New, er, old speaks
Options
halo
Posts: 5,616
I picked up a pair of AR-2ax's last night. Had a chance to listen for a couple of hours (not to bad) and did some research today on old AR's.
The cabinets and grills are in good shape and so are all the drivers. I lucked out as the woofers have the cloth surrounds and not the foam that are prone to deteriorate. The pots are shot and what the guy did was bypass the pots entirely and now the mid and the tweeter are running too hot. I have to try and find some replacements as he drilled out the originals to put in the banana terminals. :eek:
So far, they only sound good - by good I mean really good
- with Jazz or Classical.
The cabinets and grills are in good shape and so are all the drivers. I lucked out as the woofers have the cloth surrounds and not the foam that are prone to deteriorate. The pots are shot and what the guy did was bypass the pots entirely and now the mid and the tweeter are running too hot. I have to try and find some replacements as he drilled out the originals to put in the banana terminals. :eek:
So far, they only sound good - by good I mean really good
- with Jazz or Classical. Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10
HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10
Post edited by halo on
Comments
-
Congrats.Michael
In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
NORTH of 60° -
Weren't AR's the first speaker that advertised using "acoustic suspension" technology? I remember them being very very good rock speakers.
God, it's been years... -
I found some complete x-overs on the bay so I can put them back to original. I hope they sound better on rock after the repairs 'cause they kinda suck right now.Audio: Polk S15 * Polk S35 * Polk S10 * SVS SB-1000 Pro
HT: Samsung QN90B * Marantz NR1510 * Panasonic DMP-BDT220 * Roku Ultra LT * APC H10 -
djf wrote:Weren't AR's the first speaker that advertised using "acoustic suspension" technology? I remember them being very very good rock speakers.
God, it's been years...
AR definitely pioneered acoustic suspension (closed box with volume calculated to help keep a woofer with a relatively pliable surround from bottoming out) and bookshelf speakers with decent bass response in general. I don't remember the old ARs as being great "rock" speakers per se, though -- iirc they were relatively inefficient and didn't have the accentuated, "studio monitor" upper midrange that made the (bookshelf-sized, but ported and considerably more efficient at the expense of bass below 50 Hz) JBL L-100s such a big hit a few years farther down the line.
That said, decent high-power amplification has become cheaper and rock listeners have become more sophisticated since then, so in today's terms those old ARs may well be rock stars after all these years!
