SA-16-AR Stepped-Attenuator Kit

[Resident]

Hello,

I have aquired a pair of beautiful AR 3's and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this kit and if they did could they tell me their likes and dislikes.

If you would suggest this over RHS15R Ohmite pots or not?

Im gathering all I need to restore these sound wise and would like to go with the best result.

According to what I have read they dont sound like a bad idea, but I dont want to change what is

the sound I love that comes from these speakers.

Thanks for any opinions and or help.

Here is a link to the construction and whats included. Sorry that might have been more helpful if you knew exactly what I was talking about.

http://www.jvbelectr...6-ARAssyMan.pdf

http://www.jvbelectr....com/theory.pdf

[rjr513]

I have used several of Joe Breen kits in AR2ax,AR3,AR3a,AR5 and haven't had any issues with there operations,I ordered just the bare boards from Joe then ordered rest of the componets through Mouser electronics and assembled myself.The shafts of the controls were longer but you can cut them to same shaft lenghts as the Ohmite pot shaft lenght.I have 2 pairs of AR3a's so i decided to do one pair first with the SA-16-AR and second pair I removed the Ohmite pots took them apart cleaned with a dremel brush tool,deoxit and before i reinstalled i compared some resistance reading with the Omites and the SA-16-AR to see if I would get required series and paraell resistance readings For example position 9 using the Attenuator for the tweeter same as the tweeter "White Dot " on Ohmite series resistance was 1.75 ohms and Parallel was 14.25 ohms after reinstalling everything back into each encloser,I began the listening test several genre of music and to my ears,and using many different settings I couldn't detect any differences in sound quality. If your going to tackle this project as a DIY project above average soldering skills are required to assemble the SA-16-AR kit ,attached is a image of AR3a with SA-16AR installed.

[Resident]

That is my only worry, though I am confident in my soldering skills, it looks as if everything is very close and I dont want to make a mess of things.

I am glad to hear that someone else is using these with good results. I just had to take my AR 3's down as after I did clean the pots and did my best to make them good, I knew the one side was going to go bad.

Surely enough it finally did. So I figure while Im in there Im going to do everything at once.

Any recommendations on what caps are better over others. Not meaning NPE versus PP Mylar etc, rather, brand and tolerances from those brands.

Thanks for the reply.

[JKent]

The AR-3 crossover is pretty simple and there are just 2 caps: A 6uF and a 24uF. When I restored mine I used Clarity PX from Madisound. They're really nice without being horribly expensive. The 6 is $6.20 and the 25 is $17.85 (25 is close enough or use a 20 & a 3.9).

OTOH, There's nothing wrong with the 10uF Surplus caps from Madisound at 0.60 each. Add a Carli 3.9uF for $1.35. You probably won't hear the difference.

A good compromise: Erse caps from erseaudio.

Kent

[dynaco_dan]

Hi there

I've seen photos of the kit and it appears to be of first class design.

It is nice to see someone come up with an idea and follow it through to product end.

I saw him writing something a while ago but when I went to read it, it was deleted.

It would be nice to know of his opinion and success today.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi there

I just saw the, "Theory of Operation" information.

Another great sign of professionalism, in my opinion.

Well done.

[Charles218]

I just ran across mention of this SA-16-AR kit for the first time, it sounds very interesting. However, in searching for more info here in the forum I do not find it being talked about. I would like to get more feedback on this substitute for the original AR pots. I have three pairs of 3A's that are potential candidates and would just like to see what the members here think about these.

[Carlspeak]

_{IMO, an over-the-top improvement over the original Aetna-Polak rheostats. The ohmite rheostat is the best easy-to-acquire, functional replacement. The only drawback is you need to shield their exposed wiper section from synthetic stuffing fibers to prevent shorting. In my experience that's been something as sophisticated as a crafted box to simply stapling somwhat porous fabric over them. I'm not aware of any corrosion issues with the Ohmites.}

_{OTOH, there's always the popular, relatively inexpensive 8 ohm L-pad and resistor. If you like building stuff, however, the SA-16 may be your cup of tea.}

[Charles218]

This was my first stop in checking into the SA-16-AR, I have not contacted them but suspect that the price is probably overwhelming.

[rjr513]

Here's the price list Joe sent me in 2010 for the already assembled kits,what I bought from Joe was just bare boards and I ordered all parts needed to build from Mouser.

Kits are packed as single, double, or quad kits with parts to build 1,2, or 4 attenuators.

The price of the SA-16-AR kits are:

$20.00 –Single Kit (Parts for 1 attenuator)

$37.00 – Double Kit (Parts for 2 attenuators)

$67.00 - Four Kit (Parts for 4 attenuators) (enough to do 2 AR3a speakers)

Bare PCB without parts: Order SA-16-AR BARE PCB, $4.00 each

[JKent]

This was my first stop in checking into the SA-16-AR, I have not contacted them but suspect that the price is probably overwhelming.

Cheaper than Ohmite RHS15R ($31 ea at Newark, $49 ea at Mouser). More expensive than L-pads ($6.75 ea at PE).

If you like DIY, could be a fun project.

Here's an idea: Why not do one pair of 3a's with L-pads and one with stepped attenuators and report back on the results.

The Ohmites are nice but require fabrication of an enclosure, which is a PITA. I bought several a couple of years ago when they were only about $8 each at a surplus site but used some and sold some. Should have bought more.

Kent

[Charles218]

I've been away on a couple of other projects for a few days, but wanted to report back that I just ordered a couple of kits, enough for two sets of 3A's, and will post back as I work through this adventure.

Thanks for the guidance!!!

[xmas111]

I'm interested in checking out these kits, can someone tell where you get them from?

Thanks,

John

[rjr513]

try jvbreen@aol.com or jvbreen@surewest.net

[xmas111]

try jvbreen@aol.com or jvbreen@surewest.net

Thanks rjr513

John