The TL Trifecta

dkfreebird

Picked these beasts up on Saturday to complete my Sda tl series collection and I didn't realize how big these were till I got them in the same room with the 2.3tl's.I think I can see now why the wife was not to pleased.

I spent most of the day Saturday cleaning them up and massaging out 3 dented dust caps and then pulling all the drivers to make sure they are correct.This should be a fun upgrade but I can see the money flying out of my wallet as I type.

I cant wait to move them over to where the 2.3tl's are and give them a good listening to and compare them to the modded 2,3's but that is a whole day ordeal with the size of these things.

oldrocker

VERY nice!

xjghost

Nice! Congrats! One day I hope to have some of those in my listening room..... Got to get the listening room first though.....

dkfreebird

That will be my next goal.I have the room for them now but it is not ideal.We will make our final house payment in two months and will be debt free in 3 more and then I can work on the best room for that.

xjghost wrote: »

Nice! Congrats! One day I hope to have some of those in my listening room..... Got to get the listening room first though.....

Moose68Bash

Congratulations!

Those look like they are in great shape!

dkfreebird

Thanks
They are in great shape but could use refinishing on the tops.Can anyone point me to a thread that covers that process and also how to take the side trim off?

ken brydson

F1

dkfreebird

Yep Figured that would be the answer,I have been doing some digging and see the ones about stain removals. I want to redo all of them and just don't know what to sand them down with( and how far) and what stain to use.They are the walnut finish.

dkfreebird

Couple of pics of the tops.

gudnoyez

Wow congrats that tops my SDA trifecta, besides your 3.1 and your 2.3 what other TL do you own?

dkfreebird

I just picked up these 1.2tl's a few days ago.

Rex81

I'm not a SRS expert (just picked up my first pair this week), but I do a lot of refinishing of speaker cabinets. Totally up to you, but I don't think you need to refinish those at all. They look really clean to me. The finish is good, it's just a little dried out.

My recommendation is save yourself some money and about 4 hours of your time and simply use two products that I swear by.

1. Liberally apply Howard's Restore-A-Finish in the Mahogany tone with #0000 steel wool. Use a medium amount of pressure, with the grain. Not like you're sanding with it, but don't be afraid to make some contact. This will buff out that light scratch and fill in the grey toned wood. Once it's all applied, rub it down with a rag or towel to get any residual oil.

2. After 30 minutes, apply Howard's Feed-N-Wax, again liberally, in a circular motion, to all the wood you just applied the finish to. If your SRS were like mine, the wood will soak this stuff right up. Once you have a nice coat on there, wait 20 minutes, then come back and remove the excess.

With $15 in materials and 15 minutes of labor, I guarantee those things will shine like new. And smell good too!

DarqueKnight

dkfreebird wrote: »

Can anyone point me to a thread that covers that process and also how to take the side trim off?

Congrats on your purchase.

This thread discusses it, unfortunately, the pictures did not carry over with the new forum format.

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/26036/sda-srs-1-2tl-side-panel-removal

Figure 11 of this thread shows what the cabinets look like with the side panels and top/bottom caps off:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/131134/curly-maple-end-caps-and-side-strips-for-the-sda-srs

dkfreebird

Rex81 wrote: »

I'm not a SRS expert (just picked up my first pair this week), but I do a lot of refinishing of speaker cabinets. Totally up to you, but I don't think you need to refinish those at all. They look really clean to me. The finish is good, it's just a little dried out.

Thanks for the info but if you look at the 2nd pic there is a faint ring on the top and the side of the top on one looks like someone tried to touch it up with to dark of stain.

DarqueKnight wrote: »

dkfreebird wrote: »

Can anyone point me to a thread that covers that process and also how to take the side trim off?

Congrats on your purchase.

This thread discusses it, unfortunately, the pictures did not carry over with the new forum format.

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/26036/sda-srs-1-2tl-side-panel-removal

Figure 11 of this thread shows what the cabinets look like with the side panels and top/bottom caps off:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/131134/curly-maple-end-caps-and-side-strips-for-the-sda-srs

Thanks DK. I looked at the thread and it pretty much explained what I needed to know.I slid a flat scraper in between the sides and can feel the posts that are in the pic.

Rex81

You're obviously more of a perfectionist than I am.

Restore-A-Finish will remove water rings if applied with the 0000 steel wool. Might not be quite as effective on the touch up spot, though. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

dkfreebird

Lol,not really a perfectionist but I would like them to look as nice as they can.I have a lot of upgrades to do to them and am going to try to do the cheaper ones first.

dkfreebird

DarqueKnight wrote: »

dkfreebird wrote: »

Can anyone point me to a thread that covers that process and also how to take the side trim off?

Congrats on your purchase.

This thread discusses it, unfortunately, the pictures did not carry over with the new forum format.

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/26036/sda-srs-1-2tl-side-panel-removal

Figure 11 of this thread shows what the cabinets look like with the side panels and top/bottom caps off:

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/131134/curly-maple-end-caps-and-side-strips-for-the-sda-srs

Thanks for the links,I used a flat blade and found the posts that it shows.That will make it easier to break them down.

PolkieMan

Nice! You didn't find those in Texas sonny :-)

dkfreebird

I actually picked them up less than 5 miles from the house.The 2.3tl's were about a mile away and the 3.1's were about 15 miles away.I've been real lucky finding them so close to the house.