glad you're enjoying the sounds of AR..........wonderful, ain't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted December 14, 2008 Report Share Posted December 14, 2008 Hi Tonedog and welcome!Awesome collection of speakers. Before you do ANYTHING, download and study the "AR Bible" created by members of this forum:http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library...ring_the_ar-3a/This will answer ALL your questions about the AR3a and will also be useful in many ways regarding your other classic speakers.Good luck!Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tonedog Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 Hello my name is tonedog or at least thats my username. I am fairly new to vintage gear and have been reading posts on here as well as AK, I have a Mcintosh setup with a mx113, mc-2100, eq101 and Ml1c's, I also have 2 fisher 400's I haven't been happy with the speakers I have had and after reading a bit i decided to go out and pick up some AR's, KLH's or Klipsch... Well today was present day for me. i found a pair of ar4x and a pair of parts ar4x's on Craigslist got both for 70 bucks. I also purchased a buy it now 4 pair of speakers from a guy last night I drove 130 miles to pick them all up... Here's what I came home with, 1 PAIR OF AR2AX, 1 PAIR OF KLH MODEL 4'S, 1 PAIR OF FLS 4'S MANUFACTURED BY GENISIS and lastly a pair of AR3A'S So I came home with 5 pairs and a parts set of AR4X'S so 6 pairs... I hope that confirms my addiction and or shared problem to this group... Since I am new to this world but have fallen hard and fast down the rabbit hole. I would love to get anyone's input into what I can look forward to as far as sound out of my fisher 400 and tips for restoring or bringing them up to spec... thanks I am listening to John Coltranes ballads and having a glass of cabernet right now through the 2ax's to a bit of jiggling to get some high's out of them but i couldn't be happier. Cheers, TDHi i"m Back, The 2ax's are my first attempt at repair. one of the speakers already had the grill removed and the previous owner chipped the veneer doing it and broke the grill. Three of the woofer screws were missing. I took the woofer out, they were put back without resealing which was good for me since I didn't have to break the seal. The caps had been replaced but a sloppy job was done. I opened up the reostats and they were coated with the green yucky... I busted out a dremel with a wire brush and cleaned them up the best I could coated them with dielectric grease and put the whole thing back together. the pots aren't perfect but can now get a sweet spot and the speakers sound much better. I still need to reseal them and put everything back but am hesitant since I feel the reostats are just to far gone to keep in there. Does anyone know where I can get replacements? I'm not a big fan of bypassing them I'd rather just replace them with something close or maybe better than the originals. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Tonedog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AR_nut_in_Oregon Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 I still need to reseal them and put everything back but am hesitant since I feel the reostats are just to far gone to keep in there. Does anyone know where I can get replacements? I'm not a big fan of bypassing them I'd rather just replace them with something close or maybe better than the originals. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks TonedogTonedog,Larry of "Vintage AR" usually has a good supply of the Aetna-Pollack (sp?) pots that he refurbrishes from original used pots for around $11.00 each. They look and function like new. He might be able to give you a slight discount if you send him your "used" pots for recycling. I'm sure he won't mind me posting his email addy.............Ljlagace "at" aol "dot" com..............tell him "Paul from Oregon" sent ya.Oh, and I recently found a great source for that "sealing" putty.....Home-Depo sells 1lb packs of "Duct Seal" in their Electrical Dept for under $2.00. It looks and feels pretty much like the stuff AR used 40+ years ago.Good luck, and have fun with your refurb......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 There's no highs coming out of one Model 4. there's a pry mark where they attempted to get in and diagnose. One of the 2ax's have been pryed as well breaking the grill wood and chipping the veneer. So far they all sound pretty good considering. The 4x pair sounds great, saving the 3a's for last!If you have the original version of the KLH Four, you will not be easily gaining entrance into the cabinet as it is totally sealed. Even the grill cloth is glued and fastened down in the edges of the molding, and it has to be cut to be removed. There is no access into the inside of the speaker without cutting a hole in the back of the cabinet, and the drivers are epoxied into place. The Four has the "4" written as a "Four," so you will know it from the newer versions sharing that number. If the serial number on the Four is usually somewhere around 7500 and lower, and these versions had a tweeter capacitor that was problematical and prone to failure, and this problem was endemic to most of the KLH Fours, Sixes and Sevens built in the early to mid-1960s.The woofers used in the Fours were excellent, and in performance almost as good as the AR-1/AR-3 woofer. You could use a "stand-alone" tweeter (such as for example the excellent University Sphericon supertweeter) with the Four's woofer, but another issue might be the impedance: it is 16 ohms on the Model Four.--Tom Tyson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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