Empty Polk 12C cabinets - now what?

leesonic

I picked up a pair of empty Polk 12C cabinets the other week. I managed to find someone on AudioKarma that has a pair of 6503 woofers that have shifted magnets that I plan to repair. I also saw a pair of 12B crossovers on evilBay.

I'm hoping the 6503 woofers will work in place of the 6501s that should be in there (?). Now I just need to find another pair, and the passive radiator. Does anyone know what model number passive was used in these speakers?

Lee.

Nightfall

This is only my opinion but by the time you get everything together and the cash you will have spent by then you might have wished you'd just found a functioning pair.

What MW's and tweeters you are going to use is going to be dictated by what crossovers you get.

Good luck!

westmassguy

Nightfall is correct. That being said, I have a pair of crossovers for the 12s, that are complete with Peerless tweeters. I picked them up like a year and a half ago. eBay frequently has the 12" Passive Radiators up for sale, but there are several models, so you'll need the correct one for the 12s.

Mystery

If it's completely empty, any RTA-12 version should work right?
So look for whatever you can get your hands on.
Also, it may be worthwhile to check parts-express and build your own crossover/board as the old crossover plate will need upgrade anyways.
Could be cheaper than finding old crossover and then upgrading them.
That's if you want to make them Polk again or you can just re-use the cabinet volume and put in any driver/crossover that work.

westmassguy

Mystery wrote: »

If it's completely empty, any RTA-12 version should work right?
So look for whatever you can get your hands on.
Also, it may be worthwhile to check parts-express and build your own crossover/board as the old crossover plate will need upgrade anyways.
Could be cheaper than finding old crossover and then upgrading them.
That's if you want to make them Polk again or you can just re-use the cabinet volume and put in any driver/crossover that work.

That's really not going to work, the inner and outer woofers have different crossover points and are voiced differently. He still has to locate the correct 12" PRs, that were made specifically for the drivers and internal volume of the RTA 12 cabinet.

Mystery

westmassguy wrote: »

That's really not going to work, the inner and outer woofers have different crossover points and are voiced differently. He still has to locate the correct 12" PRs, that were made specifically for the drivers and internal volume of the RTA 12 cabinet.

That's not what I'm saying.
What I mean is he can find a set of any version, not mix and match.
For example, if he easily finds drivers/PR for RTA-12C, he can build crossover for them as crossovers can be build if they don't show up.
Similarly, if drivers for original 12 version show up, same thing.
I mean the cabinets are same for all versions of RTA-12 so he has more chances rather than looking for one specific 12 version.

westmassguy

Building a point to point crossover from scratch for the RTA12 is not an easy undertaking, but could be done, however he'd be faced with where and how to mount it, and the required tweeter mount would have to be figured out as well. He's better off buying a complete 12B or C crossover, and gathering up the other components

TennMan

I'm going to go against the grain but... I say buy the crossovers and drivers to make a pair of 12-TL SDAs with a 198 tweeter mounted on the top. If you are going to mix and match parts go for the gold! Building the crossover would be simple. I would bet they would sound great.

westmassguy

TennMan wrote: »

I'm going to go against the grain but... I say buy the crossovers and drivers to make a pair of 12-TL SDAs with a 198 tweeter mounted on the top. If you are going to mix and match parts go for the gold! Building the crossover would be simple. I would bet they would sound great.

That's really "out of the box" Ronnie

TennMan

If you will recall I have already done that with a pair of 10Bs using CRS+ parts (194s). They sounded great. Not as good as my 2BTLs but they were close.

westmassguy

TennMan wrote: »

If you will recall I have already done that with a pair of 10Bs using CRS+ parts (194s). They sounded great. Not as good as my 2BTLs but they were close.

Oh I know, I copied you, but he'd have to make a tweeter mount

DavidR

I have a very good working pair of the top xover assemblies if you are interested.
PM me if you are.

westmassguy

DavidR wrote: »

I have a very good working pair of the top xover assemblies if you are interested.
PM me if you are.

We haven't heard back from the OP yet. I also have a complete set of 12B crossovers with tweeters

pitdogg2

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?152929-Nice-Polk-RTA-12B-crossovers

might give a shout out to Keith......

leesonic

Nightfall wrote:

This is only my opinion but by the time you get everything together and the cash you will have spent by then you might have wished you'd just found a functioning pair.

What MW's and tweeters you are going to use is going to be dictated by what crossovers you get.

True, but I hate throwing out good cabinets if they can be saved. I once re-purposed a pair of Original Large Advent cabinets using Dayton drivers, rather than throw them out.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=405176

So, what crossovers used 6503s, bearing in mind I have a pair on their way to me right now?

westmassguy wrote:

Nightfall is correct. That being said, I have a pair of crossovers for the 12s, that are complete with Peerless tweeters. I picked them up like a year and a half ago. eBay frequently has the 12" Passive Radiators up for sale, but there are several models, so you'll need the correct one for the 12s.

PM sent on the crossovers and tweeters.

Which model passive do I need for these cabinets? I tried searching the archives, but couldn't find anything. Maybe there should be a sticky for passive radiators?

westmassguy wrote:

Building a point to point crossover from scratch for the RTA12 is not an easy undertaking, but could be done, however he'd be faced with where and how to mount it, and the required tweeter mount would have to be figured out as well. He's better off buying a complete 12B or C crossover, and gathering up the other components

Not a problem, I built a crossover for a pair of JBL-L100s.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=349002

I should be able to do the same for these Polks. Ideally, I'd like to hide the crossover inside, and just have the tweeter on the top. But first things first, I need to get the parts I need. I'll end up re-capping the crossovers anyway.

DavidR wrote: »

I have a very good working pair of the top xover assemblies if you are interested.
PM me if you are.

PM sent.

leesonic

Whoops! Can't PM as I've only posted three times in this forum. If the two guys with crossovers want to e-mail me with how much they want for their crossovers, I'd appreciate it.

Lee.

DavidR

email sent. Mine are just the xover for the top of the cabinet, no tweeters.

leesonic

Thanks for the PMs guys. Unfortunately, they're a little out of my price range for some cabinets that I got for nothing. I just missed a set on eBay that sold for $30 plus shipping.

Meanwhile, I found out the 12C uses an SW120 passive radiator. I found that out right here :

http://www.polkaudio.com/products/rta12

Lee.

DavidR

No problem.
Good Luck with your project.

leesonic

Still looking for parts for these. Shifted magnet 6503s welcome...

leesonic

Sorry Polk dudes, I tried to save these, but the cost of the parts exceeded what I can pick a complete pair up for.

I'm using these cabinets as a home for some vintage Wharfedale drivers now.







Full story and pics here

audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=602639

Nightfall

leesonic wrote: »

Sorry Polk dudes, I tried to save these, but the cost of the parts exceeded what I can pick a complete pair up for.

Nightfall wrote: »

This is only my opinion but by the time you get everything together and the cash you will have spent by then you might have wished you'd just found a functioning pair.

So what do I win?

Mystery

Nightfall wrote: »

leesonic wrote: »

Sorry Polk dudes, I tried to save these, but the cost of the parts exceeded what I can pick a complete pair up for.

Nightfall wrote: »

This is only my opinion but by the time you get everything together and the cash you will have spent by then you might have wished you'd just found a functioning pair.

So what do I win?

You won the pleasure of viewing Wharfepolks.