Guest marklgray Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 I have received great service from these speakers; however, recently discovered that the foam has failed and need to be repaired. In addition, some time ago, our son pushed in all the dust caps including the mid-range of the AR200048 dual dome drivers. Otherwise, I have no complaints.Per Layne Audio's site, the repairs to the woofer and mid-range don't appear to be that expensive; however, I am curious what the forum members feel/believe would be best when considering the drivers and shipping as well.Do I repair or replace with newer tech? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dogmeninreno Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 >I have received great service from these speakers; however,>recently discovered that the foam has failed and need to be>repaired. In addition, some time ago, our son pushed in all>the dust caps including the mid-range of the AR200048 dual>dome drivers. Otherwise, I have no complaints.>>Per Layne Audio's site, the repairs to the woofer and>mid-range don't appear to be that expensive; however, I am>curious what the forum members feel/believe would be best when>considering the drivers and shipping as well.>>Do I repair or replace with newer tech?>>Hello, My advice is to repair! Layne Audio is good (hard to get ahold of) but there are several others that do a good job also. Depending on your location, I use a shop in Sacramento Ca. for all my repairs. The dust caps will be replaced because the repair shop will have to shim the voice coil gap when refoaming. Dale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bret Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 I suspect you already know that with a dome driver the dome "cap" is the cone/dome. While I wouldn't think twice about using a conical driver with a mashed-in dust cap, recent experience has me believing that a real mashed-in midrange is bad news, sonically.If he did a real number on them so that the dome is smushed all the way back and it is touching the innards of the driver, well, that isn't good.Let me make clear that I have never tried this with the dual tweeter/dome unit you have, but with other midrange domes (out of AR 90s) an acceptable solution was the very cautious, very slowly executed, very gently done, application of suction . . .a vacuum cleaner hose. I would *not* recommend you simply stick the hose to the driver and flip the switch on the Hoover to the "on" position and stand back to watch.I used my hand at the end of the pipe letting air slip between my fingers back into the vacuum so that at no time was much suction applied to the driver. I didn't want to rip it, crease it, pull it out of gap, bend anything, or insult it in any way.That's especially important on your speakers because I understand that those dualdome units are extremely rare and very expensive if you can find one.There is a tape method, as well - apply some good sticky tape and slowly pull it "out", hopefully popping the dome back out in the process and not ripping-up the fabric. This works, certainly, but careful, careful, careful is the watchword or you can tear the fabric.And there is a pin method; two really. The first one uses glue on the wide end of the pin, apply to the speaker, let set-up, pull gently and then accept the blemish caused by the glue-spot. Another is to put a tiny hole in the dome with a pin and by angling the pin around inside the driver, get enough leverage to pop the dome back out. I've never been brave enough for either pin method so I don't personally know they work.And the *first* thing I'd try is applying a little, little, bit of pressure on the creases with your fingertips. That works pretty well assuming the creases haven't been in the fabric for too long and you don't get overzealous.As far as replacing the foam is concerned: Another recent experience has me doubting the performance of certain new surround materials. I would suggest that you use either of a couple of people in PA, Bill Miller or Tri-State Loudspeaker. The tests aren't complete, so this is a hasty conclusion drawn on incomplete data provided by a forum participant and ex-AR design guy, Ken Kantor, but it appears to me that I wouldn't have the spiders replaced regardless of how worn they are, just the surrounds. No matter who I sent my drivers to for repair, I'd ask them for an *honest* appraisal of how long it will be before you ever see them again. I'd ask more than once. I'd ask for a guarantee. Then I'd ask for a price-concession if they aren't back on time.Personally, I will never use Simply Speakers again although many others swear by them. (Their work looks really good, I just have some question about the materials they use.)But, yeah, if you can stand the down-time the thing to do is to have the drivers repaired rather than replacing them with new things that might (almost certainly will) change the sound of your speakers.Just my long-winded $0.02.Bret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninohernes Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 Have them repaired by Bill Miller at Millersound. He does the best work I have ever seen. I have had three pairs of woofers repaired by him, and they sound just like new. There is no substitute for a real original AR driver, and he can restore them to new. Millersound1422 Taylor RDLandsdale PA 19446215-412-7700 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nigel Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 >>Do I repair or replace with newer tech?>Repair; you can do it yourself, or pay for someone else to do it. There are no newer speakers that sound as good as your AR under five figures $$$$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazycat Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 I would definately repair them. I just had woofers and mids from my AR-9's refoamed by Millersound. He does execellant work, has fair prices and good communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 From the grief I have just had from these guys re my 10pi's I would say repair them mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dogmeninreno Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 After looking at the responses from several people with more expertise than myself, I still suggest a repair and not a retrofit. The speakers would (in my opinion) never be as designed, trust me on this. Dale in Reno..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks for taking time to share your insights and thoughts.Good listening,Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Bret,Thanks for taking time to explain the problem and the options you consider open to me. I haven't gotten brave enough to try thevac yet.I did try gluing a string to the midrange dome cone; however, the glue would not hold and I decided to leave well enough alone and let the pro's have a go at it.Anyway, Good listening and ThanksMark Gray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Joe,Thanks for the referral to Miller and I will follow up with them as well. Apart from refoaming the woofer and mid-range speakers I get the impression that if the mid-range tweeter dome is ruined that there are not really any options except to replace that speaker and gettin jiggy with the cross over? (this per Layne's web site).Seems the best bet is to send the whole mess to Miller and let them sort it out ... just hope its worth it.Thanks again,Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks for the encouraging thoughts.mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks for the referral to Millers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest marklgray Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks Dale,Good listening and luck at the track? (dogs) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bret Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 >Seems the best bet is to send the whole mess to Miller and let them sort it out <You know, that's a perfectly wonderful option. I'm sure it will work-out for you. Like Nigel said, you just cannot replace these speakers for the money of repairing them. Just look at the junk most places sell these days. . . or alternatively, look at the prices of the stuff that isn't junk!Good luck and please let us know how it all sounds to you when they get back.Bret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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