Polk RTA 12 B's

bcanterbury
bcanterbury Posts: 1
edited December 2011 in Basic Hookup/Wiring Questions
Hello: I blew the tweeters on my RTA 12 B's and audio rep replaced originals with 2 Goldmark GT-336 tweeters.
Doesn't sound quite the same. Not that bad but not original sound. Anyone else done this? Still have the original Polk tweeters. Can they be fixed? Thanks.
Post edited by bcanterbury on
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,665
    edited December 2011
    Polk sells the proper replacement tweeters, the RD0194-1. Call them next week to order.

    No, the originals cannot be fixed.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited December 2011
    bcanterbury wrote: »
    Hello: I blew the tweeters on my RTA 12 B's and audio rep replaced originals with 2 Goldmark GT-336 tweeters.
    Doesn't sound quite the same. Not that bad but not original sound. Anyone else done this? Still have the original Polk tweeters. Can they be fixed? Thanks.
    First, welcome to the Club and congrats on owning a fairly rare and under-appreciated, classic Polk speaker...

    Which tweeters did you fry? Polk was notorious in their early days for relaxed change overs in their model lines. IIRC your most likely tweeter candidate is the SL1000. SL1000's have a distinctive silver bezel. However, it is possible that you have an early 12B (Peerless, black rubber dome with a pin-hole in the center) or a late one (SL2000, black bezel, dome has a distinct silver-ish, "shark-eye" appearance).

    If the SL2000 is what yours had, they are a very hardy tweeter... not indestructible, but not prone to failure due to age. Used SL2000's are routinely available on ebay in large part due to their longevity and, although they sound very different, the popularity of the RDO194-1. Original Peerless are less common, but findable and certainly the most desirable. SL1000's are least commonly found for resale and IMO the best candidate for the RDO replacement.

    Bigger issue is why your tweeters blew... and blew simultaneously at that (guessing here). Overdriving an underpowered amp into clipping is the logical candidate, but 12B's protected their tweets with either fuses or polyswitches (like I said above, the model changes were relaxed). So unless the protection had been defeated, the tweeters should have been saved.

    Regardless, until you determine the root cause, any replacement tweeter may be on the road to failure as well.
    More later,
    Tour...
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