AR93 questions

[michiganpat]

I'm looking at a set of AR93's for sale locally. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with them? looking online it looks like the woofer and tweet are the same as my AR18's, with the addition of the 2 side firing woofers. are the side firing woofs the same as the mid-woof? also, I'm assuming all 6 drivers will need to be refoamed, and it probably would be a good idea to replace all the crossover caps.

does anyone know what the crossover looks like on these, and the capacitor values? is the midwoof/tweet crossover like my 18's, a single (6.2uf IIRC) cap, or is it more complex?

thanks in advance.

p.s. we got 14.6" of snow here in West Michigan...hope everyone who got hit was able to be plowed out!

[deek]

I have very limited experience with them; no listening experience so I can't help there. Just helped a buddy disassemble and re-foam the woofers.

The crossover is quite a bit more complicated than the 18. The woofer on the front plays up to the tweeter but the ones on the side don't. Probably not necessary to re-cap it anyway. I measured the ones on my AR9's and they're still within 5% after all these years.

Also, I'm not sure that all three woofers in the cabinet are the same. I'm thinking the ones on the sides are different from the front-facing one. Can't recall for sure.

The grills are a bugger to get off as I recall... I think you have to remove the top plate first? Sorry, it's been a while.

-deek

[nfmisso]

I have a pair of AR93 speakers; unfortunately packed away, so I can't positively answer your questions. But here goes with my best guesses:

the middle driver is slightly different compared to the two side firing woofers, but uses the same re-foam kit.

the crossover is fairly complex. Check out this article on the AR94 which is similar in many respects: http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ar94rebuild_e.html

You need to remove the top plate to be able to slide the grill "sock" down to access the drivers. Underneath the grill sock, the cabinet is just rough particle board painted black.

AR marketed the AR93 and 94 as speakers that they put all the money into sound, and as little as possible into the furniture aspects.

No snow here in San Jose

[michiganpat]

if it is like the 94's crossover, that's still not that complex---I could be wrong, but it looks like a 2nd order low pass for the bottom woofer, and a 1st order high pass for the tweet....gives me a decent idea on what I'd be looking at for a recap, most likely a 100uf NPE, and a 3.9 or 4.3uf poly film, about $6 per speaker....

[musicisfun]

I have very limited experience with them; no listening experience so I can't help there. Just helped a buddy disassemble and re-foam the woofers.

The crossover is quite a bit more complicated than the 18. The woofer on the front plays up to the tweeter but the ones on the side don't. Probably not necessary to re-cap it anyway. I measured the ones on my AR9's and they're still within 5% after all these years.

Also, I'm not sure that all three woofers in the cabinet are the same. I'm thinking the ones on the sides are different from the front-facing one. Can't recall for sure.

The grills are a bugger to get off as I recall... I think you have to remove the top plate first? Sorry, it's been a while.

-deek

[musicisfun]

i also have the AR9s but i believe they are the later models not the first buch where it was two 12inch units one firing sideways, on the front of mine i got the tweeter/supertweeter an 8 inch mid range a 12 inch n a 10 inch down facing unit i was thinking to fit the pots from my AR5s as i bought them new from AR in dunstable UK B4 they pulled out fitted them had new caps n rewire them to find out i could Not get replacemnt tweeters will it be any problems fitting th original AR5 pots as i do find the treble a little more than i like i also had a pair of AR 48s i bought after my 5s gave up n a pair of AR 14s the 14s sound he best after my 9s in comparison to the 9s the 5s sound a little muffled

i bought my first pair of ARs when i was driving for a company n spoken to Dan Loggins he wasworkin for CBS in theobolds rd London told him i was very unhappy with my celections n he said he had a pair of AR4s for sale as he had the AR3a send ver from the states never heard of AR b4 was not sold in the UK then they didn't look much pine cabinets white cloth Till he turned them on Fist time in my life ever i knew this is the speakers i want This is what Hi Fi speakers should sound it was a sound made in heaven compairing to what i had

i Never bought another make of speaker ever since n i will Not this also applies to cardridges its got to be a SHURE or nothing else i can still get stylus's but made in switzerland not original usa quality they are ok

AR as a company was excellent Very helpful to their customers n their quality was second to non but as their products where sold on a realistic price it was never enough profit for the salemen n shops as others had unrealistically inflated prices very unrealistic specs n gave huge discounts to make customers think they had a bargain salemen where also putting huge pressure on customers to buy anything else but ARs to make more commision n profit for the shop even now after so many years my speakers will hold their own against ANY speaker i heard including electrostatics to me ARs mean music from Heaven

[Bandolino]

I have a pair of AR93s speakers, and have examined the crossovers. I posted in the diyaudio.com forum with questions about how to correctly draw a schematic of the crossover. Someone replied with what looks like a good schematic. I can't be sure it's 100% correct, as I am unfamiliar with how to draw crossover schematics.

Here is the link to the diyaudio.com post: http://www.diyaudio....ic-correct.html

The schematic is attached.

[ben76]

I have recently re-foamed two pairs of these speakers (dated 1980, 1982) and in all 4 speakers the original crossover capacitors tested fine. The capacitance was within spec, and the ESR was comparable to new capacitors of the same capacitance/voltage rating. In short, you will probably not have to replace any of the capacitors.

As stated before, the mids and woofers are not the same, but they have the same foam surrounds.

[Bandolino]

ben76, do you recall what brand capacitors were in your AR93 speakers? In mine, the 120μF and 4μF caps are Unicon electrolytics with grey casing, and the 60μF cap is T.I. electrolytic with a metallic blue casing. They do all have capacitance within 10% of spec, but I have no way to measure ESR. I'm a bit wary of leaving in 30 year old electrolytics.

[Glenn E]

I have a pair of AR93s and have just replaced the caps and the tweeters. I am very happy with the results. I used electrolytics for the larger value caps and a poly cap for the tweeters all of same value as originals apart from higher voltage rating on poly. I still have the old caps in the shed and will check and advise of brand. The schematics for the crossover are in the resource section of this website.

[WAROFMAN9]

Gleen E ,

I have replaced all 6 drivers and caps on my AR93,s but now feel the need to address tweeter section..

They sound great up to a certain level, at peak a harshness is detected.

Is this the tweeters or possibly caps?

What did you use for tweeter replacements?

[Glenn E]

Hi everyone, I think all of Michigan Pat's questions have been answered already. I have had a pair of Ar93s since the mid 80s.They are great sounding speakers with good bass. I recently replaced the tweeters with second hand stock from ebay (those in the speakers were not original units) and the caps in the crossovers. Quite an easy job and the results were excellent. The socks are stapled in place at the top and bottom of the speakers. When I put the socks back on mine, I threaded a piece of string through the hem at the top of the socks to make a drawstring negating the need to staple the socks in place. It makes it so much easier to pull the sock down to check the drivers from time to time and stops damage to the particle board from the staples.

Glenn