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Ar-2ax Gettin started


jpdrisco

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Hey all,

I was recently endowed with a pair of AR-2ax speakers in apparently perfect working condition although there are no wires for which to plug the speakers into anything. I don't know too much about audio, and was wondering if anyone could tell me what to use just to get these babies hooked up to an ipod and crankin.

Thanks

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Hi and welcome

You need an amplifier (or receiver).

First though, try to pry the front grilles off the speakers. Early 2ax's had cloth woofer surrounds. Later ones had foam surounds. If yours are foam they most probably need to be replaced. You can DIY for about $25. Below is a photo of my 2ax with rotted surround. Sometimes they "look" OK but if you rub the foam with your finger it crumbles. Also attached is a photo of the 2ax's after restoration. You can see the new foam surrounds.

Do you have a receiver? If so, wire the 2ax's to the speaker connections (after checking the woofers) and play. Your iPod can be connected to the receiver's AUX, Tape or CD input by using a Y-cable that goes from mini stereo plug to 2 RCA plugs. Here are other ways to connect:

http://www.diamondca...onnectivity.pdf

Here is how to connect the speakers to the receiver:

http://www.ehow.com/...v-receiver.html

You can use plain ol' 18 gauge lamp cord, or buy speaker wire of at least 18 ga (the lower the number, the thicker the wire). Lamp cord is coded by having a ridge on one side. Speaker wire is color-coded. The backs of the AR speakers are marked 1, 2 & T. There should be a jumper wire between 2 and T. Leave that there, then connect your speaker wire to 1 and 2. (photo attached)

1 is negative, 2 is positive but it does not matter, as long as you wire both speakers the same (in phase). So if using color-coded speaker wire, connect the silver wire to 1 and the copper to 2 on each speaker. Then connect the silver wire to the black speaker connector on your receiver and the copper wire to the red. Do the same for left channel and for right channel. As I said, the colors don't matter. You just want to be sure that if "1" goes to Black on the amp's left channel, 1 should also go to Black on the right channel.

Another potential problem area is the "pots". These are the level controls for Mid and Hi visible in the photo below. They sometimes become corroded and there are threads here about repairing or replacing, but here's something you can try: Once the speakers are set up and playing music, try rotating each level control shaft back and forth. This may scrape some crud off but will also allow you to hear if there are "dead" spots. Then you can adjust them to avoid the dead spots and to sound best to your ear.

Here are the speakers, finished:

http://www.classicsp...#previous-photo

If any of this is Greek, ask more questions.

Kent

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