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Another AR-11 thread

RS Steve

RS Steve

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I came across another set of tired AR-11's and couldn't resist snatching them up to restore. The set I have from an earlier restoration are the AR-11B model which does not have the fuse on the back binding post plate. These are just plain AR-11's which are earlier. It turns out both tweeters are bad, not sure if they can be repaired or if I just have to get replacements.

If I can find tweeters I think they should turn out great, I will recap them and also refinish the veneer. The 11's are one of my favorite speakers, my neighbor has the AR-3's and we did an A/B test against the 11's. He now wants my 11's. :D I told him this second pair will be available soon.
 

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Interesting find on the crossovers, they have a 10 UF, 40 UF, 50 uf, and 72 uf. Looks like the 50 and the 72 are connected to create 122 uf. My other AR-11B's had a 120 uf, 40 uf, and 10 uf. From all the reading I have done that was standard for all AR-11's.

These caps are huge in size compared to the later AR-11 B's I restored before. I believe these recently aquired AR-11's are pretty early versions.

I added some pictures of what I found.
 

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interesting....the zip ties would make me think they've been recapped, but it looks very professional and almost "factory" in appearance.
 
RS Steve said:
Interesting find on the crossovers, they have a 10 UF, 40 UF, 50 uf, and 72 uf. Looks like the 50 and the 72 are connected to create 122 uf. My other AR-11B's had a 120 uf, 40 uf, and 10 uf. From all the reading I have done that was standard for all AR-11's.

These caps are huge in size compared to the later AR-11 B's I restored before. I believe these recently aquired AR-11's are pretty early versions.

I added some pictures of what I found.
Click to expand...

Those are Sprague Compulytic capacitors, and are the best AR ever used. They are original to the earlier AR-11, and will very likely not need to be replaced.

Roy
 
RoyC said:
Those are Sprague Compulytic capacitors, and are the best AR ever used. They are original to the earlier AR-11, and will very likely not need to be replaced.

Roy
Click to expand...

Yeah, they look very good in quality compared to what I am used to seeing. Everything inside me though is saying replace them while you have it apart.
I'll have to think about that for a little bit, the recap cost is around 95.00 also. :scratch2:
 
If you decide to recap please send those old ones to me :yes:

Seriously I wouldn't even think about replacing those. They are great caps and rarely go bad.
 
Finished and looking good!

Just got back this afternoon from the cabinet shop with the finished AR-11's, all I can say is wow!

They sound sooooo good, and look very classy. Hope the pictures do justice, it was a crazy restore. I am back and forth between these and my JBL 4410's on which is my favorite at this size. I think the looks of the 11's put them over the top, gorgeous, just gorgeous! :yes:
 

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What tweeters did you replace the dead originals with? The cabinets came out nice.

Roy
 
RoyC said:
What tweeters did you replace the dead originals with? The cabinets came out nice.

Roy
Click to expand...

I used the replacements that Vintage AR sells, I like them better than the originals that are in my AR-11B's. I have them set up next to eachother doing a compare as I type, guess I'm in AR heaven at the moment.:thmbsp:

Here's a few side by sides, I built the grills myself, the B's have the original foam still.
 

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Great job!

I refurbished a pair of AR-10π which are basically AR-11s with the cabinet flipped upside down and 3 controls behind that top valance panel added for each driver to adjust for room placement.

Simply put; They are amazing speakers. I am sure yours are amazing you as well...

Here are mine
AF1400B1-E7CD-4191-82ED-6D7C1A976DA5.JPG
 
SFBayArch said:
Great job!

I refurbished a pair of AR-10π which are basically AR-11s with the cabinet flipped upside down and 3 controls behind that top valance panel added for each driver to adjust for room placement.

Simply put; They are amazing speakers. I am sure yours are amazing you as well...

Here are mine
AF1400B1-E7CD-4191-82ED-6D7C1A976DA5.JPG
Click to expand...

Very nice, those 10's look great. :thmbsp:

After comparing my 11's to the 11B's the replacement tweeters I used in the 11's seem to keep up with the very strong mids better, they seem better balanced but not a huge change just suttle. My wife even enjoyed listening to them, thats like icing on the cake.
 
RS Steve said:
Very nice, those 10's look great. :thmbsp:

After comparing my 11's to the 11B's the replacement tweeters I used in the 11's seem to keep up with the very strong mids better, they seem better balanced but not a huge change just suttle. My wife even enjoyed listening to them, thats like icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

I've been consulting with Larry about AR replacement tweeters in recent months, which is why I was curious about the new tweeters shown in your photos. Your tweeters are among the first of these tweeters (sourced from AB Tech) to implement modifications we've discussed to calm them down. These rather pricey tweeters were known to be somewhat harsh in the past. I still had some concern that the midrange response would be too much without a minor crossover tweak, but they seem to be working out well for you.

Roy
 
Even with all the love for the early models, I've always felt ARs got better with their relatively newer vintage offerings.
I have pairs of Connoisseur 40t and Classic 30s that have remarkable sound.
 
RoyC said:
I've been consulting with Larry about AR replacement tweeters in recent months, which is why I was curious about the new tweeters shown in your photos. Your tweeters are among the first of these tweeters (sourced from AB Tech) to implement modifications we've discussed to calm them down. These rather pricey tweeters were known to be somewhat harsh in the past. I still had some concern that the midrange response would be too much without a minor crossover tweak, but they seem to be working out well for you.

Roy
Click to expand...

Thats good to know, the new tweeters do seem just a tad brighter than the originals but It makes them sound alot closer to my JBL 4410's which I really enjoy. I like running the mids -3 db and the tweeters at 0, also the bass seems a little heavier in the 11's than in the 11B's. The AR's seem to always sound better paired with my Sansui receivers, I had my G-7700 pushing them yesterday.

I didn't touch the crossovers, those caps were very quality looking, so they stayed put.

Interesting thing happened durring this cabinet refinish, another cabinet builder came and saw what we were doing and suggested we take them across the parking lot to his paint booth to shoot the final low gloss finish. So over there they went, I had to leave to pick up my son at his work. When I returned the next morning only one speaker was back at the original shop, the other had been dropped on the ground by accident by the other cabinet builder. :wtf: :gigglemad

He spent the whole day stripping, repairing, and refinishing the speaker he dropped. It came out perfect (thank goodness), he was sick about it but at least he made it right. I told him chit happens, and thanked him for fixing it.
 
Nice job on the cabs. I do lots of wood refinishing so can appreciate a good job...especially if they spray the finish.

I see you A/B'd the speaker with the AR3. I would love to see them compared to the 3a and hear your critique if you ever do. Those 11's seem purdy nice but don't see them often for sale. Do you know if they sold much of them and what the original MSRP was on them? Thanks.
 
centsless said:
Nice job on the cabs. I do lots of wood refinishing so can appreciate a good job...especially if they spray the finish.

I see you A/B'd the speaker with the AR3. I would love to see them compared to the 3a and hear your critique if you ever do. Those 11's seem purdy nice but don't see them often for sale. Do you know if they sold much of them and what the original MSRP was on them? Thanks.
Click to expand...

We did do an A/B compare with my 11B's, both Dan (AR3 owner and neighbor) and I liked the 11B's better. The 3's have original caps still in the crossovers and my 11B's have new Daytons installed so I don't know if that is a fair comparison. The 3's just do not have the same overall balance, The 11B's sound much fuller and accurate. Dan wants to get a pair of 11's from me but he won't do a trade. He bought his 3's back in the late 1960's and will not part with them. I asked if he wanted to restore his 3's but he hasn't wanted to touch them.

It's too bad the 11's don't have the same value as the 3's these days, the 3's sell for crazy $ so I haven't picked up a pair yet.

I'm pretty sure the ar-11's sold for around 375.00 when new, I though I read that somewhere. I put one on my weight scale and it seems they are 51 lbs each, pretty heavy for the size.
 
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I love my AR11'S, too. I picked them up back in 2007 when I was living in the DFW area from the original owner. He had kept them wrapped up in a card board paper and the foam grills had dissolved into the front baffles. It was hell cleaning that stuff off but it came off. I filled, sanded, and repainted the front baffles a medium flat black and they look awesome. The cabinets were already in outstanding shape and required next to nothing to make them shine like new. The crossovers were recapped and the toggle switches (for mids and tweeters) were cleaned up and they sound spectacular....one of my favorite pairs of speakers I own. I've also had 4 pairs of the AR-2ax's and they don't even compare to the 11's and were easy to sell each time I got a pair. I finally found a pair of original foam grills foe them after 5 1/2 years of waiting and they should be in the end of the week. Yay!!

Beautiful speakers you have there. Call me a die hard fan, too.
 
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