Difference in RDO's??

tophatjohnny
tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
edited January 2013 in Vintage Speakers
Between the RDO194 & the RDO198 is there a noticable difference, If not, then wouldn't it make more sense to stay with the RDO 194's when upgrading my 1B's?? Thanks
"if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
*****************************
Post edited by tophatjohnny on
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  • PolkMaster1
    PolkMaster1 Posts: 847
    edited January 2013
    The RDO194 and 198 are used for different speakers.
    Statistics show that 98% of us will die at some point in our lifetime.

    The other 2% will work for WalMart.
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    PolkMaster1 wrote: »
    The RDO194 and 198 are used for different speakers.

    You can use either in the 1B's but the 198 require a crossover upgrade, my question was and still is, is one better sounding than the other??
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
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  • Oldfatdogs
    Oldfatdogs Posts: 1,874
    edited January 2013
    Johnny,I have the 194s in my 1Cs they are nice tweeters very smooth to my old ears.Are the 198 better according to some of the members yes they are.The question is do you want to mod those crossovers yet? If not go 194.
    Dan
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    Oldfatdogs wrote: »
    Johnny,I have the 194s in my 1Cs they are nice tweeters very smooth to my old ears.Are the 198 better according to some of the members yes they are.The question is do you want to mod those crossovers yet? If not go 194.
    Dan

    Thanks Dan, I'll probably do just that!
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • PolkMaster1
    PolkMaster1 Posts: 847
    edited January 2013
    Oldfatdogs wrote: »
    Johnny,I have the 194s in my 1Cs they are nice tweeters very smooth to my old ears.Are the 198 better according to some of the members yes they are.The question is do you want to mod those crossovers yet? If not go 194.
    Dan

    Does this mean that if a speaker can accept an RDO194 tweeter, it can accept an RDO198 with a resistor and/or cap modification? (I am guessing a resistor mod is what is required. Correct me if I am wrong.)

    Would this be true for all speakers accepting an RDO update or does it apply to certian speakers?
    Statistics show that 98% of us will die at some point in our lifetime.

    The other 2% will work for WalMart.
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  • Oldfatdogs
    Oldfatdogs Posts: 1,874
    edited January 2013
    Polkmaster1,I think you are correct its a resistor mod.I bought my 1Cs with the 194 already installed.
    Would this be true for all speakers accepting an RDO update or does it apply to certian speakers?

    This I'm not sure on and don't want to give a wrong answer and have you or someone else to smoke their speakers.
    Maybe one of the more knowledgeable members can answer that for you.
    Dan
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,559
    edited January 2013
    Between the RDO194 & the RDO198 is there a noticable difference

    Yes, the RD0198-1 is better.
    Does this mean that if a speaker can accept an RDO194 tweeter, it can accept an RDO198 with a resistor and/or cap modification?

    Absolutely not.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • PolkMaster1
    PolkMaster1 Posts: 847
    edited January 2013
    F1nut wrote: »
    Absolutely not.

    I did not think it was. As always, check with your Polk Audio Representative to see if your speaker is right for an RDO194/198 upgrade.
    Statistics show that 98% of us will die at some point in our lifetime.

    The other 2% will work for WalMart.
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    F1nut wrote: »
    Yes, the RD0198-1 is better.




    Absolutely not.
    \
    \
    Kinda what I thought Pm sent
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    I now know that the RDO 198's are not for my 1B's..Bummer
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • oldrocker
    oldrocker Posts: 2,590
    edited January 2013
    THJ,
    Spoke to you a while back about some SDA SRS's I aquired. I just ordered a Parasound 2100 preamp and a Parasound 2250 amp.
    Any experience/thoughts on the Parasound amps? Only going for the 2 channel sound here.
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  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,101
    edited January 2013
    tophatjohnny wrote: »
    I now know that the RDO 198's are not for my 1B's..Bummer
    Not according to Matthew (Polk) Himself.
    Disc Jockey wrote: »
    I can't help you with the resistor value question but if the crossover circuit is the same as the 1B, you should be able to do this simply. I looked in to the TL upgrade on a pair of 1Bs I ws going to buy, and this is the response I got from Ken (great CS as always):

    Hello,
    I forwarded your question to Matthew Polk:


    "Yes, that modification should work. The 5uf cap, also known as a "By-pass cap", should only be added across the resistor that is in series with the input signal and not the one that is in series with the small inductor.

    The inductance of the tweeter voice-coil causes the impedance to rise at high frequencies contributing to a gentle roll-off. The by-pass cap modification allowed us to compensate for that roll-off without disturbing the carefully tuned relationship between the tweeter and the drivers in the crossover region."

    Regards, Ken, Polk Audio
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    oldrocker wrote: »
    THJ,
    Spoke to you a while back about some SDA SRS's I aquired. I just ordered a Parasound 2100 preamp and a Parasound 2250 amp.
    Any experience/thoughts on the Parasound amps? Only going for the 2 channel sound here.

    I am not the guy to ask, but I now own the Parasound HCA 1200 II . It really woke my 1B's up, so much I blew out one of the original tweeters, so I changed both the tweeters in that cabinet out to a good pair and am watching my volume. I think you have better amps than mine?? Congrats and you will love them.
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    Schurkey wrote: »
    Not according to Matthew (Polk) Himself.

    wow!!! Wonder why Trey doesn't know this?? If this is true and the 198's are a better sounding tweeter, I'm interested in having that done as soon as I raise the $$$$.$$$$$$.$$$$:biggrin:
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,559
    edited January 2013
    Hello,
    I forwarded your question to Matthew Polk:


    "Yes, that modification should work. The 5uf cap, also known as a "By-pass cap", should only be added across the resistor that is in series with the input signal and not the one that is in series with the small inductor.

    The inductance of the tweeter voice-coil causes the impedance to rise at high frequencies contributing to a gentle roll-off. The by-pass cap modification allowed us to compensate for that roll-off without disturbing the carefully tuned relationship between the tweeter and the drivers in the crossover region."

    That doesn't say anything about using the RD0198-1 in the 1B's or SRS 2's. However, I would pay careful attention to the words above that I put in bold.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,101
    edited January 2013
    F1nut wrote: »
    That doesn't say anything about using the RD0198-1 in the 1B's or SRS 2's.

    Of course it does.. "That modification" was the installation of the SL3000/198 tweeter into the 1B/SRS 2 B/b.

    Matthew Himself says "Yes, that modification should work..."

    You are absolutely correct in that neither I nor anyone else (except perhaps Matthew) has ever run the mathematics to verify the outcomes. Frankly, as far as the math goes, I wouldn't know where to even start. Only inspiredsports (to my knowledge) has done frequency-response testing; I'm not sure how exhaustive it was or the precision of his methodology or his equipment--and at any rate he doesn't seem to post any more.

    An argument can be made that Matthew didn't understand the complexity of the crossover mod; or that we're somehow mis-interpreting his suggestion. In the end, there are several folks who have taken the plunge and loved the result.

    Y' pays yer money, and y' takes yer chances.

    I'm satisfied with my choice to change caps and stuff in the 198s. Dropping the value of the input resistor from 2.0 ohms (3.5 ohms in the SRS 2 B/b) to 1.5 or 1.8 or somesuch in order to ad a dB or three to the treble volume is the only thing I'd do differently. The 1.5 ohm resistors are now in my possession, and will be installed in the next week or less.

    Others may do as they please.
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  • bigaltx24
    bigaltx24 Posts: 141
    edited January 2013
    You can argue about it all you want, but I have about 15 hours on my 1Bs w/RDO198s, and these are my observations so far. The biggest thing I hear is much more detail in the high end versus the SL2000. The 198s sound a little "hot" in the top octaves, but they seem to integrate well with the other drivers. So far I like what I'm hearing, I need to put more hours on them to let the new caps settle in before I make a final judgement. If I get to a point where I feel the caps are broken in and I don't like the sound I'm getting, I'll pull the 198s and try some 194s.
    Denon PMA-900V
    Linn Axis with Grado Red
    Cambridge Azur 650C
    Polk SDA-1BTL
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  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,496
    edited January 2013
    bigaltx24 wrote: »
    You can argue about it all you want, but I have about 15 hours on my 1Bs w/RDO198s, and these are my observations so far. The biggest thing I hear is much more detail in the high end versus the SL2000. The 198s sound a little "hot" in the top octaves, but they seem to integrate well with the other drivers. So far I like what I'm hearing, I need to put more hours on them to let the new caps settle in before I make a final judgement. If I get to a point where I feel the caps are broken in and I don't like the sound I'm getting, I'll pull the 198s and try some 194s.

    I certainly would not consider the RD0-198 tweeter "hot" sounding. By "hot" I assume you mean bright, correct? The SL2000 is harsh and bright, but the RD0-198 absolutely is not. You said you need to allow the crossover mods (caps, etc.) to burn in. If the 198's still sound "hot" after the burn in, I would argue the frequency response of the 198 is not correct and has been eff'ed up due to the addition of the 5uF cap (or some other problem). Let us know how it sounds in a couple hundred hours of play time.
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....

    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    My mind is made up, and when I do my upgrades to the 1B's it's with VR3 (Trey) and go with the RDO 194's all the way. This will take some help from another forum member as I am stupid as they come when it comes to taking delicate things apart and putting them back together. Of course I will take pics and share the experience.
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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  • teekay0007
    teekay0007 Posts: 2,289
    edited January 2013
    tophatjohnny wrote: »
    My mind is made up, and when I do my upgrades to the 1B's it's with VR3 (Trey) and go with the RDO 194's all the way. This will take some help from another forum member as I am stupid as they come when it comes to taking delicate things apart and putting them back together. Of course I will take pics and share the experience.

    Must be a percussionist, of sorts. :lol:
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  • tophatjohnny
    tophatjohnny Posts: 4,182
    edited January 2013
    teekay0007 wrote: »
    Must be a percussionist, of sorts. :lol:

    Yes Sir.

    THJ:wink:
    "if it's not fun, it's not worth it & remember folks, "It's All About The Music"!!
    *****************************
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