Acoustic Research 11

[45Lennie]

I would like to start by saying, I messed up big time with unexpected positive results with my AR 11's. A while back I attempted to replace the deterating felt around the tweeters. While doing so, without thinking I used a razor blade and scraped away the wires to the dome. After punishing myself for being an idiot, I remembered having a pair of Emit K tweeters I salvaged from a water damaged pair of Kappa speakers. The crossover frequencies were the same so I thought I would try them. Well, I brought OK sounding speakers to WOW sounding speakers. The only issue I am having is the db level of the Emit's is higher than the AR tweeters. I have the level switch set to the lowest setting, but still is a bit high. Has anyone done this before, or have any suggestions on padding down the level of the tweeter? I have considered just changing the resistor value to the switch unless the crossover needs to be modified for this issue. I am familiar with speaker repair, I have a pair of original AR 3's I restored. I was able to restore the 2 pot's with excellent results. Any suggestions are welcome. Lennie.

 

[tyella]

As an owner and lover of AR11 speakers, I feel obligated to say that you should find the correct tweeters and restore these babies! However, as a tinkerer, I won't personally condemn you if you choose to walk this crazy path.

The AR11 is a very capable speaker, and if they aren't "WOW" speakers, perhaps you need to replace capacitors or clean the switches (or pots, I can't recall). Or perhaps your room is much different from mine. More power to you, whichever path you choose.

 

[tyella]

Also, you might be able to resolder those tweeter leads. Maybe your razor blade was really sharp and didn't tear the leads out of the domes.

 

[swechsler]

Were the original tweeters 4Ω? I see that the entire system is rated at 4Ω, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the tweeters are as well. If they were a higher impedance then you can pad the EMITs out with a resistor to make up the difference. If not I'd experiment with a higher value of resistor on the switch as you suggested.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Any suggestions are welcome. Lennie.

Look for a pair of correct replacement tweeters.

I have both AR and Infinity speakers, I'm a huge fan of the Emit-K, but the venerable AR 11 deserves to be returned to its original glory. If they were only sounding "OK" before the tweeter debacle then either something was wrong with the speakers already or your amplifier wasn't up to par.

My AR58S are considered the last of the line of AR 11 esque speakers from the manufacturer and I can't imagine how throwing the Emit-K into the mix would totally fruck up the extensive engineering that went into their design.

 

[Grenadeslio]

As an owner and lover of AR11 speakers, I feel obligated to say that you should find the correct tweeters and restore these babies! However, as a tinkerer, I won't personally condemn you if you choose to walk this crazy path.

The AR11 is a very capable speaker, and if they aren't "WOW" speakers, perhaps you need to replace capacitors or clean the switches (or pots, I can't recall). Or perhaps your room is much different from mine. More power to you, whichever path you choose.

Looks like we were typing the same thing at the same time, I'm just slooooooow lol.