DavidDru Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Went and looked at a pair of 3a's available here locally. There is no paperwork on the back of either unfortunately so not sure on serial numbers. Here is a photo of what was under the hood. Any feel for what version these are? Looks like TT's 1968. The guy is thinking in the $600-700 range. That was before I found one of the mid range drivers non functional. Couldn't even find a spot on the pot that it would kick in at and the pots didn't feel too bad otherwise and worked on the other 3 drivers. acbs are good except on back top corner. Grilles fully in tact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADVENTAGIOUS Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Same as mine except for the goo along the edges. Defintely late 60's. Mine were recapped/new pots and have become my wifes favourites. You can listen to them all day and they are not going anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Went and looked at a pair of 3a's available here locally. There is no paperwork on the back of either unfortunately so not sure on serial numbers. Here is a photo of what was under the hood. Any feel for what version these are? Looks like TT's 1968. The guy is thinking in the $600-700 range. That was before I found one of the mid range drivers non functional. Couldn't even find a spot on the pot that it would kick in at and the pots didn't feel too bad otherwise and worked on the other 3 drivers. acbs are good except on back top corner. Grilles fully in tact.No expert on these but the plywood baffle, the hot melt glue and the woofer are probably an indication of the date ... I'd say early 70s ... again, no expert. The mid pots seem to go first and the wiper may have dissolved by corrosion so there is a good chance the driver is okay.They look pretty nice to me but maybe you can get them for less. You don't have to worry about shippers trashing your cabs either Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlspeak Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 The AR3a restoration guide has lots of pics of the drivers that may help you date the speaker. You can also try removing one of the woofers. There may be a date ink stamped on the back side that could take all the guess work out of this effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Mine look the same, paperwork on the back but no date Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Looks like TT's 1968.You're right: It does look like Tom's '68.That's the AR-3 style woofer with cloth surround, 1967-69 (My favorite).The mid is also 1967-69.AND, so is the tweeter: '67-'69.That is a nice example of the very first iteration of the 3a.As Roger pointed out, the mid problem may just be a bad pot.Are the brass logos present?You could try negotiating a bit on the basis of the dead mid but they look pretty nice.With new caps & L-pads, maybe some of Roy's surround sealant those should be pretty sweet.-Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 1969 was the last year for the 3a's cloth surround woofer.There is still a good chance the bad mid is due to a pot, even if there is no sound at all.Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganpat Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 shouldn't you be able to lift the tape up on the baffle board and put an ohm meter across the VC leads? if it shows continuity the driver should be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 I will put up a picture of mine tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted May 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Man as you are all probably thinking too, these are hard to pass up. I am thinking he would need to come down to $400 for me to even think about buying them. He should be able to get more and I am only being that way because I have the 3's to finish already and too many other speakers I am messing around with now. Lord knows I could get them, fix em up and sell for a decent profit. I was originally thinking to get them just so I could pass them on to one of you guys or similar. Kind a control thing. A pair just sold the other day on EBay in Michigan for local pick up only for $900! I think those were restored. Roy is that a difficult mid to get hands on if bad like mine was? JKent, yes they have the badges too! Not that I want to, but guys, I can ship cheaply. My wife has a UPS corporate account that we get to use. I just shipped 62.5 lb box to West Virginia for $30 which included 200 insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyC Posted May 22, 2015 Report Share Posted May 22, 2015 Roy is that a difficult mid to get hands on if bad like mine was?David,Mids are available for 3a's for around $100 each these days.As Pat mentioned above, you can test the mids (and tweeters) at the solder connections under the tape on the front of the cabinet .Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 They look exactly like my 69 models.der Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted May 23, 2015 Report Share Posted May 23, 2015 Man as you are all probably thinking too, these are hard to pass up. I am thinking he would need to come down to $400 for me to even think about buying them. He should be able to get more and I am only being that way because I have the 3's to finish already and too many other speakers I am messing around with now. Lord knows I could get them, fix em up and sell for a decent profit....Given their position in the AR-3 hierarchy I'd say just get them and put them in storage One of us will eventually take them off your hands if you run out of room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 There is no paperwork on the back of either unfortunately so not sure on serial numbersMaybe a member with AR-3a's could take a good photo of the label and post it, then someone could clean it up in PhotoShop. We did that for the 2ax. Here it is (see post 14):http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8425#entry103141PS: Just searched a bit. That clean 2ax label was courtesy of member Robert_S. See post 13 here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=4466&page=1-Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genek Posted May 24, 2015 Report Share Posted May 24, 2015 Good luck with these... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Maybe a member with AR-3a's could take a good photo of the label and post it, then someone could clean it up in PhotoShop. We did that for the 2ax. Here it is (see post 14):http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=8425#entry103141PS: Just searched a bit. That clean 2ax label was courtesy of member Robert_S. See post 13 here: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=4466&page=1-KentNot too bad ... should do that for all the classic era models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Good luck with these...Mine are much better.I promised photo's and there will be tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Photo's as promised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Can you either post or email a high resolution photo of the better label? I could try to clean it up or maybe someone more adept at PhotoShop (Robert_S?) would do it.-Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Can you either post or email a high resolution photo of the better label? I could try to clean it up or maybe someone more adept at PhotoShop (Robert_S?) would do it.-KentCheck your mail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted May 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 If there is ever a real good cleaned up version of the labels made maybe they should be made available in the library or something. Although would not want to make them too available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKent Posted May 26, 2015 Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Anyone really good with PhotoShop or similar? Norman sent me some good photos but every time I try to clean up the 3a instructions the results are disappointing.Photos are about 3.5MB each. I'll email them to anyone willing to give it a try.-Kent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted May 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2015 Send them my way. I'll see what I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted May 27, 2015 Report Share Posted May 27, 2015 If there is ever a real good cleaned up version of the labels made maybe they should be made available in the library or something. Although would not want to make them too available.I think it will be fairly easy to spot a repo label as the originals use screen printing and the dots tend to block up on the copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted May 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 So the owner of these 3a's offred to sell them to me for $500. I told him i would pass but if he still has them in the future (if they dont sell otherwise) that might change. UGH! He has them listed on CList for more $.Man, I don't know if I am being stupid or what on this. I have purchased enough stuff lately and really need to sell off some things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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