5jrs WORTH MODIFYING?

DON73

I have a 2 pairs of 5jrs and I'm experimenting at painting one pair. The painting is going well and I decided to remove the speakers so as not to get paint on them. I've seen a few threads here about upgrading the 5s but nothing so far on the 5jrs. Are the 5jrs worth the time and money upgrading will take?
When I first got them I played each pair for a few hours and I wasn't happy with their sound. They both sounded muffled like they were covered by a very thin blanket. I don't know if redoing the x overs would correct this. Using Mortite would be easy since the speakers are already out. TIA


I'm painting with a spray can and after several days of drying the paint was still very easy to scratch. Two coats of Polyurethane solved that problem.

zingo

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71101&highlight=jantzen

On3s&Z3r0s

I did mine recently too. Since I did all the mods at a shot I can't really say what made the most significant difference. My guess is that the modern replacements (RD0194) for the SL2000 tweeter made the biggest single difference, but I'd recommend doing the crossovers also. The tweeters are the biggest expense, and none of the mods take as long as you've already spent painting them I'm sure. Anyway, the difference is huge. I thought they sounded alright before, but they sound pretty amazing now for being reasonably sized bookshelves.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117333

intangible

I know the sound you are talking about, but have never felt that any of my vintage Polks had it. Maybe I'm just happily ignorant having never heard anything nicer Having done things stepwise with one set of speakers, I would agree with On3s&Z3r0s that replacing the tweeters will result in the greatest difference. That said, to correct the issue you want corrected redoing the crossovers seems like the more direct option. The main change from going to the new tweeters in my experience is subdued brightness, and it certainly isn't going to do anything for the mids/lows.

On3s&Z3r0s

intangible wrote: »

I know the sound you are talking about, but have never felt that any of my vintage Polks had it. Maybe I'm just happily ignorant having never heard anything nicer Having done things stepwise with one set of speakers, I would agree with On3s&Z3r0s that replacing the tweeters will result in the greatest difference. That said, to correct the issue you want corrected redoing the crossovers seems like the more direct option. The main change from going to the new tweeters in my experience is subdued brightness, and it certainly isn't going to do anything for the mids/lows.

I agree... the new tweeters probably won't do much to sharpen up the lows. It also occurred to me that you might have the older 5Jr's that don't have a passive radiator, just a small port under the mid-woofer. The mods I made did also have a marked improvement on the bass, sharpening it and giving it a little more punch. Two things might have done that. One is easy, which is putting small pieces of Dynamat Extreme on the MW and PR baskets.

The other was the mounting rings made by another member on the forum, which make it easy to get the MW and PR to seat nice and tight. T-nuts could also be used for that (but probably aren't worth the pain to install IMHO), or just make sure the driver and PR are screwed in nice and tight when you put them back in, trying not to strip the wood screws. All in all, I think improvements are there to be made if you don't mind playing with them a bit. Good luck!

DON73

Thanks for your replies. I'd thought about using them as rear speakers when and if I ever get around to setting up either an all Polk or all ADS HT. For the Polk system I'd be using either 10s or 7s as the fronts with a 300 center. I was hoping the 5jrs would be a good match as rears.

The 5jrs I have both have the passive driver and are the same speaker as the 5s except for cabinet size. The speakers are in perfect shape but the tweeter is the 2000 which has a bad rep but I'm not convinced it's as bad as it's reputation.

The painting is just an experiment to see if it's possible. I have a very good 7 that has extremely ugly simulated wood vinyl and short of stripping the vinyl off as geoff did painting is the easiest if it works.

Thanks for the link.

Crashdot

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

It also occurred to me that you might have the older 5Jr's that don't have a passive radiator, just a small port under the mid-woofer

I have both the 5jr+ and ported 5jr's, and have noted the muffled sound of the ones with the passive radiators, but not at all with the ported model. The ported model on the other hand does have very little bass below a certain point, but seems to be a much more clear sounding speaker overall. I wonder if the problem with the 5jr+ is the crossover, or cabinet resonance.

Cheers

On3s&Z3r0s

I was a little skeptical about the replacement tweeters before I got them in. I don't think the SL2000 is a bad tweeter... on most music it sounded great, but it can be a little bright. The 194 is clearly more laid back and just a smoother sound. But I paid more for the 194's than for the stock 5Jr's, so it's not an inexpensive thing to do versus the price of 5Jr's on the used market. But a roll of Dynamat will only cost you $20 and take maybe an hour to install. I'd definitely give that a try to sharpen the bass.

Also, I upgraded the binding posts on mine. The stock posts have the wire leads soldered to a little L strap which is held on to the binding post with a nut. Since I was initially somewhat half-assed in the upgrade I inadvertently discovered that one speaker where I kept that L strap sounded slightly muffled and softer compared to the other where I direct soldered to the new binding post. So even small things like that can make a difference. So, I say keep modding... it's more fun than yardwork!

DON73

Crashdot wrote: »

I have both the 5jr+ and ported 5jr's, and have noted the muffled sound of the ones with the passive radiators, but not at all with the ported model. The ported model on the other hand does have very little bass below a certain point, but seems to be a much more clear sounding speaker overall. I wonder if the problem with the 5jr+ is the crossover, or cabinet resonance.

Cheers

As far as I can determine the 5jrs are the same as the 5s except for the crossover and cabinet. I don't have the 5s yet but I've located a nice pair and may buy them. If I do I wont redo the 5jrs.

gdb

If you want bass....you might want to try some bigger Polks. Mon.7 & 10 have great bass capabilities.

Bobsama

DON73 wrote: »

As far as I can determine the 5jrs are the same as the 5s except for the crossover and cabinet. I don't have the 5s yet but I've located a nice pair and may buy them. If I do I wont redo the 5jrs.

Look for Monitor 5's with the large XO/binding post plate. Some of the Series II speakers use clips instead of binding posts. The nice thing about the Series II's is they use the RD0198 replacement tweeters.

DON73

gdb wrote: »

If you want bass....you might want to try some bigger Polks. Mon.7 & 10 have great bass capabilities.

I have the 2 of the 7s and one 10. I'm hoping I can redo the crossovers on both although they both sound very good as they are although but I have a slight preference for the 7s in my listening area. One pair of the 7s has real oak wood veneer and short grilles and it's the one I will probably do first. My 10s also have real wood painted black. I had a pair of 10s back in the late 80s or early 90s that had light oak wood but (kick me) I sold them. I'll probably send the crossovers to a CP member to do the work. I think most CP members prefer the newer speakers and threads on the older monitors are few but I enjoy hearing about the mods and rehabs (geoff27) and would love to see more. Thanks for all your comments. .

Crashdot

I did some experimenting with my 5jr+'s and an equalizer, and it seems that the muffled sound may be originating from a resonance in the 500hz range that obscures some of the higher midrange. In any case, dropping 500hz a little seemed to help. I don't know if the problem may come from the passive radiator, or if the reason I like the ported 5jr is that the port is canceling out the cabinet resonance.

I am wondering insulating the interior surfaces of the monitors with a dynamat type of material may be a reasonable way to try and kill any resonance, since I have 5B's and 5Jr+ that are sounding a bit muddy to me.

Thanks