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replacement drivers conflict


nefertem

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Hi everyone this post is going to open up a hornet nest,but before I ask I have respect for the AR History and legacy. At what point can we try to keep all the components of the drivers in post 1975 speakers original as the sources for the woofers are scare after A.B.Tech is gone a few years ago I had to replace my woofers in my AR 93s because the whole spider and ring disinagrated I bought some bravox woofers and vifa tweeters trying to keep close to the frequency of the crossover points. Recently I bought some scanspeak midrange woofers I upgraded the caps in the crossover also. So I know that my speakers can not be called original but the sound is good . In the past I have been exposed to top audiophile system working for apogee acoustics. And I understand that most people here want original replacement drivers but that is becoming harder to do that is why I posted this thanks Tim

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Having to install modern drivers in a vintage speaker will always make it something slightly different or worse, depending on the skill of the restorer. I had to do a similar exercise with an Allison AL-120 speaker. I found an SB Acoustics tweeter (drop in fit and function) to replace one ageing original AL-120 tweeter that simply 'stiffened' up to the point where it's roll off on the low side started way above the normal crossover point.

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A more appropriate question would probably be "when do you stop calling them AR-93's?" They are now your design in AR-93 cabinets. Of course the most important thing is that they sound satisfactory to you, but they no longer sound like AR-93's and they are no longer representative of this model. This is the primary reason why many enthusiasts try to retain original drivers and perform only minimal modifications when necessary. As time goes on there will be more AR cabinets to play with but fewer actual AR speakers to listen to.

Roy

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Yes that is true, and a lot of the problem with the newer loudspeakers out there are good brands but harder to break into the main stream market,so that's why the vintage speakers are so popular now because Acoustic Research sold there products on quality and not marking hype like Bose thanks again Roy for the feedback

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with the 93's, I think you'd be better off subsituting an 8" woofer from an 18, 18S, 18B, rock partner, or an 8" from say the TSW line...those can be found on ebay pretty regularly....

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Hi Pat the new woofers actually work good because the composite of the spider is lighter and stronger than the original woofers the bass is more tighter, Bravox is a big OEM speaker company in Brazil. For the midrange I recently upgraded from the Bravox to Scanspeak classic. The midrange is more detailed and forward.I know every ar woofers from that period the paper woofers did not last thanks Tim

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well, if you wanted to maintain as close to the original design intent, substituting similar vintage AR woofers would be closer to the original sound....I haven't seen too many woofers these days that have a low enough FS and proper Qtc to work well in an acoustic suspension alignment...most are designed around a vented alignment.

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Hi Pat the new woofers actually work good because the composite of the spider is lighter and stronger than the original woofers the bass is more tighter, Bravox is a big OEM speaker company in Brazil. For the midrange I recently upgraded from the Bravox to Scanspeak classic. The midrange is more detailed and forward.I know every ar woofers from that period the paper woofers did not last thanks Tim

I agree with Pat...

Tim, at this point you do not own AR-93's (other than the cabinets). It is also very doubtful that you have "improved" upon this model without extensive changes to the crossover. Further, your statement about AR woofers is simply not accurate. Re-foaming is usually the only issue to deal with.

This conversation would be more appropriate in the "mods and tweaks" section of the Forum....or perhaps there should be a "Projects using AR cabinets" section of the forum. :rolleyes:

Roy

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Roy I respect your view. A other angle to this if the AR engineers had access to the more modern drivers would there original cabinets change I believe that they would change the crossover to adjust with the drivers there design will hold the test of time as one of the best

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Roy I respect your view. A other angle to this if the AR engineers had access to the more modern drivers would there original cabinets change I believe that they would change the crossover to adjust with the drivers there design will hold the test of time as one of the best

Of course AR would have taken advantage of modern materials and manufacturing methods, but you are overlooking the fact that AR custom designed just about everything in their speakers. Other than better consistency resulting from manufacturing improvements, conventional drivers have not changed much. It is very naive to think that dropping "modern" drivers into existing cabinet holes with existing crossovers will somehow improve any pair of well designed speakers, regardless of their date of manufacture.

As I said above, it only matters that they sound satisfactory to you...but you do not own a pair of AR-93's. We are not discussing an AR speaker here, only your "project" using old cabinets.

Roy

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actually, they may be "old tech" but AR drivers were pretty well designed products. the woofers in the AR7, 18, and their successors were designed with a wonderful response with a natural 4th order roll-off at ~2khz, that allowed them to be run wide open without any low pass filter parts. many "more modern" drivers, especially those over 6.5" have some nasty spikes in their response in the 2500-5khz response that require some pretty complex and extravegant crossovers to eliminate.

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