AR-3a spiders

[bitbandit]

Hi all,

I have a pair of AR-3a rescued from a life of mistreatment and in need of a little TLC. All drivers are working except for one woofer.

The one woofer has been run at high volume with damaged foam and the voice coil has hit the back plate, compressing the vc around the holes, as is so often the case with this lovely speaker, completely severing the vc at that point.

However, a little judicious tweaking and repairing (subject of an earlier post, a couple of years ago - repairs were suspended, now resumed) has resulted in a vc repair that I think will be fine for all but the very longest of excursions, which I aim to avoid.

However, there remains one problem between me and aural bliss. The spider in the damaged driver appears to have stretched. The vc was out of the gap and at an angle, stretching the spider when I got the speaker, and I have no idea how long it had been like that. The vc travel instead of having a nice linear feel has a sort of tight spot near the centre of travel because the spider is stretched, which means the vc will never rest in the centre of travel, and also it will interfere in the vc excursions in unknown but likely to be unpleasant ways. Given the already ruined state of the driver, and the otherwise successful vc repair, I'd like to lift the spider from the basket and attempt to reseat it after allowing the slight stretch to spread out. However, the spider is stuck solid to the basket and I can't seem to shift it, or get any tool in there to get underneath it.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to loosen the spider from the basket? It seems to be stuck on with that indestructible stuff they make black box flight recorders out of. :-)

Alternatively, does anyone know where I can get hold of a replacement spider (I'm guessing a full cone assembly is not available anywhere) of similar properties to the original? In this case if the cone was out completly I would rewind the coil onto a new former.

Thanks.

[Carlspeak]

The spider is glued to a masonite shim on most 3a's. Getting it unglued and lifted is quite difficult without ripping the textile fabric the spider is made of. Goo Gone or Acetone usually works in loosening things up. You can try that but be careful you don't also unglue the masonite shim from the frame.

I have a full 3a recone kit in my inventory. The cone isn't exactly the same but I have successfully reconed 1 of 2 for a customer and he didn't notice any difference in the bass afterward.

PM me if any interest.

[bitbandit]

Carl,

Many thanks for the useful tips. I will report back how I get on.

I have sent you a pm.

Thanks