so I know that it is a better idea to repair surrounds than "upgrade" drivers and x-overs in a speaker without knowing much about the original design, but thought I would ask the newbie question anyway. I have some late 90's Acoustic Research 2 ways, AR208 HO that I never had much love for, mainly because I left them on the floor and always fed them home theater Sony receiver/amp watts. Preferred my slightly older little Infinity bookshelves in fairly small room. Well my opinion of the AR's changed when I thought their power-handling of 200w might be a better match for a McIntosh 2255 that I scored and wow, did it ever. I guess they were designed to play loud (HO = high output) and they really did take on a new life with the effortless power of the Mac and set at listening level. But the butyl surrounds had gotten dry and brittle enough to pop from the extra juice too. So I am looking for some higher quality speakers to pair with the Mac (still unsure on diy vs other options), but kinda hate to trash the AR's too, now that I have heard them with better amplification. This all points to just doing a surround repair (since I kinda like them), but then again, these will never be in high fidelity situation and the best (on paper) match for the drivers (GRS 8PT-8 8" Paper Cone) are actually cheaper than the surrounds (well, they were last week anyway! just saw they jumped 50%). I don't mind gluing, but a drop-in driver sure seems easier. Just bouncing ideas off brain trust here. There is little info on the Acoustic Research models, but I think they may be better than their reputation based first on people not giving them proper amplification like me, and the fact that they ended up as cheap close-outs at the end of their run. Quick run-down on specs I found:
Acoustic Research AR 208HO
Bass -reflex design with 8 -in woofer and 1 -in dome tweeter.
Front port
Power handling 200 W;
crossover point 2.5 kHz; FR 50 Hz -20 kHz ±3 dB;
sens. 92 dB; imp 8 ohms.
internal measures yield volume for speaker @ .838 ft3 or 23736 cc.
18 x 10 x 13 in; 52 lb $449/pr original msrp
dying woofer, made in Taiwan, marked D01-0062 57 2 TM
apologies for the lengthy post that might well be "just glue some new surrounds, dummy" responses, but it will confirm the rule, right? thank in advance
Acoustic Research AR 208HO
Bass -reflex design with 8 -in woofer and 1 -in dome tweeter.
Front port
Power handling 200 W;
crossover point 2.5 kHz; FR 50 Hz -20 kHz ±3 dB;
sens. 92 dB; imp 8 ohms.
internal measures yield volume for speaker @ .838 ft3 or 23736 cc.
18 x 10 x 13 in; 52 lb $449/pr original msrp
dying woofer, made in Taiwan, marked D01-0062 57 2 TM
apologies for the lengthy post that might well be "just glue some new surrounds, dummy" responses, but it will confirm the rule, right? thank in advance
I was unable to find third-party measurements of this driver, but data sheet curves aren’t looking great, like GRS spent money on motor and skimped on moving assembly engineering.
Another challenge of replacement is finding a driver that physically fits the original cut out, especially if it has a recess.
Why? Well, unfortunately all "8 inch" drivers are not exactly the same size. Both the outside diameter of the frame and the diameter of the cut out can be quite different. I did a replacement on a pair of 8" JBLs a while ago and couldn't find anything with an exact fit. I needed to go with a much larger frame to cover up the recess of the original and switch to surface mount instead of recess mount.
Something to consider unless you can manage some tricky wood work.
Why? Well, unfortunately all "8 inch" drivers are not exactly the same size. Both the outside diameter of the frame and the diameter of the cut out can be quite different. I did a replacement on a pair of 8" JBLs a while ago and couldn't find anything with an exact fit. I needed to go with a much larger frame to cover up the recess of the original and switch to surface mount instead of recess mount.
Something to consider unless you can manage some tricky wood work.
Last edited:
I had a similar problem when given some Heybrook speakers with crumbling foam surrounds, I ended up getting some cheap drivers from Amazon, they're slightly smaller than the originals, but with different mounting holes fit, and I think the suspension is a lot stiffer, but I'm just going to use them for listening to the radio at work, in a large reverberent room. I'm sure I saw an Amazon review of one of the drivers that I looked at saying that they used them to replace drivers in some old ARs, and they worked rather well. I'm going to use the Heybrooks with an old stacker system that has a graphic equaliser, so I can flatten any humps, also the Heybrooks have a first order crossover, so different electrical properties of the drivers shouldn't cause any issues.
Look for "Sound Lab 8" full range speaker 50w" on Amazon, and look for a review by "Martin", he used them to replace drivers of some 1974 AR7 speakers. They might use the same mid/bass driver as yours. I got "Sound Lab 8" black 200w" drivers for the Heybrooks.
thanks. The GRS was suggested by Parts Express as one that would fit along with the Dayton Audio PA200-8 8" Pro Woofer Speaker 8 Ohm. I threw the GRS out there because it had what seemed to be close numbers on power handling, sensitivity, Fs and speaker volume. The Dayton is pricier and calls for less volume. To be honest, price is not an issue, as I have the means to put whatever I want (within reason), but wary about spending foolishly. Read too many threads about people wanting to re-use cabinets over "proven designs". Not sure if PE suggested those 2 only because the oem drivers have a less common 8 holes in the mounting section. I will quote my message to pe about that:
thanks to the folks who have responded so far. very nice. some forums tend to ignore newbie posts. I am really a diy guy for lots of stuff and nice to find supportive community.
might add that the oem driver is not paper cone if it matters. Although I prefer the tighter sealed sound of my Infinity reference 1, the flexibility of the front port, and the relatively large size of 8" woofer and somewhat larger size of these makes me feel they are worth putting some effort into. I am pretty decent woodworker; maybe not so much for joinery, but re-working a baffle should be well within my skill and tool set.
ok. so kicking this one back to top, with short questions:
1. is there some kind of compendium to find proven designs for 24l 2 way with 8" woofer? search came up with long discussion on the rs225-8 that did have a 24l version in there. Even if nothing comes of it, doing the research is helping me move forward
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/10f-8424-rs225-8-fast-waw-ref-monitor.273524/page-192
my baffle is 9x17 and previous design calls for 10" wide, but I am still interested in that driver
2. does anyone know anything about the AR HO series to help compare an effort to repair surrounds vs new drivers and xo components? I should pull the oem xo just to see what's going on, I guess. web search suggests it has crossover point 2.5 kHz; FR 50 Hz. again, front port. happy to seal it off in any reworking
1. is there some kind of compendium to find proven designs for 24l 2 way with 8" woofer? search came up with long discussion on the rs225-8 that did have a 24l version in there. Even if nothing comes of it, doing the research is helping me move forward
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/10f-8424-rs225-8-fast-waw-ref-monitor.273524/page-192
my baffle is 9x17 and previous design calls for 10" wide, but I am still interested in that driver
2. does anyone know anything about the AR HO series to help compare an effort to repair surrounds vs new drivers and xo components? I should pull the oem xo just to see what's going on, I guess. web search suggests it has crossover point 2.5 kHz; FR 50 Hz. again, front port. happy to seal it off in any reworking
My two cents, for what it's worth... Given they are a very nice speaker and AR is no slouch with speaker design, I'd refoam the woofers and not try to re-engineer an already well-engineered speaker.
that's the way I'm leaning; trying to get validation from others. Of course, that relies on the assumption that it is a "very nice speaker" being true and not one that was just designed for a price point --which is not to deny that even that requires proper design. Not sure how much worse it would be if I could find a decent replacement driver.