Acoustic Researc AR-2A ...

[TomMcNally]

Is a pair of one owner AR-2A's worth dragging home ?
My friend bought them new and will give them to me.
They were apparently pretty popular in the 60s and 70s.
There is a lot of restoration/repair info online, apparently
the pots/rheostats in the crossovers corrode away.

Anyone have any ?

[erichayes]

Hi Tom,
The AR2As are inefficient as Hell, but have excellent low frequency response and fair to good mids and highs. Back in the '60s, it was common to see a single AR2 used in conjunction with a pair of Jantzen electrostatic tweeters--the AR2 being the "subwoofer".

I'd grab 'em. The woofers have canvas surrounds, so no worries there. They DO have crossover issues, but they're all documented. The biggest problem is getting the damn grilles off without ruining them.

[TomMcNally]

My friend (and older college professor) still calls them
"hi-fi speakers"

I read about the dozens of tiny staples in the grille, I
should be able to pull them out OK. They never smoked
in his house, so I am hoping the grilles are clean.

Thanks

[Sal Brisindi]

Tom,
AR did a nice job hiding the small staples holding the grille to the enclosure, if your careful you can pull them out one at a time. I have a pair old AR4x with a blow tweeter.

Somehow I don;t think the Darling amp will drive a AR2.. Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_20

Sal

[EWBrown]

AR-2s (and AR-3As) really need some fairly hefty power, and as I recall, ST70s were a popular power amp for these speakers, and far better sounding than the sand amps of that era. Definitely, 6EM7 or 6B4G SET power levels just won't get the job done with these hugely inefficient speakers. Free is always good, go for them.. Getting the grilles off can be a bit opf a challenge, but I'm more than sure that you can handle it easily Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_01

There are many upgrades and repairs listed all over the internet, and crossover modifications & improvements. The old beeswax paper % foil xover caps can go bad, as well as those pots...

AR tended to use "non-standard" size drivers, so simply replacing them with the latest offerings from Parts Express, Madisound or MCM can be a bit of a problem... However, the AR4s used more or less standard sized 8 inch woofers, I once repaired a set of these (the owner's rugrats poked pencils onto the cones) and I used some generic 8 inch acoustic suspension woofers, and replaced the "holed" tweeters without having to revert to major woodworking / surgery to fit them.


The crossover level pots do indeed corrode, and get to the point where vigorous "shaft wiggling" will not help the wipers to make contact.

I recently gave away a pair of AR3As with the "pot ptoblem", they otherwise looked near perfect, no scratches or dings and the drivers were all still perfect condition. The x-over pots were absolutely, totally shot.

If you come across any 1950s vintage AR-1s, they can contain a real "treasure", the tweeter was actually an Altec-Lansing 755A 8 inch, full range speaker, and these go for serious "crazy money" on e-bay.

The 755A was isolated in its own "sub-enclosure", in order to prevent the back pressure from the woofer from affecting . The 755A can be a real "pain" to extricate, without causing damage, but it is well worth the effort. Some of the AR-1s apparently used a western electric full-range as well, these same speakers were often used in the old school "audio-visual" 16 mm movie projectors.

I can only wish that I kept those two old 16MM "yard sale special" movie projectors, that I had back in the early 1980s Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_02 Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_13 Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_09 :o Yes, they had the "good" speakers, but then, I didn't know any better back then... D'Oh!....

/ed B

[wiredbecker]

Tom,

Get 'em, disconnect the high end, invert the speaker so the woofer is on top, build the Econowaveguide, plunk it down and rock out. The AR woofer is adequate. You will be amazed. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showth ... p?t=150939

[nyazzip]

i have an AR-15 center channel, really reproduces the explosive mids well. runs a little hot during extended plays though. funny, resistance changes depending on where you point it Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_06

edit: ok, ok, it was a lame joke. if nobody got it, i was alluding to the Colt AR-15 rifle...which i do not own.[/i]

[rh2music]

I picked up a free pair of AR-3 speakers a few weeks ago. I put an ad on craigslist asking for old tube amps or speakers and 1 person replied with the AR3'S.

1 speaker works and the other one needs rebuilt. But I think it was worth it. They are built very heavy duty. Not like most of today's cardboard box speakers.

I have seen a lot of parts for AR speakers on ebay. Any other suggestions? Once I get them rebuilt they will be powered by my Dynaco mk3'S or a baldwin 6L6 stereo amp.

My 2 cents: I think getting any vintage speakers are worth it if the price is right... Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_21

[EWBrown]

The biggest problem with the vintage ARs is the two rheostats for the midrange and tweeter, they can go 100% bad, and no amount of shaft twisting and wiggling will do any good.

The cabs are built like brick sh*thouses, as compared to most modern day speakers.

The hard part is getting the grilles off, once you succeed sith that, then carefully remove the woofer, and then youcan get inside. Watch out for the fiberglass stuffing, it can be very "itchy"...

The mid and tweeter controls can just be bypassed at first, and then that will allow you to check the midrange and tweeter function.

Those old beeswax and paper crossover caps can go bad as well, but those level controls are always the prime "suspect".

The drivers are non-standard sizes, so replacing them with drivers from MCM, Madisound or Parts Express may be somewhat problematical, but then some modern drivers are also "non-standard" as well.

They should sound quite good with MKIIIs.

Definitely not compatible with the "contest" mini-amps Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_08 Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_04 :o Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_11

Back in the early 1970s, I worked just down the street from AR, and sometimes they would leave blemished, damaged or otherwise "substandard" speakers out on the loading dock, for free pickin's. One had to get up pretty early in the morning to "score" anything.

Any good vintage speaker is well worth trying to refurbish, as the woodwork was so well built. There were lots of "cheapies" as well, but then those are pretty obvious with their fake plastic or vinyl "wood" veneer and 3/8 inch particle board.

/ed B

[wiredbecker]

Here's the Econowaveguide installed on the AR2's that I grew up with.
I disconnected the woofer leads from the stock crossover and
ran them out one of the existing speaker connection holes on the back,
to the new crossover, L-pad and waveguide.
It's really easy and reversible. Sounds amazing!