stupidhead Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Hi folks, An acquaintance of mine is contemplating a set of 3's on the bay. Item 201517116768 has the details and some fuzzy pics. These have had some work and I have advised him to reach out to seller to see if original items are still around (grilles, pots, woofer, caps etc) but haven't gotten any feedback yet. Does the replacement woofer pictured look like an actual AR replacement, and if the original is not available should the inductor have been changed to accommodate for the foam woofer version? Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 You'd definitely want to get some more specific information - - pics in that listing are incomplete and blurry. I'd suggest first looking at driver variations on pages 28/29 of the AR-3a restoration manual. That second speaker's woofer might be from an AR-11 (or 10pi), and the front-wired midrange might be from an AR-3a. They are all AR drivers, just not a matched pair. Also, veneer species and quality is uncertain, grille cloth appears too white and creased, and details about the crossover amendments might be critical as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 One woofer looks original, the other looks like a type AR3a one. Tweeters looking different to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 3 hours ago, stupidhead said: Hi folks, An acquaintance of mine is contemplating a set of 3's on the bay. Item 201517116768 has the details and some fuzzy pics. These have had some work and I have advised him to reach out to seller to see if original items are still around (grilles, pots, woofer, caps etc) but haven't gotten any feedback yet. Does the replacement woofer pictured look like an actual AR replacement, and if the original is not available should the inductor have been changed to accommodate for the foam woofer version? Geoff Hi Geoff, One woofer is a later replacement from the mid 80's+, manufactured by Tonegen in Japan. It is a decent replacement for the 2nd version of the AR-3a onward, but will not sound the same as the original AR-3 woofer when used in an AR-3. The mids were replaced with AR-3a type mids, and would require the last iteration of the AR-3 crossover to work as originally intended. The tweeters are original to the AR-3. I would steer clear of this pair for anywhere near the listed price. Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted March 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Thanx Roy et al, these are about the responses I was expecting. He (buyer Mike) has offered $1000 which has been accepted by seller, but I am going with him this evening to evaluate in person and possibly finalize the transaction or bail if we can't reach an agreement. His $1000 offer was done before he reached out to me btw. Mike bought a refurbed pair of 2ax from me a while back and he thinks I know what I am talking about. LOL If anyone else has further insights please chime in but I will let you all know what the outcome is. I am leaning towards advising him to make a $700 offer if they meet muster, but the cabs better be in good shape. I suspect they are walnut, but as Robert said the pics are blurry. as is usual, this forum is a treasure and the input from others is gold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted March 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2016 so as it turns out we did audition these last night and did not leave with them. real nice guy the seller, and the speakers were nice enough but were franken-speakers for sure. seller would have let them go for $800 but they would cost more to get right than buyer wanted to commit to. as it turned out, the seller is an active AK member and had bought the set from another active AK member here in NH. his speaker tech is yet another active AK member who got guidance and some of the replacement drivers from Roy. as this whole back story unfolded last night I was struck by just how niche this community can be. thanx again to all who chimed in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakecat Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Not sure of guidance .....or not wanting to wait/pay for the correct drivers and settling for cheaper non-oem replacements. This will be an ongoing problem with the 3's now. I see a seller from NZ has AR3 drivers for sale at very high (IMHO) prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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