vintage monitor 7 tweeters shutting down without polys,why?

jeff24

I have the polk monitor 7 spkrs and there rated for 150 watts but the tweeters are shutting down premature,wondering why?

jon s

You are probably sending too much power... It sounds like your speakers have the Polyswitch caps on them. As they age, they tend to reset at a lower wattage than specified. You could try and bypass them but be careful so that you really don't blow the HF drivers...

george daniel

Sounds like you are tripping the poly switch,,, you should either replace or use a jumper.

jeff24

im new to all this but I really enjoy these little spkrs(suprising!!)I have many 15"s around here,but there looks to be a small cap not your ordinary poly switch,currently using a a H/K 3480 receiver no adjustments

jeff24

120 wpc stereo receiver

F1nut

120 wpc stereo receiver

There's part of your problem.

jeff24

how is that part of the problem?

george daniel

Clipping

jeff24

I also have a onkyo TX-SV70PRO and a YAMAHA RX-900U and a RCA DEMENSIA MPA 120 im on a tight budget so the best is out of my reach,anything here look any better than the H/K and why?thank you

F1nut

george daniel wrote: »

Clipping

Bingo.

Jeff, you are not sending the speakers too much power as someone suggested. You are overdriving the receiver (too much volume), which is sending a clipped signal to the speakers. The polyswitch is saving the tweeters.

Now, one thing that happens with polyswitches is the more times they trip the more hypersensitive they become. It appears it is time to replace yours and for you to learn the limits of your receiver. Far more issues arise from too little power verses too much.

jeff24

yes,I agree,i have the old school mpa 120 that peaks at 190 on the lights from 1987,and the Yamaha is 85 wpc at 8ohms and the onkyo is 85wpc x5,thanks for your advice.

jeff24

i don't think there clipping,not audibly anyway the start to fail at -10 db and h/k says not to go past 0db and i don't,sometimes it does audibly distort before 0db

jeff24

Well im not a pc guy,so all these threads and such have me lost,gonna replace the caps and such and they should be good fingers crossed,restoring a gen 3 firebird so ill be installing car audio soon thank you all for your advice.

Nightfall

Clipping happens before you hear it. Recapping your 7's will not solve your issue.

jeff24

gonna change the polys as well,but without a magnifying glass i cant see the specs on the polys,do you know there rating and i need more power correct,or cleaner power?i do like to rock but i do not wanna blow these tweets as what im figuring would happen,im waiting on a neo 5star mid that i blew from parts express that i have paired with a 15"dayton series 2 and a morel 65 tweeter

boston1450

Interesting

jeff24

Well I hooked up the old 1987 rca demensia mpa 120 amp,power consumption 330 watts 410 volt amps the power indicators are registerd up to 190 watts and the spkrs are working much better and louder and cleaner,keep in mind the H/K has been tested to its limits for hours on end as a subwoofer amp with 70 hertz f-mods in line,still think the polys need changed,have any of you with your top notch gear put 150 watts continuous to a set of these? these are from 89,had them away for a long time because I knew right away that 10"in the bottom was a passive radiator and theres a 6 1/2 mid woofer,i really didn't give them a chance,once I really listened to them I was stunned a 6 1/2 wow what a design and sound,bet the new ones are amazing THANX AGAIN

pitdogg2

jeff24 wrote: »

Well I hooked up the old 1987 rca demensia mpa 120 amp,power consumption 330 watts 410 volt amps the power indicators are registerd up to 190 watts and the spkrs are working much better and louder and cleaner,keep in mind the H/K has been tested to its limits for hours on end as a subwoofer amp with 70 hertz f-mods in line,still think the polys need changed,have any of you with your top notch gear put 150 watts continuous to a set of these? these are from 89,had them away for a long time because I knew right away that 10"in the bottom was a passive radiator and theres a 6 1/2 mid woofer,i really didn't give them a chance,once I really listened to them I was stunned a 6 1/2 wow what a design and sound,bet the new ones are amazing THANX AGAIN

Well personally 150wpc of good clean power through those would be stretching it. You might just drive that woofer to death. I have a Carver TFM45 375wpc and to get the meters to a solid 90wpc with my SDA1's is WAY TOO LOUD and really pushing the drivers hard. You would be better served with some Cerwin Vegas(gasp) they will take that kind of abuse.

george daniel

Just get a good 40 watt tube amp

TennMan

george daniel wrote: »

Just get a good 40 watt tube amp

George, what brand and model would you suggest?

george daniel

I am sure others will chime in,,,but here we go,,what I am about to suggest my be difficult to find,,but worth the wait,,in no particular order,,, Vtl stereo 50. Or 75/75( like the one Jesse had) ,,Quicksilver GLA,,( I own one,,great little amp,,drives my 1C's like a champ) , the older dynacos seem to have a following, but I cannot personally speak to that,,actually the small Magnavox and other converted console amps are hard to beat to,, there is something special in the vintage iron!

TennMan

Thanks George. I will keep an eye out for one of them. I've been wanting to hear my 2Bs with tubes. Maybe I will stumble across one that you suggested.

PolkieMan

I think i would stop playing it so loud as to destroy you hearing. I am paying for it now with a nice little ringing in both ears almost all the time. Get a decibel meter and found at where you are at.

http://www.parts-express.com/mini-digital-sound-level-meter--390-722?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

TennMan

PolkieMan wrote: »

I think i would stop playing it so loud as to destroy you hearing. I am paying for it now with a nice little ringing in both ears almost all the time. Get a decibel meter and found at where you are at.

http://www.parts-express.com/mini-digital-sound-level-meter--390-722?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

I have one of those. I've found that about 80-85 db is where I prefer to listen. Anything much louder seems to muddy the SDA effect. I guess due to echo in my room with no treatments. Louder volumes are fatiguing after a while too. I would like to know what volume others prefer.

pitdogg2

TennMan wrote: »

I have one of those. I've found that about 80-85 db is where I prefer to listen. Anything much louder seems to muddy the SDA effect. I guess due to echo in my room with no treatments. Louder volumes are fatiguing after a while too. I would like to know what volume others prefer.

Well I like to feel the music pushing against me But now that I have Polk SDA's I rarely find myself in that position anymore as I really like to hear the articulation the SDA's have. The whole sound stage is so defined and locked in place...A little background I thought Cerwin Vegas was where it was at in my youth as I was VERY hard on speakers SMOKED THEM PUPPIES:sad: and the CV took it all in stride and were LOUD. Then I grew up and sat down to take it all in I could never do that with CV's. Best 100.00 I ever spent on speakers was the SDA1 signatures from a pawn shop and then the 300.00 in XO upgrades. I always liked Polks sound but in my youth they would never of lasted past the warranty period plain and simple...

jeff24

yeah,I had a buddy that had a (guessing 50 wpc) receiver by far nothing to brag on,but he also had a pair of CV 15"s in the early 90s and those spkrs were something,at the time I didn't know about the spl of a spkr just wondered how that little amp rocked like it did,well now I know efficiency,and I do have a spl meter and a 31 band ultragraph pro eq and the 31 band frequency disc to adjust for room acoustics and such,takes time but you can get every freq. right on,i listen to rock and country and that's it,im in my mid 40,s but rock for me has to have some volume,song or 3 at a time and my hearing is at 14K that's about average I read, I would like to recap these polks if anyone has the parts numbers from parts express I would appreciate it,my budget is kinda tight so I cant spend big$on this stuff THANX and you all have a good day.

jeff24

yeah,I had a buddy that had a (guessing 50 wpc) receiver by far nothing to brag on,but he also had a pair of CV 15"s in the early 90s and those spkrs were something,at the time I didn't know about the spl of a spkr just wondered how that little amp rocked like it did,well now I know efficiency,and I do have a spl meter and a 31 band ultragraph pro eq and the 31 band frequency disc to adjust for room acoustics and such,takes time but you can get every freq. right on,i listen to rock and country and that's it,im in my mid 40,s but rock for me has to have some volume,song or 3 at a time and my hearing is at 14K that's about average I read, I would like to recap these polks if anyone has the parts numbers from parts express I would appreciate it,my budget is kinda tight so I cant spend big$on this stuff THANX and you all have a good day.

PolkieMan

I would like to recap these polks if anyone has the parts numbers
Did you look here at the wiring dia?


http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?38755-POLK-AUDIO-Speaker-Wiring-Schematics-amp-More-ALL-MODELS-except-SDA

PolkieMan

Yea that's me now loud enough to enjoy 80-85

TennMan wrote: »

I have one of those. I've found that about 80-85 db is where I prefer to listen. Anything much louder seems to muddy the SDA effect. I guess due to echo in my room with no treatments. Louder volumes are fatiguing after a while too. I would like to know what volume others prefer.

jeff24

yeah,the polks have a lot more bass and treble,using the old amp and the h/k as the pre-amp,i read the amp I have was bench tested at 147 wpc?dont know but it puts the h/k to shame(vintage power is the only way to go unless you don't have a budget) these polks really sound great now,still have the poly problem(not nearly as bad) but I don't think there to bad,i heard one of the mw pop at a stout volume,someone said 90 watts was tough on them so im figuring there right,but they are without a doubt a fine sounding spkr these have the 2000 series hf driver,anytime I can get a good set of polks im gonna!gonna redo the x-overs in the future. thanx to you all.

Nightfall

Sounds like you enjoy ear bleeding volumes. You might want to look into some bigger Polks. Monitor 10, any SDA's, RTA-12, or RTA-15 would probably suit you better.

That or some Cerwin Vegas