Restoring a pair of AR 7

[Alessandro]

Dear All,

 

How do the other had to do half a miracle I mentioned in my previous post I found a couple of really bad AR7 were reduced both from an aesthetic point of view, the paintings were to be replaced, a Tweeter had burned the coil, to be able to reconnect a pole because it was broken near the dome, both woofers were from clinching capacity and the baskets were filled with oxide, fortunately spiders and coils were unharmed.

 

So the furniture I had to scrape down with an orbital sander and then I proceeded to lay a new wood veneer, then two coats of oil and a wax. I placed a tweeter and I've replaced one that had landed from an AR 6 when I had replaced both, then I cleaned up the woofers and did replace the foam.

 

The great work of restoration gave her paid off and now I am very happy because they sound really great and have become part of my collection of small AR: AR 6, AR7 and AR MST that some you will remember that I converted into three tweeter version.

 

So for me it is a pleasure to make you take part in this success .... with patience, a bit of attention and a bit of manual work ... nothing is impossible.

 

Greetings

BEFORE:

[DKinYORKpa]

Nice

[Alessandro]

15 minutes ago, DKinYORKpa said:

Nice

Hi,

Thank You

Alessandro

[owlsplace]

Yes, nicely done. These are fun speakers -- a few sets here waiting in the wings for some free time

Roger

[Alessandro]

43 minutes ago, owlsplace said:

Yes, nicely done. These are fun speakers -- a few sets here waiting in the wings for some free time

Roger

Hi Roger,

In fact it id so ! ???

Alessandro

[ra.ra]

It's hard to tell from your 'BEFORE' pic - - the cabinets don't look bad to me - - but whatever you did to resurrect those speakers looks terrific. The wood veneer and the new finish with the freshened grilles makes your AR-7's look brand new. These are really wonderful small loudspeakers. Great job!

Just a few random observations. First, it is unusual to see AR-7 woofers with domed dust caps, but based on the small diameter, I suspect those are original caps. Also, it appears that your paper labels have a second Euro address, and it is more common to see Euro AR-7's with rear-wired tweeters and the spatter paint on the cabinet backside. Often when I have to replace original drivers, one of my objectives is to try to eliminate the wiring which is not protected and concealed within the cabinet. 

And lastly, how can we not discuss the crossover? Just a simple cap, a resistor and a switch, but did you modify or update anything? I restored two pairs of AR-7's this summer, and in both instances, the original capacitors measured good and I decided to leave them 'as-is'.

Really nice project, thanks for sharing.

 

[Alessandro]

18 hours ago, ra.ra said:

It's hard to tell from your 'BEFORE' pic - - the cabinets don't look bad to me - - but whatever you did to resurrect those speakers looks terrific. The wood veneer and the new finish with the freshened grilles makes your AR-7's look brand new. These are really wonderful small loudspeakers. Great job!

Just a few random observations. First, it is unusual to see AR-7 woofers with domed dust caps, but based on the small diameter, I suspect those are original caps. Also, it appears that your paper labels have a second Euro address, and it is more common to see Euro AR-7's with rear-wired tweeters and the spatter paint on the cabinet backside. Often when I have to replace original drivers, one of my objectives is to try to eliminate the wiring which is not protected and concealed within the cabinet. 

And lastly, how can we not discuss the crossover? Just a simple cap, a resistor and a switch, but did you modify or update anything? I restored two pairs of AR-7's this summer, and in both instances, the original capacitors measured good and I decided to leave them 'as-is'.

Really nice project, thanks for sharing.

 

Hello ra.ra,

 

Thank you for the good appreciation. However the condition of the cabinets was really a disaster! I forgot to take accurate photos before. As regards the crossover all ok, in fact, the caps were ok and so the resistors and switches. So I have not seen fit to replace, instead, as you know, I had to carry on my AR-MST.

Would also bring all aware that making a new real wood veneer is not very difficult in fact to be found on market for roll veneer and so you can buy the necessary length (see attaching pictures of raw wood and impregnated with adhesive side ). These wooden rolls have the distinction of having an already applied adhesive on the side ... it just lays it on the surface and therefore with a very hot iron, ironing you pass on the noble surface and paste. Finally take off the excess edges with a sharp knife. Need to pay attention only to the 45 ° cuts to the front edge. They pass a pair of nut oil hands and finally of beeswax that must be pulled with a wool cloth. 

The domes in the center of the woofer cones have been forced to change from flat (original) to those in the dome since a thorough cleaning was necessary flowing in the coil magnet.

I confirm that I am very happy and satisfied with the work done but it is now a pleasure to listen and be given a second life to these beautiful AR.

Regards

 

Alessandro

 

[ra.ra]

Thanks for the further explanations, and I was hoping you'd say something about the new wood veneer. Can you confirm the species? In the 'finished' pic, it certainly looks like walnut, but in the 'raw' state it almost looks like cherry. Very nice project, you might even be inspiring me to try my hand at applying new veneer.