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In one speaker, the mid cone doesn't work. On the other speaker, the Mid cone and the tweeter don't work.
Hifishark lists AR3 midrange and tweeters, without those working parts you are essentially selling a woofer in a nice box.https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=AR3+speakereBay has an AR3a speaker without a midrange and tweeter for $150, you should be able to get $300 for the pair as is.https://www.ebay.com/itm/184002895235Restored with all drivers working and the woofer surround replaced you could get $700https://www.ebay.com/itm/223714475703After all the cheap AR3 speakers have been sold and yours are the only eBay listing then you can name your price, timing is everything.
...then maybe just post them and see what happens.
Then there's this guy......https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9hjch-speaker-template-1-full-rangeNot sure what he's smoking......Shakey
Decide how much money you need and list them for that much, someone may make an offer you can't refuse.
Looks like working pairs have sold on ebay for $300 to $800. Yeah there are guys asking $1500^ but they don't sell or sold under "best offer". If you can get $375 for a non-working pair, I'd take the money. They are somewhat collectable, but not really great speakers. Our regarded member Dennis Murphy posted about his inability to make a crossover that would correct their issues. Going for $3000??? Not even Canadian. Understand that what someone is asking on Ebay, and what they get are two different things. Type in the model and look for "sold" under "Show Only" over in the left hand margin. Then find those that actually have bids next to them to see which really sold, and which simply ran out of time. Oh, and don't be afraid to dig into them. They aren't like valuable antiques that lose 50% if the varnish is wrong. Just don't ding them up.
If you want $2000 you are going to have to take them apart. The midrange and tweeters may be fine but corroded pots and/or failed capacitors may be the problem. The only way to know for sure is to remove the woofer and dive in. Read the pot cleaning thread:http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/2165-how-to-clean-pots-ar3-newbie-seeking-info/"...you will want to replace all of the capacitors too. When completely defective (all of the ones in the AR speakers I acquired were) they will prevent the midrange and tweeter from functioning...""You asked how to remove the pots. You have to remove the woofer and work from inside the cabinet. As was mentioned you may as well replace the caps while you are at it. Be sure to retain the fiberglass stuffing and replace it (the exact amount) when you are ready to put it all back together. You will probably need new caulking for the woofer. Mortite rope caulk works, as does the black brick of goo sold in the electrical supply section of a hardware store.The pots are held in by nuts, removable from the outside but then you pull the pot itself out through the woofer opening."
Whowwwwiee zowie. WGH that classicspeakers.net is a gold mine for the AR family. 20 plus page with photo identification of AR3 how to rebuild looks like somebody is a true beliver/AR Lover.I am going to repo my AR1's from the daughter for a winter project.Alan
The "Thoughts on AR-3 Schematics" article mentions that the crossover/polarity of the drivers changed over the years. If drivers need to be replaced the correct polarity needs to be maintained.Determining the polarity of a midrange or tweeter used to be very hard but now with smart phones the test is easy.I have used Polarity Checker for Android and it works great, I changed my old dipole speakers to bipole and the app easily identified which drivers were out of phase.iPhones can use Speaker Polarity (Speaker Pop)Watch the videos, the testing method is the same for all apps:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-W0T1cTjoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7EwxmtTDV4
