Grill removal on AR-1 speakers

[Guest David Rawson]

I have a pair of old AR-1's. I'm trying to get my grandfather's stereo in working order again. His electrostatic tweeters were the first thing to fix and now, it sounds like the AR-1's are not really creating the sound they should.

I'd like to view the condition of the Woofer and Midrange, but I don't see an obvious way to remove the grill. Does it involve prying off the frame work? That doesn't seem practical.

One of the speakers is finished and the other is unfinished with a basic pine surface. (For what that's worth.)

Once working, should I expect these to be anywhere near the quality that I remember hearing from AR-2ax's in the early 70's? I don't believe I've ever heard AR-3a's

[tysontom]

>I have a pair of old AR-1's. I'm trying to get my

>grandfather's stereo in working order again. His

>electrostatic tweeters were the first thing to fix and now, it

>sounds like the AR-1's are not really creating the sound they

>should.

>

>I'd like to view the condition of the Woofer and Midrange, but

>I don't see an obvious way to remove the grill. Does it

>involve prying off the frame work? That doesn't seem

>practical.

I would test the speakers carefully to be sure that it's not just the reticent nature of that speaker, and its lack of extreme highs, that makes them sound the way they do. Listen for rubbing sounds, distortion and that sort of thing to be sure the woofers are okay. The early level controls did not give too much trouble, but you might check them to be sure they are still working. Rotate the controls back and forth to try to clean the wiper. If those AR-1's still work okay overall, I simply wouldn't attempt removing the grills. The AR-1 used a masonite grill panel, with a cutout for the 12-inch woofer and the 8-inch midrange/tweeter, that was glued to the front baffle board. The grill was attached to the masonite panel and and tucked and glued under the edges of the cabinet molding. There were variations of this method of attachment. In other words, that grill was not meant to be removed.

Getting an original grill off intact can be done, but only if you are lucky. Usually, something gets broken or damaged during grill removal in this speaker, and replacing is just as difficult. Originally, AR did not plan for people out in the field to repair any of their speakers, but preferred to have the speakers returned to the factory for service. AR almost always paid for repair, no matter who was at fault (even "mother nature" in the case of AR-3a's I owned that were damaged by a lightning strike), and then paid for the transportation to and from the factory. Grills were literally cut off the speaker at the factory, and new grills and frames applied as in the case of new speakers.

>

>One of the speakers is finished and the other is unfinished

>with a basic pine surface. (For what that's worth.)

Your grandfather probably started out with the unfinished pine ("utility model") because it cost less, and then when stereo ushered in he might have purchased the other, finished, speaker. Sometimes the unfinished-pine enclosures had a slightly different color on the grill material, but not in all cases. AR-1's are getting scarce and are highly collectible and valuable, mainly because of the Altec-Lansing 755A 8-inch driver used as the midrange/trebel driver in all AR-1's. But historically the AR-1's are very collectible.

>

>Once working, should I expect these to be anywhere near the

>quality that I remember hearing from AR-2ax's in the early

>70's? I don't believe I've ever heard AR-3a's

The AR-1 easily surpasses the AR-2ax in bass response and power-handling, but the AR-2ax is much superior in the very high frequencies.

--Tom Tyson

[Guest Droog]

I've heard of using a hair dryer to soften the glue, also a solvent can be used to disolve the glue but that may stain the grill cloth. At least the woofers can be removed unlike the early KLH speakers which were secured with epoxy. Look for low serial numbers on your speakers, early versions of the AR 1 seem to be rather collectible.

[Guest David Rawson]

Well, I'm not hearing any distortion, but there is a distinct lack of "presence" that I'm accustomed to with my KLH-17's. The midrange has a dead/cardboard sound to it.

Anything obvious regarding these settings?: I used a crossover set at 4kHz for the electrostatic tweeters that came with this system. Terminals A&B are connected (for two speaker vs. woofer). I'm using terminals 1&3 for an 8-ohm output on my amplifier. (The instructions on the back seem to expect the 4-ohm terminals (1&2) to be more typical use.)

I eventually plan to drive these with the Dynaco Preamp (PAS2) and Power amp (70) that were originally used with them.

From the responses to my initial question, I don't think I'll pursue any grill removal for a while.

The control in the back sounds dirty, but I can get sound at any position after working it a bit.

The serial number of the finished cabinet is #14499.

Any further information is appreciated!

Hope I'm not too annoying with all these questions right off the bat....Thanks