RTA15TL - Fix or Replace?

ohempel

Full disclosure: I am not very audio literate so please excuse my ignorance...

My system is a recently bought (3 years ago) Pioneer VSX1016 AVR powering 20 year old RTA15TLs. It appears that I have blown one or more drivers in each of the towers. The question is - are they worth repairing? I love the sound of them and I believe I paid a fair bit for them 20 years ago ($1000?). I read somewhere else that I could fetch 400 or 500/pair in their current condition just for the cabinetry alone. I would rather have them repaired as long as it doesn't cost me more than purchasing new speakers that have a better sound.

My other question is whether the repairs are easy to do? I have no experience repairing speakers but if its just a matter of ordering replacement parts and plopping them in, I might be able to pull of that much! If I shouldn't attempt is there a good repair outfit in the Toronto, Ontario area that anyone could recommend?

Any advice?

Thanks all...

falconcry72

Welcome to CP! Lots of good info on vintage Polks here, including your 15's. Those are awesome speakers; I'd try to repair them if I were you, but first you have to figure out what's wrong.

As far as value, a perfectly functioning pair should only go for 300-400 bucks max, in excellent shape, so a "cabinet only" pair shouldn't get you more than 100 bucks or so.

Polk sells replacement drivers and tweeters. Which drivers are blown? Tweeters? How do you know?

ohempel

Thanks for the quick reply! On my left speaker I'm not getting any sound at all, so maybe an electronics problem? On my right speaker I'm only getting midrange and highs, so I'm guessing the bass drivers are gone. Having said that, I haven't done a lot of troubleshooting yet so what is the best process to isolate the issues?

falconcry72

ohempel wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply! On my left speaker I'm not getting any sound at all, so maybe an electronics problem? On my right speaker I'm only getting midrange and highs, so I'm guessing the bass drivers are gone. Having said that, I haven't done a lot of troubleshooting yet so what is the best process to isolate the issues?

Left speaker: switch speaker cables with the working speaker to confirm that the problem is the speaker, not your electronics. If the problem is the speaker, remove the binding post cup in the back and every driver/tweeter to make sure they're physically connected.

Right speaker: play music. Listen to each driver/tweeter up close to determine which ones are actually working or not. The large bass speakers are not drivers, they are passive radiators, so they're not electrically connected to anything, and it's almost impossible for them to fail unless they're physically ripped or beat up.

drumminman

It may help when you're listening to the individual drivers to use a rolled up newspaper/magazine/paper towel cardboard tube with one end on the driver and the other next to your ear.

Mystery

I really doubt the whole left speaker is bad.
I mean there are so many drivers and for all of them to cease at once is not normal.
If it still doesn't work when that speaker is switched to right channel of the receiver, it could be internal wiring/crossover issue.

sandman012

Fix em

PolkieMan

Pioneer Receiver gone bad? Shorted speaker wire?

Toolfan66

Sell the good drivers to the vintage SDA owners and trash those boomy overrated boxes...:eek:

nacam

I bought a pair of these in mint condition for $300.00 and gave them to my brother to avoid getting divorced because I already had 3 pairs of vintage Polks in the house already (including a pair of 1.2TL monsters).

The cabinets should be air tight, the 10" passive radiators (as stated) are NOT powered and work by being coupled by the internal air differences provided by the 4 6.5" mid woofers.

Your left speaker sounds like it's an electronic problem but you can still test the mid woofers and passive radiators by the test below. It's unlikely that all the drivers in the speaker are bad unless someone was intent on damaging them.

Note - Do not push the 4-6.5" drivers on the front!

1. Push each 10" passive radiator (front and back) separately in the middle, gently (don't try and force them if they won't move or force them in further then they want to go). If they all move in and out freely they are probably fine.
2. On each speaker, do the same but push BOTH 10" passive radiators in gently at the same time (If you have short arms this will be like playing twister so have fun with it!). The 4 6.5's mid woofers on the front should pop out and return within a few seconds. Do this a few times and listen for any scratching sounds coming from the 6.5" drivers. As well watch each driver and imagine your newly restored speakers aggressively pounding away your favorite tunes while gently chipping away at sanity of your angry neighbors.......woops.....sorry got a little carried away there. :redface:

If ALL 4 of the 6.5's do not move in/out, you cabinets may not be sealed properly or all the 6.5" drivers are frozen (unlikely).
If you hear scratching sounds or one/more the drivers does not move, you have a bad/frozen driver and it needs to be replaced.

At a low volume (as the previous member said) listen to each mid woofer and tweeter and see if there is sound coming out. You won't notice any dramatic movement on the passive radiators unless the mid woofers are moderately pumping away. Also - the passives will not produce any "clear sound" as they do not have a voice coil and their sole purpose is to move air. If you turn up the volume and they are moving, they are probably working fine.

Restoring these speakers could be easy provided there are no major problems (like cracked cabinets....). The tweeters can be replaced by a new version from Polk (RD0-198) $55 each. I replaced my tweeters with the new version and was happier with the sound. The 6.5" mid woofers (MW6503) are available from Polk as well although they are not as good sounding as the originals (eBay, $25-$30 each). The passive radiators are very hard to find. The crossovers are bad this may be a blessing as you will probably want to upgrade them with new capacitors/resistors anyway. If you are not handy with a soldering gun this is best left to the pros.

No matter what anyone tells you these speakers are a fine example of Polk's post-SDA flagship efforts and are well worth restoring. Unfortunately, as you read these forums you will catch a nasty bug like the rest of us and end up wanting bigger vintage Polks like these!

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/sdasrs12tl

It's a sickness....really. My brother is already on the hunt for some SDA's and it's been less than a year since I gave him the 15TL's.

Hope this helps!

PolkieMan

You can just take out each speaker and test it at low volume.
Maybe one driver has a short and is messing up the entire speaker.