What Exactly Is a Monitor 11 ?

mikey-polk
mikey-polk Posts: 83
edited May 2010 in Vintage Speakers
I bought some a few months ago, they are very similar to the 10 (10A I have) but have a built in 4" stand, and are marked Left & Right. I think they were explained as being the 1st of the RTA's, but for the life of me, I cannot find that post again.
What I'm wondering is, what would be a natural upgrade path to these ? RTA 15TL's maybe ?
Post edited by mikey-polk on
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2010
    the monitor 11's are somewhat rare around here.. not a rare speaker per se', just not that many people own them.

    i would upgrade the crossovers and see what happens.. could be a pretty decent speaker with new x-overs.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
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  • NeilGabriel
    NeilGabriel Posts: 1,487
    edited April 2010
    http://www.polksda.com/monitor11.shtml

    see the specs v. the 10s
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited April 2010
    danger boy wrote: »
    the monitor 11's are somewhat rare around here.. not a rare speaker per se', just not that many people own them.

    i would upgrade the crossovers and see what happens.. could be a pretty decent speaker with new x-overs.

    They're pretty decent without upgrades. That's the only pair of speakers (and there have been many) that my wife didn't want to go. She loved the sound of them.
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  • mikey-polk
    mikey-polk Posts: 83
    edited April 2010
    Yup, that image is them. I do like them, just wondering what might be the next step in an upgrade. What might the xover upgrade do ? I'm not real keen on modifying things from original...unless it would be a 7a to 7c maybe...
    What about Monitor 12's or RTA/SDA ?
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  • comfortablycurt
    comfortablycurt Posts: 6,745
    edited April 2010
    mikey-polk wrote: »
    Yup, that image is them. I do like them, just wondering what might be the next step in an upgrade. What might the xover upgrade do ? I'm not real keen on modifying things from original...unless it would be a 7a to 7c maybe...
    What about Monitor 12's or RTA/SDA ?

    "Upgrading" a 7A to a 7C would be a downgrade, IMO. They're very different speakers, and the Peerless tweeters in the 7A's are vastly superior to the SL-2000's in the 7C's IMO.

    When you're upgrading the XO's, you aren't really changing anything...you're simply replacing the crossover components with higher quality parts. The component values and crossover points remain the same. There are exceptions to this, such as modding the XO's to use RD0-198's instead of 194's, but even that is a fairly straight forward mod.




    Don't the Monitor 11's use the cascade tapered array, like the RTA12's? I believe the two MW's are crossed over at different points, and one of them only reproduces frequencies below 600hz or so, with the other MW reproducing everything up to the it's crossover point to the tweeter.

    Correct? Way off base?


    I've never heard the 11's, but I'd love to get my ears on some.
    The nirvana inducer-
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  • mikey-polk
    mikey-polk Posts: 83
    edited April 2010
    I've never heard 7a's so I can't say but i thought everyone voted C...don't really know and I don't have that much 'interest' in changing them so...to each their own...heck I used to think my KLH SA1212's were nice...

    Still thinking about an upgrade to the M11's if it wouldn't be too much $...
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2010
    in order of likes.. usually.. favorite 7A, 7B, 7C (all are good of course though).

    no reason to upgrade the cross overs if you don't want to.. if they are playing fine, keep them as they are then.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,755
    edited April 2010
    Upgrading the components in your crossovers is a natural upgrade path.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • comfortablycurt
    comfortablycurt Posts: 6,745
    edited April 2010
    mikey-polk wrote: »
    I've never heard 7a's so I can't say but i thought everyone voted C...don't really know and I don't have that much 'interest' in changing them so...to each their own...heck I used to think my KLH SA1212's were nice...

    Still thinking about an upgrade to the M11's if it wouldn't be too much $...

    You've got it backwards.

    I'd take a pair of 7A's or 7B's with Peerless tweets long before a pair of 7C's with SL-2000's. The same can be said of the Peerless 10A's versus 10B's with SL-2000's.

    The Monitor Series II models used the SL-2500 tweeters, which I've never heard, so I can't comment on those. Generally though, people seem to prefer the Peerless.

    I own a pair of 7A's, and I'm actually going to be snagging myself a pair of 7B's as well here pretty soon for my garage rig.


    The opposite is true for the SDA's though. The newer SDA's were much better than the first ones.
    The nirvana inducer-
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    Marantz UD5005 universal player
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    Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's
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  • mikey-polk
    mikey-polk Posts: 83
    edited April 2010
    Well all this messes up my previous thinking on what 7's I have ! I thought I was told months ago I had 7c's and they were bigger/better/faster...doesn't really matter I guess. They're clear as can be AFAIK.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99096
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  • comfortablycurt
    comfortablycurt Posts: 6,745
    edited April 2010
    mikey-polk wrote: »
    Well all this messes up my previous thinking on what 7's I have ! I thought I was told months ago I had 7c's and they were bigger/better/faster...doesn't really matter I guess. They're clear as can be AFAIK.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99096

    How does that thread state that the 7C's are the "best"?:confused:


    Don't take it wrong. They aren't bad speakers...they're very nice speakers as a matter of fact. But...the earlier Peerless tweeter equipped 7's have the edge IMO.
    The nirvana inducer-
    APC H10 Power Conditioner
    Marantz UD5005 universal player
    Parasound Halo P5 preamp
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    Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's
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  • mikey-polk
    mikey-polk Posts: 83
    edited May 2010
    I'm not sure where the 7 a/b/c thread went to...doesn't really matter right ? If I didn't like the 7's I'd change them right ? They sound pretty good for a big-bookshelf...
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  • comfortablycurt
    comfortablycurt Posts: 6,745
    edited May 2010
    mikey-polk wrote: »
    I'm not sure where the 7 a/b/c thread went to...doesn't really matter right ? If I didn't like the 7's I'd change them right ? They sound pretty good for a big-bookshelf...


    Exactly. Don't worry about good/better/best and all that. Your 7C's are some excellent speakers. If you enjoy them, that's all that matters.

    Have you replaced the SL-2000's with RD0-194's yet? If not, that will make for a nice improvement.
    The nirvana inducer-
    APC H10 Power Conditioner
    Marantz UD5005 universal player
    Parasound Halo P5 preamp
    Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
    PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
    Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's
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