dvdan1
New Member
Hello, I recently inherited a pair of AR-2As of early vintage (or so I am told). It's fairly obvious the pots are bad; I can hear them grind when they are turned. When I opened the speakers up (yikes), I was surprised to find very large oil-filled caps in them. I must admit I didn't know what they were until other AR-2A AK members filled me in. And, I could see there was corrosion on the pots. So now that they're open, I have to make a decision: Clean, replace of bypass the pots? An eBay seller has highly suggested that I completely replace them because I'll just have the same problem down the road. The only problem I could see with that is, maybe they won't sound like they were originally supposed to, or that their value is decreased (yes, I plan to use the speakers, but I may just want to sell them down the road to make room for another project, or not). Another opinion was to just bypass them completely and use the treble and base controls on my receiver to control the tone instead.
I'm interested if any knowledgeable members have any advice for me. I'm also interested if anyone has a best practice for removing the pots. I'd like to remove the pots and the board they are attached to for easier soldering (not my favorite thing to do). Someone suggested carefully prying the board up, but there are many staples that connect it to the speaker cabinet, and I'm not sure of the best method to reattach it.
Thanks in advance. AK is the best!
I'm interested if any knowledgeable members have any advice for me. I'm also interested if anyone has a best practice for removing the pots. I'd like to remove the pots and the board they are attached to for easier soldering (not my favorite thing to do). Someone suggested carefully prying the board up, but there are many staples that connect it to the speaker cabinet, and I'm not sure of the best method to reattach it.
Thanks in advance. AK is the best!