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Picked up some more AR speakers


DavidR

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16 hours ago, ar_pro said:

 I always preferred the socket portion of the peg assembly for the speaker, and the male portion for the grille panels - it seemed to have a sleeker appearance with the front grille removed.

Parts Express made - probably still makes - exact replacements that fit very well with a little glue for permanence.

I've seen them both ways in the literature, so I guess either method would be authentic. ^_^

Well, now you have me thinking about it. I wasn't going to because I figured I'd break most of them while trying to remove them. However, I have a bunch of the pegs from several AR94 harvesting. The second reason is I don't have any of the plastic tubes they put into the cabinet to receive the head of the peg.

I'm hoping to find a much better pair of 9s for keeping in the collection. Hard to find around here despite being where they were made. Harry398 finds them all ?

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21 minutes ago, DavidR said:

Well, now you have me thinking about it. I wasn't going to because I figured I'd break most of them while trying to remove them. However, I have a bunch of the pegs from several AR94 harvesting. The second reason is I don't have any of the plastic tubes they put into the cabinet to receive the head of the peg.

I'm hoping to find a much better pair of 9s for keeping in the collection. Hard to find around here despite being where they were made. Harry398 finds them all ?

No I dont!   ?

 

But I have been lucky.......

Lucky women hate them!!!!!

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37 minutes ago, wallacelaren said:

I don't want to "bogart" DavidR discussion with my ID challenge .  Is there another thread I can latch onto,.guys?  Thks...

Create your own thread in the 'Other Speakers' forum located down near the bottom of the Home page.

Would you like me to start it for you?

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55 minutes ago, DavidR said:

Well, now you have me thinking about it. I wasn't going to because I figured I'd break most of them while trying to remove them. However, I have a bunch of the pegs from several AR94 harvesting. The second reason is I don't have any of the plastic tubes they put into the cabinet to receive the head of the peg.

I'm hoping to find a much better pair of 9s for keeping in the collection. Hard to find around here despite being where they were made. Harry398 finds them all ?

Guess my memory is getting fuzzy. The AR94 pegs are the wrong size AND wrong style.

I will have to buy some of the P.E. ones because I have some broken pegs. @ar_pro Thanks for making me aware of those. 3 different styles available.

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I knew I had some of the Parts Express grill guides around here. Just had to find them. 

Ytk5C6Ul.jpg

My Nines have the sockets in the speaker cabinets and the pegs on the grills.  The PE pegs fit the AR sockets perfectly. The PE sockets are a little loose on my grill pegs although they appear to be the same size. I guess it wouldn't mater if all new parts were used.  One other thing is my grill badges are just AR and yours say AR9. I wonder which is the earliest version.

Building up and reinforcing the water damaged MDF with epoxy may be tedious, but will restore the integrity of the cabinets. Good Luck. Nines are special and when visitors see them they always want to here them. 

udgITFil.jpg   

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Thanks for the post Larry. P.E. have 2 sizes. I need to measure which are closest.

https://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-heavy-duty-speaker-grill-guides-12-pair--260-367

https://www.parts-express.com/parts-express-small-speaker-grill-guides-12-pair--260-368

I'm thinking the first, the heavy duty, is the best choice.

I think my 9s are early as they have wooden frames for the grille material and the reverse pegs. The serial numbers are not very visible any longer and only part can be seen.

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Yep - the larger peg sockets fit perfectly into the holes on the face of the AR-9. I used to put a little yellow glue in there when I set the new sockets into place.

Old sockets can be removed from the speaker's face with an over-sized drill bit that doesn't quite fit down into the socket - slowly & carefully rotate the bit, and the socket comes right out.

All of the "AR-9" badges that I've ever encountered have been attached to wooden grille panels; the "AR" badges I've seen have been on speakers with the later plastic grilles.

I've seen exactly one pair of AR-9's with the off-white linen cloth as used in the AR-3a era. This was maybe 30 years ago, and I have no idea if it was home-made, or something that the factory had done. It was certainly distinctive!

 

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  • 6 months later...
I went early this morning to see a pair of AR9s that were for sale. They are original and a solid 9 out of 10 - or better. Even the grilles have the original material and only 2 tiny holes at corners - one on the upper left of the face grille and the other on a corner of a woofer grille. They really don't show. The surrounds on the woofers and LMR have Simply Speakers surrounds. These are way to thick to be correct compliance. They will be changed at some point. All the drivers are original to the cabinets - so I was told. The basket frames were painted black when the surrounds were replaced. They are early versions with the pegs in the cabinets just like the pair I picked up along with the 10Pi speakers last winter.
 
Twice during the demo I thought I heard brief distortion at low volume but it was not present at higher volume. Not sure if it was me, the gear or a driver. I wasn't worried about it due to them being in such GOOD cosmetic condition.One of the woofer's surrounds has a patch due to someone puncturing it. Only the upper xover boards have been re-capped. I have yet to hook them up at home. I haven't decided where to put them. I tweaked my back bringing them in the house so I'm not rushing to move them right away. Trying to get my son to temporarily take the 91s and get them out of my way in my office where I have the 90s, 91s and 10Pi (smallest room in the house).
 
Here are a few pictures.
IMG-0677.jpg00-U0-U-h-JM7-SXe9s-Ux-1200x900.jpg
 
00n0n-en-Lmp-BSNf-Iw-1200x900-Copy.jpg Simply Speakers surround
 

 

Time to finish the first set and sell them. They are not as nice cosmetically.
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Nice looking pair of 9's. I don't know why people put engraved numbers on equipment. Maybe for insurance purposes. At least they are on the back. Who is going to pick up speakers weighing 130 lbs each and take off with them. I used a heavy duty hand truck to get mine inside the house.

I have seen several pictures of 9's with the 200043-0 tweeters on the internet. Just like in my AR58S speakers.  Mine came with 200011 tweeters like you would see in AR 11's.  I stole the 200029-1 tweeters from my AR91's to replace them. As far as I know they are all pretty close in performance if not identical. Since then I have managed to snag extras when they are a good deal. Best part is that the spares sometime come with the foam inserts which were missing from my 9's also. No luck on the foams for the upper midranges yet, they are special on the 9's and 90 or 91 inserts won't fit. Will probably have to make some.

Like I said AFAIK they are identical performance wise, just different cosmetically. 

EPCNs6B.jpgYSDm9ej.jpg

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54 minutes ago, lARrybody said:

Best part is that the spares sometime come with the foam inserts which were missing from my 9's also. No luck on the foams for the upper midranges yet, they are special on the 9's and 90 or 91 inserts won't fit. Will probably have to make some.

The foam inserts seem to be missing from most 9's. Mine are no different. Yes, the 90's inserts are a bit different.

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4 hours ago, lARrybody said:

...AFAIK they are identical performance wise, just different cosmetically. 

Correct. Aside from the face plate and the sticker label, these are fully identical according to the original AR drawings for these parts. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I've been making some progress on the water damaged bottoms of my 1st pair of 9's. Many thanks to GD70 for tips and advice. Page prior to this have some pictures of the process. I decided to tackle the really bad speaker first. The bottom was like dried oatmeal and corners were gone. One corner was so bad I actually found a dried earthworm inside thus proving my theory that the previous owner would drag them outside. I first stabilized the inside and outside bottom to firm up the MDF. It soaked up a lot of resin. Next I had to build up the bottom to get it flat. The pedestal  base (with the circular hole) was also in bad condition. In several spots I had to drill 1/8" holes and apply resin to firm it up. It too was not flat. Lots of applications of wood filler and sanding to flatten surfaces and reshape corners. I didn't have any veneer to patch in corners so decided to just stain the filler. It won't look great but I look at it that I have saved a pair of AR9's. Once the bottom and corners were restructured I began to remove MDF along the swollen sides using a pick. It was hard to control in areas and would fall out like saw dust. I then clamped the sides and applied resin. I used painters tape and wax paper to prevent any bonding to the wood pieces used to clamp the sides. I did an OK job as it was difficult to determine how deep and how much to remove. Not perfectly flat but it is solid.

131-3166-r1.jpg

131-3178-r1.jpg

131-3185.jpg

131-3187.jpg

131-3188.jpg

NOW FOR MORE SANDING

131-3190.jpg

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15 minutes ago, ar_pro said:

Those big boxes are fun to wrestle around, aren't they?

GD70 (Glen) told me of a product, zpoxy, that works well. Without his help I'm not sure where I'd be today.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O8ESK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I usually enlist the help of my son.

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The progress you are making is impressive. You certainly have given some thought on how to proceed. My thoughts are that when you are finished you may want to keep both pairs. My living room where my 9's are has just slightly under 9 ft, ceilings.  At 52.75 inches tall, stacked 9's are certainly a possibility. That would be different.

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