7 quest'ns for Model 10 gurus. Dual fuse version.
esar
Posts: 7
hi,
Hoping the gurus of the vintage Model 10 can help:
I was given from the original owner a set of 10s in great shape other than having many tears in the butyl rubber mid surrounds (probably bought in the late 70's, original owner's ex-wife's cat nailed the left mid surround of each speaker; curiously no other visible damage.)
Please correct if this is wrong: From what I can tell by reading this forum, these are late-production 10s, before 10A but with some of the changes...
Serial numbers are 52302 and 52536, the paper label on back says "Model 10", with the "10" typed onto the paper. the vinyl is "rosewood", the baffling is polyfill, the tweeter is the flush peerless with the center hole and downward pointing side-leads, the cone of the passive is coated (not uncoated), the mids have a gray paper-fiber ring around the edges above the rubber surround (but the passives do not), the grill connectors are "super-Velcro" and it has the dual fuse holders on the post-plate. There seems to be one original upper (tweeter?) fuse, which is a Buss AGC 1 250V, the other three sockets have either 2.5A or 3A fast-blow in them. As far as I can tell by listening and the push test, all the drivers are working, everything seems in good shape. The white putty which seals the speakers is still very pliable.
My questions are as follows:
(1) what are the recommended amperages for the fuses of the lower (mid?) circuit? (as noted, this one has newish 2.5A and 3A fast-blow fuses in the sockets).
(2) from where can i source the appropriate rubber surround? i see many 6.5" rubber surrounds advertised, but they each have slightly different specs. is there a "most appropriate" replacement?
(3) is it not worth the trouble to do the replacement and just better to buy new mids? if so, is the MW6503 a good-sounding replacement for the mids? this post (http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/148575/just-curious-mw6500-vs-mw6503) suggests they are close. however, i note that other reports suggest that MW6500 and MW6501 may have been used in Model 10s, and that these, especially the MW6501 in terms of ohms, differ from MW6503, which also may have a different sound. thus confused about the appropriate replacement. (the mids have the following written on them, but no paper backing label like the later drivers: "6KU132 557743" -- attaching a photo.)
(4) should I dynamat the driver baskets while I have them out? or is this just a small gain in sound improvement, and for most ears unnecessary?
(5) what is the correct sealing putty? a ring of armacell foam around the interior edge of the driver basket?
(6) other than recapping the cross-overs (which would be a later project I'll outsource), is there anything else I should consider as a priority with these speakers? I plan to JB Weld the magnets on the mid/woofers, which don't have any visible glue, and seem in great shape. Since I am only going to open and close the mids one time, I'm shying away from installing hurricane nuts.
The seventh question: Right now, i've got them hooked up to a mid-quality NAD. I'm considering hooking these up to a Yamaha PC2002M with an as-yet-undecided preamp, possibly a bottlehead smash valve or perhaps c-4 if i can find one. advice on this will be well received.
many thanks,
wonderful forum,
-- ESAR.
Hoping the gurus of the vintage Model 10 can help:
I was given from the original owner a set of 10s in great shape other than having many tears in the butyl rubber mid surrounds (probably bought in the late 70's, original owner's ex-wife's cat nailed the left mid surround of each speaker; curiously no other visible damage.)
Please correct if this is wrong: From what I can tell by reading this forum, these are late-production 10s, before 10A but with some of the changes...
Serial numbers are 52302 and 52536, the paper label on back says "Model 10", with the "10" typed onto the paper. the vinyl is "rosewood", the baffling is polyfill, the tweeter is the flush peerless with the center hole and downward pointing side-leads, the cone of the passive is coated (not uncoated), the mids have a gray paper-fiber ring around the edges above the rubber surround (but the passives do not), the grill connectors are "super-Velcro" and it has the dual fuse holders on the post-plate. There seems to be one original upper (tweeter?) fuse, which is a Buss AGC 1 250V, the other three sockets have either 2.5A or 3A fast-blow in them. As far as I can tell by listening and the push test, all the drivers are working, everything seems in good shape. The white putty which seals the speakers is still very pliable.
My questions are as follows:
(1) what are the recommended amperages for the fuses of the lower (mid?) circuit? (as noted, this one has newish 2.5A and 3A fast-blow fuses in the sockets).
(2) from where can i source the appropriate rubber surround? i see many 6.5" rubber surrounds advertised, but they each have slightly different specs. is there a "most appropriate" replacement?
(3) is it not worth the trouble to do the replacement and just better to buy new mids? if so, is the MW6503 a good-sounding replacement for the mids? this post (http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/148575/just-curious-mw6500-vs-mw6503) suggests they are close. however, i note that other reports suggest that MW6500 and MW6501 may have been used in Model 10s, and that these, especially the MW6501 in terms of ohms, differ from MW6503, which also may have a different sound. thus confused about the appropriate replacement. (the mids have the following written on them, but no paper backing label like the later drivers: "6KU132 557743" -- attaching a photo.)
(4) should I dynamat the driver baskets while I have them out? or is this just a small gain in sound improvement, and for most ears unnecessary?
(5) what is the correct sealing putty? a ring of armacell foam around the interior edge of the driver basket?
(6) other than recapping the cross-overs (which would be a later project I'll outsource), is there anything else I should consider as a priority with these speakers? I plan to JB Weld the magnets on the mid/woofers, which don't have any visible glue, and seem in great shape. Since I am only going to open and close the mids one time, I'm shying away from installing hurricane nuts.
The seventh question: Right now, i've got them hooked up to a mid-quality NAD. I'm considering hooking these up to a Yamaha PC2002M with an as-yet-undecided preamp, possibly a bottlehead smash valve or perhaps c-4 if i can find one. advice on this will be well received.
many thanks,
wonderful forum,
-- ESAR.
Comments
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those are the exact same ones i have. i replaced the sealing putty with foam weather stripping. I also read that electrician's duct seal putty works well. I replaced one of my drivers with another mw6500 (posted ad locally). I see your cabinet have the stuffing all the way to the bottom as well? I removed the stuffing from the lower half of my cabinet (little more boom to my ears). I put 1 amp fast blow fuses for the tweets and 2 amp for the mids
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hi bcbud3,
many thanks for the info.
quick question: what was your basis for choosing 2A for the mids circuit?
another question: did you re-install the layered paper/fiber gray gaskets which encircle the outside (front, eg visible) perimeter of the mids? I have seen something like that on the old BBC LS3/5s as dampeners, and I'm wondering if they served the same purpose here. some photos seem to show them on the passive too, but mine didn't have these present on them.
I just checked to see if the baffle material is all the way to the bottom. It is. I did note that some are recommending that it go no lower than the mids. However, in mine, it descends all the way to the bottom, and is exactly like the photo you showed of yours. There is *no* way this is not intentional. It's very well secured and the layout is the same between our two speakers. Which begs the question: why reduce the internal volume? Were the mids a different mid -- driving air with either more or less power -- than the ones used in speakers which have only polyfill to the bottom of the mids?
these speakers are full of mysteries.
esar
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use ameracell for a gasket works much better. I have found that the weather stripping stuff can stick to the particle board and pull off wood when and IF you ever need to take out the drives again. I would also epoxy the magnets with either loctite power grab or JB weld
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will do -- thanks. good to know about the ameracell.
i've solved one problem on the fuses!
they are spec'd for 2.5A, I think, not 2 -- I just took a photo of the back of the speaker, and saw something I hadn't seen before, which is the fuse amperage lightly penciled in on the original label. attaching photos, one of back, and one blow-up of label.
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Hey Esar, according to your description, these match my 10s that I just acquired. I'm having issues with mine that I have to work on, but I wont go into that right now. Have you done any of the mods to yours yet?
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@grimsonday not yet. finally getting around to replacing 2 of the mid/woofers with cat damage from the previous owner.
