Maple Polk Monitor 20s

Rambo

Hey guys, this is my first post here! I've come to really enjoy the Polk brand in the past few years, from car audio to home theater. A little about me, I am 24 years old. I have always had a thing for music, and I've been installing stereos and building cabinets for 8 years. I just wanted to share my gear and latest project and get everyones thoughts. It started with my oak monitor 10's I had got in January and the resurgence of vinyl. I started basic but moved quickly as I had received a Marantz 1250 for Easter from my wife's grandfather. He had it sitting in his basement, side up. Eager I got more power, I purchased a Marantz 6100 turntable and a new Ortofon 2m Red cartridge. I thought something was lacking as far as presence so I had sourced another pair of monitor 10's in Chicago for $100 last month. I did not like the unmatched cabinets, and decided to join them. I know I'll catch some haze but hear me out haha. I joined the two together using liquid nail, I had filled the inner grill snaps with wood filler and covered the baffles with Upol Raptor bedliner. I built the surrounding cabinets with 3/4" maple and edge banded each edge. I applied 3 coats of tung oil to bring out the wood grain, I had almost stained but really liked the look of the natural maple. The stands are built with the same material and have a 4 degree tilt, I adhered the Polk badge in the upper corner, and the grills are made with wood and speaker fabric I had gotten at Joann Fabric. I intend to eventually rebuild the crossovers but this is the start. They are currently ran in parallel with a pair in MAIN and the other pair in REMOTE. It brings it down to 3 ohm but my receiver has had no issues as far as temperature or power. I have received a lot of questions about comb filtering as well, but gladly after many demonstrations have only heard how great and more dynamic they sound. I am able to play it with one pair, and then turn on the others. So you truly see the effect. Enjoy

cnh

Interesting. And very nice workmanship! But why didn't you just STACK them the way many stack original Advents? That many mid-drivers firing across such a wide space will only aggravate the already somewhat diffused and slightly smeared sound of the dual woofers in a lone Monitor 10?

Rambo

Actually I had tried stacking them upside down, it gave me the same results as side by side. I knew I left something out lol.

EndersShadow

Nice job man!

Imma tell you the only thing that matters .... How it sounds to you.

Great craftsmanship and with skills like that, I'd suggest you look at some of the DIY kits at madisound, partsexpress or diysoundgroup so you can keep building some really rad speakers for a low cost.

Congrats on the successful execution of your plans. Looks awesome!

leftwinger57

Nice work but for me not a big fan of light wood. My 2Bs were light white oak, water stained but even if not I would have stained them walnut or dark cherry. What interests me more is the finish on the bezels, motor boards or what ever you want to call them. It looks like a powder coat of some kind and looks great.

jeremymarcinko

That's very cool. Excellent work too! Enjoy!

oldrocker

Nice looking project.
Now if you need someplace to store that 6100, I got plenty of room.

cortico

Yeah, your rig is rather cool. I algo like the simplicity aproach. Did you recapped your Amp?

If not, I would do it, starting replacing the relay, main filters and all electrolytic cap on the power supply. This will do wonders to your Marantz. There are tons of help on web forums.

Dabutcher

I really like your system. Your project really blew up into something really nice! You could find a pair of big ash SDAs with cab damage and run wild with the rebuild! I am sure w your skill set you will make them look amazing! Keep us informed. Peace. D