We moved about 8 years ago, and they just didn’t fill the living room like we wanted, so we wound up switching to some B&O’s in there. These guys have been in my bedroom, but used very infrequently since. The surrounds were due for replacement again, so I went ahead and did that just last week. I also finally took this opportunity to replace the original capacitors with some NOS Aerovox caps I had sitting around. I was able to get the exact values of the original crossover, and it sounds just as open! The picture shows the old crossover, before I replaced it. The woofers likely need to be broken in as the surrounds are new, and could probably stand to have the spiders replaced. I’m always too afraid to do that on these old speakers, but since the boxes are sealed, it seems to be working just fine. My wife and I will both miss these speakers, but they simply don’t have a place in our house anymore. I have a LOT of speakers. I know if you were look at the specs on them, it looks like they wouldn’t be that good, but there is just something about the mid-range in particular that really shines on these old, odd hand-built domes. Anyone who’s heard them in person will know what I mean. The cabinets are also in really good shape. I cleaned them up slightly and put some beeswax on them to bring back their shine. They do have scuffs and imperfections, but for their age, they are really nice. The rear tags are mostly intact, but peeling up quite a bit. The main issue is with the grill clothes. They probably need to be replaced, as they are sagging, but they are original so we decided to leave them alone. Maybe it could be stretched. Also, someone had added Velcro to the screen to hold them on. The back of the hooks were weak, so we replaced them and they stay on really well. It’s a little tricky to fish them out, but not too bad. One of the tweeters was smashed in abit before I got the speaker, so I pulled it out with a needle. It seems to be no worse for wear, but I wanted to note it. The last item to note is that the rear gains for the mid and tweeter were noisy, so I just wired past them years ago. The tweeter hardly needs to be turned down on these, and likewise with the mid in my opinion. They could be easily cleaned and reconnected, but I think must folks leave them wide open anyway. If you hook them back up, you’re just asking for them to corrode again and cause a speaker to shutoff. I tried to make a video, but it’s too hard to capture the sound that way. Please be sure to see my other listings. The item “Acoustic Research AR-5 Speakers AR5 New Woofer Surrounds, Aerovox Caps Free Ship” is in sale since Saturday, July 23, 2016. This item is in the category “Consumer Electronics\Vintage Electronics\Vintage Audio & Video\Vintage Speakers”. The seller is “texelec” and is located in Aledo, Texas. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Brand: Acoustic Research
- Model: AR-5
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States