Old AR2ax 11" woofer

[Seabert]

Hi,

I just bought a pair of old AR2ax speakers. I am restoring the speakers and will tell you more soon. However, I need help/advised regarding some woofers that are for sale on ebay. Sellers describes the woofers as being in excellent shape with resistance of 6.0 and 5.5 Ohms. Is that the right resistance for the woofers? Also, how much do you think that they are worth? Would you pay $100+ shipping ~ $140?

Thanks

[Steve F]

Hi,

I just bought a pair of old AR2ax speakers. I am restoring the speakers and will tell you more soon. However, I need help/advised regarding some woofers that are for sale on ebay. Sellers describes the woofers as being in excellent shape with resistance of 6.0 and 5.5 Ohms. Is that the right resistance for the woofers? Also, how much do you think that they are worth? Would you pay $100+ shipping ~ $140?

Thanks

This has always been a major problem--people misidentifying AR woofers, by calling them by the wrong size.

AR never made an "11-inch" woofer. Never.

The 1-3-3a-LST used a 12" woofer. It was a slightly smaller woofer than some other companies' 12-inch woofers (BTW, there is no ironclad method for measuring the size of a woofer--only some 'generally-accepted' guidelines--hence the confusion), so a while ago, some restorers/parts suppliers got the too-clever-by-half notion that they needed to call this woofer an "11-inch" woofer.

There's no such thing. It's a 12-inch woofer.

This is the problem--people sometimes don't know what woofer to buy.

The 2 series and the 5 and LST-2 used a 10-inch woofer. That's what you need.

There are various versions of 10-inch woofers for the 2ax, depending on what vintage yours are. There was an 'old' 2ax (1964-1970) and a 'new' 2ax (1970-76). They used woofers with slightly different diameter frames and attachment methods. If you post pictures of your speakers, several members here can advise you what replacement woofers to look for.

If the "11-inch" woofers you're considering have a flat-sided section on their metal outer frame (not circular, but instead truncated on the sides), then it's definitely the AR 12" woofer and not suitable for your 2ax's.

Again, this is the problem with people calling the AR 12" woofer an "11-inch" woofer--it leads to needless misidentification.

Steve F.

[Seabert]

I have the old version of the AR2ax with the 10" woofers with cloth surrounds. The reason I described them as 11" woofers was to distinguish them from the later version with foam surrounds. My understanding was that the old woofers are actually 11" in diameter -including six hole aluminum rim and cloth surround. The newer woofers are actually 10" in diameter which means that they will not fit my speakers -right? The speakers have the ARinc logo on bottom right corner and "a" letter on top right. I check the serial numbers and according to the history of AR they are indeed the old Ar2ax with cloth surround woofers. Can someone give me advised on the value of these woofers?

[Steve F]

I have the old version of the AR2ax with the 10" woofers with cloth surrounds. The reason I described them as 11" woofers was to distinguish them from the later version with foam surrounds. My understanding was that the old woofers are actually 11" in diameter -including six hole aluminum rim and cloth surround. The newer woofers are actually 10" in diameter which means that they will not fit my speakers -right? The speakers have the ARinc logo on bottom right corner and "a" letter on top right. I check the serial numbers and according to the history of AR they are indeed the old Ar2ax with cloth surround woofers. Can someone give me advised on the value of these woofers?

The better way to distinguish old 2ax cloth surround woofers from new 2ax foam surround woofers is to do it the way you just did. When you introduce the "11-inch" descriptor, it muddies the waters. "11-inch" has never been used to describe old 2ax woofers. That nomenclature is only used to (incorrectly) describe AR's 12-inch woofer.

$50/ea. for good-condition, correctly-functioning old 2ax woofers strikes me as a very good value. Very good, indeed. To each his own, of course, and it's not reasonable for me or anyone else to say how much restoring those old speakers means to you. But there are newer so-called "replacement" woofers which sell for much, much more and are not authentic replacements in any sense of the word.

Did I misunderstand? Is it $100 ea or $100 for both? I'd still consider it even at the higher price--depending on what the project means to you. If everything else in the speaker is up to snuff and the cabinets/grilles look pretty nice, this is a pair of classic, vintage speakers that sound great, look great, and evoke a sense of the quality and pride of workmanship of the time that few--if any--'mid-priced' products do today.

Steve F.

[Seabert]

The pair of woofers sold for $101.00 + $33.00 for shipping. I was willing to pay $100 + shipping. Last week I bought a single woofer NOS like for $55.00 which I think was a great deal. The new woofer should be here next week. In the mean time I am getting one speaker ready for the new woofer. So far I removed the fiberglass, cleaned the pots and I am in the process of rewiring the whole thing since it was a mess inside. I found aligator clips making connections to the drivers, electrical tape...you name it. The tweeter and midrage work well and the pots are almost 100% except for a small spot in the pot for the Mid where it still cuts out. The contact for these pots still shows a few dark areas so I am wondering if that is why? I will post pictures of my project sometime soon. I also ordered new 4 a 6 uF capacitors by Dayton and Solance. The cabinets and grills are in pretty good shape so I am not sure if I will do anything for now. I can hardly wait till I have at least one working speaker. I did drived the speakers as they were with the crappy realistic woofers using my Rega P3 and Cary SLI80 tube amplifier in ultralinear mode which delivers 80 watts. I was comparing their sound to my EPOS M22s. It was pretty obvious that the ARs were rolling off pretty early when compare to the EPOS. Also, the resolution from the EPOS was miles away from the ARs. However, I can already tell that the ARs have soul and I liked their sound very much. The best analogy is that the EPOS are like a brad new BMW M3 and the ARs are like a 60's Cadillac. My goal is to restore the ARs so that they are as close to original as possible. They are going to be driven by my HK630 receiver which I think maybe a pretty good match. Later on I hope to find a AR AX turntable to complete the set.