Snell KII or Polk Monitor 10B

bigaltx24

I have a chance at a couple of different speakers, both in excellent shape and priced at $100 a pair, Monitor 10Bs or Snell KIIs. I've heard Monitor 10"s with the Peerless tweets, and liked them, but these appear to have the SL2000s. I would guess the RDO-194 would drop right in, and I would have to redo the crossovers which adds quite a bit to the price. The Snells are a smaller two way with factory matched crossovers that use film caps where needed. I've heard larger Snells and was always impressed by what I heard. I listen to a bit of everything from Classic Rock, Blues and Jazz.

westmassguy

I've worked on the larger Snell EIIs. The build quality was excellent. The crossovers were elaborate, hand built, point to point, and hand tuned by the owner before they left the factory. The woofers were re-foamed, and the crossovers recapped with Clarity ESA/PX Caps, and Mills Resistors. All Electrolytic Caps were eliminated. They came out fantastic, and sounded very nice and detailed. The rebuild costs were higher compared with a typical Monitor 10 re-cap. If you add in ALL the upgrades for the 10s, it would be a wash more or less. As to which sounds better, that's something only you can decide.

Timothy Smith

At $100 a pair I would suggest buying both, and seeing which one you like, then selling the other before investing in a rebuild.

I have owned 3 different sets of 10's. The best were an early pair with Peerless tweeters.

I have also owned Snells including J-3's and C's. They were a whole level above the monitor 10's in terms of sound quality and build quality.

I recently sold the J-3's to a guy in Chicago with very expensive tastes and a lot of money invested in several systems. He e-mailed me back the next day to say how he was blown away by the sound quality of the J's.

boston1450

+1 on both. Great price for two pair

Mystery

Go for the Snell.
Monitor 10's are not refined in comparison unless you need more bass.
You already have SDA-1B so I'd pass on the 10's.

bigaltx24

Mystery, I'm kind of leaning your way. I've always wanted a pair of Monitor 10s or 7s, but I think the Snells are more refined and also harder to find. I'd buy both pair, but the spousal unit already gives me grief because I already have 11 pairs.

txcoastal1

bigaltx24 wrote: »

............because I already have 11 pairs.

Then it should be easy to hide one more pair

halo71

bigaltx24 wrote: »

Mystery, I'm kind of leaning your way. I've always wanted a pair of Monitor 10s or 7s, but I think the Snells are more refined and also harder to find. I'd buy both pair, but the spousal unit already gives me grief because I already have 11 pairs.

Tell her at least this hobby keeps you outta the bars! lol A few more pairs won't hurt anything.

Mystery

11 pairs?
I have over 35 currently... :eek:

PolkieMan

I have 2 Psw 505 and they call me a TOOL so..... :-)

Mystery wrote: »

11 pairs?
I have over 35 currently... :eek:

mikemokr

re 11 pairs

txcoastal1 wrote: »

Then it should be easy to hide one more pair

I laughed.

bigaltx24

My problem right now is that my dad has a pair of KEF 104/2s and a pair of Infinity RS4s he picked up for me, I just have to get them shipped from California. I also have a friend in Florida that wants to sell me his Dahlquist DQ10s. I barely have room for the speakers I have now.

cnh

Mystery wrote: »

11 pairs?
I have over 35 currently... :eek:

I'm pretty sure you have me there. But I have a lot in closets. lol

I agree that Snells have a somewhat more refined sound signature than Monitor 10s. But if I want to ROCK out, I have to go with my 10s on the Marantz. Snells don't rock, but they're wonderful with music that's detailed and has a lot of SPATIAL CUES and information!

cnh

StantonZ

You guys have hit the "point of no return" for me: I may have 3 "sets" of Polks, but they're all used in a 5.1 setup. I can't imagine having >10 pairs of speakers laying around; there's not enough time in the day to enjoy them all!

bigaltx24

I usually try to keep my stash below a dozen pairs or so, if I get many more than that the wife starts to get on me. To me it's a hobby, I buy speakers at thrifts, garage sales, CL and so on, fix them up, play with them, if they're really good I keep them, if not I give them to friends, trade them, sell them. I'm lucky to have a large garage with the room to keep four or five pairs set up with three different amps or receivers so I can play with a lot of different combinations. I spend a lot of time in the garage, so I spend a lot of time listening to a lot of different speakers.