Larrys Rings

polklifer

Where can I get some rings for my SDA SRS 3.1's? I have been applying dynamat the last few days, and would really like to finish these on a good "note"...

Thanks!

westmassguy

PM Toolfan66

Toolfan66

I did send you a PM a while back..

polklifer

Pm sent..Thanks!

normac

I am looking for rings for both SDA 2B's and CRS+. Are these available toolfan?

mccarty250

Have you considered rope caulk?

westmassguy

mccarty250 wrote: »

Have you considered rope caulk?

Rope Caulk, or Mortite, is used as a gasket material for sealing the drivers. It's not recommended. Use Armacell Foam tape.

mccarty250

What's the negative to mortite? Have used it to seal drivers for acoustic suspension speakers for years, have achieved nigh-airtight results.

westmassguy

I use rope caulk for restoration on speakers from the 60s and 70s that originally had it. Polk used it in the 70s as well. According to MP, they used to roll it out on a table, the use a roller to flatten it, then applied it to the basket frames. It can be difficult to work with. It has an oil base similar to glazing compound, which will soak into raw wood/particle board. It requires re-torqueing as it continues to compress over time. It also tends to ooze out the sides if too much is applied. It can be difficult to remove the drivers, and even more difficult to remove from particle board completely. There's always some left in the gaps of the particle board. The preferred gasket material is Armacell 2" foam tape, cut in strips. It's always best to keep the old Polk gaskets if possible however.

mccarty250

I do it all by hand but nice to know that in the early days it was used in the factory I'm with you on all of those counts and have experienced it but having done it for years I just roll out a VERY thin bead so that that doesn't happen. The first day I apply it I torque down the screws. One day later I re-tighten them. I agree that over time it hardens and if you need to get back in it's a PITA to get the driver out but I don't think that any of those individual line items is a show stopper/killer for moretite, just part of what you get when you use it. However, your suggestion of armacell foam tape is a great one/new one to me, is it something carried at a Lowes or is it something I have to order online? I'd be happy to give it a try if it keeps me from having to roll in rope caulk and gives as good of a seal.

westmassguy

Home Depot or Lowes should have it in the plumbing or HVAC section.

mccarty250

Perfect. Your recommendation came in handy, literally within the last 10 minutes a buddy e-mailed me asking if I knew of any alternatives to using rope caulk! No joke!

dorokusai

I find the rope caulk suggestion a bit over the top. Do what you want but I've found peace in a solid foam gasket with the new rings. RINGS? YES, they are solid and worth the effort. I'm sure DK will plot a graph of foam vs Mortite but I could care less.

mccarty250

HAHAHAHAH, are you talking a response graph showing what speakers sealed with moretite versus response with foam? I agree, the graph probably wouldn't be worth it and a lot of effort but would be amusing. I just use moretite because it is cheap/easy and works. I like the foam tape/armacell suggestion since rope caulk can be a PITA to remove down the road if you want access to the cab later.

nspindel

I tried moretite at one point and also experienced the difficulty in removing the drivers after as well as it pulling away flakes of particle board. The armacell, on the other hand, is terrific. One thing to note is that the armacell is very low density foam, it will compress A LOT. What you want to do is tighten down the driver onto the armacell gasket, but do not overtighten. Only turn down until you feel a bit of resistance from the foam tightening. Give it 48 hours to compress, and then come back and tighten again, but again do not overtighten. Then wait another 48 hours and repeat one more time and you should be good to go. If you ever remove a driver that had an armacell gasket, you will be amazed at how thin the stuff compresses to, it's paper thin.

mccarty250

OMG, I just figured out who DK was (I have not been incredibly active on this forum) and indeed he has COPIOUS graphs and notations regarding armacell vs moretite. Wow. I had no concept of how much discussion there had been regarding this topic and actual research done.

It sounds like your armacell process is similar to my moretite process, you wait and then torque things down again. The idea of easy removal without flakes of MDF coming loose is compelling, I am convinced

westmassguy

Keep in mind we're talking about two different things. Larry's rings are used to secure the drivers to the front baffle in lieu of the original sheet metal screws. Rope Caulk and Armacell are gasket material to seal the drivers.

F1nut

Other than the negative aspects to Mortite already mentioned, it was my experience that it has a negative affect to the sound quality.

mccarty250

I thought that Larry's Rings were pre-cut foams for sealing the drivers in. More education. What was the liability of using the originals? Situations where the MDF holes have become so drilled-out that the screw would no longer adhere or is there some other benefit i.e. increased rigidity with less ringing or some such?

leftwinger57

With just a sharp razor knife you can knock out all the mids and passives in minutes and not have any mortite squeeze out or accidently drag along the baffle to mar up your work. For an $8 roll you will have plenty of the stuff and then use it or put it away for another mod project. I used it when I also was told that motite was old school, not so good if you need to remove it and took a lot more time w/ no real sonic benifits.Home Depot, Loews, and most hardware stores carry the stuff.

mccarty250

I'm sold, no argument, I didn't know if it's existence. The mere fact that I will be able to get my drivers out after the fact without digging is enough to justify using it.

leftwinger57

Larry's Rings are steel. His package comes w/ templates to layout the screw pattern which usually lines up w/ the original holes from the top.You drill out that layout and insert the rings from underneath and use the screws provided and start to torque them down.This insures the tightest fit fron under the speaker hole to the top where you screw from.What they do is to insure the best seal between the bottom of the hole opening to the screw position. The Armaflex makes this connection airtight so nothing can survive, that air tight.

westmassguy

mccarty250 wrote: »

I thought that Larry's Rings were pre-cut foams for sealing the drivers in. More education. What was the liability of using the originals? Situations where the MDF holes have become so drilled-out that the screw would no longer adhere or is there some other benefit i.e. increased rigidity with less ringing or some such?

Nope, They're heavy gauge metal rings, with internally threaded posts in the exact location of the original screws. They allow use of Machine Screws, or Cap Screws. This allows much more clamping strength. The particle board is sandwiched between the rings and the driver. This provides a very tight seal, and reduces resonances. An alternative, Hurricane Nuts, provide a similar benefit.

westmassguy

Beat me to it Lew

EndersShadow

mccarty250 wrote: »

I thought that Larry's Rings were pre-cut foams for sealing the drivers in. More education. What was the liability of using the originals? Situations where the MDF holes have become so drilled-out that the screw would no longer adhere or is there some other benefit i.e. increased rigidity with less ringing or some such?

All of the above, but the added benefit of a better seal.

Link to a thread on his rings with pics: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?102023-Hardware-amp-Ring-for-mounting-your-MW-Drivers

nspindel

mccarty250 wrote: »

I thought that Larry's Rings were pre-cut foams for sealing the drivers in. More education. What was the liability of using the originals? Situations where the MDF holes have become so drilled-out that the screw would no longer adhere or is there some other benefit i.e. increased rigidity with less ringing or some such?

No. Larry's rings are metal rings with threaded prongs sticking out to accept the mounting hardware that he supplies with the rings. He provides a template for each size ring, you clamp that template onto your cabinets in each driver position, and carefully drill out the holes where the screws used to go to widen them to the size of the prongs. Then you place the rings inside the cabinets and fit the prongs into the holes from the inside out. Then you have a much more secure means of tightening down the drivers, passive radiator, and tweeters than small wood screws into particle board. Totally different than the driver gaskets. `

mccarty250

That makes total sense, it's almost like an adapter for using hurricane screws on your speakers. It's good concept. I'm assuming that these larry's rings are made for only polk displacement speakers?

nspindel

Yes, I don't think Larry is making them for any speakers other than SDA's but I'll let him chime in.

mccarty250

That's what I figured, I like the concept though and my speaker collection is 'diverse', I think at this point the only polks I own are my Monitor 10B's that got me into vintage and my home theater upstairs which is all Polk. I've branched out into a ton of other things for the rest of my 2 channel at this stage.

EndersShadow

Some of his rings work for NON sda speakers.

I can use his 6 1/2 brackets for my RTA 11TL's and also the tweeter bracket since it uses the SL3000 tweeter (would work with SL2000's as well).

So you should be able to use them for your monitor 10's as IIRC they have similar sized speakers as some of the SDA's (10" woofer, 2 6 1/2 drivers and a SL tweeter).

See post here (text below if your lazy): http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?134200-Sets-of-Rings-for-Drivers-and-PR-and-Tweeter-brackets

**Note** Pricing may have changed, this is more to show what speakers they work with.

Toolfan66 wrote: »

You asked for them and here they are....


SDA SRS/1.2/1.2TL $118.96
SDA 2.3/2.3TL $95.36
SDA 3.1 $79.74
SDA 1C's $70.64
SDA SRS 2's $70.64
SDA 2's (3 drivers) $58.84
SDA 2B"s/studios $47.04
SDA CRS+s $44.34

Monitor 10's $44.34
Monitor 7B's/7's $32.54


If you have something else let me know. shipping is $15

All sets will come with drill templates and Black Zinc 8-32 BHCS for your drivers, and for the passives....

As always thanks...

Larry.

leftwinger57

Hey Dave beating you or others here means I've listened, learned then appllied what was the overall prescribed modern method of improving on an already fantastic speaker. Thanks for the nod.
mccarty, I would look up all mods, twiks and d/l the the SDA handbook if not already done. I found that DK's tutorials were the most enlightening eye opening learning experiance scince makinkg a trip to a museum. They are fantastic step by step, right to the point w/ great pics of technique, time it should take, and then final evealuations and very honest ones at that, and any assortment of tools you might need for whatever the project you are tackling at the moment.