New to Forum, RTA15TL's

charley95
charley95 Posts: 908
edited April 2011 in Vintage Speakers
I just joined today and have been lurking. I just got my 15's out of the closet that have been in their boxes for the past 18 yrs. My old place I lived was too small for these. I hooked them up to my old Denon 1025ra reciever and grew tired of SS. I just bought a Rogue Cronus/Magnum last week and love this amp. I just ordered a pair of 198's today due to the harshness of the 3000's. I've read on here about "Larry's rings" can anyone tell me about these? Also will the 198's directly plug in or will I have to add new connectors?

I read all of the threads of XO's mods and might tackle later in the future.
Is the XO directly behind the speaker terminals? I love this speaker and look forward to anyones input.

Thanks!
Pat
Post edited by charley95 on
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  • chandler9a
    chandler9a Posts: 878
    edited March 2011
    Welcome to the Forum Pat! I have never heard the RTA 15TL's but hope to some day. You are off to a good start with the RDO's which I believe are a direct plug in but if I am wrong someone who has actually done the swap with that model will chime in.

    Keep us posted and good luck!
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  • cincycat13
    cincycat13 Posts: 882
    edited March 2011
    Welcome to the forum Pat!

    Yes, you should find the XO on the back of the speaker terminals. It will be the inductor then the board. You can see pix in this thread of the older round white xo and the newer green square one.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48075&highlight=rta15tl

    Member TOOLFORLIFEFAN made the rings. You can see the details in this link

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102023

    They secure the drivers better to the cabinet to eliminate vibration and solve "stripped wood" problems.

    Mine came completely rewired with external XO set up so even if I looked at the tweeter set up I doubt it is stock. Stick around and enjoy.
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  • seeclear
    seeclear Posts: 1,242
    edited March 2011
    The 198s dropped right into my RTA8TLs without any modification. I would expect they would for the 15s as well.
    "Don't forget to change your politician. They are like diapers they need to be changed regularly, and for the same reason."
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  • charley95
    charley95 Posts: 908
    edited March 2011
    seeclear wrote: »
    The 198s dropped right into my RTA8TLs without any modification. I would expect they would for the 15s as well.

    Recieved my 198's today and installed them. Sounds better than the 3000's.
    They don't seem as harsh. What difference has anyone else noticed from this change?
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  • stubby
    stubby Posts: 723
    edited March 2011
    After they get a few hours on them, they will continue to smooth out, and you should notice a bit more detail from the midrange. It's like magic!

    stubby
    SRS 3.1TL
    Harman Kardon Citation 5.1
    Anthem AVM2



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  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,151
    edited March 2011
    Great speaker system. I owned a pair that had the older tweeters in them and they really still sounded good. I'm sure the RDO-198's would put my old tweeters to shame and congrats on doing that swap already.

    Now you can sit back for awhile and enjoy your pair of Polk audio's finest monitor towers from the old days.

    Welcome to the club Pat.:wink:

    Can I ask why do you use Charlie in your signature ?
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
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  • charley95
    charley95 Posts: 908
    edited March 2011
    tony millard wrote: »
    Great speaker system. I owned a pair that had the older tweeters in them and they really still sounded good. I'm sure the RDO-198's would put my old tweeters to shame and congrats on doing that swap already.

    Now you can sit back for awhile and enjoy your pair of Polk audio's finest monitor towers from the old days.

    Welcome to the club Pat.:wink:

    Can I ask why do you use Charlie in your signature ?

    Charley is my Golden Retriever! He's a very spoiled one I might ad. The 198's are still in the break in phase right now. I'm hoping to do the XO upgrade to them soon. I not real good with soldering and electronics though. I'm glad I never got rid of them, they are in mint condition. $1100.00 was a lot of $$ for those things back in 91. Now I wish I would have spent the extra cash for signature series. I remember listening to those at the Hi-Fi shop back then. Those are an amazing speaker. I sure love my new Rogue Audio amp that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. It brings the 15's to another level vs. my old Denon.
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,663
    edited March 2011
    Welcome
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • cincycat13
    cincycat13 Posts: 882
    edited March 2011
    Pat,

    The first picture is looking through the cabinet front passive. The crossover was mounted here on the back of the binding posts. You can see the white and black wires that soldered to the original board.

    I was actually just going to try a tweeter swap this morning and decided to trace the positive lead to the XO as mine have been rewired and the previous owner preferred the sl2000 which does not have the wide / narrow spade polarity marking. I forgot about the "+" sign on the sl2000 til I started taking them apart.

    Found the XO alligator clip jumpered and they still sounded good so I should have some easy upgrades...maybe binding posts.

    Anyway...here is what you will see if you have not yet opened yours.
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  • charley95
    charley95 Posts: 908
    edited March 2011
    cincycat13 wrote: »
    Pat,

    The first picture is looking through the cabinet front passive. The crossover was mounted here on the back of the binding posts. You can see the white and black wires that soldered to the original board.

    I was actually just going to try a tweeter swap this morning and decided to trace the positive lead to the XO as mine have been rewired and the previous owner preferred the sl2000 which does not have the wide / narrow spade polarity marking. I forgot about the "+" sign on the sl2000 til I started taking them apart.

    Found the XO alligator clip jumpered and they still sounded good so I should have some easy upgrades...maybe binding posts.

    Anyway...here is what you will see if you have not yet opened yours.

    Thanks for your input on this. I'm not feeling brave enough yet to tear into these. It appears my XO board looks kind of like cardboard. I noticed on "decato's" post that his looks a little different than mine. I'll probably order a set of Larry's Rings if he'll make some for my 15's. I just want to make sure I do the upgrades right the first time. The cap's & resistors are still pretty confusing to me.
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  • Vinylnutt
    Vinylnutt Posts: 9
    edited April 2011
    I would encourage you to upgrade the XO components: That plus the 198's completely changed the sound of my 15's. The effort is well worth the results. I used decato's last posted configuration: took a while to break in and smooth out but they sound awesome now. Just need more power Scotty!!
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  • charley95
    charley95 Posts: 908
    edited April 2011
    Vinylnutt wrote: »
    I would encourage you to upgrade the XO components: That plus the 198's completely changed the sound of my 15's. The effort is well worth the results. I used decato's last posted configuration: took a while to break in and smooth out but they sound awesome now. Just need more power Scotty!!

    I do plan on doing the XO upgrade in the future. For now the 15's will go back into the box since I'm buying some 2.3's this weekend. I know that my new Rogue amp will make them sing!
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