Total Rebuild?

JakeBrake

Hey guys,

new here but not new to Polk's products, my Monitor 10's (a or b not sure which but they do have the SL2000's). I picked up what I believe are a set of Studio 1C's a few days ago that are pretty beat.
http://s1349.photobucket.com/user/Bullistik/library/Polk

Cabs are structurally solid but the vinyl is toasted and there are a few scars in the wood. Both passives are in good shape and 2 of the mid drivers I believe are ok, the rest of the drivers are trashed. I think these were kicked off some stairs, several magnets on the mids are laying in the bottom of the cabs and a couple are frozen. I'm debating on whether to start a complete rebuild or just part these out.

I've still got a lot of searching on this site but thought I'd see if you guys think I'm heading in the correct direction.

Thinking about building new cabs (to the same internal volume dimensions) out of MDF and using some decent veneer. Good, bad, indifferent?

Gimpod boards (not sure where to buy them but I just started research. Must have to email gimpod?) and the recommended parts list. I've seen some people's build on here with thousands in caps and resistors. I don't think that Im going that crazy but want to use quality stuff.

Replacement drivers. I understand that the RDO194 is the current replacement tweeter? I'm not sure about the mids. From the few threads I've read so far it seems like the mids are still available new?

Sorry for the newbie questions! Been going thru threads and getting info overload, hopefully the experts can put me on the right track. Thanks!

F1nut

You can remove the vinyl, patch the scars and recover in wood veneer. Drivers are still available from Polk.

westmassguy

As F1nut said, if the cabs are not too far gone, repairs can be done for a reasonable cost.
Crossovers can be done conservatively, with Dayton or Clarity PX caps. If better caps are in your price range, Sonicaps, Clarity SA or ESA will provide increasing levels of sonic quality over the least expensive. If you go with Dayton or Sonicaps, you should be able to re-use the existing crossover boards. The entire range of Clarity products are much larger than the Daytons or Sonicaps, so Gimpod's boards would provide more room for parts placement, although careful planning, and possibly additional riser boards would allow you to re-use the existing boards. Mills MRA-12, or Mundorf MOX are reasonably priced Resistors, and far better than the original Sandcast Resistors. Clarity MRs, Duelund Resistors and Capacitors, are the uber expensive components some choose when price is no object.

JakeBrake

Thanks for the replies!

I have access to a CNC router, so my only reason for building new cabs would be once I spend the time to write the program actually cutting new cabs out of MDF would be about a 20 minuet operation. However I'm not sure how often I'd run across 1C's in this bad of shape either....

I've been parts shopping using the list for the 1C at Gimpod's site. According to his list Clarity does not offer the correct values in either the SA or ESA lines. How sensitive are these crossovers? Will a 3.9uF Clarity work in place of the 4.4 Sonicap?

I figure with as much money as I'll have in replacement drivers and such that I will spend some money on the crossovers and I need to build an interlink as well. If the Clarity values are close enough I'll order up some Clairty's and Mills. Thanks for the help!

westmassguy

JakeBrake wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

I have access to a CNC router, so my only reason for building new cabs would be once I spend the time to write the program actually cutting new cabs out of MDF would be about a 20 minuet operation. However I'm not sure how often I'd run across 1C's in this bad of shape either....

I've been parts shopping using the list for the 1C at Gimpod's site. According to his list Clarity does not offer the correct values in either the SA or ESA lines. How sensitive are these crossovers? Will a 3.9uF Clarity work in place of the 4.4 Sonicap?

I figure with as much money as I'll have in replacement drivers and such that I will spend some money on the crossovers and I need to build an interlink as well. If the Clarity values are close enough I'll order up some Clairty's and Mills. Thanks for the help!

Besides their sound, one of the reasons I prefer Sonicaps, is they have exact values for everything up to 30uf. If you want to use Sonicaps for the lo-pass shunts, you'll have to make up the values.

StantonZ

westmassguy wrote: »

Besides their sound, one of the reasons I prefer Sonicaps, is they have exact values for everything up to 30uf. If you want to use Sonicaps for the lo-pass shunts, you'll have to make up the values.

Not only that, Sonic Craft will custom make certain values. For example, they provided a 34 uF cap for my 10B XO upgrade (so I didn't have to use 2x17). I am VERY happy with the results, and they barely have 50 hours on them!

westmassguy

StantonZ wrote: »

Not only that, Sonic Craft will custom make certain values. For example, they provided a 34 uF cap for my 10B XO upgrade (so I didn't have to use 2x17). I am VERY happy with the results, and they barely have 50 hours on them!

Wait till you get 200+ hours on them

JakeBrake

That's really handy having the ability to order custom values. After reading a little more and the comments here I think I'm going to order up a bunch of Sonicaps tomorrow since I won't have to use multiples to get the correct value and the Gimpod boards were laid out with the physical dimensions of the Sonicaps.

The cabs are savable. They look much worse than they really are. I have a few sheets of red oak veneer and I might have enough cheery left, I think I used most of the walnut I had. Sooo many choices. So little room in the house!

Thanks for the help. I'm sure as I start tearing into these I'll pester you guys with more questions!

F1nut

That's really handy having the ability to order custom values. After reading a little more and the comments here I think I'm going to order up a bunch of Sonicaps tomorrow since I won't have to use multiples to get the correct value

While they will custom value their caps there is a limit. For example, they are not going to make you a 40uF cap, so you'll have to use two 20's and Tony's boards are set up for exactly that.

Like westmassguy, I prefer to use the exact values despite the original caps having a 10% +/- tolerance. After all, they were spec'd a certain value for a damn good reason. I also like them because I find them to be very musical, perhaps at the slight expense of detail, but screw the detail if my feet aren't tapping.

PolkieMan

I think cherry veneer would be nice.
If the interconnect is pin/blade, which it is if you or going to use the Gimpod boards, you can modify an RCA cable as only the pin is active to use for now.
If you have a machine that can make the cabinets all of the parts are available except for the passive sub radiator, you could build new speakers. hmmm. The MW 6511 were out of stock a while back.

JakeBrake wrote: »

That's really handy having the ability to order custom values. After reading a little more and the comments here I think I'm going to order up a bunch of Sonicaps tomorrow since I won't have to use multiples to get the correct value and the Gimpod boards were laid out with the physical dimensions of the Sonicaps.

The cabs are savable. They look much worse than they really are. I have a few sheets of red oak veneer and I might have enough cheery left, I think I used most of the walnut I had. Sooo many choices. So little room in the house!

Thanks for the help. I'm sure as I start tearing into these I'll pester you guys with more questions!