Problem With SRT Subs

Gatecrasher

I got a call today from Kim Jasper at Polk and he said they repaired my drivers and they are as good as new!!

Pretty-cool.

He said one of their guys did "one heck of a job" on them and I will be happy.

I already am.

I also asked him about repairing the amps and he said I could send them to their repair center in Vista, CA. I asked him if he thought it would be worth me replacing every electrolytic capacitor myself and he said "yes" so that's what I plan to try first with one amp. I just received the big caps I ordered but while I'm at it, I'm going to replace the smaller ones too.

I'll let you know how I make out.

Here are the big ones I bought on eBay. They were ten for $37. Each amp requires four.
They are the same diameter but about 1/2" shorter than the originals?
The rating is the same at 10000uF 80v. I hope they are OK. They came from China.

Face

I'd be a little weary buying Japanese capacitor from China.

ZLTFUL

Face wrote: »

I'd be a little weary buying Japanese capacitor from China.

Leery. Weary means you would be a little tired...

Sorry...don't hate me for my grammar policing actions.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled SRT action.

Face

ZLTFUL wrote: »

Leery. Weary means you would be a little tired...

Sorry...don't hate me for my grammar policing actions.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled SRT action.

Thank you for the correction.

Gatecrasher

Face wrote: »

I'd be a little weary buying Japanese capacitor from China.

Well I thought about what you said so I called Rubycon America in Chicago and they said that the capacitors are most-likely counterfeit. They told me to send them some pictures so I did. They said they will take a look and get back to me tomorrow.

I bought them on eBay and if they are counterfeit I will file a Pay Pal complaint to get my money back.

Rubycon also told me where to get genuine capacitors if these turn-out to be bogus.

We'll see what Rubycon says tomorrow.

Thanks for the heads-up.

skrol

I have been dealing with Parts Connexion for caps lately with good experience. I don't see Rubycon on their web site but I have been very pleased with the Nichicon FG and KZ caps.

Great to hear the Polk fixed the spiders on your speakers. I had repaired the spiders on some Polk car speakers (old MM65xx series from 1991) with some epoxy. It worked very well and still holding today.
Stan

Gatecrasher

I heard back from Rubycon today and they don't think the caps are counterfeit. They say they are about 7 years old though and no longer offer that style capacitor in 10,000uF 80v so I really don't have a whole lot to lose.

I'm going ahead and install them in one board and see what happens.

I also received the drivers back from Polk today and man did they ever do a professional job of reattaching the spiders. I could have never done as nice of a job so it was well-worth sending them there to have it done.

What's really unexpected was that they paid for the return shipping even though I offered to pay for it!

The box was huge and weighed 50 lbs. and it cost them $41.51 to ship them back.

I have to say that Polk customer service is about as good as it gets (especially in support of these 20 year old speakers). nbrowser was right!

I'm going to put one of these back together and try it out. If the amp still has the slight hum I will then ship the amps to California to be serviced. I want these bad boys back to 100% and don't want to have to worry about them for years.

Gatecrasher

The verdict is in.

I installed new caps in one amp and reassembled a speaker. I wanted to listen to it for a day or two and put it through the paces before jumping to any conclusions.

The rattle is completely gone after the spiders were re-glued by a guy at Polk named "Freeman E. Stills". I know that's who repaired them because he put "Repaired By" stickers on them with his name proudly displayed on them. He did one heck of a job and the subs hit real hard now!

Also, the "hum" is completely gone from the amps.

I can't believe how good this speaker sounds! I'm listening to music on them and they are awesome. I think I'll keep them!

lol

I'm a happy camper. I still have the other speaker to reassemble yet.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Freeman is the person who has built every prototype tweeter, driver and woofer for Polk since the early days. He can take the individual coils, domes, suspensions, frames, baskets, magnets and turn them into speaker components that satisfy the engineer's designs. A true artist.
Enjoy, Ken

txcoastal1

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
Freeman is the person who has built every prototype tweeter, driver and woofer for Polk since the early days. He can take the individual coils, domes, suspensions, frames, baskets, magnets and turn them into speaker components that satisfy the engineer's designs. A true artist.
Enjoy, Ken

Cool Polk history, I guess you can easily call him a legend in his own right>

Nice putting "his" personal tag on it instead of Inspector 12

Gatecrasher

Here's one of the repaired drivers:

drumminman

Glad you got them back up and running. I'd love to hear a full SRT system one day.

Zentish

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
I talked with Kim at Polk CS and he recommends that you remove all four of the woofers and send them to: Polk Customer Service, 5601 Metro Drive, Baltimore, MD. 21215-3208 attn: Kim Jasper. This way they can repair the spiders on all of them and avoid any future issues. This will be at no charge.
The woofers should be held in place with 9/64th hex head bolts that go into "T" nuts, just remove them and the woofers pull out of the cabinets. Turn around time will be as brief as possible and Polk will ship them back.
Cheers, Ken

Impressive customer service! And to think that I considered straying from my Polks a few years back!

This story seems sort of worth a framed picture of the "repaired by" woofer to go in your HT room.

ENJOY!

Face

drumminman wrote: »

Glad you got them back up and running. I'd love to hear a full SRT system one day.

The full system sounds very impressive!

Gatecrasher

Well I have both the towers up and running now and with repaired drivers I don't think they were exaggerating in the ads for the SRT.


"Matthew Polk's Vision: Performance Without Limits"

"I've never been happy living with limitations, particularly when it comes to music and home theater systems. As soon as I run up against the limitations of the system, it just bothers me and I can't stop thinking of ways to go further. I wanted to design and engineer a system capable of such effortless power and clarity that, as you turn up the volume, it literally scares you. I wanted a system with the limits set so high that you would reach your limits first. That system is this incredible Signature Reference Theater System: Seven huge enclosures, 35 active drivers, over 600 watts of powered subwoofer bass, and even a remote control system. It's a system of such enormous dynamic range, accuracy, clarity and power that listening to it will touch you physically and emotionally."


The subs have such power with so little distortion that it's amazing.

I am really glad I have the remote control for the SRT control center. It is essential when switching back and forth between older music and new digital releases to adjust the bass. It would really suck having to get up and adjust it manually.

chefkungfu

Hey guys,

My subs on my SRT's have developed a "rattling" sound at higher volume, I opened the back and removed the drivers.... the spider are all loose. The same goes for the rest of the drivers (all four). I also noticed that the caps are bulging. So far it's the same problem as Gatecrasher. Kenneth, if you read this, PLEASE send me a PM as to what I need to do. Thank you so much.
Frank.

chefkungfu

Thank you so much, Kenneth!!! I'll go ahead and contact Kim Jasper.

Gatecrasher

chefkungfu wrote: »

Hey guys,

My subs on my SRT's have developed a "rattling" sound at higher volume, I opened the back and removed the drivers.... the spider are all loose. The same goes for the rest of the drivers (all four). I also noticed that the caps are bulging. So far it's the same problem as Gatecrasher. Kenneth, if you read this, PLEASE send me a PM as to what I need to do. Thank you so much.
Frank.

I think you'll find that almost all of the SRT subs you are likely to find nowadays will have the same problem. That's why we both got ours for the prices we did. The sellers don't realize how easy and inexpensive it is to have them repaired.

Mine are definitely keepers now though. Unbelievable and everyone who has heard them says the sound is awesome. My SC-09TX is the perfect match for them. I don't really need any more power.

F1nut

Gatecrasher wrote: »

Here are the big ones I bought on eBay. They were ten for $37. Each amp requires four.
They are the same diameter but about 1/2" shorter than the originals?
The rating is the same at 10000uF 80v. I hope they are OK. They came from China.

I'm sorry I missed this thread. Perhaps too late now, but these Mundorf caps are incredible. Replaced Rubycon caps with them, no comparision.

10,000µF / 80VDC, MLytic® Audio Grade, MLGO (Glue-On 2Pin), 35mmD x 50mmH, (1.2mm*9mm L of Wire), Each $34.85 pcX USD Price

F1nut

Forgot to include....

The Black (Titanium) Cathode coating is remarkably impressive at both measurements and music performance. The Titanium coating replaces the ordinary aluminum oxide coating (dielectric) in order to avoid the electrolyte being the cathode for the anode foil and, that the electrolyte operates as anode for the aluminum contact foil, simultaneously. Our Black Cathode electrolyte capacitor really does feature a separate cathode foil enabling super fast and almost loss free ion movement for reduced ESR, distortion and 'noise' to the utmost lowest level. These positive effects are similar to (but much stronger) graphite modified electrolytics (like Black-Gate).

With the MLytic® Audio Grade series we are extending our range of products to a series especially conceived for applications within pre-amplifiers or small power amplifiers.

The assemblage always refers to snap-in models for assembly boards.

Throughout its development, importance was placed upon attaining low ESR and ESL values, as well as, a low inner-sound development.

Specifications:

- Long lifespan

- All contacts welded

- Compact size

Technical specifications:

Temperature range: -40ºC... +85ºC
Max. reverse voltage: 2V
Leakage current 5 min. @ UR:0.007 * C [μF] * U [V] + 6mA
Leakage current 1 h @ UR: 0.15 * leakage current 5 min @UR
Specs.: DIN 41332 IEC 384 - 4
Insulation: Heat shrinkable tubing test voltage 3 2 500 VAC
Terminals: Snap-In (Migrating to Glue-On)

chefkungfu

Thank you guys! Gatecrasher you're right about the spiders becoming loose, and people selling for a low price because they don't know what's wrong with them. Mine started developing that rattling sound which prompted me to open up the subs and inspect them. Sure enough, the spiders were completely loose! I'm going to box them up and send them to Polk for repairs.
F1, the caps that Gatecrasher purchased look good, but I'm not sure if I can replace them... I found out the hard way when I tried to replace a cap on a different amp. I went bad very quickly. So I'm still afraid or damaging these amps, unless someone who has experience changing them can give me a few pointers. I may just try again. Thanks again guys!
Frank.

F1nut

chefkungfu wrote: »

F1, the caps that Gatecrasher purchased look good, but I'm not sure if I can replace them... I found out the hard way when I tried to replace a cap on a different amp. I went bad very quickly. So I'm still afraid or damaging these amps, unless someone who has experience changing them can give me a few pointers. I may just try again. Thanks again guys!
Frank.

Looks is one thing, performance is another. For his sake I hope they are the real deal, but regardless the Mundorf's are a much better cap.

It's really, really hard to screw up installing caps like those. What did you do?

Gatecrasher

F1nut wrote: »

Looks is one thing, performance is another. For his sake I hope they are the real deal, but regardless the Mundorf's are a much better cap.

It's really, really hard to screw up installing caps like those. What did you do?

Why do you hope "for my sake" that the Rubycons are the real deal? Are you afraid they are going to explode or something?

I sent pictures to Rubycon and they say they are real. Polk used the same Rubycons from the factory.

Are the caps you posted worth the ten times higher price? I paid the same for ten as you did for one.

Are you 100% sure you can hear a difference between new Rubycons vs Mundorfs? Have you actually compared the two or are you just comparing worn out Rubycons vs the Mundorfs?

F1nut

Why do you hope "for my sake" that the Rubycons are the real deal? Are you afraid they are going to explode or something?

For performance sake as fakes would be of lower quality, yes?

Are the caps you posted worth the ten times higher price? I paid the same for ten as you did for one.

IMO, yes.

Are you 100% sure you can hear a difference between new Rubycons vs Mundorfs? Have you actually compared the two or are you just comparing worn out Rubycons vs the Mundorfs?

Yes, yes and no.

Gatecrasher

Not much elaboration there F1. You're not being very convincing.

So I already have the new Rubycons installed, my drivers repaired, and my speakers sound phenomenal.

If I swap to the Mundorfs it will cost me 8 x $34.85 for a total of $278 more dollars.

In what ways will I see a night and day improvement for my $278? Can you describe it?

F1nut

The Mundorf's use superior materials resulting in a lower noise floor and a faster response, which means cleaner mids with deeper and tighter bass. It's not subtle. They sound a bit flat at first, but after a few hundred hours settle down.

Gatecrasher

How can these capacitors affect mids when the amplifier these capacitors are utilized in only controls the subwoofers?

F1nut

I was relating my expereince using them in other amps, not your sub amp.

chefkungfu

Hey F1, sorry it took so long to respond, I was on vacation. Going back a few posts, It was my first time soldering and it was very sloppy. My hands were shaky and it turned out messy. I'm much better at it now, but feel better having it done neat by an experienced tech.

chefkungfu

Ken, I'm sending out the subs to Kim in the morning. I just returned from NC and have a hundred things to do before Friday.
I'll send an email out to Kim.
Thanks.
FT