GD70 Posted April 9, 2016 Report Share Posted April 9, 2016 Last September, I made a large audio purchase from my co-workers best friends husband. His wife wanted everything out! My co-worker said I know the perfect person. Ends up the best friend is someone I worked with 16 years ago! Small world indeed! Included in the purchase were my ADS 910's, Magneplaner SMG's, a Luxman receiver and McIntosh amplifier. I sold everything except the 910's, AR's and Maggies, which need rebuilding. Anyway, Iinitally passed on the 12's, which he was going to bring to the city dump! Stupid me! After doing a little research on these, I went back and grabbed them for free! He was the original owner. I've restored them with help from Roy, and reading through some threads here. They have been re-capped, new surrounds and new foam gaskets for the mids and tweeters which I made. Luckily, the cabs were beautiful needing only a sanding and refinish with Watcos. I need to build grill frames and get cloth. My plan is to make them the original shape as the foam ones with the angled sides. I've finally had the entire day to listen to these and they are extremely good! I put them on some stands I had, which really made a noticeable improvement. I have a thread on the restoration over on AK also. Glenn This is how they looked when I got them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 Hey Glenn, as with all of your salvage-restorations, those AR-12's look terrific, and I did follow your progress over on AK. This speaker just does not show up all that often, so I am pleased to see a pair so carefully restored, and I am sure they sound great. What makes this model unique is that odd mid-range driver, which I believe may not have found its way into other AR models. Great work, thx for the post.    Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 Nice job, Glenn, on those ADD versions of the 2ax. They don't show up very often. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 Hey Robert! Thanks for the kind words. When I first saw them sitting in the owners basement with the other stuff, I admit I was being a vintage AR snob, thinking these later models didn't live up to the AR standard, and frankly, didn't need yet another project to figure out where they would fit in with the rest of the herd. Boy was I wrong! They are special and rare. I do believe these ferro fluid mids are unique to this model only. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 40 minutes ago, owlsplace said: Nice job, Glenn, on those ADD versions of the 2ax. They don't show up very often. Roger Thanks Roger! ADD version? Excuse my ignorance. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 look great Glenn. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 7 hours ago, GD70 said: ADD version? Excuse my ignorance. Post-Classic and pre-AR-9 period: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/add_series_1975-1978/add_series_brochures/ Haven't heard anything bad about the 12's -- only praise. Since they are somewhat rare and needing rebuild quite a few have already made it to the landfill. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakecat Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 Nice job on the rehab. I think they are one of AR's best kept secrets. I only discovered these gems when I saw a pair here locally for $25 and was curious enough to investigate them. That mid is one of the best I think and makes the speaker very musical and crisp. I think that 10" woofer goes lower than the 10" on the AR5's and sounds better with those drivers on the 12. Acoustical music is very nice on my pair. I can't really imagine why these only sold for a year or so....crazy. Mine are staying.....and already have a spare mid ready to go...just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 lakecat's comment about the bass response from the AR-12 made me curious, and I was surprised to learn that, unlike the earlier "Classic" series where the 10" AR-2ax and AR-5 had less cabinet volume than the 12" AR-3a....... in the ADD series, the 10" AR-12 (and AR-14) has the same cabinet volume as the 12" AR-11 and AR 10pi models.  Two possible benefits? Maximize manufacturing cost economies of scale, and get an extended LF bump for the 10" woofer.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 Great, another one to put on the list. Â Thanks Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakecat Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 42 minutes ago, ra.ra said: lakecat's comment about the bass response from the AR-12 made me curious, and I was surprised to learn that, unlike the earlier "Classic" series where the 10" AR-2ax and AR-5 had less cabinet volume than the 12" AR-3a....... in the ADD series, the 10" AR-12 (and AR-14) has the same cabinet volume as the 12" AR-11 and AR 10pi models.  Two possible benefits? Maximize manufacturing cost economies of scale, and get an extended LF bump for the 10" woofer.  I had asked Roy about that and he said that it doesn't make a difference. I had put AR 11 drivers in a Heathkit AS-103 cab (same size as 3a cab) which is deeper than an AR 11 cab....thinking the bigger cab would give it more "kick".  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 You cannot only compare the cabinet depth - - - all three dimensions that make up internal cabinet volume need to be considered. For example, the AR-17 and AR-18 are nearly identical speaker models - - same drivers, same HF control, same x-o - - but the AR-17 has a slightly larger cabinet volume and subsequently deeper LF bottom end (43Hz) than the AR-18 (48 Hz). Why AR felt the need to manufacture the AR-17 is beyond me, but how else can this slight LF performance boost be explained? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 17 hours ago, stupidhead said: look great Glenn. Enjoy Thanks Geoff! These were an enjoyable project, especially because I didn't need to do a major cab restoration! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 15 hours ago, owlsplace said: Post-Classic and pre-AR-9 period: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/add_series_1975-1978/add_series_brochures/ Haven't heard anything bad about the 12's -- only praise. Since they are somewhat rare and needing rebuild quite a few have already made it to the landfill. Roger Thanks for that Roger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 11 hours ago, DavidDru said: Great, another one to put on the list. Â Thanks Glenn Worth it! I'd like to hear the 11's compared to these some day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas111 Posted April 11, 2016 Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 Glenn,   Followed your restoration over at AK. Another fantastic restoration from start to finish. It's your attention to the details that make them look new.   Your getting a very impressive stash of AR speakers and they all look great because of your masterful skills!   John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 On 4/11/2016 at 3:19 AM, xmas111 said: Glenn,   Followed your restoration over at AK. Another fantastic restoration from start to finish. It's your attention to the details that make them look new.   Your getting a very impressive stash of AR speakers and they all look great because of your masterful skills!   John Thank you John! That means a lot! I'm very anal about details, and keeping originality, or duplicating original parts, in this case the decorative foam gaskets. I still need to do the woofer foam ring. A few more pics showing the tweeter gaskets being made. Prepped for painting. I used spray mount lightly on the template/stencil to hold it in place on the foam sheet while painting. I applied 3 very light spray paint applications. If you put on a heavy coat, you'll get paint bleeding under the stencil edges.  The cut outs for alignment when cutting the gasket.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakecat Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 I kept this saved as his experience was so similar to mine.......from 2008 even......:)   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted April 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 Hey lakecat, After I had the 12's in my possession, I read through all these threads, which provided great information, especially for reforming the mids. These are great sounding speakers, will keep these for a long time. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Made progress with the grills. I built the frames from 1X1 pine, made 45 degree angle cuts lengthwise to mimic the original foam grill beveled edges. I used the pieces that were left over from the cuts for triangle gussets at the corner joints for added strength. They are very solid. I used ZPoxy for assembly. Just finished painting them with flat black, and will stretch black fabric I bought from PE tomorrow evening I hope. I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Well those should work well. Â Cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted December 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Add the fabric, Velcro tabs on the corners, and good to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 That's a great-looking substitute for the old foam grills, Glenn...very well executed, too! Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted December 15, 2016 Report Share Posted December 15, 2016 Superb -- thanks for the Z-poxy tip. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted December 16, 2016 Report Share Posted December 16, 2016 I really enjoy your restoration threads because they are so relevant to what many of us deal with in restoring these classic AR's. I need to build new grills for a pair of AR 11's. Just a couple (three)of quick questions. When shopping for 1 in thick material, would that be what they call 5/4 in. lumber? Which  Parts Express black grill cloth are you using. The Mellotone Premium or the regular Parts Express cloth. Did you consider a cross member piece between the woofer and the upper drivers. Thanks   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.