Monitor 10's - Damaged in Shipping!

Polaris26

Well it seems I have more pressing problems than what amplifier to pair with my 'new' pair of Monitor 10's. They arrived parcel post today and I just had a chance to connect them up to an old Sony receiver for initial testing. It turns out that three of the four woofer cones are frozen and not making sound. I immediately turned off the receiver. I read here:

http://www.oaktreevintage.com/Polk-Audio_Speaker_Parts.htm

that Polk woofers can be susceptible to damage in shipping - that the epoxy that holds the magnet on can be dislodged by shock. These speakers were not packed that well and I was surprised that they even looked so good when I unboxed them. I had written the seller right after the auction that I would pay extra to have them boxed extra carefully, but I got no response. So now it seems I need to find three replacement drivers for the 10's. I really don't want to ship them back... Ugh! This ever happen to anyone else? Do they still make replacements for these drivers, or is it all salvaged/old stock?

thanks,
Dave

mmadden28

Hey Polaris26, sorry to hear about your woes. But yes the magnet glue on vintage drivers does get brittle and fail-happens often. Shipping is not a good idea on any of the vintage speakers or drivers unless they are glued first.

There are quite a few threads here on that issue and how to glue them up (I know not going to help you after the fact), but they do discuss the glue fail issues.

Keep you eye out for other vintage drievr replacements that come up for sale or buy new replacements from Polk.

Good Luck, and welcome back to Club Polk.

-Madden

TECHNOKID

Contact Polk ASAP and see what they can do since they still carry for most of their vintage gear. Now, I sure hope you will not let your seller and the carrier get away with this!!! It should be your first step before touching the guts of those speakers. You have to realize that you are at the mercy of your seller if you don't do proper research, those speakers may have been bad right from the start. Have you paid by paypall? If so, cancell paypal and return the garbage to seller explaining him that those speakers weren't working when you receive them. Why should you pay for this purchase along with paying for the repair????? :rolleyes:

HB27

Sadly it probably wouldn't matter how well they were packed. One slip by the delivery person and they're gone. One chuck hole in the road and they're gone.
I've picked up old monitors in person and they were working perfect when I picked them up. By the time I got home less than 3 miles away I'd lost two mid woofs to slipping and they were frozen solid.
The old buggers just finally fall apart.
Glueing or JB Weld is the best way to prepare them. You have to apply adhesive to all sections of the frame and multiple part magnet structure.

Polaris26

This is a good thing to know since I also have a pair of Monitor 7's. I will check out the forums to see about how to glue the drivers for 'preventative maintenance'. I emailed the seller and he responded, saying that he had a similar problem shipping another pair of vintage Polks not too long ago that were triple boxed and well padded. I am optimistic that we will be able to work out a deal for the damages. I would rather just keep these rather than return them since they are in nice cosmetic shape and have the Peerless tweeters, and I don't want to have to box them back up and ship them back (probably only to have the fourth woofer get damaged along the way). I would rather fix them and get compensated by the seller for the cost of repairing the damage.

As for replacing the woofers - I would like to find original drivers (MW6500 I think) since I have heard that the new replacement from Polk has different T-S parameters (although some people here said they used them to good effect.) I will have to look into it more - I think if I were to go the new driver route, I should replace all four drivers while I'm at it so that at least they will all be the same. I am assuming that the new replacements don't need the glue treatment like the old drivers? Are there any other non-Polk 6.5 inch mid-woofers on the market that make good replacements for these?

thanks again,
Dave

gdb

I collect frozen drivers and will pay you something for them, plus shipping/packaging costs. PM if you're interested.:)

Polaris26

gdb - I can't pm yet, but I will let you know if I don't need the old ones to send back or anything.

thanks,
Dave

gdb

sounds good ! I think it's 10 posts to be able to PM, if so, only one more to go !;)

TECHNOKID

gdb wrote: »

I collect frozen drivers and will pay you something for them, plus shipping/packaging costs. PM if you're interested.:)

Out of curiosity, what could you do with frozen drivers?

Cheers!
TK

Bobsama

TECHNOKID wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what could you do with frozen drivers?

Cheers!
TK

There's a guide on AK about trying to fix the frozen driver problem. It's a bit involved but buying a few broken woofers and recovering half of them may turn a bit of an additional profit.

gdb

I fix em with new glue.:)

smcgov34

I bought a pass radiator from a guy who told me he's fixed numerous frozen driver and then resells them.

anhedonia

I've repaired broken speaker magnets on other drivers before. Depending on how badly damaged, this could be an easy fix. Certainly worth pulling them and examining what happened.