Monitor 12's and a couple other new to me items....

xjghost

So I picked up the 12's and a couple other HT stuff Saturday. I feel like I rescued them. I have always wanted a set of these. They look like they were peed on by the dog they had running around the house. Very messy house I might add. So here they are:



The damage:



The worse part:



The grills are stained:



Does the cloth just glue on?



I thought this was interesting:





Plan to give them a good wipe down with Lysol disinfecting wipes. What about the drivers? The passive woofer has some spots on the edge I'd like to try and get off too. The main thing is what would you use to clean the stains off the wood parts?

Next the Center: CSi30



Good or bad as a center with these 12's in a HT set up?

The sub: PSM-150



The bottom is peeling up.



Anyone know if that is just vinyl glued to the wood? If not what is it? Solutions for a fix?


All for $250. I thought it was a decent deal even considering the condition.

Full HiFi Album here: http://s16.photobucket.com/user/xjghost/slideshow/Hi%20Fi%20Audio

westmassguy

The cabinets are wood grained vinyl, and textured black vinyl. They can be cleaned with Lysol first, then 409 or Fantastic. The PR and Woofers should only be cleaned with pure, real Windex, not Glass Plus or any generic cleaner. Get some microfiber cloths, which are lint free. I do the rubber surrounds first, as they're usually the dirtiest. Wet the cloth with the Windex, and go around the perimeter. The cloth will turn brown as the oxidized rubber comes off. Turn the cloth, and keep cleaning until no more brown comes off. The cones are cleaned in a similar way. Wet the cloth with the Windex, use a circular motion. Make sure the entire cone is wet, turn the cloth, keep it wet with Windex, and wipe in an outward spiral motion. The Windex keeps the cone lubricated while it's lifting the dirt. Let them air dry. When dry, they're naturally tacky due to the coating that was applied to them. The plastic frame grills are a PITA to replace the grill cloth on. The original cloth is heat welded around the perimeter. I've done it on the smaller Monitors. The cloth is cut right along the weld line. I used 3M # 77 spray adhesive on the back of the frame, and applied the new cloth buy stretching it, folding it over, and then pressing it onto the adhesive.

xjghost

TY sir. I never would have thought about windex.

Before:



After:



I might see if I can find some sort of furniture urine stain cleaner for the grills before I try to redo the cloth.

I also decided to see what info was on the tweeter:

westmassguy

If the grill cloth is good, but just stained, put them in the shower, spray them down with warm water, then take a sponge with some laundry detergent, and soap them up gently. Let it work for a while, then spray them down again, let they excess water drain off, and put them out in the sun.

jimbo1421

I am not sure who suggested this to me for cleaning grills with plastic frames, but I washed my PSW10 and SurroundBar 42 grills in the bathtub filled with warm water and mild dish soap (Ivory), rinsed them with clean water under the hand held shower, then air dried. I had no problems, but then these Monitor 12 grills are much older. YMMV.

Jim

xjghost

Washed the grills in the tub with my hand held shower head and was amazed at the color of water coming off them. EW! Letting them air dry. I think they will be ok but hard to tell wet. Got the speakers them selves as clean as I could and moved them from my garage into my den. Here they are next to my old 10's:



My current center is a CS 275. It was something I found cheap just to have one. Would the CSi30 be a better center for these?

boston1450

Those look very nice. Good job cleaning them up. Hope the grills came out good id be interested to hear how you like them compare to the 10's. Nice rescue

westmassguy

You probably washed some of the dye out, or they came from a house of smokers. Let us know how they sound and how the grills come out.

NJPOLKER

I doubt you'll need a sub with those bad boys. Good work.

xjghost

Right now they are hooked up to my Denon AVR-1612. I played the Clash singles CD while I made my diner salad on my Pioneer CLD-1090. I just switched the speaker wire from my 10's to the 12's. I need a decent AVR been thinking about the Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A1020 but that one is not available any longer. Anywho, it actually sounded trebly to me and not boomy or basey. IDK if that receiver is doing what I want it to do and idk if I'm saying that right. I really need to sit down and play with that thing and try and figure it out. I haven't run the set up on the receiver with these yet and haven't tried the tuner or PS3 either. I'm very happy to have them for no more coin then I had to pay for them. I really need to stay off CL for a while!

OldSchoolPolk

I saw those and thought of driving down to get them if for nothing else but the drivers. But you beat me to it! Those things are big.. Can't wait to here how they sound and when you want to let them go. Or your 10s for that matter.

xjghost

I ended up using about 4 different things to get the grills mostly clean. Well clean enough for right now. I did notice there is still some spots on them but they are a whole lot better then they were.



Set up with the PSW 150



I tried to watch some Netflix with them last night and at lunch. It hurt. The sound synch is off. I'll try and do some research later and try and figure out what is wrong. I have not switched the Center I had: CS275 out yet either. Just not sure which one I should use. Might give the CSi30 a try this weekend and see what difference I see. Thanks for all the help getting these back to decent shape cosmetically. Glenn

westmassguy

Looking good. As long as they don't stink. You could also buy some black fabric dye at a good auto supply.

Dropthebeat

I have a pair of m12 , they aren't the best sounding speaker but man can they pump out some bass .

TNHNDYMAN

xjghost- if neither center works for you, I have a CS 350 that I'm probably willing to let go if you have any interest just pm me.

xjghost

Dropthebeat wrote: »

I have a pair of m12 , they aren't the best sounding speaker but man can they pump out some bass .

Yea I think my main problem is my weak as Denon.

TNHNDYMAN wrote: »

xjghost- if neither center works for you, I have a CS 350 that I'm probably willing to let go if you have any interest just pm me.

Ok will do! I'm new to Ht so I really don't know what I'm listening for. Need to get some of those NC guys down here to edumicate me! LOL!

Dropthebeat

Yeah haha , I powered mine with my receiver . Yamaha 2600 and then with my nad . There was a huge difference in sound and bass . You definitely need a amp to get those m12s going .

xjghost

So I put these on the back porch Saturday to listen to music and work in the yard and they sounded funny. I think a tweeter has failed on one channel. Can I check resistance on them to see if they are good? Or what can I do to check them? I thought about swapping some out of the other Monitor 7 speakers I have but they are Sl2000 not SL2500 like these. I also don't see any on eBay atm. I have been seeing broken speakers on there. Can they be repaired?

ken brydson

westmassguy wrote: »

If the grill cloth is good, but just stained, put them in the shower, spray them down with warm water, then take a sponge with some laundry detergent, and soap them up gently. Let it work for a while, then spray them down again, let they excess water drain off, and put them out in the sun.

Might try some Simple Green on the cloth in the tub or shower. That **** works wonders..

xjghost

I actually was able to get them quite clean considering. Right now I have a tweeter problem.

nadams

If you were running your receiver into clipping you could've easily toasted a tweeter. Swap the tweeters between speakers and see if the problem follows the tweeter or stays with the speaker.

You can also check to make sure all 4 drivers are free by pushing on the passive radiator to see if the drivers move. You can check how well the cabinet is sealed by pushing in on the PR and holding it in. The drivers should slowly return back to their resting position. If they return quickly, then the cabinet isn't sealed, which will affect bass performance. Just don't push on the drivers themselves because you can damage the voice coils that way.

Mystery

I actually liked them. Great for home theater.
Little boomy for music but my room was very small.
With proper setup, they are not bad.

xjghost

I like mine too. They will get put at the GF's house with my retired Denon HT receiver soon. I think I have these hooked up to my old Kenwood that has a volume knob issue that cannot be fixed per the only shop I know of in SC that repairs such equipment. So that might be the problem Been too busy with life to mess with it. These were not pushed into clipping either. Learned that lesson with my 3.1's.