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Who can restore my AR-3 speakers?

Hello gentlemen! It's been a while :D

For some nice local work here in Los Angeles and its immediate environs, I suggest (and as you can see, I am not the only one suggesting this) Orange County Speaker. They are located in Garden Grove, not far at all from Los Angeles. Just make sure that you explain clearly that you would like to have the original pots cleaned, not replaced with L-Pads.

PS. It's nice to see you all, it's been way too long - - work, traveling, etc... Best regards :D

PSS. I love my my AR-3a's!
 
There's gotta be someone in California that can do the job for you.

what do you think of the AR3? i had a nice pair about a year ago. pretty cool in the sense that they HIT HARD for such a relatively small speaker. i had them on the criss-cross stands. looked pretty slick.

i was (and still am) using a pair of McIntosh MC60s. very pleasing sound, but rolled off up top, bass wasn't very fast (but was very deep). the mids had a hole around 1kHz, which makes sense as not only is that where they cross over, but the woofer and the mid roll off around that point as well. i'm sure bnew caps would have helped although i think mine had the stock selaed paper in oil caps.

i did like them, but decided they wouldn't be my main speakers, and being i only spent $25 for them at a garage sale, the profit was just too enticing. i sold them for $435 and the guy later flipped them on the bay for $580. they had the original boxes, but a planter stain on top of each speakers.

see ya,
Robby
 
I just talked to Orange County Speaker Repair. They seem to know nothing about vintage ARs. They had no comment about removing the grilles and they don't restore original pots. I have no confidence these people would do anything short of destroying them, based on my recent phone conversation.
 
Hi,
You seem like a true enthusiast - you should look here:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=3

If you dig around you'll find out that AR never intended the grills to be removed. When serviced they were apparently torn out, breaking them to pieces, then a new one was put in it's place. With a wharehouse full of spare grills that was probably easy to do back then, but not so great now. You might have some luck removing them, then repairing the breaks and putting them back. Or removing them and transferring the original grill cloth to a replacement frame.

As for the pots, someone found exact replacements for about $25 each. Anyone know where that was? The caps can be replaced with about $20 in parts, if you stick with modern electrolytics, maybe as high as $100 if they're all replaced with plastic film caps. So maybe $200 in parts and possibly $100 labour.

Wouldn't someone like Redger know what to do?

Best of luck!
 
Correct Pots
I just got 4 today from Mouser. Ohmite p/n RHS15RE. They are the right ones.
Don't try to order and ship to another addres other than your own. They give you a hassle about it. I was not happy with that portion of the transaction.


It's all about the music

Carl
Carl's Custom Loudspeakers
Click to expand...
 
white_swan said:
To clarify, using these in place of the original units will not change the specs of the speakers or the crossover points at all? They are identical in performance to the original pots?
Click to expand...

No changes. Correct specs.

You really ought to contact Carl about your speakers. He's darn near anal about 'em (unlike the rest of us).

;)
 
If you want original control pots for your AR3's, contact the Ebay seller "Vintage-AR". I bought 2 sets of his refurbished pots for my AR3's a few months ago, installed them myself and they're working perfect. I don't see any listed in his store at the moment, but if you email him he might be able to hook you up. And I paid way less than $26 ea. He also has new replacements of a different make if you want to go that route. He is the AR expert, and I would buy from him exclusively if possible. My broken grills are still off as I haven't addressed that problem yet. The speakers still sound great!
 
white_swan said:
To clarify, using these in place of the original units will not change the specs of the speakers or the crossover points at all? They are identical in performance to the original pots?
Click to expand...

Yes, these are a 16 ohm 25 watt variable resistors ('rheostats') just like the originals. Electrically identical, and probably better built than the originals.

Anyone have a picture of these next to the original pots?
 
IIRC, the replacements from mouser will be open-backed, and need a cover installed to prevent the insulation from interfering with their operation over time. A simple fix is to install a tiny "box" over them on the inside.
 
ozmoid said:
IIRC, the replacements from mouser will be open-backed, and need a cover installed to prevent the insulation from interfering with their operation over time. A simple fix is to install a tiny "box" over them on the inside.
Click to expand...

I used a plastic sandwich bag (a clean one).
 
Todd is correct!!

These 15 ohm (not 16 ohm as were the originals) pots are open backed and the risk is heat build up in a closed box full of insulation. A plastic bag will keep the fiberglass away, but only increases the heat build up. Those original pots have the power dissipating resistors totally encased in ceramic!

Next, we are still taking about an expenditure of $100!

IMHO, there are two lower cost, yet better solutions:

1. by-pass the pots and move to passive bi-amping (this requires an additional low power amp and was zero cost for me as I have a number of low power amps collecting dust)

2. If you really must have those controls, Roy has designed a very clever and a very cost effective substitute using 8 ohm L-pads:

Roy's Solution

If you want to retain the ability to adjust frequency balance, Roy's solution is, IMHO, the best solution as well as the low cost solution ($5 for l-pad and $1 for 25 ohm resistor). Modern pots, besides being very expensive, are often open in the back and I just don't like the idea of an exposed heat source in a closed box. Roy's solution will give you more than enough adjustment as typically you run the pots pretty close to full on and in this range, Roy's solution is electrically identical to the old pots. Final advantage is you lose essentially nothing in terms of power handling.



Regards,
Jerry
 
I don't think there is any reason to worry about heat dissipation in those pots -- its not like you are running an electric stove! Whatever current is going through the pots is also going through the voice coil of the midrange or tweeter, and you'd fry the voice coils long before you'd run into any danger with the pots igniting anything. And of course fiberglass is not flamable. It is true that most people will only use the upper range of the pots so you don't need the greater resistance of the 16 ohm post, so the 8 ohm mod might be a good one.
 
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