SDA-1C Refurbish Plan

westmassguy

Jesse, I'll defer to you, but doesn't the paper backed veneer mitigate the perpendicular issue?

F1nut

It does make it less of an issue.

Sea

So is to suggest, the best option is to use fresh MDF under the veneer?

westmassguy

If they were mine, and they were in good shape, I'd re-veneer them.

F1nut

Sea wrote: »

So is to suggest, the best option is to use fresh MDF under the veneer?

IMO yes, but the final choice is up to you. Perhaps, talk to some of the veneer suppliers for their opinion.

Conradicles

If you have a local auto paint shop you could go a different route like gloss black (Sorry but I love seeing pictures of my old speakers LOL)

Sea

Conradicles wrote: »

If you have a local auto paint shop you could go a different route like gloss black (Sorry but I love seeing pictures of my old speakers LOL)

Did you do this finish or did you have an auto body shop do it?

Conradicles

A fellow Polkie who worked at an auto body shop.

Sea

I have the cabinets ready to paint. I plan to use a rattle can vinyl dye to refresh the sides, top and bottom even though they will be covered. The backs and face are in good condition. I have new fabric to cover new side panels. The old ones were warped badly. I bought the more expensive of the two fabric options that parts express offers. I think it is a good enough match that I do not plan to recover the grills, at least not right away.

Sea

I expect the new tweeters and drivers to arrive tomorrow. I think I have all the stuff I need except still waiting on BH5 to arrive and I still have not decided what to do with cx's yet. I think I will probably end up putting them back together with original cx's and listen for a while before proceeding. BTW, I have decided to do a little patch work on the tops and bottoms, stain black trying to preserve the grain and then finish with a satin lacquer.

nspindel

Btw, I shipped you the BH5 today, Priority Mail. For the life of me I can't find the tracking slip. I'd expect it to arrive on Monday. The cuts aren't that neat, but they don't really need to be. If the tracking receipt pops up I'll PM you.

nspindel

Btw, I had to fold the 4 strips in half to get them into the box. When you unfold them they will retain the impression of the fold for a while. If you let them sit overnight, the fold will be gone by the morning. The big sheet ships from Sonicraft folded in half.

Sea

Thank you.

Sea

On vacation this week. Wife is away so I have had a lot of time to work on the 1C's. I have done all except the crossovers. Late this afternoon I got one speaker back together and it sounds much much better than before. I should have the other completed tomorrow. I still have to install the hurricane nuts.

Two things threw me a little.

First, since I had the wiring diagrams from this site I did not pay close enough attention to the wires as I removed. On the stereo driver side the drivers are wired in series, the diagram says black to Positive for both and white to negative. This side of the harness has three black terminations and one white. Obviously the top driver had to have black to both posts. I was not sure which way to go.

Secondly the new driver from polk did not have any polarity indication that I could find. I assumed positive was on the right as it is in the old stock drivers.

Again, I am not certain that I have it wired correctly but it sounds good. I put this speaker in place of the left side of the 2.3TL's.

drumminman

Easy way to check speaker polarity is to use a 1.5 volt battery (AA): http://www.techguys.ca/howto/speaker.html

Note: speaker must be disconnected from amp (and probably Xover too).

Easy Runnin

One of my black wire has white tape on it to indicate negative, and my drivers have a red dot to indicate positive.

westmassguy

Polarity should be stamped on the little piece that holds the spade/quick connects. It may be hard to see.

Sea

Thanks. I will look closer.

westmassguy

If you look close, + is on the right, same position as the originals

Sea

Found it. Mine was actually scratched on the metal. Very hard to see.

Faustin

I have gotten into the habit of using a red marker to mark the positive so it is easy for these older eyes to see.:)

Sea

Ok. Complete except for crossovers. Today, I evicted by RTi12's from my main listening room. I am impressed and amazed. I was driving the 12's bi amped with two Carver TFM35's which equated to 500 watts to each speaker. Since the 1C does not allow for bi-wiring I am only using one, 250 per side. The results are nothing short of phenomenal. I cannot imagine them being significantly better after rebuilding crossovers.

Conradicles

Trust me, rebuilding the crossovers on any vintage Polks makes them better!

Sea

Oh, I believe it, I just cannot imagine it?

Faustin

Sea wrote: »

Oh, I believe it, I just cannot imagine it?

Listen for a time and then do it.You will not be disappointed.

Moose68Bash

Rebuild the crossovers with quality components.

If you want somebody to do it for you, talk with Trey at Vr3 Mods.

As Faustin says, "You will not be disappointed."

Just my advice based on personal experience with two sets of vintage Polks, including one set of 1Cs.

nspindel

Blackhole 5 arrived ok?

Sea

Yes. Great shape. Already installed. Thank you.

nspindel

Nice. Glad to help.

Sea

Finally getting around to rebuilding crossovers today. Other than a very sample Advent rebuild this is my first. Wish me luck.