ninohernes Posted January 10, 2004 Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 He updated his website, thats a good sign. I need to have some work done on my AR-3's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted January 10, 2004 Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 >He updated his website, thats a good sign. I need to have>some work done on my AR-3's.Joe,What do you need done to your AR-3s? Is it something that you might be able to do yourself? Do you want to keep them original or do you wish to "update" them?The reason I say all this is that there are no more NOS parts -- per se -- available for the AR-3, and unless you acquire used parts through eBay or some other place, "fixes" and retrofits and such done on the AR-3 will definitely change the personality of the speaker -- perhaps for better or for worse. After-market repair services, such as Layne, do not rebuild the speakers necessarily to their original specifications, but rather "improve" upon them with changes in crossover parts and, at times, drivers and level controls. That "improvement" is definitely not a scientific or objective improvement, but more of a personal or subjective change. You can rest assured that repair services do not have extensive acoustic laboratories with anechoic chambers and such necessary to design loudspeakers. For example, a new replacement tweeter might have greater output on-axis and raise the brightness level of the "laid-back" quality of the AR-3, but may not have the dispersion and flatness of response of the original tweeter. The balance of the original design is disturbed, and the changed speaker is likely to take on a personality of its own. Furthermore, properly working AR-3s with original drivers, crossovers, etc., are a "known quantity." Their accuracy and sound quality is of a high order, firmly established in past years. Many improvements in materials and changes in driver development have made speaker quality steadily better through the years, no argument about that, but a change here and there on a speaker such as the AR-3 may or may not make it better in the end. As you can see, I am on my high horse, and these opinions are strictly my own. I am a believer in restoration, not re-design, and I think that in the end one of the reasons that vintage AR speakers are so popular with audiophiles is their self-effacing, natural sound quality. It is an enduring quality, and really quite difficult to come by in speaker design even to this day.--Tom Tyson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninohernes Posted January 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 I agree with you completly! I want to keep them original and upgrade them to 3a's, mainly because of the 3a's lower crossover point, and the 3a's increased power handling in the mids and tweeters. The mids in mine are shot anyway, they buzz at somewhat high volume, so I will need to find some 3a mids, and to make them 3a's, a pair of 3a tweeters. I would preform the crossover upgrades myself, but I just do not have the time, with school and my recording. Do you know anyone else who does this kind of work? Like if I found the drivers, who could I have install them and upgrade the crossovers? Would you be able to do this work? Dont wory, I will always restore vintage ARs, never retrofit. Vintage ARs have a sound that I would never want to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted January 11, 2004 Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Tom's feelings are seconded here - there's a finite (and ever-dwindling) number of *authentic* AR-3s out there...better to restore your 3s with the necessary original parts (and what an unprecedented resource ebay has become!), or just acquire a pair of 3as if you're looking for greater power handling, or a lower crossover, etc. We own a century-old house that has seen it's share of "upgrades", and we've spent the past ten years undoing most of them - demonstrating to me that it's most important to honor the spirit of a design by maintaining the integrity of that which has come into your ownership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninohernes Posted January 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2004 Ok, I see your point. I will just find some new mids and leave them 3's. Since I am going to be installing "new" mids, where can I get aluminum solder to solder the leads to the termanal strip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tysontom Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 >Ok, I see your point. I will just find some new mids and>leave them 3's. Since I am going to be installing "new" mids,>where can I get aluminum solder to solder the leads to the>termanal strip?I've got some aluminum solder -- Alu-Sol -- with a built-in flux. Even with that it is not an easy matter to solder those leads. Once you acquire the mid-range drivers, let me know and I will send you some solder.--Tom TysonP.S.: Gosh, if I had time I would be more than glad to help you restore them. Unfortunately, I am "maxed out" now, and don't have any free time to do that sort of thing. But you can do it, and when you get a little closer to doing the repair, let the members know and we can walk you through a total restoration. You'll be proud of doing it yourself, and you'll be pleased with the end result, I promise you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninohernes Posted January 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 >I've got some aluminum solder -- Alu-Sol -- with a built-in>flux. Even with that it is not an easy matter to solder those>leads. Once you acquire the mid-range drivers, let me know>and I will send you some solder.>>--Tom TysonOk, Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dogmeninreno Posted January 12, 2004 Report Share Posted January 12, 2004 >>I've got some aluminum solder -- Alu-Sol -- with a built-in>>flux. Even with that it is not an easy matter to solder>those>>leads. Once you acquire the mid-range drivers, let me know>>and I will send you some solder.>>>>--Tom Tyson>>Ok, Thanks! Joe, I usually use an inline barrel splice crimp connector. They are available at radio shack out here. Also use some aluminum to copper compound so the splice will not corrode over time. Dale in Reno..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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