Inherited some AR-3's

RS Steve

RS Steve

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A neighbor 5 houses down from me passed away last year from cancer. He and I knew each other for many years. In his paper work that his daughter went through, she found notes of certain possessions he wanted me to have. One of the things he knew I'd want were the AR-3 speakers he bought new. I commented many times about them and how I would like to restore them. I was shocked when his daughter contacted me and said Dan had left the speakers, his 20' boat, and his 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD 4x4. Just goes to show that helping those in need doesn't go unrewarded.

Hopefully I can get the 3's up and working correctly, I know one of the mids are bad and their age always bring issues.

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Obviously you were kind and considerate to your neighbor in the past, you deserve what he wanted you to have! What goes around comes around, I truly believe that. I hope that you enjoy your new project and retain them to remember your neighbor, or pass them along to his daughter possibly if she may want them? Thanks for sharing a great experience!
 
Great story, I hope you can restore them, and play his favorite album on their debut. Bet his daughter would know... Good on you for being such a good neighbor. Hope you do the same when it’s your time!
 
Very nice. Replace the caps right away. The originals are going to be way out of spec and you could damage the mid and tweeter if played too loudly, as they will be producing frequencies not intended for them. The coils are fine. The pots should also be taken apart and cleaned with Deoxit-5. Spray the connecting terminals too.
Tweeter may have low volume due to dried out bonding. This speaker uses the same tweeter as my AR-2ax. My midrange is different (not a dome).
 
In the pictures you can see on the one midrange that he attempted to fix and had removed the metal screen and dampening. The tinsel lead is broke off though flush, so this mid is basically toast. I see modern replacements on EBAY, I most likely would go that route instead of taking a chance on used ones. I was able to pull out the dust caps on the woofers and clean out the years of dust on them, cabinets are in fairly nice shape. Soon I will venture inside and test all the drivers before installing new caps and working on the pots.

Dan was a very unique person, I'm sure he will be pleased knowing these will be cherished and put back into being enjoyed.
 
RS Steve said:
In the pictures you can see on the one midrange that he attempted to fix and had removed the metal screen and dampening. The tinsel lead is broke off though flush, so this mid is basically toast. I see modern replacements on EBAY, I most likely would go that route instead of taking a chance on used ones. I was able to pull out the dust caps on the woofers and clean out the years of dust on them, cabinets are in fairly nice shape. Soon I will venture inside and test all the drivers before installing new caps and working on the pots.

Dan was a very unique person, I'm sure he will be pleased knowing these will be cherished and put back into being enjoyed.
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Steve,
that mid is repairable. I’ve done a few dozen of these with or without broken leads, in all states of disrepair including shifted magnets. That mid “makes” the speaker when functioning properly,
 
CJVx said:
Steve,
that mid is repairable. I’ve done a few dozen of these with or without broken leads, in all states of disrepair including shifted magnets. That mid “makes” the speaker when functioning properly,
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I'm missing the screen and foam for it though, not sure where to get replacements.
 
Second the no trashing bit, these are wonderfully balanced sounding when all the drivers shake hands on a tune, and with the pots in the back, well you can tune them up or down to suit.
I just did a rewind of the two AR3 tweeters that I had repaired soo many times over 20 years, with solder crimps and such, they were pretty much signed out. I wanted to get them right. I wrote up a somewhat meandering narration with pictures as I went along, here in another thread. I used a smaller copper wire, just because I had some...turned out much better than they were, and they are really happy now. I cranked them up the other night and argggh' noisy, not the good kind, but realized I had turned the pots wide open, before the repair. Turned them down 1/2 way and voila, no scratchy overdriven sounds, just sweetness. Do save the old ones, there are are only few good ones left.
 
Pulled the mids out to send away for rebuilding, I also ordered some new Dayton capacitors for the crossovers. I will remove the pots and see if they are not too far corroded shortly, and look into getting some new grills. Tweeters test good, but they might get sent for restoration at some point also, soon these will be good as new.
 
Hi Steve!
I hope you and your family have been well!
This is a great story, be good to your neighbors! What a surprise I’m sure!

After Roy rebuilt my mids and tweeters, it was a day and night improvement! Roy told me the drivers output was pretty much what it was when new after the rebuild. The missing screen and dampening ring shouldn’t be an issue. The pair I found when stopping for toilet paper had the screens missing as well. An attempt to increase their output, so the owner thought. Finding a correct original screen will be very difficult. My other set has the screens. I asked Roy to leave the screens off when he shipped them back to me. I was curious how much difference there was with screen and dampening rings with, and without. Frankly, not much that I could hear, subtle at best. I did glue them back in place because I’m an originality freak, at least cosmetically. BTW, the damping disk is felt type material I believe.

My 3s are one of my favorite speakers. They just sound so great!

If you have any questions let me know.
Cheers, Glenn
 
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I spent some time cleaning and oiling the cabinets on the AR-3's, man are they gorgeous for being 1965 vintage. Getting the mids and tweeters ready to send out for restoration. Capacitors are here so while waiting on the drivers I will address the crossovers and pots.

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Th
Bill S said:
Very nice. From the look of it you'll have fun pairing them with different power options. They look really nice with clean linen grills in place too. Got to love 1" thick cabs. I think you'll be very surprised with how they sound.
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These are my first pair of 3s, but I have had 3As and many other AR models.
 
RS Steve said:
I'm missing the screen and foam for it though, not sure where to get replacements.
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Finding “correct” screens for this mid will be difficult. It’s pretty specific for the 3 mid. I had asked Roy if he had any extras when he did mine, no luck. There is very little difference with and without the screen and dampening disk, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Main thing is getting he originals rebuilt for a true AR3.
 
Well, you know what you have! Treat them well. No drinks on top of the cabinet's kind of thing. Not really a bookshelf speaker, well maybe when bookshelves were tied to the walls with 4x4's.
I have some suggestions for the grills, not original, but would protect the mids from any flying debris. Use an old fashioner coarse kitchen strainer and mark the diameter plus a 1-1/2" flare
and cut out with snips. Then flatten the flare out maintaining the dome shape while matching the mounting surface of the old grilles which are 4-1/2" in diameter....but check dimensions when buying, you don't need a very deep section piece off the strainer. You will probably have to trim the flare to get your edges to line up...? Just a thought ,if you can't find an original, look at one closely to see the way it is fitted. Mine have 1/2" cardboard diffusor rings glued on the inside at about the 2-1/2"<---> 3" diameter, along with the fiberglas pillow underneath the screen....I know where two are, but museum staff might not like you for asking.
 
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