I Confess to sacreledge

[ted99]

Some background: I bought pairs of AR3a, AR2ax, AR4a, and AR 58BX when they were on store shelves and moved them from house to house, over the years. I still have them all. About 5 years ago, I pulled the AR2ax and AR4a's out of their place in the attic to use as surround speakers. Of course, I found foam rot. Not knowing of their "classic" status, I replaced the bass drivers with equivalent size drivers from Ed (and threw away the old drivers). Both pair were bought in unfinished pine, and have been repainted at least twice and the grill cloth was replaced with black grill cloth. Have I destroyed the "value" of these speakers and they are now in their highest and best use?

[RoyC]

Some background: I bought pairs of AR3a, AR2ax, AR4a, and AR 58BX when they were on store shelves and moved them from house to house, over the years. I still have them all. About 5 years ago, I pulled the AR2ax and AR4a's out of their place in the attic to use as surround speakers. Of course, I found foam rot. Not knowing of their "classic" status, I replaced the bass drivers with equivalent size drivers from Ed (and threw away the old drivers). Both pair were bought in unfinished pine, and have been repainted at least twice and the grill cloth was replaced with black grill cloth. Have I destroyed the "value" of these speakers and they are now in their highest and best use?

Unless Ed sold you genuine AR replacement drivers, the answer to your question is "yes" regarding (resale) value. Um, who is "Ed"?

Roy

[genek]

I'd have to second Roy's opinion, though I'm not sure whether the resale of unfinished pine ARs is hurt more by the driver swaps or the paint and grill changes.

It's unfortunate that you threw away the original woofers. They could have been refoamed and put back in if you ever intended to resell. I did the same thing back in the late 80's in the pre-internet days before I knew about refoaming with a pair of 2ax's and a pair of 6's (replacement drivers were sourced from AR when they were still in business, so at least my woofers are still AR even if not original), but I never intended to resell them so value wasn't an issue for me. Still isn't.

[ted99]

Ed is a US company that makes it's own enclosures and sells drivers separately for use in sealed boxes. Yes, I changed out the AR3a bass drivers with AR-sourced drivers back in the 90's, when they were in business, the first time I suffered from foam rot. Just redid them with replacement foam from Vintage AR. Five years ago, I wasn't aware of the ease of foam replacement OR the classic status of AR equipment. Ah, if I had only known. I'm considering selling because I am underutilizing them. The AR2ax have been pressed into duty as subwolfers in the cabinet where the Ar3a's have been doing subwolfer duty for the past 15 years. I will be selling the AR3a's as they are mint. I could strip the paint off the others and replace the cloth, but if their value is shot with the replacement drivers, there is no point.

[ironlake]

why in the world would you want to get rid of the best you have, the 3a-s, sell the 2ax and use the 3-AS

[ted99]

Because I'm only using them as subwolfers in a built-in cabinet in a small room for secondary TV watching--severely underutilized vs. their capability. Seems a shame to underutilize something that has attained almost "cult" status. The Ar2ax are not doing as well, but their value is probably less than it would cost to get a dedicated subwolfer.

[Marigold]

I would be interested in your AR3s. Where are you located?

[ted99]

Houston NW suburbs