CRS+ Flea Market Find - Questions

Starbuck1851

Saw these at a local flea market/mall here in Columbus, Ga.. seller (who I never met) had them for sale as part of a 'surround sound' system. they were labeled as the 'rear' speakers (the original Henry Kloss Advent speaker was labeled the center channel, alas there was only the single speaker) The CRS+ were sitting on a set of original Polk CRS stands and included the original b/b interconnect cable. I initially passed them up due to their condition not sure I wanted to get into a restoration project with them, but after a few days I went back to se them again and decided to make an offer on them. The seller had the entire stem listed for $250 which included what you see plus a set of Fischer bookshelf 'front' speakers, a TEAC A/V receiver (with push-spring speaker connects) and an older Samsung 5-disc DVD changer. The manager of the flea mall said the seller had just reduced his asking price and wouldn't likely go lower… I told him I was only interested in the 3 'big' speakers and would the seller split it up? After trying to contact the seller w/o success the manager decided it would be OK to do that and after some back and forth on price I picked up all 3, plus the stands for $150. The Polks are the early CRS+ (non- TL'able, unfortunately) and are marked with Sep-Oct 1986 dates (The SW-100's are dated 10/6/1986) They were pretty filthy and the cabinets need a lot of TLC, but the insides were pristine, never been opened. All magnets are tight and no frozen MW's. The parts all cleaned up really well and a set of RDO-194's are on the way from POLK. So, my question is: do I attempt to restore them to the original color (there's a lot of water damage and one broken front corner) or do I take the easy route and sand 'em down and stain 'em black and turn them into studio's? anybody have any experience here they could share? TIA.

Toolfan66

I say do it right, much more satisfying...

Starbuck1851

more pics.

scottyboy76

Nice grab, do it right if you have the time, good luck.

Im hoping a set of the later models of these would be in my future somewhere down the road, have heard very nice things.

westmassguy

Do them up right, and you'll have a beautiful pair of CRS+s. Contrary to what you might think the third generation, single tweeter SDAs can be TL'd. My 2As are a perfect example.

gudnoyez

150 with original stands, you got one heck of a deal, I hope you enjoy them. I bet you got all excited when you first seen them didn't you.

leftwinger57

except for a couple of corners i've seen a lot of speakers in much worse condition.From what I have heard the stands alone are worth a pretty penny to the right person. Yes the tweeters is a great move or a 1st improvement mod but I would get to see if sanding and staining the cabinets are in your future.Do some test spots ,see what works the best and you will have a great pair of speakers if as you say all the internals are ok. Also all your pics came out sideways or upside down.

westmassguy

If they were mine, I'd opt for re-veneering them. It looks like they were done in oak originally, which means the 3/4 X 1/2 lower front molding is also oak. Mask off all the black vinyl, wipe everything down with denatured alcohol to get any wax off, fill any areas that need it, block sand it, apply a sanding sealer, then get yourself a 2 X 8 sheet of PSA backed Veneer. Some quarter sawn/tiger oak, heavy flake would be very nice.

boston1450

Sounds like that could be all done at a decent price too. Nice project to putter with.
Nice find for sure. Have you listened to them yet ? Enjoy

Starbuck1851

Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice. I will likely have to get the cabinets re-veneered to have them look good again as the grain is raised on the tops due to their obvious former life as a plant stand. I did have a chance to listen to them at the flea using the setup that was there, so I at least know there are no major issues with the components not working. Sorry about the pics, not sure why they came out upside-down and sideways they were uploaded from my computer where they looked 'normal' to me.

westmassguy

Starbuck, if you were close, I'd be more than happy to help you re-veneer them, but Georgia is a bit far from New England. Veneering is not that difficult, especially with the new PSA Backed veneers.

boston1450

Starbuck1851 wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice. I will likely have to get the cabinets re-veneered to have them look good again as the grain is raised on the tops due to their obvious former life as a plant stand. I did have a chance to listen to them at the flea using the setup that was there, so I at least know there are no major issues with the components not working. Sorry about the pics, not sure why they came out upside-down and sideways they were uploaded from my computer where they looked 'normal' to me.

dont worry about the pics-our necks will be fine

halo71

¡ʇɔǝɾoɹd ǝɔıu puɐ ǝɔıɹd ǝɔıu

Toolfan66

How the hell did you do that?

Summerwind2

halo71 wrote: »

¡ʇɔǝɾoɹd ǝɔıu puɐ ǝɔıɹd ǝɔıu

Now that's funny

gimpod

Toolfan66 wrote: »

How the hell did you do that?

!ʇɐɥM op

ɯoɔ˙ʇxǝʇuʍopǝpᴉsdn˙ʍʍʍ:wink:

Toolfan66

ʇI ǝʌo˥ ƃuᴉʞɐǝɹℲ

westmassguy

How old are we?

halo71

Well this thread sure left the rails ehh? lol

Toolfan66

˙˙unɟ ǝʌɐɥ llᴉʇs oʇ ɥƃnouǝ plO

westmassguy

I still have fun, but toys are bigger