AR3a speakers.

[Martin O'Neill]

I have a chance to purchase a pair of AR3a speakers.

I have heard them many times and want to put them in my vintage setup.

I will match it with a pioneer sx 950 

I am not familiar with the up grades that have been made.

 . They have been recapped and woofers refoamed. All of the original potentiometers have been cleaned and reinstalled. However, I bypassed them as they seem to be unusable. The grills are original and the wooden cabinets are in VG+ condition.

The pots being bypassed is that a big deal? 

I do like my equipment to be original but this is a hard deal to turn down.

 

Thanks for your opinions  

[dtel]

Sounds like there ready to go, if you really want them go for it, sounds like the Pioneer would be a good match.

29 minutes ago, Martin O'Neill said:

The pots being bypassed is that a big deal? 

I wouldn't think it would not be a big deal except for not working, why did they seem unusable ? 

[Peter P.]

Recapping is a lot of unnecessary drama. It's done so don't worry about it; you probably don't even know what the correct, factory capacitor value is, to verify they match the original so assume they are and let that pass.

 

Old foam woofer surrounds were subject to rotting and refoaming is a necessity. Done correctly, the speaker won't buzz or rattle when driven. If they don't, you're fine.

 

As for the pots; I suppose they could go bad but I expect it to be rare. Just put a voltmeter on them and verify the resistance changes as you turn the knob. Then you can reconnect the pots if you desire.

 

Between the recapping and the pots, it sounds like a previous owner was a tweaker, fantasizing about improving the sound, and these AR's were his project. I'd look elsewhere for something that's not been intruded upon, unless you have the skills to correct the "mods" they made.

[Marvel]

The pots are to adjust the level of the midrange and tweeter. If bypassed, they would be a fixed level that you may not like.

[Martin O'Neill]

Thank you for the comments.  

I am going to look at the tonight. 

 

Here a 2 pics that might help a more seasoned Ar3a professional 

[ClaudeJ1]

Is there an AR forum somewhere, where this might be more relevant than a Klipsch forum? Just wondering.

[ClaudeJ1]

As far as I can recall, it was the AR3a that was used in a rare ad by Klipsch and Associates, stacking a whole boatload of them, like 24 high, in corners to try to equal the performance of Khorns. Heck it may have been 40 high, as far as I can recall. I may still have the ad somewhere, so I will post it if I ever find it.

[veloceleste]

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