Can anyone help me identify these acoustic research woofers?

[doodfood]

Hi!

I just purchased a set of AR-5s in pretty beaten up condition on Ebay, after doing a bit of research it looks like the woofers are not original AR-5 woofers. In fact they don't seem to match any of the woofers in the "Restoring the AR3a" guide - http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/library/acoustic_research/original_models_1954-1974/original_models_schematicss/restoring_the_ar-3a/restoring_the_ar-3a_full_pd.pdf

Can anyone help me identify if these are original AR-5 woofers, and if not, where these woofers come from? I am hoping to restore them a bit and am wondering if I should keep these, they sound pretty excellent but if they're not originals i'm kind of wondering how much better real AR-5 woofers might actually be!

The guy I bought it off also gave me an extra woofer, this one does look like it is an original AR-5 woofer, can anyone confirm, I've added a pic of this too.

Thank you!

 

[michiganpat]

take 'em out and show us the back and any markings on it....they actually look like they might be original woofers that some jacka$$ put oversize dustcaps on when they refoamed them to me...

also, don't know if you noticed. but the tweeters aren't original. they look like AR2ax mids that someone took the fiberglass out of...

 

[doodfood]

Thats great news about the woofers, but dissapointing about the tweeters, I will pull them out and repost the findings. If they are correct woofers, do you think the dust cap difference makes any difference to the sound, or is it purely cosmetic?

 

[centsless]

Those are a mess my man. Why would you buy those? If you get sound out of them, I would leave them be and just play them. Is that one cabinet been cut in front?

 

[abpeep]

The AR5 that I have are cloth surrounds and the mounting flange is flat with no raised edge.

Alan

 

[doodfood]

I've been looking for a set like this for years, down here in Aus they are super rare and if they do come up in good condition can go for $1000+, the price was relatively cheap so I grabbed 'em

The guy who I got them off has sanded off the grill mounting ridge, he claimed it made them sound better..

 

[doodfood]

Ok I pulled the woofers out, they look like AR2ax woofers I hope these are the same as the AR-5 woofers?

 

[michiganpat]

Ok I pulled the woofers out, they look like AR2ax woofers I hope these are the same as the AR-5 woofers?

later AR2ax and AR5 used the same woofer. those look like the later AR2ax/5 ceramic magnet/foam surround woofer from the '74-75 time frame

 

[shacky]

later AR2ax and AR5 used the same woofer. those look like the later AR2ax/5 ceramic magnet/foam surround woofer from the '74-75 time frame

Yes they look correct. Like someone else said some jack@$$ but big oversize dust covers on them.

I believe all 5's came with foam surrounds BTW. If anyone has cloth surrounds they's be replacements possibly old 2AX but I think they were different diameter and number of screws :scratch2:

 

[doodfood]

Thanks everyone for the fantastic help provided, it's always amazing how much the people here know, I'll post an update with before/after pics and details of how the restoration went

 

[michiganpat]

since the tweets aren't original, I'd look up Roy's mod on the classic speaker pages, using Hivi Q1R's replacing the original tweet with a subtle crossover mod (3uf cap instead of a 4uf, and a .05mH coil in parallel)

 

[shacky]

Those are a mess my man. Why would you buy those?

My answer would be - they are one of AR's greatest that's why.

You could always put the drivers/crossovers into nice pair of 2AX cabs if these become too difficult to rehab.

Wonder if the one you are referring to is an unfinished cab?