AR3a speakers repair or sell

[rfitzva]

I have a pair of AR3a speakers in very good external condition. The the only problem I was aware of the last time I used them was scratchy controls. That was a very long time ago. I would like to either get them brought up to date, or sell them. I don't want to just throw them away. I bought them at MusiCraft in Chicago in 2-2-1972. I actually have the receipt.

I am now in Alexandria, VA. It appears that packing and shipping them would cost about $100.

I am open to suggestions/offers.

Robert

[Carlspeak]

You can restore them yourself. Have you downloaded and studied the AR3a restoration document? It explains in detail how to repair the scratchy pots.

http://www.classicsp...ring_the_ar-3a/

A typical restoration includes replacing the 3 capacitors and cleaning or restoring the controls. Give the document a read. Plus there's lots of help here should you have questions.

[dualref]

I bought my very first stereo system at Musicraft! Now that was a decent stereo store. I sure do miss them.

I am in the process of restoring a pair of 3a's from 1968. It's not too hard, but can be messy. If you don't want to do the job yourself, you could buy the parts needed and then take the "restoring the AR-3a" .pdf to a stereo shop and have them do the work according to the directions. But it might add up to $200-300 per speaker to have someone else do the work. You could do it yourself or part of the work yourself and save big $$$.

[JKent]

Hi Robert

If you bought them in '72 I suspect they have foam surrounds on the woofers and if that's the case they will definitely need new surrounds.

Restoring the speakers can be fun and very rewarding if you enjoy that kind of thing (most of us here do!) and you want to keep them (as you know, they sound wonderful but for some people space and the "w-a-f" are overriding considerations). As dualref noted, you don't have to do it all yourself. You can pull the woofers, pack them carefully and send them to Carl, who replied in Post #2, or to Millersound in PA. That should cost about $100 when you factor in the shipping. If you want to try doing it yourself, ebay seller M_Sound sells excellent kits with full instructions for about $28: http://www.ebay.com/...=item4cf45e057d If your speakers have the cloth surrounds, like figure A.1 on page 27 of the restoration guide you do not need surrounds.

There are instructions in the guide for cleaning or replacing the pots. And while you're in there you may as well replace the capacitors.

If all this is too daunting you can put an ad in the For Sale/Wanted section of this forum and specify local pick-up. Be sure to post pictures (resize them to about 100MB or so). Most people on this forum would be thrilled to get a pair of 3a's to restore. If you want to sell them, I would recommend NOT doing any work on them. Many potential buyers will be wary of work done by an amateur and besides, they'll want to do the work themselves.

The restoration process is not as daunting as it may seem. My 1st project was a pair of AR4x speakers I bought new in 1969. Members here--especially John and Roy, who are authors of the 3a restoration guide--were very helpful (I had no idea what a capacitor was at the time). Now you have the advantage of the restoration guide PLUS helpful members. If you enjoy fixing things or working with tools go for it. If not, sell them.

Good luck.

Kent