Joe Rutledge Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 I am Joe's wife, he passed away before he could finish his daughter's sound system. I have a set of AR92s, one has the speaker removed but appears to have all new parts ready for install. Could someone point me in a direction of how to find someone to put the speaker back together? I am in Northern NJ and am clueless as to where to look for reputable repair as Joe did it all himself. Thanks so much! Kathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Sorry for your loss. I'm away from home now but live in Sussex County. You can send me a Personal Message through this site and I would be happy to put the speakers together. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Jkent's the Man! You'd be in good hands Kathy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas111 Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Kathy sorry for your loss too. Kent, that's awesome of you to volunteer your excellent services! In good hands for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iso Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Kathy sorry for your loss too. I wish your AR92s´s will be back together very soon. Kimmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Sorry to hear of your loss. JKent is the man to go with! Hope you will enjoy your AR's soon and listen to them and remember the good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Got the PM. I'll be working on Kathy's 92s when I get home next month and will post notes on the progress. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 May the Karma Gods smile upon you for your good deed. Kathy, sorry for your loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpat Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Kathy, My sincere condolences to you and your family. Regarding the AR92s, Kent is a great resource and will ensure your speakers are put together correctly. His knowledge and help was critical in the successful completion of my AR6 rebuild project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted April 22, 2016 Report Share Posted April 22, 2016 Picked them up today and got started on them (there was a little extra delay because we were having our rec room/my shop remodeled. These are the first project in the new shop!). Joe had refoamed one woofer and had all the caps. Had to decide whether to use 80uF NPEs or paralleled 40uF film caps. Kathy had all the caps and since these are to be heirlooms for their daughter I opted for all film caps. Today I refoamed the other woofer and started the re-cap. Will post photos after I make a bit more progress. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Finished! I want to get them back to Kathy ASAP so ... It went pretty smoothly. Here are some notes: Joe had retained the original dust cap. Maybe he used a test tone. I cut the dc back and shimmed, then glued it back when finished with the re-foam so the woofers would both look the same. I goofed when I went through Joe's box of caps. Thought I had everything I needed but the 24uF had already been removed. No big deal--I had a couple of 16uF and 8uF caps on hand so just paralleled them. Some of the poly stuffing was missing from one speakr but again, I had some on hand. Also missing were the 4 woofer screws from the open speaker. A trip to my local hardware store turned up some nice socket head 10-24 machine screws so I replaced all 8. The foam gaskets were totally flattened so I replaced those with PE's stick-on gaskets. You can see the old gasket in this shot of the new capacitors. No bonus points for neatness--there are some things my arthritic fingers refuse to do (I'm sure some of you can identify with that). I checked the old caps and found the 24uF was seriously out of spec (measured 33.9) but the 80uF cans were OK (81.4 and 85.4) and, surprisingly, so were the 4uF and 8uF black and red Callins PVC caps, which are notorious for leaking. But I think the new film caps were a good idea. These will go to Joe's daughter and, maybe, to the next generation as well. Finally, the foam diffraction rings on the tweeters were missing so I made some new ones from PE foam speaker grille. Probably not needed (I don't have them on my 91s) but I wanted to do these right. A little WD-40 removed an old label from the vinyl cabinet. Cabinets were otherwise in excellent shape so I cleaned them and applied some Armor-All. The grilles are perfect so I left those with Kathy. They sound great! Can't resist showing a bit of my new workshop. I compared the AR-92s with my AR-91s and the slightly smaller 92s do well in the comparison. In fact, they seem to have more bass. I'll check my 91s for air leaks but I suspect the perceived bass is actually midbass, giving the illusion of stronger bass but I can tell you on rock music the kick drum is more prominent through the 92s. That's it! Plan to return them to Kathy & daughter in a day or 2. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Wonderful job. der Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas111 Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Kent, Your an amazing guy!!! And I mean that sincerely! Everyone here on CSP knows how valuable you are as a contributor. And your work is second to done! You went way beyond the norm and did something very special that Kathy will remember for a long time to come. Those speakers look brand new thanks to your skills and I'm sure they sound wonderful Thank you, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted April 23, 2016 Report Share Posted April 23, 2016 Yep, BIG kudos ... Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Fantastic work, and one of the best restoration stories on this site, all the way down to the details of socket head screws and extra diffraction foam and the next generation. Kathy was very fortunate to find the right guy for the job, and we all appreciate getting a glimpse of your new work space. I love the parts drawers, and the green walls look great against that fantastic collection of KLH radios. I think I spot a Scott tuner and amp up there, too! Great job. Hip-hip-hooray! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Wonderful work, Kent; these will be something for the family to treasure & enjoy for many years to come. And a great photo of your workshop, and world-class KLH radio & tuner collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Thanks guys. This is a great and friendly forum and I'm very happy that I could help a member's widow. I happened to be close by but I know many of our colleagues here would do the same. Off on a tangent: Since we moved to a log cabin 12 years ago I've been without a basement or garage, hence no workshop. As I became more involved in this hobby I took over the rec room and turned it into the wreck room My wife was tolerant but exasperated so she suggested dividing the room so we could keep a guest area in one half and I could have a shop/storage room in the other. Fortunately the room is large. Still organizing the space. My bro-in-law is building some 4' high bookcases to define the space and provide more storage without walling me in. There are still more KLH radios and some speakers to be stored while awaiting restoration. Almost everything will be restored and sold (to finance the purchase of more vintage stuff of course! It's a great hobby). So here's another shot, showing the bench (built for me by my dad when I was about 12 and building model cars), one of Kathy's speakers on the bench and the other on a tarp, and a groovy 1960s KLH sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 beautiful Kent, and thanx for the look into the work shop. It's a sickness I tell ya.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Great job for a great cause. You should feel good inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Kent, I am absolutely moved beyond words about what you've done. Forget the incredible quality of your work, the extra effort making anti-diffraction foam rings, the attention to detail with the matching screw heads, etc. We've all seen your work for years and have the utmost respect fot it. No, it's the humanity and compassion and spirit of personal generosity that strikes me so profoundly. To some, they may just be 35 year-old speakers that now play like new again. Pretty good in and of itself. But to others, they're a symbol of what's right with people, how people can and should respond when there is a need. I'm kind of a grizzled old veteran of a lot of things, and not too much surprises me these days or throws me for a loop. But this did, and it will stay with me from this point on and make me smile a deep smile when I think about it. I wish you a perpetually smooth frequency response with wide, unrestricted dispersion. You deserve it. Steve F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan461 Posted April 24, 2016 Report Share Posted April 24, 2016 Kent, When they listen to those speakers, they'll think of Joe. Thanks to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted April 25, 2016 Report Share Posted April 25, 2016 Kent, You really are a good Samaritan. This has to be the uplift story of the month. CSP is truly like a family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted April 28, 2016 Report Share Posted April 28, 2016 JKent, I already know what a kind person you are! Helping me getting all the parts to rebuild my AR3a's, AR3 Improved and a second AR3a set to The Netherlands. Doing what you did for Kathy is priceless and words will not be able to express my deep respect for this. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted April 28, 2016 Report Share Posted April 28, 2016 Here, Here! Cheers to JKent! Great job man. What a fun community. Great closure for Kathy on something there is no doubt her husband was passionate about. Their daughter will have something from her dad she can enjoy well into the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted April 28, 2016 Report Share Posted April 28, 2016 Here, here, or is it, hear, hear ... I think everyone should send Kent a bottle of their favorite microbrew Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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