In todays world where do RTA 12B's fit in ?

FastGame

I have a set of RTA 12B that are nice except they need crossover rebuilt. As they are they can't compete with the Monitor Audio Silver 8's I'm now running. The only thing the RTA's are better at is the cat test...haha The cat test ? Well if I'm watching a movie with the RTA and dogs are barking (foreground/background in movie) my cat will perk up and run to another room, on the Monitor Audio the same dogs will keep the cat asleep, happy & content. Obviously the RTA's must be more accurate than Monitor Audio on certain sounds. Also at times my wife even thinks real dogs are barking outside our house on the RTA. I do think that the RTA's offer a broader sound stage (width & depth) than the Monitor Audio, they just don't sound as good overall.

If I get the RTA's crossovers rebuilt will they compete in SQ with today's world offerings ? if so what speaker range would you say they fit in ?

Thanks

edit= if I rebuild the RTA crossovers I would also update the SL 1000 tweets to RDO 194's

Nightfall

SL1000, there's your problem.

FastGame

I thought the SL1000 were good and SL2000 were bad..???

agfrost

Peerless are considered the 'desirable' older tweeter.

The SL1000s (with their silver mounting plate), not so much. I say this never having heard either the Peerless or the SL1000, but I spend too much time reading on Club Polk. :razz:

Nightfall

FastGame wrote: »

I thought the SL1000 were good and SL2000 were bad..???

Neither are great. Peerless and both RDO's are much better. Spend the $100 and try for yourself? If you don't think it improves them you can sell the speakers for $250 w/brand new tweeters and the SL1000's for a bit of money as well. You might not like them better than your Silver 8's no matter what you do to them though, maybe. Those Silver 8's were $2k/pair and you might just like their sound better than the vintage polk "sound".

Faustin

Have RTA12's with rebuilt c/o's and they sound great. Took around 250 hours for the caps to burn in but what a difference. Right around the time they hit the " burn in state" a friend stopped by to hear them and he was utterly amazed at the difference. I have used the Peerless clone tweeters from Midwest Speaker in them, the RDO-194 and currently have a set of original Peerless in them. Coupled to an Adcom 555 to and Adcom pre amp they are sweet. As Nightfall said.....upgrade the tweeters for $100 and see for yourself
how they sound. Then if you like what you hear go for the c/o upgrade, Dynamat, hurricane nuts etc.

Nightfall

Faustin wrote: »

Have RTA12's with rebuilt c/o's and they sound great. Took around 250 hours for the caps to burn in but what a difference. Right around the time they hit the " burn in state" a friend stopped by to hear them and he was utterly amazed at the difference. I have used the Peerless clone tweeters from Midwest Speaker in them, the RDO-194 and currently have a set of original Peerless in them. Coupled to an Adcom 555 to and Adcom pre amp they are sweet. As Nightfall said.....upgrade the tweeters for $100 and see for yourself
how they sound. Then if you like what you hear go for the c/o upgrade, Dynamat, hurricane nuts etc.

What's your take on the original vs the clone peerless? vs the RDO?

westmassguy

FastGame wrote: »

I thought the SL1000 were good and SL2000 were bad..???

The SL1000s are as god awful as the SL2000. The RDO-194-1s will be a big improvement, and the crossovers are way overdue.

Faustin

Nightfall wrote: »

What's your take on the original vs the clone peerless? vs the RDO?

I think they all sound good. Hard to compare without the ability to have 2 sets of identical speakers side by side with the different tweeters. I am partial to the Peerless, maybe more because of their history and mystic. I have a new Marantz cd player coming the end of this week and I am going to spend some time and effort to try to get an honest comparison between the 3 tweets Listen to a couple of songs, switch them out and repeat. I will report back when I am done.

drumminman

I rebuilt the Xovers + some other tweaks in my RTA 12C's - it makes a difference. They are some very good speakers, and I still have the SL1000's they came with. I keep thinking about upgrading to the RD-0194's, but the harshness is not there with the 1000's.

Maybe it has something to do with Sonicap/Mills throughout?

FastGame

Nightfall wrote: »

Neither are great. Peerless and both RDO's are much better. Spend the $100 and try for yourself? If you don't think it improves them you can sell the speakers for $250 w/brand new tweeters and the SL1000's for a bit of money as well. You might not like them better than your Silver 8's no matter what you do to them though, maybe. Those Silver 8's were $2k/pair and you might just like their sound better than the vintage polk "sound".

You might be right, the Monitor Audio's sound pretty darn good.

drumminman wrote: »

I still have the SL1000's they came with. I keep thinking about upgrading to the RD-0194's, but the harshness is not there with the 1000's.

Maybe it has something to do with Sonicap/Mills throughout?

My SL1000 are smooth, no way at all harsh or bright.

I'm going to get the RDO's and crossovers rebuilt and if they can't hang with the Monitor Audio's I'll regulate the Polks to game room speakers.

Thanks everyone !

drumminman

FastGame wrote: »

You might be right, the Monitor Audio's sound pretty darn good.



My SL1000 are smooth, no way at all harsh or bright.

I'm going to get the RDO's and crossovers rebuilt and if they can't hang with the Monitor Audio's I'll regulate the Polks to game room speakers.

Thanks everyone !

I read somewhere that not all SL1000's were created equal. In some the plastic dome became brittle with a little age, which may have contributed to the harshness. Gotta say in all truthfulness that one of the reasons I bought mine in 1984 is the smoothness of the highs. And I was coming from ADS L700's which were pretty good in that department back then.

One more thing - these need lots of high current power to wake up. They sound incredibly good with 200-300 wpc. Are you driving them with the Parasound in your sig?

FastGame

drumminman wrote: »

I read somewhere that not all SL1000's were created equal. In some the plastic dome became brittle with a little age, which may have contributed to the harshness. Gotta say in all truthfulness that one of the reasons I bought mine in 1984 is the smoothness of the highs. And I was coming from ADS L700's which were pretty good in that department back then.

One more thing - these need lots of high current power to wake up. They sound incredibly good with 200-300 wpc. Are you driving them with the Parasound in your sig?

Yes the Parasound 2250 and Parasound A23 that I sold last week.

The tweeters in my RTA's are not harsh or bright, compared to the Monitor Audio the SL1000 are rather laid back & not extended.

drumminman

FastGame wrote: »

Yes the Parasound 2250 and Parasound A23 that I sold last week.

The tweeters in my RTA's are not harsh or bright, compared to the Monitor Audio the SL1000 are rather laid back & not extended.

While I recommend rebuilding the Xovers, you can start by just replacing the resistors. If you can solder this is easy as the Xover for the highs is the one on top of the speaker. Do that using Mills (about $4 each) and have a listen. Should improve the detail in the high end. Then you can decide how much more of the Xover you want to do.