Bordious Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Aloha all, I kind of hijacked someone else's thread with a similar topic, so here I go. I purchased an turntable console as a project, mainly because I wanted the old idler turntable. It came with the turntable (Rek-O-Kut B-12H), a Mattes-Martin Preamp, and these massive homemade speaker cabinets. The cabinet the turntable and preamp were housed in was pretty termite eaten and. Ended to be trashed. I've rebuilt the turntable, minus a plinth, and it turned out great. I haven't been able to get both channels to work on the preamp as the corrosion is pretty bad (I really want to get it going), no matter how much Deoxit I use. On to the speakers... Cabinets built like a tank but super dated. Not kidding when I say they weigh at least 80lbs each. One is in better shape than the other, so I tore apart the worser of the two. Here are the pics of what I got, looks like converted AR-2 into a AR-2xa? Homemade crossover as well, never tested the speakers but the first one is clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordious Posted August 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 The second cabinet was in better cosmetic condition, so let's open it up... A lot more dirty, and the speakers aren't in as good of shape. The woofer has a small hole and the tweeter is lifting. Pretty disappointing seeing the other cabinet was in worse shape. I'm not too bummed seeing the speakers were kind of a throw-in, but with having to rebuild the cabinets, are these speakers worth the time/money/effort? I am not too familiar with these speakers and was looking forward to the project, but I am starting to think maybe these would be better parted out and given a new home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 Your speaker cabinets started out as Electro Voice speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted August 23, 2017 Report Share Posted August 23, 2017 I'm having a little trouble seeing the hole in your woofer. Is the hole stuffed with a piece of foam? A hole can be easily fixed: Tear a patch from a coffee filter and glue it in place with Aleene's Tacky Glue. But it looks like there are other issues. The damper ring appears to be missing as does the dust cap. Maybe other members can figure this out. The tweeter doesn't look to have "popped" yet but there are solutions for that, too: Buy another tweet on ebay (But these are near the end of their useful lives), have the tweeter rebuilt by CSP member Chris, replace with Hi-Vi tweeters. The 2ax IS worth restoring. And of course the crossover is all wrong. If the EV cabinets are OK, you could keep them. Unless you hate the look. You have not mentioned the fiberglass stuffing. Is it there? Easy to replace if it's missing. Or....Part it out if the project seems daunting in terms of labor and cost. One has to wonder why the previous owner did this mod. Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted August 24, 2017 Report Share Posted August 24, 2017 3 hours ago, genek said: Your speaker cabinets started out as Electro Voice speakers. Yep, I'm with genek, sure looks like the Marquis cabinet with drivers from the early AR-2ax (not an AR-2 or AR-2xa) - see attached for EV info. The multiple screws used to attach the baffle are fairly typical for EV's, and one thing that is interesting is the awareness to construct a mirrored pair. Also, the use of T-nuts is impressive. Kent offers good advice on the woofer cone repair - - that tear is not very large and it can be fairly easily repaired - - all work should be done from the backside of the cone. The damping ring and dust cap look OK to me, but I've never seen that microdot pattern on the cap before. His advice on tweeter repair is also excellent - - these drivers are very heavy and should be handled carefully, but if they can be repaired successfully to produce decent output, that might be the way to go. However, if on a budget as stated, this could be one of the most significant expenses. Too bad the other cabinet was beyond saving - - those are very handsome speakers. If both cabs had been decent, the restoration would have been fairly straightforward - - clean and restore cabs and drivers, and re-assemble new crossovers. Some EV models were ported or vented, and sometimes did not employ much stuffing, but if those two concerns had been addressed, it might have been interesting to try to use the larger cabinet to possibly extend the bass response of the already excellent AR woofers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted August 24, 2017 Report Share Posted August 24, 2017 If these are Marquis cabinets, they're too large for the AR-2 woofer. Optimizing bass performance will require reducing the interior dimensions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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