Do I put money into my AR-2ax's

Cayuga

I picked up a pair of 2ax's for $50, got them home and discovered that the mids and tweeters aren't working. I've always wanted a pair and with a starting price of $50, should I spend the money to replace the mids and tweeters? Is there a simple test I can do that will tell me if they are dead? Thanks in advance for your help.

RuSsMaN

Are you sure they aren't working? Those drivers rarely fail, but the pots on the rear that pass the signal to them are notorious for rust and seizing up. A lot of people with vintage AR either replace or bypass the pots altogether.

Cheers,
Russ

Cayuga

RuSsMaN, I'm not sure. How do I test them?

mhardy6647

I am not Russ, but I am frequently mistaken for him in police line-ups (ahem...).

Easiest way is to 'fiddle' with the pots (and they are wirewound pots, not L-pads, interestingly) and see if you can get them to "make", thus producing some sound from the appropriate driver.

At this late dates, the pots on the vintage (Villchur-era) AR speakers are badly corroded - this is a common, classic failure mode.

The drivers (tweeters) are somewhat sensitive to abuse, but odds are its the pots. The cone MRs in the AR-2ax aren't terribly fragile, as I recall. The pots can be rebuilt, replaced with rheostats, or replaced with fixed value resistors. Bypassing them completely isn't generally recommended (though some folks do it).

I have a pair of AR-2axs but they are butt-ugly; I'll spare you and post this catalog scan instead.
They are pretty decent sounding loudspeakers - not on par with the AR-3/AR-3a but nothing to sneeze at, either.


(from the 1966 LRE catalog)

EDIT: Another common failure mode in some loudspeakers of their vintage is the XO capacitors. This is extremely common on Kloss's KLH Model Six (yielding zero tweeter output). I know that the AR-3 used big oil-filled capacitors (which are essentially immortal) - I just don't recall about the AR-2ax. If they use anything butoil-filled caps, they're probably worth changing even if they're "good".

Cayuga

I love this club! Thanks for the info, I would have spent money for replacements and justified spending money because of the low purchase price. I'll look into the pots and give an update.

mhardy6647

more on the AR pot problems...

http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/AR_2ax.htm
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_schematicss/restoring_the_ar-3a/restoring_the_ar-3a_full_pd.pdf
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=5114

It is, of course, possible that the tweeters and MRs are in fact actually toast :-P
My AR-2axs were dump finds - the drivers all worked, but both MRs had been violated and their cones were torn. A fellow hifi nutcase kindly gave me a replacement pair.

Need to make new grilles and clean up the cabinets someday...

Now... wanna see an ugly pair of AR-3s? :-)




These two were dump finds (lots of ARs in New England; imagine that?)... they looked horrible, but sounded fine (pots were corroded, though, of course). They ended up as organ donors, donating their drivers to the resurrection of a pair of Cello Amatis (which were sort of ultimate AR LST clones).

Cayuga

mhardy is the man! Thanks for the info, after seeing your pictures I'm feeling pretty good about my AR's. I've got to spend some time with them, my hope is my pots have gone to pot.

shack

I've kept my AR 4x speakers for over 40 years now. I guess my kids will have to get rid of them after my funeral cause I'm not going to.

Cayuga

I can't wait to get these 2x's rehabbed, I've read about there sound but never had a chance to hear them.