monitor 5B's-1988

arcspark

Evening to all, "first time caller, Bob"..... I just picked up set of these at a yard sale for $20. How could I go wrong?!! I pulled the tweeters(speakers laying flat on their back) to verify they were the B's (sl2000) and found the magnet laying on the polyfill in one speaker. The clear dustcover(dome) is also hanging free from the housing but the wires are still attached and so I centered the magnet and put it back together. I assume there was some form of adhesive on the magnet originally to hold it to the frame? At any rate it still seems to work although I haven't cranked it up at all yet. I was told to use some aleenes glue to stick the dome back on so I will probably try that for the time being. I like the idea of refurbishing these so I was wondering if anybody could give me a good pick list of parts to use. I know about the tweeter history of the 2000's but am considering the upgrade kit I found on the net with new caps,etc. for a little shop project. Anybody tried this before and was it worth it? Another thought would be to replace the 2000's w/ the 2500's if it's a good idea. I'm sure you get the idea by now... What's the best path to take with these and remember "I'm a low budget audiophile" Thanks for listening, arcspark

heiney9

arcspark wrote: »

Evening to all, "first time caller, Bob"..... I just picked up set of these at a yard sale for $20. How could I go wrong?!! I pulled the tweeters(speakers laying flat on their back) to verify they were the B's (sl2000) and found the magnet laying on the polyfill in one speaker. The clear dustcover(dome) is also hanging free from the housing but the wires are still attached and so I centered the magnet and put it back together. I assume there was some form of adhesive on the magnet originally to hold it to the frame? At any rate it still seems to work although I haven't cranked it up at all yet. I was told to use some aleenes glue to stick the dome back on so I will probably try that for the time being. I like the idea of refurbishing these so I was wondering if anybody could give me a good pick list of parts to use. I know about the tweeter history of the 2000's but am considering the upgrade kit I found on the net with new caps,etc. for a little shop project. Anybody tried this before and was it worth it? Another thought would be to replace the 2000's w/ the 2500's if it's a good idea. I'm sure you get the idea by now... What's the best path to take with these and remember "I'm a low budget audiophile" Thanks for listening, arcspark

Welcome

Here's all you need. This is my upgrade thread

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51420&highlight=5b*

H9

Bobsama

You'd be better off with buying a pair of RDO-194-1 tweeters directly from Polk. They're a drop-in upgrade for the SL1000 & SL2000 tweeters.

vinylhunter

arcspark wrote: »

Evening to all, "first time caller, Bob"..... I just picked up set of these at a yard sale for $20. How could I go wrong?!! ...and remember "I'm a low budget audiophile" Thanks for listening, arcspark

Sounds like you're using my business model--buy $20 speakers, add $40+ in parts, wind up with $50 speakers. Recapping a pair of 7s and 5s started my foray into refurbishing about a year ago. The eBay kit is great insofar as the detailed instructions are just about idiot-proof. However, once done, you'll realize you bought $5 in parts for $20. I certainly did not notice the sweeping changes promised, either. But...as long as you've got them open, it doesn't hurt to refresh the old caps. If you talk to Parts Express, they can provide what you need (prior soldering skills/equipment assumed). If your glued together tweets sound OK, I'd consider being done with that part.

dane_peterson

How wild do you want to go with these? There was a recent thread of a guy who completely refinished his Monitor5s, and they looked incredible. I'll see if I can't dig up that link.

H9's link is excellent. You can, of course, go with even spendier caps (SoniCaps are well-received here) http://www.soniccraft.com/sonicaps.htm The results should be equally pleasing, though the Dayton caps are still a nice upgrade from stock.

Sounds like you already know your way around the speakers pretty well, but there are numerous threads here about upgrading your Polk Monitors.

Welcome!

geoff727

These are 2 pair that I recently had the pleasure of working on, if these threads provide any ideas for you. What would have improved both of these (in my opinion) would have been replacing the SL2000's with the RD0194's. But, they were both done to others' budgets, so the original tweeters were kept. Good luck.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73205&highlight=geoff727

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98531