Advice on quality of Monitor 2 line

Klegg

I was planning to purchase a pair of monitor 70s to compliment my current 40s, under the assumption they would be great for movies, and good for music. There is a thread going in another forum (not sure if posting a link will violate any rules) where a poster has dissected a pair, and is posting rather critical comments (and photos) of what he found. He claims the components are of poor quality. He is particularly critical of the crossovers, which he claims have two 50v caps of poor quality. Based on the caps and woofers he believes the speakers could not possibly handle the rated watts, and suggests 50 watts would be a stretch.

Could the more technical members set my mind at ease about this purchase?

tonyb

All I can tell you is we have many happy campers here and on other forums with the monitor 70's. Are they top shelf in build quality ? No,of coarse not, but then your not paying for top shelf parts are you ? Every line of speakers regardless of brand is built to a price point. You could tear apart any speaker from any maker and pigeon hole the quality of parts used but thats useless. It's the sum of all parts,design,and sound quality in the end that matters.

dorokusai

Klegg wrote: »

I was planning to purchase a pair of monitor 70s to compliment my current 40s, under the assumption they would be great for movies, and good for music. There is a thread going in another forum (not sure if posting a link will violate any rules) where a poster has dissected a pair, and is posting rather critical comments (and photos) of what he found. He claims the components are of poor quality. He is particularly critical of the crossovers, which he claims have two 50v caps of poor quality. Based on the caps and woofers he believes the speakers could not possibly handle the rated watts, and suggests 50 watts would be a stretch.

Could the more technical members set my mind at ease about this purchase?

What's the forum? The link doesn't violate any rules.

The Monitor series is perfect for HT and the members' comments are comical at best.

Klegg

Here is the link.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?p=36130111&posted=1#post36130111

nguyendot

I think he's hyper critical considering how much he paid for the speakers.

It's not like he spent 500 even.... you get what you pay for.

DON73

Troll?

Klegg

Not all all. I own a set of 40s. I also own a CS2. I am not technical at all when it comes to speakers, and I am now concerned about my planned purchase. The guy is abrasive, but his points if accurate would not make these a good choice for me. Figured this was the best place to get some answers.

greyford1979

Read the thread. The guy comes off as an arrogant know it all lol. My friend bought the 50s a couple months ago and loves them. Says they are much better than anything he's ever owned previously. And you have to remember, this would be like buying a Honda Accord(or whatever) and expecting it to be a Rolls Royce. A good reliable car but of course it's not gonna be in the same league as a low production hand built car:rolleyes: They each serve their purpose.

xgnarlycorex

I have 70's and a CS20...no problems here. They sound pretty damn good.

Outfitter03

Klegg wrote: »

He claims the components are of poor quality. He is particularly critical of the crossovers, which he claims have two 50v caps of poor quality. Based on the caps and woofers he believes the speakers could not possibly handle the rated watts, and suggests 50 watts would be a stretch.

I read through the posts. The pictures posted are indeed pictures of the crossovers for a monitor 70. Actually they are very nice quality pictures.

As i see it the problem with this type of posts is that for the average consumer like yourself Klegg, the arguments being made are just technical enough with a lot of bad information to create concern and doubt. This makes as much sense as taking a picture of the average circuit board inside of an LCD TV and then saying that from the voltage ratings of the capacitors and inductors that you can tell the television is crap, will have a lousy picture and will fail.

As a diligent concerned consumer of a TV, this is what most of us would do:

1. Look at the picture quality to see if it is any good.
2. See how long the warranty is and look online for feedback on how the company deals with warranty claims. How hard is it to file a claim and do they respond.
3. Look at feedback from others that have owned this product and what they think of it.

As a diligent concerned consumer of a Polk Speaker what would most of us do:

1. Listen to some speakers at a big box store or a friends house to see if they sound good. Or get feedback from online reviews and forums. I believe the Monitor series sound really good as compared to some speakers costing two to three times as much. I personally own Monitor 70,60,40, CS-2 and a PSW-505.

2. Polk warranties it's speakers including those sold from NewEgg for 5 years and two years for the refurbished speakers sold through online store. (2 years for subs) You are required to have your invoice, although the one problem I had, Polk never asked and sent my replacement parts. Polk customer service is awesome, just call and they will help you out.

3. Feedback on speakers: before I bought my Monitors I read reviews at Newegg, Amazon, Polk Forum and google searched other reviews. Almost all ratings were positive. Most common negative comments I encountered was lack of bass response and comments that if you want lots of bass, especially for HT you will need a sub. This is sound advice for most all HT systems. For the Monitor 70's the most common complaint was bad tweeters, but this is not a problem with tweeters but caused by pushing these speakers with underpowered amplifiers.


Sorry for writing a book but I want to make two more points.

I use Parasound power amps for my Monitor 70's and CS-2. The amp for the 70's is rated for 205 Watts and I am going on 7 months of usage. They handle the power wonderfully and I have inspected my crossover components and they look great.

My second point is that there are higher quality components Capacitors and Inductors that can be used in crossovers and some people on this site do upgrade these components themselves. Polk does not use this level of component in their Monitor product line because it would price the speaker out of the market place in which it is competing. The components they use are not faulty, just "may" not sound as good as higher quality and more expensive components. Most people would not be willing to pay an additional $100 to $150 for a pair of monitor 40's to have air core inductors and poly caps. Polk has a new speaker LSIM coming out for around $2,000 each in the next couple of months. If the crossover boards on that speaker were identical to the Monitor 70 then OP's would have a legitimate gripe. I seriously doubt they will be.

halo71

OMG yall, he's touting Hafler and Behringer amps in that thread. Who does that sound like??? :rolleyes:

you only need to find one instance of a bad product to cast doubt on the rest of the production run

what??? :rolleyes:

Klegg

greyford1979 wrote: »

..... And you have to remember, this would be like buying a Honda Accord(or whatever) and expecting it to be a Rolls Royce. A good reliable car but of course it's not gonna be in the same league as a low production hand built car:rolleyes: They each serve their purpose.

Excellent point. I was attracted to these to begin with because of the concensus that these are the best in this price range, and compare favorably to most speakers at the next level.

I went to one of the websites reference in that thread that had a small number of speaker reviews (it is geared toward DIY building). they took apart a much more expensive Energy speaker (that I had heard great things about) and had smiler negative comments about that. I am thinking some audio folks are really hard to please!

I do have a general question about how the 70's sound. I have read they are "bright". I know the 70s use the same size woofers as the CS2. My center sounds warm, BUT I have noticed that some dialog, especially words with "s" and "z" seem very ....not sure how to describe it... pronounced. Is this a trait of the larger woofers? Is there anything I can do (perhaps with the receivers EQ) to tone that down a bit?

And thanks everyone for your impute!

Klegg

Outfitter03 wrote: »

3. Feedback on speakers: before I bought my Monitors I read reviews at Newegg, Amazon, Polk Forum and google searched other reviews. Almost all ratings were positive. Most common negative comments I encountered was lack of bass response and comments that if you want lots of bass, especially for HT you will need a sub. This is sound advice for most all HT systems. For the Monitor 70's the most common complaint was bad tweeters, but this is not a problem with tweeters but caused by pushing these speakers with underpowered amplifiers.
.

Thank you for the detailed response! I have seen the clipping issue discussed in other threads. When I started to upgrade my first purchased was a Pioneer VSK 1020. The sound was such an improvement over my old unit (an RCA 2500) that I guess I got the upgrade bug. Next purchase was a Bic sub, then the monitor 40's and the CS2. Good sound for movies, but I
wanted a little more for music. I think from what I have read that I have enough to power the 70's (please correct me if I am wrong!).

tonyb

You have plenty to drive your speakers,including the 70's. That "s" sound you hear is called sibilance. Could be caused by a number of things such as source material, quality of cables or gear. Maybe some better cables to start with might help. Kinda of a process of elimination thing.

Upstatemax

The monitor line is warm...

That guy from the other forum is an idiot. There are plenty of people on this forum alone who have rocked the monitor 70's for a long time with no issue, myself included.

Klegg

tonyb wrote: »

You have plenty to drive your speakers,including the 70's. That "s" sound you hear is called sibilance. Could be caused by a number of things such as source material, quality of cables or gear. Maybe some better cables to start with might help. Kinda of a process of elimination thing.

Went ahead and replaced the cable with better quality. Also tried it with the banana plugs off. Still getting that sibilance. My next step is to run one of the 40's as the center with the same material and see if I hear it then. I know when the system runs in stereo it is not an issue. I may have a "bad" CS2. I am still in the return period, so I could exchange it.

Also weighing the pros and cons of gong with Energy RC-50s instead of the 70's. they cost a bit more but they may be a better fit for me. Problem is how expensive the matching center is!

TomWhite

Klegg wrote: »

Went ahead and replaced the cable with better quality. Also tried it with the banana plugs off. Still getting that sibilance.

I've never, in fifty-nine years, ever heard a cable that got rid of sibilance. It just isn't going to happen. That is not what cables do. Please don't get caught up in myths about cables. It'll drive you nuts AND broke.

tonyb

TomWhite wrote: »

I've never, in fifty-nine years, ever heard a cable that got rid of sibilance. It just isn't going to happen. That is not what cables do. Please don't get caught up in myths about cables. It'll drive you nuts AND broke.

You should get out more often in your 59 years then. I have personally experienced a change in cables doing away with sibilance. Myths or not, believe what you will. Not saying it works for everyone, but it's a cheap place to start.

TomWhite

tonyb wrote: »

You should get out more often in your 59 years then. I have personally experienced a change in cables doing away with sibilance. Myths or not, believe what you will. Not saying it works for everyone, but it's a cheap place to start.

I don't want to start a "war" over a simple matter of opinion, but just as some insight into my "not getting out" enough, I have been down the speaker wire path before with everthing from Audioquest to Kimber to Monster (pardon me while I take a moment to throw up :biggrin:) to cheap Lowe's hardware wire. I don't know how pertinent it is, but I have also been a musician for approx. 45 of my years. I am convinced that keeping your connections clean and tight is a better investment than playing the expensive cable game.

However, in the end, all of this hobby of ours should be about bringing a smile to each of our faces and whatever does that for each of us, more power to us.

Klegg

I ended up getting a stunning deal on RC-70s. Ended paying a bit more then planned, but I could not pass it up. Now I have to decided if the CS2 should be sent back. I am thinking the sibilance is partialy related to the source material...I hear it in the 40's but not anywhere near the level of the CS2. Perhaps the CS2 is so much better then it revels flaws.

I did notice that a reference tone cycled in the speakers sounds different in the CS2 then then 40's