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AR2 woofer stopped working

darkscorch

darkscorch

New Member
Hey AK,

Picked up a pair of AR2s a few months ago and have been loving them, but now one of them only operates the dual mids (aka tweeter section). I don't think these have ever been opened up, but can't be sure. What I do know is the crossover knob feels dry and slightly squeaks (like nails on a chalkboard). The woofer just didn't work when I went to play them the other day. The other speaker is working well, however. I tried switching cables and outputs and I get the same result.

Any ideas?
 
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Hmmm.....well, it's pretty normal for those fifty-year-old controls to be corroded and crunchy by now, but it only affects the dual mids (tweeter) and has nothing to do with the woofer. Since the problem woofer was working, it sounds like you've developed a loose wire connection somehow :dunno:. Often there are glue joints that may come loose with these woofers between the metal basket and the masonite rings at surround and spider, but that should not shut down the woofer entirely and would show as entirely different symptoms. You may have to open it up but be very careful removing the grille cloth/frame - - it may be attached with tiny staples at the perimeter which can be difficult to see, esp. if you have the tweedy-looking grille cloth.
 
ra.ra said:
Hmmm.....well, it's pretty normal for those fifty-year-old controls to be corroded and crunchy by now, but it only affects the dual mids (tweeter) and has nothing to do with the woofer. Since the problem woofer was working, it sounds like you've developed a loose wire connection somehow :dunno:. Often there are glue joints that may come loose with these woofers between the metal basket and the masonite rings at surround and spider, but that should not shut down the woofer entirely and would show as entirely different symptoms. You may have to open it up but be very careful removing the grille cloth/frame - - it may be attached with tiny staples at the perimeter which can be difficult to see, esp. if you have the tweedy-looking grille cloth.
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Thanks so much for the reply! Would this project be able to be DIY or should I take it to a tech? I know the sealing of these speakers is essential to their functioning properly and I don't know the proper steps past taking off the grille cloth and frame.
 
I bought a pair of AR2s at an estate sale a while back. One woofer wasn't working. Upon removing the woofer I found that the glue holding the spider to the frame and the glue holding the surround to the frame had failed. It would have been an easy fix to just re-glue everything, but unfortunately the voice coil was also shot from being unguided for who knows how long. I would avoid playing yours until you can open it up. Maybe it'll be an easy fix. Woofers show up on eBay all the time for reasonable money if you need to replace yours.
 
If you have any interest or skill at DIY projects, this AR-2 speaker is reasonably simple for an introductory surgery project. That said, JonL's comments are invaluable, since he has been through this exact same situation. Even though I find it hard to believe that the woofer is DOA, he does seem to offer a feasible rationale for this possibility to occur. You'll need to investigate a bit further.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice and help. I should have some free time in the next two weeks to start the careful disassembly and investigation!

I'll update (with pics if I remember) then.

Thanks again!
 
The woofer will be a beotch to remove. The putty sealer is basically acting as glue after all these years. You'll need to pry it out with a large screw driver blade, and something to protect the baffle edges around the woofers to push the screw driver against. I use a I inch wide metal putty knife. Once the seal is broken they will lift out but they are somewhat heavy. Just go slow.

Glenn
 
My AR-2's came with the original gold / tweed cloth. Caution, as was written above, there are staples around the perimeter that can barely be seen. Use a magnet to locate them. Mine had 18-20 of them. Once all are pulled, the Masonite backer board is glued to the speaker frame. Use care you don't rip the cloth, it's made of unobtanium. Above all, have fun!

Randy
 
Thanks! Once I've taken the woofer out, how do I go about resealing it when putting it back in? GD70 mentioned putty sealer that was presumable used at the factory. Is there a specific product that anybody has used that has worked especially well?
 
Just a word of caution. I bought a pair of AR 2ax woofers off the bay. The speakers I bought had RS replacement woofers. One of the woofers apparently was dropped either in or out of the box. Very slight but refoaming didn't help. The magnet and coil were no longer concentric and they rubbed.

Regarding the grille cloth. My technique for removing them is to take a very thin allen wrench, push the short side between the cloth and wood edge, rotate the wrench so the hidden side now goes behind the grille, take a pair of plies and pull the wrench out. You can probably do this multiple times working your way down the sides.
 
All good comments from GD70, rrago and jlovda. For the staple removal, work slowly and deliberately - - - my tools of choice have been dental tools, very small screwdriver, and needle nose pliers. Sometimes the woofer sealer has pretty much hardened, which may or may not make the driver removal more difficult, and believe it or not, sometimes the fifty-year old putty remains pliant enough to be able to re-use it after re-forming it into snakes with warm hands. If not, you can use compressible adhesive foam tape or buy a 1-pound block of duct seal from your big-box home supplier for a few bucks - - it's like modeling clay. Another word of caution removing the woofer - - - you do not want to damage the cloth surround or the cone, so work carefully!

And, if you are going inside, you are probably going to want to inspect-clean-restore-replace the crunchy pot, and replace the capacitor.
 
So I have removed, what I think is, all the staples. However, the grill still feels affixed. I'm looking around for more staples, but any tips on how to remove the grille? Should it just come off?
 
Never mind! I just coaxed it off. There was some adhesive, but fortunately I didn't mess anything up. That's it for tonight. Soon I'll take the woofer out!
 
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If all else fails- as it usually does, drill a small hole in the back of the cabinet maybe a 1/4", insert a long screw driver blad or hard steel rod, feel around for the outside woofer frame and start tapping the end to break it loose! You can always take a wood dowel to re-plug the hole, getting to woofer out without bending the frame or scaring the wood is helpful not to do here!
Got to be carefull to avaoid drilling into the crossover parts!
DC
 
Got the woofer out (mostly). One of the screws would not back out, so I spent a lot of time working with pliers and flat screwdrivers to ease it out. Finally got it about 3mm out, which was enough to get access to the connections on the woofer. Used my multimeter to get a reading, but it was 2.77 ohms. Is this normal?
 
Very unusual for these screws to get jammed up like that - - one of the nice things about these early AR's is their use of machine screws and T-nuts for a solid mechanical connection, but I've only seen them with phillips heads. I think my suggestion for getting that bugger out might be to clamp on a pair of vice grips to get a longer torque lever, and even if you grunge up the screw head it is fairly easy to replace. On the woofer reading, you'll only get a true reading if you take it out of the circuit - - - i.e. remove one of the wire connections.
 
Thank you ra.ra! I'll desolder one of the wires sometime in the next week. I had to basically do what you said with the vice grips. Ruined the screw, but not too worried about replacing it (even if non-original, that doesn't matter to me.
 
Alrighty, removed the woofer completely and tested it with a multimeter. 0 ohms :( but at least now I know that the woofer is bad and can get around to finding a replacement. Cleaned up the pot while I was in there, but didn't get to the caps. Are the woofers in the AR2, AR2a, and AR2ax the same? Anything else I should check on before I buy another woofer?

Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate the guidance so much.
 
darkscorch said:
Alrighty, removed the woofer completely and tested it with a multimeter. 0 ohms :( but at least now I know that the woofer is bad and can get around to finding a replacement. Cleaned up the pot while I was in there, but didn't get to the caps. Are the woofers in the AR2, AR2a, and AR2ax the same? Anything else I should check on before I buy another woofer?

Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate the guidance so much.
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Bummer about the woofer.
I'm pretty sure the 2 & 2a woofers are the same. They are on fleabag all the time.
 
There are two different woofers. The early versions that have 6 mounting holes and the later versions with 4 holes. They are also different diameters. The 6 hole version is too big to fit in the mounting hole for the 4 hole version.
 
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