why no fiber rings ?

leftwinger57

I've checked and there are no fiber/beauty rings used on any SDAs. I notice crap like this and since just about all the drivers from the vintage line ,5s 7s,&10s are the same size wise, why are they not used on any SDA model. True they are purely cosmetic and do nothing for the sound, but if butyl surrounds are used universally by Polk, how come none on the SDA line ?

It can't be cost if they are stamping out that many 6.5s and associated passive woofers. My 7s w/ rings and 2Bs sans rings. I'd be amazed if someone knows the answer I surely don't.

pitdogg2

By the time SDA's came out Polk had stopped using them on all lesser models. No conspiracy Lew just unneeded. I have purposely left them off some of my refoaming jobs also.

westmassguy

Lew, they're gaskets, not beauty rings. Most off the shelf speakers have them so they can be front or rear mounted. Polk front mounts all their woofers. Polk may have switched suppliers, and told them to make the drivers sans gaskets.

leftwinger57

Yo dudes, thanks a lot. Little stupid sh$t like that gets my utterly simply mind wandering. I thought for sure someone was going to say the gaskets would change the way the SDA works and I couldn't buy into that one.

TennMan

Do the speakers with the rings in your first photo have flush mounted woofers instead of recessed woofers like SDAs? If so maybe that is the reason they are different.

I'm sure you are right westmassguy but I have worn my eyeballs out trying to see how the gaskets could work on the front side of the woofers. Please enlighten me.

leftwinger57

Tennman, Your on to something there. The 7s are without a doubt not recessed and w. the ring a just about even w/ the roll of the surround. Yes the 2Bs are recessed and I'm kinda liking the blacked out look just the same or better. Different approach, don't know if it matters but it's there. Also to be true beauty rings as I used to call them then there would be no cut outs to get to the screws so gaskets they are.
When Dave gets up I have to ask him something...

westmassguy

TennMan wrote: »

Do the speakers with the rings in your first photo have flush mounted woofers instead of recessed woofers like SDAs? If so maybe that is the reason they are different.

I'm sure you are right westmassguy but I have worn my eyeballs out trying to see how the gaskets could work on the front side of the woofers. Please enlighten me.

Ronnie, picture the front speaker baffle as a piece of MDF, Particle Board, or even Plywood (which many pro speaker cabinets are made from), with a hole in it to mount the woofer in. If the woofer is being mounted on the front side, from the outside of the cabinet, a gasket made from foam or some other material is applied to the rear side of the woofer's mounting flange, and the woofer is screwed or bolted in place from the front. The alternate, is to mount the woofer on the back side, from inside the cabinet. There would be through bolts or studs of some type on the back side of the baffle. The woofer is slid over these bolts or studs, through the mounting holes in the woofer's mounting flange. When tightened from the rear, or inside the cabinet, the fiber gasket seals the woofer to the back side of the baffle. Many pro woofers are mounted this way, probably to prevent tampering. I've rarely seen them mounted from the rear on home audio speakers. If mounted this way in home audio, the woofer would be recessed the thickness of the front baffle, and could affect the sound quality. In pro audio, they're looking for high SPL rather than absolute accuracy.

leftwinger57

Hey Dave, I wanted to ask you something but just so you know all Klipsch Heritage models were rear loaded and access was through unscrewing the back panel. Now after all these years I finally really scoped out your sig and links to the rebuilds. That's all well and good and your work is great but what I want to see is what you did to your 901s and how they are placed. Second, I noticed you have a Carver pre. I'm looking for a pre w/o a tuner and something like I found over on the electronics page. How good are the Carvers and would you go for a #4000 or the Phase Linear #4000 w/ the joystick ?

westmassguy

Lew, Carvers are loved and hated, so pick your poison. There are plenty of pre-amps around, that are newer and have features the old Carvers don't such as digital inputs.
Adcom makes a good pre. I chose the Carver pre, because it has the excellent Carver tuner, mates well with my Carver Amp, and for Shites and Giggles it has the Sonic Hologram Generator. The CT3 has the improved version of the Hologram Generator.
The earlier versions had noisy Motorola ICs. The Phase Linear is even older than the Carvers. The Carver C-4000 appears to be similar to the Phase Linear, but adds Sonic Holography. It predates my CT3, and I believe has the inferior Motorola chips. Others with more Carver knowledge may be better able to answer your question.

My 901s are mounted in a less than optimal location, on top of a huge entertainment Center, that was handed down from my Mom. They're used as background speakers right now.

westmassguy

These are my Continentals, which I restored a few years ago:





The Veneer was refinished on the sides and bottom, new American Walnut was applied to the tops, and the grills were recovered in black "Almost Linen". I washed the fabric about 5 times, until it was dark grey, and dyed it with Red Wine liquid dye.
It's a deep, burnt wine color now, if there is such a color.

The Equalizer of course, was rebuilt with Sonicaps, Elna Silmic II Electrolytics, and Silver Mica Caps. New Transformer, Rectifier Diodes, New Gold Plated RCA Jacks for the Input and Output, and New Walnut Veneer on the Wood Cap:

TennMan

westmassguy wrote: »

... The alternate, is to mount the woofer on the back side, from inside the cabinet. There would be through bolts or studs of some type on the back side of the baffle. The woofer is slid over these bolts or studs, through the mounting holes in the woofer's mounting flange. When tightened from the rear, or inside the cabinet, the fiber gasket seals the woofer to the back side of the baffle.

I don't mean to be argumentative but it doesn't seem that is the case with the woofer shown in the first post. I enlarged a portion of that photo (attached) and it appears to me that the woofer is screwed to the front of the baffle and the beauty ring/gasket is on top of the mounting flange of the woofer. Could that ring be there to hide a rough edge where the rubber laps over the mounting flange? I just can't see how it serves as a gasket.

pitdogg2

If you attached from INSIDE the cabinet that fiber ring keeps the surround from hitting the back side of the front bezel AND seals when screwed down....pretty simple.

and yes it serves two purposes...

TennMan

OK, I missed westmassguys point in his first post when he said they CAN be mounted on the rear of the baffle. I read it to say they WERE mounted on the rear baffle. Now that I went back and read his post carefully it all makes sense. Sorry for the confusion on my part.

leftwinger57

Hey Dave thanks for the view. I wasn't sure if you wanted to show your house or do it p/m style. You do some awesome work and I can't wait for those refreshed x-overs are back in my M7s. Tracking said they made to Mass. already from last Friday and you should get them any day now. Thanks again. Not to belabor the point but I don't think it was a neatness issue at all for Polk to use them on older Monitor series sets and not on SDAs since so many were already stamped out by Polk or an outside source then why not do all there sets. I like Pitts answer just went away w/ time basically.