RT 12 Speakers Rebuild

fatpiggy

Hi All,
I would like some advice as to what I should do with these RT 12's I picked up cheap.All the drivers are blown or damaged.The tweeters are melted, one crossover has a burnt out 2ohm resistor.

The RT 12 enclosures are in good shape apart from the plastic stick on film lifting on the tops and graffiti drawn on the sides in white paint.

Im thinking of repairing the blown crossover with a new 5w 2ohm cermanic resistor and putting in 4 new woofer drivers.Should I look for an updated set of woofers or use the original MW 7010 woofers.I have read that it would be better to use the original silk 1" tweeter domes SL5001 rather than the tri lamanate tweeters SL 6001 that came in the later models. I am really thinking of using the Tri lamante tweeters so as I get a better match with my RTi25's and my CSi245 centre which use tri lamante tweeters.Any advice

I currently run (4) RTi 25 and a PSW350 sub and a CSi245 centre.Very happy with the sound.I figured the RT 12's were such a good deal I figured they would be worth a rebuild and I would use them for my mains and use two of the RTi25's for my bedroom.

Because the cabinets are marked with paint and would need a repaint I was thinking of striiping them down and getting them panio glossed black with 2 Pak paint and get rid of the plastic film.I think it would be much better in the long run and give the boxes a true update.

The grills are complete but the speaker cloths are dirty and damaged.The badges are in great shape, most of the grill pegs are missing.I can get new speaker cloth and re mesh the grills, and I can get new grill pegs.

Would you do this rebuild if you were in my postion or would you try and keep the enclosures as original as possible.

Fat piggy

messiah

First off welcome to the Polk forum. So you basically just have cabinets that you want to bring back to life, that's cool. Go Tri-lam on the tweeters instead of the silk domes. As far as the speakers go, check with Polk CS to see if they have replacement woofers and tweeters available. If you mention you are a member of the forum you will get a discount. I wouldn't go piano black, if they have had a bit of abuse, all that abuse will show up when they are all shiny. That, and I don't like shiny. You have to be very careful when you clean it or it scratches. I might consider a veneer though. You could have a really unique set of born again rt-12's with an exotic wood veneer, and it's really not that costly. Good luck man!

PrazVT

Man .. what did the previous owner do to those speakers - actually made me a little sad to read this.

Good luck on the restorations, though

halo71

Hell, I just wanna see pics of them in their present condition.

fatpiggy

I think I might be able to restore the speakers back to original without too much trouble.I had another good look at the paint.The graffitti has been done with paper white out, liquid paper.I think I should be able to remove it with a little turps and care, but I will still need to repaint the cabinets.

Any ideas what the original paint type is.It looks like a satin flat black acrylic.I have a large compressor and spray gun here.After a bit more research I found a company that actually sells rolls of the same cheesy black plastic contact film used on the top and bottom, has the fake black ash wood grain imprint.$13US for a roll.

Im waiting on my local Polk distributor to get back to me on the MW 7010 Woofer drivers.I found a seller on Ebay that can supply new SL 6001 Tri Lam tweeters for a good price.Hopefully I can get new woofers as well.

The previous owner gave these RT 12's to his teenage son and well the son trashed them.Id say judging by the blown crossover resistor on the tweeter side that the speaker was incorrectly wired up.If you by amp these speakers incorrectly and send more than 40watts to the tweeters the will blow.

The tweeters cones were melted so I d say thats whats happened.As to the woofers well Id say they were over driven the cones have seperated from the coils on 2 drivers and look burnt.I put a multi meter across the terminals and their dead not getting any continunity so Id say the driver coil windings have been cooked.The smell in both cabinets smells like burnt electrics.

The other 2 woofers work but they are muddy sounding one of the cones have a scratchy sound when you place a small amount of pressure against the cone.So I d say they are damaged as well.So I figured the best thing to do is just replace all the drivers, pointless trying to salvage maybe one drivers.

Fatpiggy

nguyendot

i'd just re apply new exotic wood veneer.... its not worth restoring the originals in my opinion.

fatpiggy

Hi All,
Got the liquid paper grafitti off the cabinet sides, used zippo lighter fluid, they came up really well.I dont think I will need to paint them.I think the black coating is actually the same stick on plastic that has been used on the top and bottom, I dont think its paint.

Can anyone give me the Polk part number for a full re cone kit.I might try and repair these MW7010 drivers.Will need the cone, the orange diaphram bellows and the cabinet seal and the glue.I think their is also a paper and metal tube that is attached glued to the cone that slides into the magnet but mines damaged and all distorted.The glue seems to be all brittle.I have never done a speaker rebuild wouldnt mind a few pointers.Should I try this or get a speaker speciilist to do the repairs.

Thanks

Fat Piggy

messiah

I don't think they have a kit like that piggy, they are proprietary drivers. They may offer to repair them for you, not sure but it can't hurt to ask.

fatpiggy

Hi Messiah,
Looks like I'll have to send these woofers out to get repaired.Hav'nt heard from the local Polk dealer.Got a quote to rebuild the woofers locally for $380 and they will check the crossovers at the same time.New drivers must be very expensive these days.Anyone got an idea what new 6.5" Polk drivers are going for.


fat piggy

Face

Call up Polk directly and mention that your a club polk member for a discount.

fatpiggy

Hi Face,
I got a great email from Orange County speaker repairs, they told me the woofers for the RT 12's cannot be repaired and I'd be better off sourcing new drivers from Polk as they usually carry all speakers or they will find something to match.

Well I decided not to wait for the Polk dealer to get back to me and gave them a call to find out about driver availabilty. Surprize , surprize, All drivers for RT12's are still available.So Im not going to stress worry about repaired drivers, new drivers are ordered.I cant wait to get these speakers running.Complete new drivers should sound sweet.

Fatpiggy

dorokusai

I'd get rid of them personally but good luck. Keep in mind, you'll never get out what you put into them so plan on keeping them.

fatpiggy

Dorkousa,
What kind of crap comment is that,What bussiness is it of yours to tell me to get rid of these RT 12 speakers.Whats your problem, RT 12's not good enough for you.

Im my opinion I reckon you should get rid of all your Polk stuff and go buy chinese rubbish, becuase then you might understand why its worth rebuilding a pair of polk low end speakers.

Im not in the USA, Im in Australia,secondhand PolK gear is as rare as hens teeth here and costs a fortune.Anything thats half decent costs a fortune.Just to knock up a basic MDF 19mm enclosure without drivers costs you $400US here.

If I buy stuff and have it imported still costs me 3 times what you guys pay.So if these speakers cost me $800US by the time they are fully restored, I would still be in front and more than happy.

Shipping a set of these speakers from the states costs $700US and still no promise the drivers wouldnt be damaged and need replacing.

If a pair of cherry RTi'70's come my way and I can afford them I will grab them as well and keep the RT 12 as rears.I take what I can get and Im very grateful.It has taken me 20 years to build the humble home theather system I have and I will keep building.

So dont bag other peoples setup without the facts.




Fatpiggy

dorokusai

I've owned a couple Polk speakers in my travels....one or two perhaps. I'll get right on that Chinese rubbish suggestion you mentioned pronto.

I'm aware of where you are, it's not rocket science and if anything, tried to save you money but you want to **** it up....but I probably did as well. For that, I apologize. You posted on a public forum....I figured anyone is allowed to comment right? I shouldn't have bashed your project but didn't notice you had already ordered everything at the time of posting. Ugh, timing but it doesn't change my opinion of that loudspeaker.

The RT series has never been that great and even tho' it's at odds with my best friend, the series still sucks overall. Sorry to not be the flag waver and cigar smoker you expected....can't win them all. I believe the import issues you deal with are ridiculous, let alone what Canadiens deal with but alas, out of my control.

If you meant LS series, yeah maybe I'd suggest an investment but the RT series is unloved for the most part, fact....and historically undersold and of little retail value, fact....just tried to nip it in the butt. I'm sure the end result will be awesome, why shouldn't it, with new drivers and all...better get to work on the xover as well.

EDIT: If you're going to go to this extent to revive this loudspeaker, you better be willing to do it right and go balls out for it. In that respect, it's definitly a cool project. Nothing less than full on, balls to the wall is what you should do, no quarter, no prisoners and you may end up with the best pair of RT12's on your entire continent. Is that a better tribute to your efforts from me, and I mean that? You better post some sweet pics and a progress report....if nothing else, than to show me your middle finger and say FU dorokusai. I'm 100% ok with that Fatpiggy. Cheers.

Good luck.

fatpiggy

Dorokusai,
Fair enough,I know what your saying.I just wrote a huge big spiel and the page timed out .Im cool.I just like causing trouble puts people on their gaurd.

The RT 12 is probally the worst speaker that polk made, but hey better to hang onto the bad stuff, one day they will actually be a good collector item like the SDA's,l who knows.

If Im going to the trouble to get these lemons new drivers I best restore them right , with new tweeters and improved sound deadening they might actually sound alright.They cant be that bad surley.

fat piggy

dorokusai

Fatpiggy - It's NOT the worst speaker Polk made....by far that title is held by a few OTHER, older Polk speakers but every loudspeaker company has goose eggs. My buddy is a BIG RT7 fan and will go to his grave with them...another has the same speaker you do, we just don't agree. Who cares.

Audio is a **** and we all hear things differently. What's neat about the RT series is that they were THE series that broke the ground for the later RTi and eventually the RTiA, not the VS series. It's NOT insiginificant, just not my favorite....that would have been a better use of words.

I applaud your efforts and again, sorry if you didn't realize my sarcasm/dislike vs real life comments I was trying to convey but we just met....I'm not known for my friendliness per se. If you need anything in regards to parts or little things, just let me know. I'm willing to help and may have a trick or two up my sleeve in regards to finding things.

I really look forward to seeing the final product and bet you'll hear even better things. Check out a product called BlackHole for cabinet structure, seal all your seams with caulk or at least re-check them and start sourcing new components for your xover. Their are a bunch of threads on this subject already but nothing for your speaker, so you could lay the groundwork for the next person....do it right and go hardcore.

Agreed?

Mark

fatpiggy

Dorokusai,
Thanks Mark.Thanks for the offer.I think I should be right on this rebuild.I have sourced everything from Polk, Ebay,and Parts Express.I have just tried to take some pictures of these cabinets but the camera wont download the pictures to the computer the other half has been playing with the camera and I cant find the power cable, I think she has gone and loaded rotten MAC files, god I hate MAC.

Anyway, So tell me Mark, What Polks you running I bet you have the Lastest and greatest.I wish I lived in the states I would have a ball.I love Harleys and Dodge trucks, man Im so jealous.I have an old 95 Wideglide I love that bike cost me 1 years wages.I dont get out an about much these days got arthritis and near blind.But my ears work good enough I know what sounds good.Harleys sound good especially through the city early amongst the high rise buildings early in the morning when no ones around, set off all the car alarms, Im so bad.

The best thing I got is Angus cows,lots of them all running around the country side Australian bloodlines and a bit of American bloodlines.I love my cows.So what do you do when your not stirring the pot Mark do you work for Pol.k

I see you have near 20,000 posts thats alot of posts you must be apart of the furniture.

Fat piggy

only my friends call me Peter and I dont have too many of them

F1nut

Shouldn't your name be fatcow?

fatpiggy

F1nut,
Nah I saved that one for the missus, so I lucked out with Fat pig, actually my chinese star sign is the pig so fat piggy it will be usally I get called all sorts of rude names .Fi nut, shouldnt you be called one nut and forget the F or better still wingnut.Hey that would be cool.

Nothing like a bit of fun.So F1 nut you into cars is that what the F1 stands for ie formular 1.You much be some rich son of a gun if your into those machines.You wouldnt catch me in a racing car not on your life, those guys are crazy.

Fat Piggy

dorokusai

FP,

I'm not running any major Polk rig at the moment but am working on another SDA CRS+ upgrade and a hotrod idea for an older pair of KEF C10 bookshelf speakers for fun. The HT is simply a SurroundBar50 and a DSW MicroPRO 4000. There's been 20 different HT rigs over the years using Polk stuff.

I've owned almost a hundred pairs of Polk's, whether it was short-term or long-term and my current babies are a pair of Polk SRT. Audio has jaded me to the point that a break was needed so simple stuff is all that gets done lately. My truck has become the focus of all effort lately and it's fun again.

Yes, I work for Polk in another capacity but it has nothing to do with here. Would you say your Aussy beef is better than here? Cow wise I mean? Is there really any way to tell? I'd love to check it out....we should do some dry ice swaps eh? There is a local rancher that raises Wagyu and the meat is so much better than the generic store bought stuff. My wife is not a huge red meat eater but always stocks up when we hit the farmers' market on Sundays. Any preference when it comes to beef since you own cows?

Harley's I can understand but Dodge? Ugh, now you're really killing our psuedo friendship, haha. I'm a Chevrolet man. You should post pics of your bike as there are a handful of other bike nuts on here as well. It's a very diversified forum, which I hope you'll hang around to find out.

fatpiggy

Dorokusai,
I see people downsizing alot these days, and its sad,I love big speakers they look great they sound great.You just need the room,which sadly people have lost.

Im lucky My nearest neighbour is 1 mile away I can make as much noise as I want, like it should be.If I want to crank up the electric guitar I can I just have to make sure the missus isnt around.God bless her she hates my music.

I bet you wish you had room to keep all those 100 or so Polk speakers you have owned over the years.Now that would be something Id even pay to see that, a polk museum.Has polk got a musuem of all thier products somewhere.That would be really cool. I love to see that.

SDA's I dont know that mode;l I will have to have alook at the product list.I was looking at the new subs they now produce, small and powerfull, dont know how they can get the same amount of air movement out of such a small speaker.

Soundbar seems to be all the rage here as well, gone are the old stye speakers everybodys going for sound bars due to LCD screens.Me Im old school dont like LCD's.Im a projector man and I love space and lots of speakers.I have only got re intrested in home theather since they produced the high def projectors over the last 5 years or so, blue ray on a 240 inch wide screen is fantastic.And with the new designed projectors you can squeeze a projector in under 10 feet and still beat and LCD for quality.The price quality for size cant be beaten.

I have everything run through the projector, cable sat TV , blue ray. PS3 games everything.Cheap on power and dosnt heat up the room, not that that would be a problem for you guys , but here in Australia it gets hot and LCD heat up the place, plasma's were the worse.I like the idea of low powered speakers, ones that dont need 200watts to drive them,under 100watt per channel high watts means more power.Which means more heat, which means more money in power consumption.I would never buy a sound bar give me old school till I die.

Australian Angus meat is the best.Younger grass milk feed under 1 year of age you cant get better.Feedlot beef isnt bad but if you want tender meat grass milk feed is the best.I dont like Wagyu not real meat as far as Im concerned we call it yak out here.The japanese love it, its thier local cow, but if you had a choice between Wagyu or Angus you would never eat wagyu.Angus are the best.American Angus arnt bad you guys know your cows US cows are better than Australian cows.Ill be honest.You produce some great blood lines its a credit to you guys , you just have to watch the gentic deformities that keep cropping up with your stud bulls.

I like Dodge trucks love the style very western.But hey you cant beat the chevy, thier small block V8's were perfect.My favorite engine of all time is the small block 327 man that is one mean little engine.

Well when I get the camera working and give the bike a clean I'll take some shots and show off my bike.Ive kept it factory stock. I have just added a few extra improvements to the internals like a carby kit and cam.It what I call a sleeper.has all the fruit on the inside but looks stock on the outside.Its a nice bike.I think the wide glide was probally the best of the Harleys, but I am bias.

Fat piggy

fatpiggy

Ok here are the finally awaited photos of these ratty RT12's.Had to get the missus to work out the camera.You can see in one the badly cooked crossover.

Fatpiggy

nguyendot

You've got one heck of a project on your hands. It's going to take a bit of work to get them back into great condition. I dumped the RT8s that I refurbed, but I gave them to my dad so they're still in the family. Good luck with the project, but as doro said, plan on keeping them because any money you put in, you won't get out of it.

fatpiggy

A shot of the pair with the grills on.These cabinets cost me $100 Aus around $95US.

Fatpiggy

fatpiggy

Yeah, I know.But you cant find Polk Speakers where I live.I live out in the country on a farm so these are a real find for me.I wont be getting rid of these I can tell you.

Fat piggy

Face

What are you powering them with that you had a meltdown? Time to either upgrade your amp or stop using them as PA speakers for when you're out in the field.

fatpiggy

Hi Face,Nah I wouldnt do that, Im not stupid.I bought these already blown, Previous owners teenage kid blew them all.But Id say the woofers failed due to age and overloaded the circuits in the crossover and they ended up being totally trashed.I'll rebuild them like new.New tweeters on the way.Im slowly getting all the bits together.I will have to save up some more cash for the woofers they will be expensive the rest is just cosmectic and lots of time.They will look and sound sweet when Im finished.Im going to get a seconhand 500w Rotel power amp to drive these off my Rotel Reciever.I can get Rotel amps for a very reasonable price here.

Fatpiggy

fatpiggy

Well I finally got these cabinets srtipped of thier ugly black vinyl.Wasnt too bad.The heat gun worked very well.These cabinets are made very well and are easy to renovate.Now I have to think about what Im going to re cover them with.Spoke to my kitchen cabinet friend today he told me he has some new laminates that have just hit the market he wants me to have a look at.Here some pictures of the RT 12's without their clothes.

EndersShadow

nothing like speaker **** on a Monday Morning :biggrin::eek:...looking good, cant wait to see the finished product..

fatpiggy

The next the best thing to two naked blondes.Will be a few weeks before I get these boxes finished.They will come up very nice when finished, just got to sort out the blown cross overs and save some more cash for a few more drivers.They wont be all black like the original vinyl's, Ive decided to go for a wood look to match my other cheery Polks.

Fat piggy

Monster Jam

FP

I'll be honest - you described your project in the Original Post and the shape the speakers were in, and I scoffed thinking you were a nut.

But I stand corrected. Now that I see you have stripped the speakers and are going to introduce new drivers, I think you might have a great result. I'd like to see what finish you are going to go with for your speakers when you select them. And then I think we'd all like to see the finished product.