The pair I have, I just picked up and refoamed the woofers and checked the crossovers. They are from the later series with the 2½" tweeter, serial numbers in the 03xxx range. There are no staple marks on the back from the warranty cards which are missing. The instruction manual, with the serial number is glued to the speakers.
The woofers are the alnico, stamped basket units and the crossover uses the 7 inductor and the 20µF Sprague Compulytic cap. Reading on these pages led me to believe I did not need to change these caps to get back to the original sound of these speakers. Interesting that one inside long side was also a walnut veneer but unfinished. The yellow fiber stuffing was returned to the cabinet after the pots were cleaned and the speakers are working correctly now.
The cabinets received Howard's Feed'n'Wax and they look great. The grille badges are rectangular blanks, probably should have the 2x logo. The grille cloth is multi-colored brown that matches the oiled walnut veneer very nicely. Is this the European Option?
Now the intro part: My first speakers were AR-5s driven by a TA-2000 preamp, Stereo 120 (kit) power amp with Kenwood KT-7000 tuner and Dual 1219/Stanton 681EE adding a Uher 7000D machine later. I had the AR-5s for about 4 years until someone else needed my system more than I did. I have gone through a number of components since then. I bought the AR-5s because the 3a was too expensive for my budget, my brother had the 4x which I liked and the 5 was new and making a name for itself.
