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Ar-3a Improved Find Refoam

S

Sjoperd

Member
I found a pair of ar-3a improved today,

quite cheaply.

Tweeters and mids work. Woofers work, but have no foam.

I played them a bit with them lying with the back on the floor. low volume.


serials are: XXX404 and xxx406. Would this mean that they aren't a pair?

I'm planning to refoam them myself. There is plenty of information about refoaming on the internet but I have never done this before. Is this a risk I can/should take? Or are these speakers too rare or valuable to risk breaking something?

I can't find much of information on the improved version on the ar-3a. In what does it differ from the normal version? Would the improved version be more desirable?
 
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refoam is easy. find a cheap pair of speakers at your local goodwill or salvation army, search for replacement foams on ebay, and experiment on those first.

AR3a are pretty amazing.
 
Thanks brumett, I obviously failed at using a search engine :S

I think I have found enough information then :D Those ar-3a speakers did sound promising already. I'm not sure how long I can store them. My room is definatly to small for them :(
 
Yes, those are a pair, and a good one. Numbers are very close together. Congrats on getting those legendary nymphs. :)

Refoam, recap, deoxit and enjoy.

Don't play them loud on amplifier who cant push 4Ohm speakers and have under 100WPC RMS in 4 Ohms.
 
So how would a (fully recapped and tested) yamaha ca-810 do?


It's 60 rms @ 8 ohm

and 80 @ 4 ohm


I have read that it tested 90 watts at 8 ohm before clipping... I have no idea how reliable that source was. It is heavy. I'm thinking it has quite a lot of headroom.

It has watt meters but I'm not sure if they are accurate enough. Anyway I never put the volume past 12 anyway. Maybe 10 with the 'hot' mastered cd's. (on b&w dm4's, their woofer starts complaining at that volume)

When I watched the meters on it they never seemed to go past 20 to 25 watt on my loudest listening moments.
 
Refoam completed,

Used the 15h tone and quite a bit of volume and glued the surrounds at the same time.


Edit:
Maybe something interesting, one of the woofers had written on it: "Defective Stock"

It doesn't sound defective... :S
 
Last edited:
Sjoperd said:
Refoam completed,

Used the 15h tone and quite a bit of volume and glued the surrounds at the same time.


Edit:
Maybe something interesting, one of the woofers had written on it: "Defective Stock"

It doesn't sound defective... :S
Click to expand...
Hmm, odd. One thing is for certain they have some healthy bass. I have older (earlier) models and it's quite amazing. Going by serial numbers and installed drivers mine are 1969/70 ish, so for 43 year old speaker, damn!

I wouldn't worry to much about the power, and in your case your equipment is rated down to 4-ohm so you should be fine. My AR3a speakers require more power than any of my other speakers, however, I rarely run more than 5wpc for comfortable listening levels. If I flip from the AR3a to my Bose 901 I actually have to turn the volume down. Going from the 901 to just about any other speaker I own I have to turn the volume down yet a little more, so the 901 are next to least efficient. But again, I don't need much power to enjoy them.

Make sure you tilt them back slightly OR raise them, really helps with the mids and highs. I also have mine slightly toed in. They have very nice imaging.
 
the imaging is the best i have heard, I just forgot my actual room dimensions with my eyes closed. very impressive.

vocals are sometimes a bit blurry. old capacitors, room or the speakers?
 
The Yamaha will do fine. But those 3a's want high current amps. 150W RMS in 4ohms with 60A current is minimum IMO.

Recap and through switch cleaning is a must. Glad you already enjoy them!
 
I recapped the crossover

6uf to audyn mkp
10uf to audyn mkp
20uf (two 10uf)
10uf to audyn mkp

and I have one 150 uf one left.
I think changing this to mkt or mkp is to expensive.

How important is this one to the overal sound? Would a new electrolyte improve on the old? (I have no way to measure ESR or capacitance, would the 10% on the 150uf be important enough?)

Would making the 150uf out of several electrolytics have an advantage over one 150uf electrolytic?

The sound did improve alot in the mids and highs after recapping. Bass seemed more dynamic and tight but to my ears it's not there yet.
 
Finished it.

I used 2 electrolytics to make 148uf

Sound again improved, though only a little.

These speakers have potential, but i'm not getting much bass power out of them. It's clean, and very listeneble but it doesn't slam as I expected them to do.

I'm guessing this must be the amplifier being too weak. I do like the 'warmth' these speakers give. Instruments have 'body' to them.
 
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