AR3a electronics restoration kits?

[TheMightyPig]

Hi. I have a pair of early AR3a's (1969). All the drivers are fine, but the pots are worn out, which is killing the mid and high frequencies. I'm not one to look forward to taking them apart and replacing the pots, but if it has to be done I may as well do the capacitors as well (assuming they are originals - I haven't looked yet).

I'm not much of an electrical engineer - I can use a soldering iron and I know what a capacitor and a pot do (more or less) and can use a multimeter, but I dont relish the idea of trekking the net to find the right components, or spending ages fitting them. Appeciate that the excellent restoration guide on these pages will tell me much of what I need to know, but does anyone know of some suppliers who will just send me the bits I need, with simple installation instructions? (i.e. remove this old capacitor here, solder this new one there, etc?). I've looked around, but cant find anything.

Any assistance appreciated.

Thanks :-)

Tim.

[Carlspeak]

Have you downloaded the AR3a restoration document?

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_schematicss/restoring_the_ar-3a/

It has all the information you need to do your repairs.

[JKent]

Hi Tim

You alluded to "the excellent restoration guide" but have you downloaded it? As Carl wrote, it really has all the information you need. If anything needs clarification just post your specific questions and there will be several members willing to answer.

As far as where to buy, those of us on this side of the pond use PartsExpress or Madisound for L-pads and capacitors, but for you in Stockholm, maybe some European members can recommend a good supplier. You should be able to do a google search for "audio parts" or "audio capacitors", "speaker parts" or similar. Solen capacitors are made in France and I believe other good speaker caps are made in the EU so you should have no trouble finding them. I believe PE and Madisound will ship to Europe but there is the shipping cost to consider.

You'll have to check the restoration guide to see which version of the 3a you have. Are yours European or US-built? For each speaker you will need a 150uF, 50uF and 6uF capacitor. The 6 should be high quality film. The 50 and 150 can be either film (expensive) or non-polarized electrolytic. You will also need 2 L-pads like this: http://www.parts-exp...tnumber=260-248 15 watt, 8 ohm mono with 3/8" shaft. Also, see page 15 of the restoration guide, you may want to get two 25 ohm 10 watt resistors per speaker.

Kent

[TheMightyPig]

Hi all,

Downloaded AND read (several times). Excellent AND informative. I'm pretty clear on what repairs need to be done and what parts I need - but what I'm looking for is a one-stop shop supplier to send me all the bits, without me having to seek them out individually - hence the question, really :-)

Thanks,

Tim.

[TheMightyPig]

Sorry - should have added - Kent - Thanks for the extra detailed info. :-)

[dualref]

There is a seller on Ebay named Vintage-AR that sells everything you will need from the correct pots to the proper insulation and caps too. Prices are ok, a little high but not exorbitant. I have bought a lot of my restoration items for my 3a's from him and found the quality to be very good. At least as good as the original parts and sometimes even better.

[michiganpat]

parts express (www.parts-express.com), madisound (www.madisoundspeakerstore.com) or meniscus (www.meniscusaudio.com) should have all the caps, resistors, solder, gasket sealing tape, and L-pads (if you plan on replacing the rheostats per the restoration guide instead of trying to clean what you have) to restore them at one stop. all of them should be able to even get new woofer foams if your woofers are the newer foam surround style....