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Help me resurrect my AR-90s

So, I pulled my AR90s out after many years of storage and it looks like the woofers as well as the surround need to be replaced.

My dad bought these back in England in the late 70s for $350 for the pair..."the only time I ever bounced a check he says!" Anyway, he gave them to me in 1997 when I joined the Air Force and I've drug them all over the world from Maine to Pennsylvania to Colorado to Italy to Alaska and now back to Colorado. I haven't used them for over 10 years. I've recently gotten back into vinyl records and I'm wanting to set up as system with the old AR-90s.

Where can I find replacement woofers that won't change the factory sound? Anything else I should check on them before I crank them (once the woofers are fixed?
dtotheatothevtothee
dtotheatothevtothee OP
18 posts
 
Also, I was told to replace the capacitors. I've read to go with thin-film types. I was wondering what values and how many I need for each speaker.
arnettpartners
312 posts
 
The "cones" look fine in your pics. Refoaming would be no problem. The dented dustcap is replaced--all the dustcaps are normally replaced with refoaming. You want to avoid reconing if possible. You would only need that repair if the voice coil was damaged. Reconing does not have the same electrical properties of the original but is an approximation based on "one size fits several" except in cases of rare coincidence. Back in the day (before reconing kits) damaged voice coils were rewound to exact specifications. I think the practice is as rare as hens teeth now but I've heard that the craft is still practiced if you can find such individual. I had a driver reconed once and the result was less than successful. Was not happy.
rja's avatar
rja
2,112 posts
 
Another resource to check into: www.millersound.net
bigkidz
1,784 posts
 
Before you do anything call Bill LEgall at Miller Sound in PA. 215 412-7700 He knows the speakers well and may be able to fix them or he will know what to replace them with.
dingus
28 posts
 
by your pic's it looks like a simple refoam is all you need. an earlier poster recommended vintage-ar (Larry Lagace) as a source for surrounds. i've dealt with Larry many times and can second the recommendation. make sure you get a full kit for each pair of drivers. this will include the shims and replacement dustcaps required to refoam them correctly.

i would not pay a shop to refoam AR drivers. its very straightforward and not a complicated process to do yourself. for 3 surround kits and shipping it should put you around $70 or so.

as for recapping the crossover, this should do it...
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=4174&st=20&p=72384&#entry72384
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