Eddy Currents Posted August 17, 2017 Report Share Posted August 17, 2017 Ok, after years and years of reading about other people's "barn finds" in Goodwill, Salvation Army and curbside, mine finally happened. I pulled into GW just as they were putting a Sony STR-6800sd and a pair of AR-2a's out. I didn't know anything about them until I brought them home and read as much as I could. Serial number D 10185 on one I forget the other. I fired them up and as typical, nothing discernable came out of the tweeter & mids. So I'll assume the pots are shot. Then I was giving the grillcloth a critical look and noticed they didn't look like the others I'd seen. So I Googled some images to confirm that. I did some more reading and found out that this pair was probably upgraded to the 2ax. They have the square badge and the "A" pin. What I thought was interesting is the terminal setup. So I can run a external tweeter (and mid i guess) if I prefer. Id like to restore them since they are in really decent shape. But im also fascinated that I could throw a heil on top. Any thoughts? I can't post any pics until I get home. I also need to take the grill off and that looks to be an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted August 18, 2017 Report Share Posted August 18, 2017 Hi Eddy and welcome Nice find! Those look like standard AR-2a's to me. Very nice speakers. Here's what they look like with the grilles off. The 2a to 2ax upgrade involved replacing the 2 angled mids with a single mid/tweeter. The single tweeter on these is a "supertweeter." I'm not sure what you mean by this: "What I thought was interesting is the terminal setup. So I can run a external tweeter (and mid i guess)" but my guess is you are referring to the 3 terminals on the back. The idea there was that you could use these as stand-alone woofers. I suggest you download the AR-3a restoration booklet. A lot of the info there is applicable to your 2a's. Also ask questions and we will try to help. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2017 Ok, I popped it open and here's what I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2017 Thanks, I've been reading the ar3 restoration guide. I picked up some Deoxit yesterday. Yes, I was definitely referring to "woofer only" option. This the first time I'm dealing with speakers older then me. So I'm quickly coming up to speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Your 2a's look just like a pair I have except for the venere. They were upgraded to 2ax's either by a kit supplied by AR or possibly could have been factory upgraded. Upgraded from dual midrange to 3 1/2 in 2ax midrange and 2ax grills. Nice score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 You were right Eddy, those ARE 2a-to2ax upgrades. The 2ax is a wonderful speaker and I think you will be happy with them once they've been refurbed. The pots are a weak point and DeOxit may help. Would also be a good idea to re-cap them. Below is a schematic for early 2ax speakers. If yours are like this there will be a big wax capacitor that combines a 6uF and a 4uF cap. Just replace that with individual 4 and 6uF film caps. The wax block can be left in place. Those 10" woofers are very good but you should do the "3-finger test" to see if the surrounds are porous: Put your thumb and 2 fingers around the outside of the dust cap like a tripod. Push the woofer in and see if it returns slowly (1-2 seconds) or pops right back out. Slow is good. If it comes back fast, CSP member RoyC has cooked up some authentic butyl woofer surround dope. -Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Here's a pic of the crossover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 9 hours ago, JKent said: You were right Eddy, those ARE 2a-to2ax upgrades. The 2ax is a wonderful speaker and I think you will be happy with them once they've been refurbed. The pots are a weak point and DeOxit may help. Would also be a good idea to re-cap them. Below is a schematic for early 2ax speakers. If yours are like this there will be a big wax capacitor that combines a 6uF and a 4uF cap. Just replace that with individual 4 and 6uF film caps. The wax block can be left in place. Here is a set of 2a crossovers I did exactly like JKent describes. Discontinued and left the wax cap block in place. Installed the new 6uf and 4 uf caps to the side. 4uf is a 3.9 and a 0.1 uf wired in parallel. Removing, inspecting and cleaning the original potentiometers is most of the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Are there labels? If the upgrade was done in-house by AR, they would have marked the label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Aloha, this is my first post, my name is Clint, thanks for having me. This is a new hobby, but I like to dive into things head first. I didn't see any introduction thread so... I too have acquired what I believe to be AR-2a that was converted to a AR-2ax. They are in some custom cabinets that are very dated and beat up, and I had no idea what they were when I got them. I figured if they were worth a damn, I could rebuild the cabinets into something a little more aesthetic, so I started to disassemble. Whoever built these things built them like a tank! Other than the outside cabinet, I wanted to keep everything intact. I'm pretty sure that these are AR-2ax's. It looks like they originally only had the mid and woofer, then added the tweeter. It looks like the crossover was custom too? Any help would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Better photos I hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 The sealed hole suggests that the original configuration was probably a 2x. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Just says 2a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 That closed up hole makes no sense for a 2a. Has the front face panel been replaced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Ummm.... more pics of the cabinets please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lARrybody Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Not the front baffle of a AR2, nor a AR2a and not a Ar2ax. Has to be a AR2x or something like it. Found this old add for a AR2x and a AR2ax. Both have the front baffles of the previous generation AR2 and Ar2a with the upgraded 3 1/2 in tweeter/midrange boards. Could these be transition examples while AR went through there supply of cabinets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankmarsi Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 Regarding Bordious photos. It was mentioned that these speakers are mounted on a different 'baffle-board' not from an AR speaker, as is the X-over. FM P.S. ""By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere."" - Billy Crystal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted August 21, 2017 Report Share Posted August 21, 2017 We're looking at two different pairs of speakers here: Eddy has 2ax's that appear to have been converted from 2a's by owner (hence, still showing 2a labels); and Bordious has the essential components (at least the drivers) of 2ax's in a non-AR cabinet and baffle board. Even some, but not all, of Bordious' crossover components could be AR originals, but the layout certainly is not. Re: crossover, looks like some oil caps, but what is that crusty thing-a-ma-jig shown in lower left? Great pics from Bordious, thanks. Now you just need a pair of restorable cabinets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 So the Caps read 'Sprague 2.0 MFD - 400 V.D.C. P9453' and the inductors look like they are in good shape but whatever paper tags were on them appear to be eaten by cockroaches. Not sure what the other thing is, maybe another Cap of sorts? Like I said, I'm a rookie, but I catch on quick. Here's some pics of the mystery part. My question is that can I achieve as good of sound building my own cabinets? My woodworking skills are decent so I have the confidence, but if I can't achieve the sound, I feel like I'd be wasting time and money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 And the Pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Opinion on the woofer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Eddy, that woofer test looks good to me with a slow rebound of the depressed cone. Bordious, are both speakers basically identical? The white pot you show is the very typical Aetna-Pollak 16 ohm pot found in many, many early AR speakers. The silver pot you show also appears to be an original "AR" pot - - this one is 15 ohm and was found in early AR-3's, probably AR-2's and possibly other models - - sometimes these had vented backsides like a modern L-pad. The crossover is still something of a mystery - - it appears the caps might have been wired together (in series?....in parallel?) to provide cumulative values, but it's difficult to track this circuitry. One thing that is puzzling is the silver pot with wires on only two tabs - - that looks more consistent with larry's pic of his AR-2a crossover (nice work!), and not the 2ax. I think you should plan to maybe scrap all of these items, or perhaps salvage a few for re-use but only after disassembly and measurements. Re: cabinets, sure, you can build your own, but it would probably serve you well to stick close to the original dimensions. With high quality cabinet construction, audio performance should not be compromised - - your drivers appear to be in excellent condition, but you'll probably want to assemble crossovers from scratch. On the other hand, finding a decent pair of pre-owned 2ax cabinets (with grilles, badges?) would go a long way to moving your project along in short order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddy Currents Posted August 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Thank-you, and everybody thus far with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 22, 2017 Report Share Posted August 22, 2017 Thanks for all the help and info. I'll try and break out the other speaker, I've kinda been lagging on it because the first one took a while just to disassemble while making sure I don't ruin the insides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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