Coleman4130 Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Sorry no $25 GW story; I paid decent money for these and negotiated a bit with the knowledge gathered from excellent restoration guide. Thank you! The potentiometers were intermittent and scratchy but the grill cloth and badges appear to be reproduction. The seller purchased these from *bay about 4 years ago and doesn't know or remember how they were described. So, curious which woofer these had and figuring they were going to need service I removed a woofer to investigate. No date code on this one but with a hint of orange outside of the foam surrounds I assume these are first generation ferrite. Looking farther inside it appears this speaker has been recapped and has replacement pots. Serial # 301xx and 311xx Anyone have any thoughts or insight on these speakers? Specifically the grade of capacitors used and the type and serviceability of the potentiometers. Speaker 'connectors' are utilized here as well, should they be removed and soldered? Thank you in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coleman4130 Posted June 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Thanks all. My first post regarding ADS L400 loaded unadjusted pics with no issues. Ive just resized… and we are in business!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlspeak Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 1 hour ago, Carlspeak said: It's good practice to limit the size of the picture to 1000 bytes in the longest direction. ON further thinking, I didn't explain why. The pictures display at a nice viewing size and, overly large pic files don't tend to fill up the host's server quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joelfl71 Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Coleman, I have experience re-conditioning, the last 5 years, AR speakers including AR-3 and 3a's. Next biggest issue is the cabinets. If there is enough veneer left I sand them down and refinish them. I have also bleached them, not enough veneer to sand. I just received back the dome tweeters for the 5's which are my favorite speakers from that era, it was referred to as the 10" AR-3a. There is a gentleman in Michigan who does recoiling on AR drivers. If you need he's info let me know. I have vast experience in the stereo component business, with speakers being my favorite subject. Please feel free to contact me here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Very nice 3a's, Coleman - - - cabs and grilles and drivers all look good to me - - - and yes, it appears some crossover work has been done. Looks like at least two electrolytic caps, which is all fine, and the wire nuts are OK, too. Many people use these components in restorations, while others employ film (polypropylene, polyester) caps for mid and tweeter circuits or prefer soldered connections. Looks like non-original control knobs on the backside, and those tone controls (pots? L-pads?) with the truncated side are unfamiliar to me. Joel, welcome to the CSP forum. L-M, great pic of your collection - - I'm curious about some of those 4's and 4x's, but let's not discuss it here in Coleman's thread. Thx, Carl - - I'll try to upload after a re-size or re-format in the threads where I had problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coleman4130 Posted June 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Incredible collection Liangshan, I have been there… I am now down to 1-3a, 1-KLH6, 1-A25, L100, 1-JSE, 1-L400 pairs of vintage speakers. I lived in Boulder for a few years and share you passion for beer but right now I am having a Coors! Joel, I have been restoring turntables for about 10 years and finally decided I needed to start working on speaker internals and am learning a lot thanks to forums like this. ra.ra thanks for the info. Attached are more images. Interesting there is discoloration where a midrange/woofer capacitor of the early 67-69 3a's would have been yet the woofer is clearly a later version. Better images of the pots as well, does anyone know what these are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 With foam surrounds these are not first generation 3a's, or at least if they are their woofers have been replaced. Your speakers have been recapped, and their original level controls replace with ohmite-type rheostats with a rather nicely done aluminum shroud. Your cabinets appear to be either in original condition well maintained, or redone with a pretty original-looking refinish. If they sound ok to you, I'd just button them up and enjoy them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted June 17, 2016 Report Share Posted June 17, 2016 15 hours ago, Coleman4130 said: Sorry no $25 GW story; I paid decent money for these and negotiated a bit with the knowledge gathered from excellent restoration guide. Thank you! The potentiometers were intermittent and scratchy ... Thank you in advance! I think Gene is right about the pots being Ohmite's. You will need to pull the handmade covers off and see what's going on if you can't eliminate the scratchiness by working it back and forth. I can almost make out a date on the back of the woofer magnet -- either 1973 or 75 -- the cones and vc's may have been replaced on these woofers. If the wire nuts bother you can certainly solder them or use crimp caps. They may be soldered under the wire nuts already. 12 hours ago, Joelfl71 said: .... I just received back the dome tweeters for the 5's which are my favorite speakers from that era, it was referred to as the 10" AR-3a. There is a gentleman in Michigan who does recoiling on AR drivers. If you need he's info let me know..... Hey, Joel, welcome. Please start a thread on your revamped AR-5 tweeters. I have three sets of 5's so I'm always looking for other options over the aging original tweeters. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.