My ar3a find....

[harry398]

I will be anxious to hear your impressions of the 5's. My hunch is you will like them even better than the 3a's, and particularly the 302's. I would encourage replacing the 4uf cap at least while you have them open, or at the very least test them to verify they are in spec.

hello Mr stupidhead. I have seen your build up on classic speaker, looking good!

I am slow to make changes, one thing at a time. just like on my race car(when possible) to properly judge the change.
I am NOT sure what exactly the CAPS do, and why they need replacing. I am not in understanding of what job the CAP does, and why replacing them will give better sound.

Been an extreme busy week, hope to refoam these and get them playing by sat-sunday, to make judgements on sound.

thanks for all the advice from all.

 

[harry398]

Roy

you seem to be an expert as well.......

I want to ask you about the 302's.......have you had experience with them? why do they sound so much different? could there be something in the crossovers?

thanks

 

[michiganpat]

hello Mr stupidhead. I have seen your build up on classic speaker, looking good!

I am slow to make changes, one thing at a time. just like on my race car(when possible) to properly judge the change.
I am NOT sure what exactly the CAPS do, and why they need replacing. I am not in understanding of what job the CAP does, and why replacing them will give better sound.

Been an extreme busy week, hope to refoam these and get them playing by sat-sunday, to make judgements on sound.

thanks for all the advice from all.

capacitors block certain frequencies from drivers...when in series with the driver, they block a certain frequency below the "crossover" frequency depending on their capacitance and the driver impedance. and it's not a step function, it's a slope, of 6db per octave--this is referred to as a "high-pass". when in parallel (in a second order network) they do the same, but block frequencies above the crossover frequency (again, what that value is, is determined by capacitance and crossover frequency). as capacitors age, they can drift in value, and if they increase in capacitance (which they often do), it will allow more lower frequencies through to mids and tweets, which could damage them, and it lowers the crossover frequency, changing the balance of the speaker. they also have some resistance to them, so if the resistance increases, it will reduce the output to the driver, as well...

poly film caps are very stable and basically don't change with age. electrolytics do. that's why many use polys when they recap. they also have a little less series resistance, so they'll brighten the speakers *slightly* (IIRC it's usually less than 1/2 ohm difference in resistance, which might be less than a 1db increase)

 

[stupidhead]

hello Mr stupidhead. I have seen your build up on classic speaker, looking good!

I am slow to make changes, one thing at a time. just like on my race car(when possible) to properly judge the change.
I am NOT sure what exactly the CAPS do, and why they need replacing. I am not in understanding of what job the CAP does, and why replacing them will give better sound.

Hi Harry, thanx for the kind words and glad you like them.

As for caps, Pat's explanation is a great one. Using a lame analogy that maybe makes sense given your interest in cars is think of a spark plug that is no longer performing the way it did when new and the replacing with new brings the engine back to life!

I think of caps as filters basically, and after seeing wide spreads (sometimes greater than 200% over original) in uf readings, I religiously test and often replace caps that are out of spec. The engineers/designers of the crossovers/speakers had very specific performance in mind for all the components, and to achieve this the cap value play a significant role. Also, as Pat suggested, possible damage to drivers is possible if the cap (filter) is out of spec and allowing to much juice into the driver's circuit.

Hoping this helps and above all enjoy the speakers when done. I understand the methodical approach you take with the car, which is appropriate for a fairly complex machine. Speakers of this level have a very finite number of possible things to evaluate, test, replace to get in proper working order.

Geoff

 

[harry398]

well....

here is a little update......I have picked up a Crown xls2502 amp 775 watts @ 4ohms.

I was - and still have my yamaha rxv -2400 receiver. Using it as a Pre Amp for the crown, when i run the crown.

Before I get pooo pooo's on this amp, which I could care less about, OMG......this thing brings a great sounding set of speakers to something that flat plain rocks the walls with CLARITY

ITS JUST A WALL OF SOUND! I never got the ar3a to sound great at high levels like this before, it was just great at mid and low levels. Never opens up, just keeps climbing higher in volume.....clean and clear.

its just breathtaking......... if you play this....be prepared for the floor to move....

I would say I just put like 200-300 watts through these EASY. 3 lit lights on the crown.

I like the amp. The Carvers I have heard are also Really good. The headroom is incredible.


decent $45 dollar speakers.

 

[GD70]

well....

here is a little update......I have picked up a Crown xls2502 amp 775 watts @ 4ohms.

I was - and still have my yamaha rxv -2400 receiver. Using it as a Pre Amp for the crown, when i run the crown.

Before I get pooo pooo's on this amp, which I could care less about, OMG......this thing brings a great sounding set of speakers to something that flat plain rocks the walls with CLARITY

ITS JUST A WALL OF SOUND! I never got the ar3a to sound great at high levels like this before, it was just great at mid and low levels. Never opens up, just keeps climbing higher in volume.....clean and clear.

its just breathtaking......... if you play this....be prepared for the floor to move....

I would say I just put like 200-300 watts through these EASY. 3 lit lights on the crown.

I like the amp. The Carvers I have heard are also Really good. The headroom is incredible.


decent $45 dollar speakers.

View attachment 843360 View attachment 843361 View attachment 843362

I can understand your giddiness completely! Terrific speakers! Now find a set of 3's. A little different sounding, many prefer the 3 over the 3a. I had the opportunity to A/B 3 vs.3a, and the owner of the 3a's preferred the my 3's.
Again, your 3a's look gorgeous!

 

[harry398]

The sound is better than the appearance.

I would like to find a set of 3's.

I also would like to experiment with some others.

I have a set of 98ls that sound excellent. they do somethings better than the 3, however lack a bit of the warmth. The 4 way seperates the work done by the drivers very well. I like them alot!

I have a set of connoisseur 50's. also great, however much more "bright" than most ar's. I like them alot.

In time I would like to test-have a set of 11's, 91's, and a set of 3's.

I have heard/owned 11 sets of speakers in the last year. My top 3 are 3a' , 98ls, 50.

All AR's benefit by monster amps when wanting high volume listening. I was surprised how much more is there with the carvers and my crown. I cant afford a monster class A amp....but these carvers and crown make tremendous power. The yamaha rxv 2400 produces 120 @ 8 ohms, not much more at 4 ohms...and sounds exceptional at low volumes, but you know when its running out of steam.

 

[GD70]

The sound is better than the appearance.

I would like to find a set of 3's.

I also would like to experiment with some others.

I have a set of 98ls that sound excellent. they do somethings better than the 3, however lack a bit of the warmth. The 4 way seperates the work done by the drivers very well. I like them alot!

I have a set of connoisseur 50's. also great, however much more "bright" than most ar's. I like them alot.

In time I would like to test-have a set of 11's, 91's, and a set of 3's.

I have heard/owned 11 sets of speakers in the last year. My top 3 are 3a' , 98ls, 50.

All AR's benefit by monster amps when wanting high volume listening. I was surprised how much more is there with the carvers and my crown. I cant afford a monster class A amp....but these carvers and crown make tremendous power. The yamaha rxv 2400 produces 120 @ 8 ohms, not much more at 4 ohms...and sounds exceptional at low volumes, but you know when its running out of steam.

Big power improves any speaker. I had read this many times and experienced it when I bought my JVC M-7050 power amp. JVC rated it @150 wpc @8 ohm's. When my tech had one of the 7050's, it put out 210 wpc on the bench.
Putting this amp in my system, previous amp rated @105wpc, was a jaw dropping experience! Hi volume output outstanding, but low volume listening blew me away. You could make out every nuance and detail, and still feel the bass. Probably one of the biggest single ways to improve a system, as you are experiencing.
Cheers, Glenn

 

[mhjmhjones]

hello all, I am a recent audiokarma member.

I stumbled on these yesterday.

they sound nice, and i will be refinishing them and taking apart to clean pots and fiddling.

I will be using this fine write up as a reference. I would like to thank these people for such a detailed write up.
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/...ing_the_ar-3a/restoring_the_ar-3a_full_pd.pdf

I am so happy. I own a set of AR 302's, and these BLOW THEM AWAY.




















anything to clean this area???

Yours look very much as mine do. Except my grille glue was localized in the corners and small spots on the sides and very much still intact. It was an endeavor getting the grilles off and my fabric got shredded.

 

[mhjmhjones]

these are Fine speakers. Remarkable how they sound. yea, they be Ugly with the grill off, but that makes it even MORE of a surprise! I cant believe the sound.

I think I am going to try that advice with a thin piece of wood (popsickle or a dowel.)

anyone have an extra AR3a grill emblem?

You can buy a pair of replicas on eBay for $27: http://www.ebay.com/itm/162001161952?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I still have both of my metal posts the emblem goes on, but somewhere along the way, the emblems disappeared. My kids peeled them off maybe?