Polk Series 2 Speakers- Worth Fixing?

hewhorocks

audiobilly wrote: »

It would be worth while to measure the tweeters to insure they are bad before you spent "any" money, I would think. If both tweets are indeed bad, with no circuit protection this seems more likely now.

How do I measure the tweeters?

audiobilly

hewhorocks wrote: »

How do I measure the tweeters?

You use a Ohm meter to measure the resistance of the tweeter. The tweter should measure around 6 ohms (the one I have measures 5.6 ohms). A reading of say 10 ohms is not good, and any reading over that is bad.

The tweeter will have two terminals, one will be the plus terminal and one will be the negative terminal (this only applies when the tweeter is in circuit so that this driver will be in polarity with all of the other drivers in the same cabinet). You will want to measure the driver (tweeter) out of circuit, remove the driver from the wires attached to it, and take note as to what wires are connected to what terminal, so you can put it or the new one back in the same way as it came out. The terminals may be different size so they will only go on one way, which makes life a bit easier.

You take one lead of the ohm meter (red) and touch or attach it to one of the terminals of the tweeter, and take the other lead of the ohm meter (black) and touch or attach it to the other terminal of the tweeter. The ohm meter will read the resistance of the coil in the driver (tweeter). In this case the meter should read about 6 ohms or so. If the meter reads, OL or open load, or some very high resistance, say in the 100s' or 1000s' of ohms, check your connections from the test leads to the terminals of the driver to insure a good contact, and if the reading is still very high, then the driver is considered bad/open. In a overall outlook, drivers should measure from 4 ohms to 8 or even 10 ohms, depending on the manufactures' design specifications.

Now, you have to have a ohm meter and have a basic understanding of how to use it. Radio Shack has some good "value for the money" meters.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4214667
This is a VOM (Volt-Ohm-Meter), it will measure Volts (AC and DC volts), Resistance (Ohms) and current (amps). This is also known as a Multimeter, a meter that does multiple functions, not just a dedicated meter as a Ohm meter or a Volt meter etc, etc. Of course you can spend as much money as you want on a good VOM ($300 + ), your choice, but the Radio Shack will do the job.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&expIds=25657,25907,27642,27788,27819,27868,27946,28004&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=fluke+multimeter&cp=6&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=1118521929293955874&ei=Z2T-TL_pLcG88gbaybWNBw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=7&sqi=2&ved=0CE4Q8wIwBg#

Here are some good links to "start" your reading about Multimeters and Ohm meters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohmmeter

You can use a ohmmeter to measure all dynamic drivers (moving coil driver).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker

Further investigation on your part will only increase your understanding of VOM meters and how to use them.

Hope I did not ramble too much, Good luck!:biggrin:

hewhorocks

That is awesome information. I will go buy an Ohm METER and perform these tests with great enthusiasm. Than I will post the resluts

skrol

Just a note of caution. When you take the measurement, don't keep the meter connected to the tweeter any longer than necessary (a few seconds should do). The ohm meter applies a DC voltage which can stress the voice coil.
Stan

disneyjoe7

Do these speakers have bi wired terminals, is it possible the woofers are just hooked up?

audiobilly

It warms my hart to see the support for someone that has the necessary information to diagnose a problem with the proper tools in which to allow them to make an educated decision for them self.

DON73

I think your speakers are certainly worth repairing. I never buy any audio gear thinking I'll resell it and make money. The pleasure I get from listening and making something better is enough for me Although several years ago I gave away 2 Dual 1229Qs and one 1219. A few weeks back a 1229 sold for $380:mad:

hewhorocks

OK so I took a trip to Radio Shack and am now the owner of the Multi Meter.

I check a whole bunch of batteries I had laying around, so this thing is already AOK in my book.

I removed the Tweets and I tested them and the needle didnt even budge. I did follow the instructions in the manual for zeroing out the resistance on the meter first. There was no signal to the meter in any of the Ohm settings









So now what?

disneyjoe7

Your Tweeters are DEAD.

audio_alan

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Your Tweeters are DEAD.

Good diagnosis from the multi-meter readings.... :biggrin:

WOW, mint condition speakers. From that one picture, it looks like they just came off the assembly line. Definitely worth fixing up! Congrats on the find...

audiobilly

Yep'r, looks like you have now verified the condition of the voice coil in the tweets. They measure open, and are ka-put.

Good for you for taking on this task and learning about this end of the hobby!

hewhorocks

OK thanks for the guidance. I will, for now, chalk the deal up to furthering my knowledge of this world...

Now do I replace the tweeters?

Or do extract the 4 other speakers and sell them to recoup?

Schurkey

Nevermind.

hewhorocks

Schurkey wrote: »

Nevermind.

??? huh?

audiobilly

That is something you will have to decide. They sure look nice. You only have 2 drivers and the other ones are passive radiators (the ones on the bottom of the box).

Your choice brother. New tweets are right at $100 for two from Polk Customer Service. Might be able to get some used,,,

FWIW, I have one that I will let go, maybe someone has two or one, then your investment is less.

What do YOU want to do with these?

hewhorocks wrote: »

Now do I replace the tweeters?

Or do extract the 4 other speakers and sell them to recoup?

Schurkey

hewhorocks wrote: »

??? huh?

Had a brain ****, discovered my error. Then could not figure out how to completely delete my own post. Edited instead.

Joe08867

I would replace them. Honestly, they are very nice little speakers and you would be hard pressed to find new ones for $150.00 that sound as good.

I didn't include the meter as once you head down the path of audio nirvana a meter can help point the way.

Rivrrat

A volt/ohm meter is a pretty handy little tool to have around the house.

Like I said earlier, I'd start shopping used. IF you're not in a hurry, they do come up once in a while.

hewhorocks

I'm in no hurry. I recently bought a pair of NHT speakers that are set up at this listening station, they sound awesome. Happy with them... and I have a really nice pair of Missions as backup ...

I collect vinyl and its not unusual to have opportunity to buy speakers and gear when I purchase private collections

I picked these up because I had a pair a while back and LOVED them. Thought they sounded very rich and well balanced in all freq... I sold them and kind of regretted it right away. So when I saw these and they were in such great looking condition.... what else was there to do?

At this point they have entered the project realm. I will replace the tweets.

What is the opinion of the new replacement tweets vs hunting down a use pair of the ones we see here?