The Polk Monitor 10B's live

transmaster

I finished with the Monitor 10B's this evening with the installation of the new MW-6503's. Pulled out the 20 year old Monster Cable they have always been powered with and hooked the into the Onkyo TX-NR709 when I turned them on I did not come up for air for nearly 4 hours, oh my God! these 10B's are good, I don't remember them ever sounding this good. The upgraded XO's are doing it. I started down the musical line starting with Mars Lasar, The Music of Olympic National Park, track #3 Eagle flight is absolute magic. Then Mars Lasar's Moonlight Canyon, track #1Nocturnal Diaries, The 3D sound stage and the transparency, wow. finally Mars Lasar's When Worlds Collide, track #1 Children of The New Age, a children's chorus singing "We are the Souls, We are the Shaman, Let it be known were children of a new age, was crystal clear not even the Kilpsch 5.1 Pro-Media system I had was as clear. I then went on to Ulf Sderberg's dark ambient release Nattljus (1995) it opens with a bass Flute one of the instruments I play it gives me goose bumps to listen to it. I could feel the percussion coming from Nattjus through my feet, it felt like the floor was moving. ditto Blue Man Group. Though a little on the bubble gum side I enjoy Adam Young (his band Owl Eyes) Ocean Eyes, track#9 Firefly, and track#13 Hello Seattle (remix) this last one is interesting if you listen carefully you can hear Young is using an 8 channel digital recorder, Hot Air Balloon (single), all of his music is very comfortable to listen to on these 10B's. From there I went into orchestral music Alan Hovhaness, Hovhaness Treasures (1995), Symphony No 2 "Mysterious Mountain (1994), the track entitled "And God Created the Great Whales" just blew me away. Finally I floated into Michal Stearns, one of the founders of newage music. I started with The Middle of Time (2000), the OST to The Mysteries of Chaco Canyon documentary this recording will start you down the path to an altered mind state , Then Kiva, Singing Stones, finish the journey. All of Michael Stearns newage works really get inside your head. From here on I was gone to the world. When I returned to the world 3 or so hours later I was telling myself this is the best $200 or so dollars I have spent in many, many years if a refurbished Monitor 10B sounds this good what must an Polk SDA system sound like. Of course now I remember why I purchased to 10B to begin with, to replace the Warfedale W35's even though they have been refurbish they are not even in the same league as the 10B's. :cheesygrin:

TNHNDYMAN

Really glad you are enjoying them. Gives me inspiration to finish redoing my pair. Have a stock 10B w/ the sl2000 tweet that I'll probably end up selling to pay for caps, resistors, and some quality wood veneer to beautify my early 10A's w/ peerless tweets. I have Larry's rings and some Janzen caps for the low pass on a pair of Monitor 7's ready to go, but I'm really looking forward to doing the 10's this summer I hope after tax money comes in.

teekay0007

Congrat's, transmaster, on getting those 10B mods/upgrades done! It sounds like it was a successful undertaking for you. What all did you do/put into them in your process? I have a pair of 10Bs myself that I'm wondering if it's the right thing to do. They have been in the family since new in '88 and are absolutely the mintiest (original) pair I've ever seen or heard. They spent over 20 of their years stored in the basement in their original boxes in the plastic wrap and styrofoam. I just got them out about 8 months ago and they appear as new, except maybe a small scratch on the bottom of one of them. They probably have less than 400 hours on them in their lifetime.

Along with what steps you took in your project, could you also maybe give a little info on what steps gave you the best bang for your buck?

I'm hesitant to get started on modding them since I seriously doubt that they are barely broken in the first time around. Do you, or anyone else reading this posting, know whether the caps and resistors of the X-overs actually "age" in this type of speaker - meaning do they actually degrade by time, or is it more that they degrade by use over time?

Again, congrat's on completing your upgrades. Please keep posting on how they change once you really get some hours on them. Did you end up putting a new MW-6503 in each of them, or did you put the new pair in one speaker? Happy listening! :cool:

drumminman

A couple of issues with the Xovers. I've read that the electrolytics dry out over time, even without use. The resistors not so much.

But the main issue is there are much better quality caps and resistors today than what Polk had available to work with. Replace the electrolytics with high quality film caps (sonicap, clarity, etc) and the resistors with some kind of non inductive (mills) and they'll sound better than you can imagine.

Unless you have a really good imagination

bmbguy

Transmaster -- glad to see you finally got 'em up and running! I'd tell you to enjoy them, but it sounds like you're already doing a fine job of that.