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Ar4x surrounds


Tyler

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I don't quite understand the replacement of surrounds on AR4X speakers. Both pairs of my AR4X's have cloth surrounds. I have read that the AR4XA model may have used foam surrounds, but the pair I have both have the cloth surrounds. Later 8 in models such as the AR6 and AR7 defiantly have the foam surrounds. Are my assumptions correct?

 

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I've been curious about this same question (why replace the surrounds?) regarding the OP's issue, but the two possible reasons that come to mind are: 1) cloth surrounds have been mistreated with improper dope solution, or 2) cloth surrounds have been physically damaged (torn, separated, disfigured) beyond repair. 

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These were a thrift store find.  One speaker (366940) is intact with it's cloth surround, the other (37400) the surround was completely removed.  You all have got me thinking, would it be better to replace the speaker that's missing the surround with one that is intact from an auction site vs. replacing the one or both to maintain balance?

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To my best knowledge, cloth surrounds are no longer available for the 4x's. Foam will work just as good. I suggest you buy a kit with 2 foam surrounds of the type I recommended earlier, put one on the woofer with no surround and give a listen to your speakers for a couple of weeks. You may or may not notice any difference between the foam and cloth surround woofers. Worth a try. 

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Here is the 4x Elwyn that is still an orphan at the present time, Elwyn was one-of-a-kind anyway -- old CTS woofer surround was not serviceable and underwent a major transformation. Was it worth the time? Not to most people but I enjoyed it and it sounds decent. Have to finish the other one -- one of these days.

DSC03793.jpg

There is a post in the archives where Carl details a problem with this driver requiring replacement of the cloth surround with foam.

Roger

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, I got the speaker put back together with the recommended surround and the replacement capacitor. (I only did the one speaker that needed fixing) I was unaware it was gong too sound awful for the first few minutes while things settled in then it smoothed out and I was pleased with the way it sounded.  Then I hooked up the unmodified Speaker so they were both playing and the one that got worked on had a more pleasing sound at moderate volumes.  Although when I increased the volume so they were playing loud but not unreasonably so, the driver began to distort!  Any ideas why this might be happening? 

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Insufficient data here ... shouldn't have sounded awful after a refoam/recap. Sounds like there may be some damage to the voice coil former.

Judging by the serial numbers you probably have two different crossovers. You may want to hunt up a cloth surround woofer and match the xovers if they are different.

Roger

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