Free Monitors 12 are they worth fixing or part them out ?

Elinvader

Hi Forum , My friend gave me these pair of Monitors 12 today for free, they are not in great condition but not too damage neither .......They do have 2 frozen drivers and one blown tweeter.....Just want to know are they worth fixing or just part them out .....First time I see this model around....Thanks for the input

aprazer402

Overall these were (are) probably the least loved of the Monitor series. You would not offend too many if you part them out, especially if the cabinets are rough.

Elinvader

Thanks for the reply , well cabinets are like 75% still in good condition , I do owned a pair of Sda 2B's but why say no to a free pair of polkies....I might just part them out....Thanks

msg

Why do these not get much appreciation? Just curious. Is the design too ambitious?

westmassguy

The reason the Monitor 7s are considered the sweet spot in the vintage Monitor line, is the single woofer, with a large 10" PR. The Monitor 10s Are similar, but the dual woofers smear the image slightly. Two woofers, side by side, producing the same frequencies, instead of a single point. The Monitor 11s and 12s exacerbate the smearing problem, with even more woofers essentially producing the same frequencies. Some 11s and 12s have acoustical foam behind the outer woofers to alter the frequency response, but the problem remains.

Elinvader

Hi west , west is right I demo them and they sound so boomy , even raise them from the floor , they just don't have that wow factor , I'm going to part them out and sell them in Fleabay and I will take the time to Power Grab the magnets to secure them to fellow polkies out there....Later guys

F1nut

Elinvader wrote: »

Hi west , west is right I demo them and they sound so boomy , even raise them from the floor , they just don't have that wow factor , I'm going to part them out and sell them in Fleabay and I will take the time to Power Grab the magnets to secure them to fellow polkies out there....Later guys

With 2 frozen drivers and one blown tweeter I'm sure they didn't sound right. I mean, what did you expect!?!

TCK

The 12s sound great. They need a decent size room to breathe, at least 200 watts/ch( more would be better) and a proper set up ( at least 8 ft apart and away from the back wall around 12" or more) & they will shine. The bass tightens up and they come into focus. They make fantastic fronts for ht also. You can replace those tweeters with the new replacement tweeters(RDO-198) and make them even better. You also need a good clean source for music. They will make good recordings sound better while making bad recordings sound worse. the are the most difficult monitors to work with, but they do sound great if set up properly.

boston1450

Although ive never seen let alone heard the 12's i can say I have a pair of 11's w/peerless tweets & use them on 50w tube amp. Pure bliss. Keep in mind the inners are in die'n need for updates

boston1450

Elinvader wrote: »

Hi west , west is right I demo them and they sound so boomy , even raise them from the floor , they just don't have that wow factor , I'm going to part them out and sell them in Fleabay and I will take the time to Power Grab the magnets to secure them to fellow polkies out there....Later guys

Just curious why raise these ?

motorhead43026

There is really no comparison of the 11's to the 12's. The 11's have a totally different crossover if I am not mistaken. Making the 11's sound really good compared to the 12's.

boston1450

Yes. Being directional & smaller cabinet w/base.

PolkieMan

zip code? I may have interest in them if local.

aprazer402

In my reply to the OP, it was not my intent to bash a Polk product, sorry if it came across as such. I have many vintage Polk's. I heard the Monitor 12's, at a Polk dealer's showroom when they were new, I was not impressed nor were the sales people. I do not have my Polk data files at hand, but I believe the Monitor 12 was only offered in the Monitor Series II line. At this time there was strong competition for the large Monitor 12 with the Polk SDA line and it's CRS+, 2B and 1C were viewed by many at that time as superior sounding, although the 1C's would have cost more than the 12's. I'm sure the 12's can now be made to sound good given the right amplification, sources and space. After the Monitor series ended in the early 90's, the non-SDA RTA 8TL, 11TL and larger 15TL were offered as Polk's replacement for the Monitor's. They used a D'Appolito vertical driver layout, MTM, to improve SQ vs. side-by-side drivers.

leftwinger57

If by consensus the 12s do not compare w/ any of the smaller monitors and any SDAs, and since you have a few to many problems I'd also say part them out. I'm heartened to hear 7s are the sweet spot in the vintage Monitor line. I thought 10s were and my newly acquired 7s are sounding great. I have a few question on them on another thread.

pitdogg2

Elinvader wrote: »

but why say no to a free pair of polkies...Thanks

NEVER say no to free POLKS thats my motto:)

xjghost

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Elinvader wrote: »

but why say no to a free pair of polkies...Thanks

NEVER say no to free POLKS thats my motto:)

x2. I own a set of these but the 3.1's took their place. I'll keep mine and use them someday.

Elinvader

With 2 frozen drivers and one blown tweeter I'm sure they didn't sound right. I mean, what did you expect!?![/quote]

Hahahaah F1 I do own a few monitor series I use them for a 7.1 theater so I replace the drivers from my theater rig and gave them a chance to keep them but I just think that listening to my Sda 2b's for a while on my 2 channel sig got me spoiled and really didn't found the sound factor...I tried

F1nut

I can certainly understand preferring the SDA's. Were the swapped in drivers the exact MWxxxx model? Was the swapped in tweeter a SL2500 or RD0198-1?

Elinvader

aprazer402 wrote: »

In my reply to the OP, it was not my intent to bash a Polk product, sorry if it came across as such. I have many vintage Polk's. I heard the Monitor 12's, at a Polk dealer's showroom when they were new, I was not impressed nor were the sales people. I do not have my Polk data files at hand, but I believe the Monitor 12 was only offered in the Monitor Series II line. At this time there was strong competition for the large Monitor 12 with the Polk SDA line and it's CRS+, 2B and 1C were viewed by many at that time as superior sounding, although the 1C's would have cost more than the 12's. I'm sure the 12's can now be made to sound good given the right amplification, sources and space. After the Monitor series ended in the early 90's, the non-SDA RTA 8TL, 11TL and larger 15TL were offered as Polk's replacement for the Monitor's. They used a D'Appolito vertical driver layout, MTM, to improve SQ vs. side-by-side drivers.

No intent taken I was just wanted some opinion just to see if the pair was worth keeping and restoring ...I've been in this forum for 5 years now , I don't post or say much I'm a search button guy , but reading through the years I see polkies talk highly on different speakers like Sda line , monitor 11 , 5b , 5jr etc. to keep and not let go , I do own several polks speaker but wanted to see those polkies who own this line , what they think of them.....Thanks

Elinvader

F1nut wrote: »

I can certainly understand preferring the SDA's. Were the swapped in drivers the exact MWxxxx model? Was the swapped in tweeter a SL2500 or RD0198-1?

Same driver model but I used rdo-194 for tweeters ...Would the tweeters change sonic on the speaker ?

F1nut

Absolutely, the crossover is not designed for the SL2000/RD0194-1. However, you still may not like them.

Elinvader

Ohhhhhh interesting.....Something new I learned today.... I might just part them out and sell them and give fellow polkies a chance to have more drivers for this line.....As of me the funds collected on this part out will give me the funds to get a hold of David so he could TL mod my 2B's ....Thanks F1 for your input and to the other members here ....Polkie for life !!!!!

bluecomet

I recently sold my set of Monitor 12 series 2 speakers. I thought they were decent speakers but surrounded by my SDA and SRS series speakers they were simply not as good. They were good party speakers. You could certainly rock the house with them but for clarity and performance they were average. I would part them out unless someone donated the drivers and you were not into it much financially. I like my Monitor 7's with peerless tweets much better.

Nightfall

westmassguy wrote: »

Two woofers, side by side, producing the same frequencies, instead of a single point. The Monitor 11s and 12s exacerbate the smearing problem, with even more woofers essentially producing the same frequencies. Some 11s and 12s have acoustical foam behind the outer woofers to alter the frequency response, but the problem remains.

That's why you remove the most offending overlapping frequencies via the crossover, such is the complexity of the RTA-12B and C crossovers.

Also, I was under the impression that the Monitor 11's did this via crossover as well and not just the foam?

westmassguy

Nightfall wrote: »

westmassguy wrote: »

Two woofers, side by side, producing the same frequencies, instead of a single point. The Monitor 11s and 12s exacerbate the smearing problem, with even more woofers essentially producing the same frequencies. Some 11s and 12s have acoustical foam behind the outer woofers to alter the frequency response, but the problem remains.

That's why you remove the most offending overlapping frequencies via the crossover, such is the complexity of the RTA-12B and C crossovers.

Also, I was under the impression that the Monitor 11's did this via crossover as well and not just the foam?

I've not worked on the 11s. We don't have schematics, just rudimentary circuit board sketches for the 11s. It appears and additional Inductor was added to one of the woofers. Not as elaborate as the RTA 12 B/C though.

vcwatkins

MaryMitchell wrote: »

sweet spot

ignore spot

soundfreak1

Good loud boomy , Not a "critical listening " speaker. Depends what you want to listen to.if you want clean detailed sound these are not for you! Check the drivers #'s may be hard to find original drivers for parting out.