Monitor 5 Crossover Questions

gdphoto

Thanks! I say they are 5B as well. If I just upgrade the XO and leave in the sl2000's will it sound OK?

heiney9

No, get the RD0194-1 and be happy. The sl2000's tend to sound even worse with new x-over parts. I tried to do mine in stages several years ago. I couldn't get rid of the sl2000's fast enough after I upgraded the x-over.

H9

gdphoto

Where do you recommend buying Sonicaps? Partsexpress and partsconnexion do not list them.

heiney9

http://soniccraft.com/

gdphoto

I can get Dayton Audio caps 12uf & 33uf and do the pair for $32.50. Or, Sonicaps 12uf & 34uf and do the pair for $150.00. I had Ben rebuild my SDA 1c's in 2010 and I beleive he used Sonicaps and they sound great. These M5B's I will use in my little work shop. Would I be doing myself an injustice going with the Dayton's? Would the Dayton's make them sound better? They don't sound that bad as is. I just figure it's time to change the caps.

heiney9

I would suggest getting Clarity caps for all caps or in the very least the high pass (tweeter) part of the x-over. Dayton's are ok, but the Clarity's are better for tweeter circuits. Sonicaps are very good, but I can see where you might want to lower your budget based on intended use of the 5B's.

Hope this helps

H9

gdphoto

Thanks H9! I will look into the Clarity caps.

gdphoto

Just went to partsconnextion and the Clarity 12uf is $18.00 which is fine. However, they do not have a Clarity 34uf. They go from 25uf to 39uf. The 39 is rather large, 51mm x 60mm. Should I go with either Sonicap or Clarity 12uf for the tweeters and stay with Dayton 33uf for the mids, or will the Clarity 25 or 39 work.

heiney9

Clarity 12uF and Dayton 33uF. That's essentially what I did years ago, except I went with Solen for the 33uF (Solen and Dayton are comparable). Get the Mills non-inductive resistors too, those also improve the sound.

gdphoto

Sounds good, I think I'm almost there. One more question. They are showing the PX series and the CSA series. Whould the CSA, which is the more expensive one, be the better choice?

heiney9

CSA is the newer version of what was the SA series. The SA series is a bit better, but for your application I'd save the $$$ and get the PX series, unless it's only a few $$ more. Use that money towards Mills resistors and/or the RD0 tweets.

gdphoto

Thanks for all of the help! Looks like I'll go with the PX series.

Kryten

Greetings. May I attempt to clutter -Strike That- summarize for fools with short term memory issues? I have Monitor Series 5s disassembled, a pair of RDO-198s and a box of parts
pairs of Sonicaps Gen 1 of 12uF, 5.8uF, 34uF caps; Mills 2 and 0.47 ohm 12W resistors and Jantzen 0.27mH 18AWG inductors as well as 16G hookup wire, Binding Posts, Cardas solder, solder suckers, connectors, etc.

QUESTION 1:
Am I building the SL3000 circuit per the link below for the 198s?
https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/attachments/4/6/7/2/8/18767.pdf

I also have a second pair, goodwill find. Was thinking of using the RDO-194 tweets and saving a few bucks on the crossover updates. One benefit of taking both pairs to the RDO198 is then I could use them as rears and surrounds in an HT. There's little chance I would sell a pair even if I could recoup most of the cost. I'd be more likely to run a pair on a small receiver or give a setup to one of the kids.

QUESTION 2:
Is it foolish to only take a pair to the 194s?
QUESTION 3:
If I go with the 194s, am I using the 5b Revised schematic?

All the schematics are found at the link below:
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/38755/polk-audio-speaker-wiring-schematics-more-all-models-except-sda

pkquat

Kryten wrote: »

Greetings. May I attempt to clutter -Strike That- summarize for fools with short term memory issues? I have Monitor Series 5s disassembled, a pair of RDO-198s and a box of parts
pairs of Sonicaps Gen 1 of 12uF, 5.8uF, 34uF caps; Mills 2 and 0.47 ohm 12W resistors and Jantzen 0.27mH 18AWG inductors as well as 16G hookup wire, Binding Posts, Cardas solder, solder suckers, connectors, etc.

QUESTION 1:
Am I building the SL3000 circuit per the link below for the 198s?
https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/attachments/4/6/7/2/8/18767.pdf

I also have a second pair, goodwill find. Was thinking of using the RDO-194 tweets and saving a few bucks on the crossover updates. One benefit of taking both pairs to the RDO198 is then I could use them as rears and surrounds in an HT. There's little chance I would sell a pair even if I could recoup most of the cost. I'd be more likely to run a pair on a small receiver or give a setup to one of the kids.

QUESTION 2:
Is it foolish to only take a pair to the 194s?
QUESTION 3:
If I go with the 194s, am I using the 5b Revised schematic?

All the schematics are found at the link below:
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/38755/polk-audio-speaker-wiring-schematics-more-all-models-except-sda

Question 1:
The parts appear right for the "SL3000 mod" and the RD0-198 is the correct tweeter for it. Did the original M5's have SL2000's and the cross over looked like the schematic in question 3? As a note the 0.47 Ohm resistor is to replace the polyswitch. @westmassguy can better answer if the inductor is the correct wire gauge, and if any adjustments need to be made. In the back of my head I think the stock gauge is 22 which is hard to find.

Question 2:
Again do the M5's have SL2000's and follow the schematic in Question 3? If both pairs are the same, IMO I would go with identical components. If they have SL2000's and you wanted to go the easier and less expensive route for the crossovers, get the RD0-194's and Clarity ESA or CSA caps for the high pass and Solen for the low pass (33µF will work fine).

Question3: Yes.

Additional info.
If any of the speakers have a black tweeter with a foam ring around it that look similar to the RD0 tweeters, then you may have M5 Series 2 speakers. These have a crossover not listed in the schematics and take the RD0-198 tweeters. I have a marked up version of the schematic for those speakers.

Kryten

Thanks for the reply. They all have the SL2000 tweet. Your additional info comment cleared up a bit of confusion for me. Regarding the polyswitch, that's why I bought the extra resistors. So many variations of a good speaker. I have a number of projects to go across the bench once the weather turns so I'll wait to decide on the 2nd pair till I get the first ones up and running. I'll send you a PM regarding the non-listed crossover in case I find the corresponding speakers in my travels.

nspindel

I TLed a pair of 5's a few years ago and used 198's, with much help from Dave (westmassguy). You might find these threads helpful:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/166371/should-i-get-peerless-or-rd-0198-tl

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/166855/is-there-a-schematic-for-the-monitor-5a

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/167490/my-newly-refurbished-monitor-5s

pkquat

Since they all have the SL2000, I would either match the set of M5's with the same parts, or if you use the 194, IMO go the cheaper route.

Attached is a modified M7 schematic with the values I found on M5 Series 2 next to the table for the M7. I should note that I assumed the high pass inductor value would be similar to the M7, but I measured it at .28mH. I assumed it is actually .27mH since this was what Polk had on hand at the time and the .28mh is within 10%.

I doubt I will ever get to it, but I would love to try the same tweeters and MW in each of the different M5 and M7 cabinets with each of the crossovers and see what the differences are. They may not even be noticeable.