JKent Posted October 30, 2017 Report Share Posted October 30, 2017 Among the things I'm selling for Joe's widow Kathy were some 91s. I couldn't bear to part them out because the cabinets were in nice shape and they seemed to be complete. The woofers had been re-foamed (Roy recognized them as his work IIRC). Grilles are pretty good--a couple of snags but presentable. Oddly there is one AR-91 badge and one plain AR badge. Turned out the tweeters were both fried but there were spares so the dead ones went to Chris1this1 to play with . Mids were good. No foam diffraction rings on the mids or tweets but I don't think that's a problem. One woofer trim ring was missing but Roy supplied a replacement. Some of the T-nuts are missing so I'll have to hit the hardware store tomorrow. Sorry for the run-on. So I decided to re-cap them. Of course I had already sold all of Joe's caps but fortunately I have my own supply. The original caps included two cans (100uF and 24uF) and the dreaded black-and-red Callins caps (40uF, 8uF & 4uF). Now here's the surprise: The black/red PVC caps all tested good: the 40s were 42 and 46. The 8s were 8.7 and 8.0 and the 4s were both 3.9. But the cans were another story. The 100s measured 112 and 108 (that's fine) but the 24s measured 36 and 50. Here's a pic of the new xo. Will post pics of the outsides after a little sprucing up. These caps were all in my parts bin: 100uF Erse NPE, 40uF Bennic NPE, 8uF Carli film. The 24uF is a stack of 3 surplus caps: 2 x 10uF and one 3uF (close enough---the stacks test between 23 and 24uF). The 4uF is another 3uF surplus cap and a 1uF radial mylar. For comparison, here's my previous 91 project, with all film caps. I should be able to do side-by-side audition when these are finished. http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/6565-ar91-restoration-project/&tab=comments#comment-88773 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted October 31, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 So I went all OCD on this and decided to make new diffraction trim. I had originals from my own 91s to use as patterns and some 3/8" grille foam from PE, which is thinner and more acoustically transparent than the originals but it gives a nice "finished" look IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 GREAT work Kent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Wow. Nice job. They look almost as good as this redo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 Very nice, Kent - you should keep your pattern/jig should someone ever need a set of inserts! Stimpy, I've seen that auction for the AR-92. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimpy Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 3 hours ago, ar_pro said: Very nice, Kent - you should keep your pattern/jig should someone ever need a set of inserts! Stimpy, I've seen that auction for the AR-92. Those AR inserts are so strange. You see so many of the speakers without them. I wonder if they were lost, or did they deteriorate with time, and UV? The reason I'm puzzled is the fact that my AR90 inserts look pristine. Brand new, with no wear. And that makes me wonder why? Why did mine last? Did leaving the grills on at all times help, or did having the speakers in a less sunny room help? Both, I suppose. And after seeing Kent's work, it leaves me to think that I should make a template of my inserts, for possible future use. Yea, those 92's are somewhat sad. Especially with the accordion surrounds!!! But, if they were closer, I'd buy 'em...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 But, if they were closer, I'd buy 'em...! Absolutely - there's $300 worth of mids & tweeters, alone. Those inerts are very funny things. Some of them are still in nice, if somewhat fragile condition, while others just crumble when touched. I'm guessing that it's up to environmental conditions and sun exposure; keeping the grilles in place is probably a very good idea. Most of the AR-9 systems that I've seen over the years were missing inserts - some from the very start! And just as a note, I believe the tweeter insert is the same for the AR-9, 90, and 91, but the AR-9 uses a different insert for the upper midrange than the one in the AR-90 or AR-91. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 What's with the surrounds on the woofers? They look like composite type you find on old Klipsch Heresy's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted October 31, 2017 Report Share Posted October 31, 2017 On 10/30/2017 at 6:34 PM, JKent said: .............................................. Turned out the tweeters were both fried but there were spares so the dead ones went to Chris1this1 to play with . ......................................... Please let us know how Chris makes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted November 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2017 4 hours ago, Stimpy said: The reason I'm puzzled is the fact that my AR90 inserts look pristine. hmmmm..... My own 91s did not have the rings and neither did Joe's but his 90s did. Maybe a different material? Seems unlikely. 3 hours ago, ar_pro said: there's $300 worth of mids & tweeters, alone. Based on my experience selling Joe's stuff, more like $200. 2 hours ago, DavidR said: Please let us know how Chris makes out. His success rebuilding AR tweeters has been documented elsewhere. Roy is enthusiastic. I send him any dead tweeters with no strings attached. He pays postage and they're his now, so I have nothing to report about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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