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My newly refurbished AR3a's


Guest Americain

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Guest Americain

Here they are. Complete with refoamed woofer and Infinity planar tweeters. I managed to keep the original grill cloth spotless over the years as well. They sound brilliant and I'm glad I ran into this site to help me get over a few technical aspects of their repair. Thanks all.

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Guest Americain

>Gorgeous. How would you characterize the difference in sound

>with the Infinity tweeters?

Hey, thanks! You know, it's so difficult to say since I haven't heard my AR's for twenty years. The highs are definitely there and are very airy and precise. I'm using the existing tweeter pot to bring the level down and it works out just fine. The dispersion is good and luckily I didn't have to do any surgery to make them fit.

What distintive about the AR's (for me) is in the bass/midrange. That's where I can tell that I'm listening to an acoustic suspension speaker. Since the basic aim of AR was flat frequency response it strikes me as different from many of the so-called "studio monitors" from that era who tended to have an exagerated midbass. I never get listener fatigue from the AR's and I think that says volumes about their accuracy.

But back to your question...I haven't been able to tell the difference with the new tweeters and I think that's a good thing. However, it would be fun to A-B them with a pair of 3a's that had the original tweeters.

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  • 1 month later...

Really nice!

Some time has passed. Are you still happy with them?

I have 2 pair of AR3as myself.I like thme because they are a true full range speaker. They can play everything. No sub needed. A lot of people tout Lowthers and SET amps, etc.. The problem with that whole scene is those speakers can't handle an orchestra. Small ensembles and jazz are good but an orchestra with 100+ players just does not come across.

One of my AR3a pair is "experimental". Could you please let me know the model # of that Infinity tweeter? I would like to try that mod.

I have also changed the capacitors out of one pair and it sounds great. Better? Yes, but not a huge difference. Subtle is more like it. And the original pots are gone. If you can hear the difference by switching the pots then you were born on Krypton.

Enjoy them. They look great.

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Guest Americain

>Really nice!

>

>Some time has passed. Are you still happy with them?

>

>I have 2 pair of AR3as myself.I like thme because they are a

>true full range speaker. They can play everything. No sub

>needed. A lot of people tout Lowthers and SET amps, etc.. The

>problem with that whole scene is those speakers can't handle

>an orchestra. Small ensembles and jazz are good but an

>orchestra with 100+ players just does not come across.

>

>One of my AR3a pair is "experimental". Could you please let me

>know the model # of that Infinity tweeter? I would like to try

>that mod.

>

>I have also changed the capacitors out of one pair and it

>sounds great. Better? Yes, but not a huge difference. Subtle

>is more like it. And the original pots are gone. If you can

>hear the difference by switching the pots then you were born

>on Krypton.

>

>Enjoy them. They look great.

>

I'm enjoying them very much, thanks! And you're right about the ability of the AR 3a to handle orchestral music. They are exquisite. Here's the link that will take you to the E-bay page where I bought the tweeters.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

I'd give you the model numbers myself but I didn't really want to dig them out of the enclosures as they are glued in fairly tight. Still, I think you might be able to get the proper information both from the site and from the photos. It was a great mod to make as the tweeters don't need much of any tweaking. It must be nice to have TWO pairs of 3a's. Now that's a luxury I could really dig. Thanks for your comments.

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  • 6 years later...

I believe those are the Infinity 'EMIT' tweeters that were used in many of there high end designs, including the famed IRS Beta. Below is a pic of a 3a I modded at the request of a customer. It's a Fountek ribbon and he loves the highs he's getting

post-100237-0-03229400-1330085556_thumb.

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