New member to the Polk family

JonJon

Hi everyone...new member and new owner of of some nice 10a's. I'm in the process of doing my reading up in preparatory to re-capping the crossovers. Not gonna lie, suffering a bit of sticker shock at some of the cap prices. The only place I've found the 34uf cap wants 50 bucks per each?? Probably not alot in audiophile circles, but wow...


Also have some minor edge issues on the cabinets and I'm thinking about the following:
Clamping a straight aluminum bar over the affected areas and then using wicking CA glue, try to "re-combine" the particle board so the veneer (or photofinish) isn't sticking up.

Anyone done anything like this, or is the a better/tried method that is more effective? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

John

hochpt21

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new speakers!

Moose68Bash

Welcome to the Forum, and while I can't offer any suggestions to help with your reconditioning project, Somebody on the Forum will have an answer for you.

Just be patient!

Simplyrandom

I will definitely be following this thread as I still need to recap my 10a's. I think I am going to need a couple of MW6500s as well as I have small tears in two of them and have tried repairing with out much success.

F1nut

If the reason for the damage is moisture related you can pretty much forget about getting particle board compressed again.

BTW, $50.00 for a good cap is quite reasonable.

westmassguy

Welcome to CP! Good Capacitors are not cheap, and you get what you pay for. On the low end, Dayton, Solen, or Clarity PX, will do fine, and are better than what's in there, but Sonicaps, or Clarity ESAs are well worth their premium price. With the higher end caps, size becomes an issue. They won't all fit on the existing circuit board. You'll need to make supplemental riser boards, or find a way to strap the large 33/34uf caps on top of everything else (not my 1st choice).
As for the vinyl lifting, as Jesse said, if the particle board has swollen due to moisture, no amount of clamping will compress it. If the damage is on the bottom, and the miter joints have opened, same problem. If it's just along the back edge, I've made several cabinet presentable, by block sanding the edge at a slight angle. This knocks off the ragged edge, and gives a smoother appearance. The particle board on the back edge, can be primed and painted to prevent any further swelling. Be sure to check the interior joints, and if needed reseal them with Loctite Power Grab, Clear Acrylic Sealant. Do not use Silicone Caulk for this purpose.

stogie

Welcome aboard JonJon. I still pretty new at this so can't offer much help but these guys know what they're talking about.

JonJon

Thanks everyone! In the interests of full disclosure, I'm not by anyone's measure an audiophile. I happened to pick up a really nice Dual 1219 and needed something to play it through and these came along. Clearly, one of them needs a little TLC.

WestMass...I've been reading some of your comments in older posts regarding caps and resistors. In one, you recommend Mills MRA-12 resistors. Do I understand correctly that these are 12 watt of the 2.5/2.7 ohm value? And with regards to the larger caps, will another board on another set of stand-offs above the existing one work? I will probably go with the Sonicaps, simply because it's the least expensive correct value .

The veneer isn't lifting on my cabs, it's the PB itself. Just 30 years or so (however old these may be) of "life". But I'm still gonna take a swing at the CA thing. Appearance isn't horrible, but it bothers me while I sit and listen...lol

Thanks
John

westmassguy

JonJon wrote: »

Thanks everyone! In the interests of full disclosure, I'm not by anyone's measure an audiophile. I happened to pick up a really nice Dual 1219 and needed something to play it through and these came along. Clearly, one of them needs a little TLC.

WestMass...I've been reading some of your comments in older posts regarding caps and resistors. In one, you recommend Mills MRA-12 resistors. Do I understand correctly that these are 12 watt of the 2.5/2.7 ohm value? And with regards to the larger caps, will another board on another set of stand-offs above the existing one work? I will probably go with the Sonicaps, simply because it's the least expensive correct value .

The veneer isn't lifting on my cabs, it's the PB itself. Just 30 years or so (however old these may be) of "life". But I'm still gonna take a swing at the CA thing. Appearance isn't horrible, but it bothers me while I sit and listen...lol

Thanks
John

Mills MRA-12s are a favorite around here. Mundorf MOX will also work, but may not be available in the values you need. Since you're going Sonicap, Soniccraft will have the Mills Resistors too. To clear space on the circuit board, I usually mount the Resistors to the bottom of the board. This allows the two 12uf Caps to fit on the top side. I use nylon standoffs to attach the supplemental board.

JonJon

WestMass..Thanks for the photos! Gonna have to wait until next week to order everything, but doesn't look too daunting (he said foolishly...lol). Will update when I get further along and thanks again!

westmassguy

JonJon wrote: »

WestMass..Thanks for the photos! Gonna have to wait until next week to order everything, but doesn't look too daunting (he said foolishly...lol). Will update when I get further along and thanks again!

More than welcome. If you have any questions or problems, PM me or contact me via my website.

helipilotdoug

Welcome JonJon. Those 10a's are some great speakers. Enjoy!!

voltz

Congrats on the 10's & welcome to the forum I've been in love with mine since I got them.

JonJon

UPDATE: Have one speaker re-capped. I went with the Jantzen caps as I cannot justify the expenditure for the Sonicaps. They sound fine to my ear, but I have nothing to judge them against, sooo... Will get to the other one tonight, hopefully.

Purchased a stock Peerless tweeter (did it come from someone here?? lol!) to replace the replacement that was installed by the previous owner. He thought because it had a hole in it,it was bad. And I did ask if he still had the original one,. no luck there. There was also a short in one of the tweeter leads, so replaced the wire.

Still waiting for my standoff kit to arrive, so it's sorta cobbled right now and too embarrasing for photos, but they sound really nice. My first experience with passive radiators and I must say, I really like the "subtleness" of them.

Tomorrow, when I have an extra set of hands around, I will try the CA glue thing around the edges. I'm gonna try clamping an aluminum bar on the affected area, holding it flat and then applying ultra-thin CA glue to the particle board. Hopefully, it will wick in enough to re-bond everything and keep it flat. We will see!

Thanks!

John

gdb

I don't know if it's still produced but, Minwax had a product called "Wood hardener" that could saturate and solidify soft wood. Not sure if the strong solvents in it would be friendly on particle board's binders or not. Regular old automotive body putty can be used to "reconstruct" a corner if it's taken down to a firm surface beforehand.
Edit: http://www.amazon.com/Minwax-41700-Pint-Performance-Hardener/dp/B000BPINKS/ref=cm_cr_pr_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8 (Still around)

JonJon

Impatience is my watchword! Got the clamps out and gave the CA glue thing a try. Got just a tiny bit of seepage under the aluminum bar(which dried mostly clear and is almost unnoticeable) but the results are good so far!