Wherein Micah returns (promises not to say anything negative) to sell his Classic Monitor 7Bs

Micah Cohen

Yeah, he's back. Your favorite Polk Audio troll. AKA Socks. You love to hate him, and yet you hang on his every word. Even your "cease & desist" letters bounce right off his skinny little chest. He wrote the words that make the whole world sing about Polk Audio, and you can't defeat him!

Anyway, long time no forum. I had to let a lot of water go under the bridge before I decided to post again. Plus, I got some stuff to sell you suckers, and it's right up your alley, believe me.

It's a pair of Monitor 7Bs, and here's the story about 'em; the "provenance" for you pinky-ring audiophiles.

Picture this: it's the late 90s. I'm in a basement in Highlandtown, hon, and I'm covered with garbage. It's the basement of a hoarder, and I'm cleaning it out by myself, filling a dumpster out on the back slab. Far in a corner of the crowded basement, I moved some boxes of junk, black garbage bags of smelly old clothes, a bicycle, and something wrapped in fabric that feels soft like a human body parts. There, up against the wall, covered in dust and debris, sit a pair of huge wooden bookshelf speakers. I see the fuse, I see the label: Polk Audio.

Upon further inspection, I see they're basically destroyed. Most of the drivers are broken, pierced and torn. The wood cabinet is abused and drab. Nevertheless, I carry them to my car and bring them to work the next day. (Remember, "work" for me then was as your friendly neighborhood marketing copywriter right here at Polk Audio! Read my words and weep!)

I was wheeling this pair of big bookshelf speakers down the hall, when Matt Polk (remember him?) leaned out of his office and said to me, "Hey, I made those."

Matt Polk made these speakers.

Seeing the condition they were in, he told me to take them in the back, to the wood shop, and have Darrell (awesome!) rebuild them and refinish them. "Let's see if we can get them to work again," Matt said.

Darrell worked some magic. These speakers not only work, they sound great. All the drivers were replaced, all the surrounds were replaced, and as far as I know all the inner connections were reset, along with the fuses. He did the best he could with the finish, which is veneer over MDF. When you see pictures of the things, you will see the nicks and scrapes, and some paint stains. But when we connected them, they played like new. A circa 1974 pair of Polk Audio Monitor 7Bs. Suck it!

I'm missing a grille. I could swear there were two grilles when I brought the speakers into the wood shop, but it was so many years ago, and so much aforementioned water under the bridge, that I can't account for the left grille. Or maybe it's the right grille. Turns out you can buy them on eBay for just a few dollars.





Plenty more pics where those came from.

So anyway, I'm not here to talk about what's become of our beloved Polk Audio. I'm not here to talk about the bad writing run amok on the website. I let sleeping dogs lie. All I want to do is find someone who wants this historic pair of rebuilt and refurbished 1974 Monitor 7Bs.

I want to sell them, possibly to you, music lover.

I'm not really sure how to do that, because they are really big (14 x 10 x 24) and weigh a lot. Shipping them would be very expensive. Maybe you would come pick them up from me? He would drive all over the country to pick up an old refurbished pair of loudspeakers missing a grille? Maybe you would.

I'd like to get a couple three hundred dollars for them, but I'm not greedy and I'd be willing to make a deal, especially if I can get out of shipping them. (I'm in Charlotte NC.)

What do you think, Polk people? Anyone? Bueller?

Micah

mhardy6647

You're a thousand miles too far away -- but that's a great story.

Don't they have CL in Charlotte?

;-)

GLWTS, as they say.

... and nice to see you roundabout these parts (although you likely don't know/remember me)!

rooftop59

Awesome dude, great to see you back.

You price is pretty vague, and the fm rules stipulate you need to list a price, or course it can be OBO.

I would love these, but many miles and no space prevent me. But I am sure someone will be stoked to get them!

GLWS!!

daboyz

This is Micah, man. Rules don't apply!

BDT

Mine. Sold. I want em. I'll come get them...

F1nut

Damn, they're coming out of the wood work.

Where's my Christmas card.....slacker!

Micah Cohen

I love you guys (and gals, if any; Micah is always inclusive). I had no idea I'd get any response to this, didn't know people still looked at this forum. But I love how y'all have made this your own little internet area, a private club. I encourage this. I'm sure none of your own Polk Audio speakers (what's to own anymore?), but that's ok, right? (Oops, I was just negative there, wasn't I? Sorry! Don't "ban" me!)

I'm thinking about $300 for this pair of 7Bs. They are in rough condition. And location is important. Fat chance I'm shipping these things, ya know? That'd add a hundred dollars to the cost, and I don't think it's worth it. Local pickup is best. Email me direct and I'll send you more pictures.

Thanks for the responses. Hmmm... Maybe I'll make this forum one of my regular stops again. Until they wise up and delete my password info!

Micah

tonyb

To be honest pal, 3 bones seems a bit high for those. Just sayin'.....more power to ya should you sell them at that price. My favorite monitor from that series I might add.

Please do stop by more often, we could use another smart a&& around here. lol If you noticed, the PC machine has been ramped up into overdrive and certain common slang verbage is not allowed anymore. Never stops the creative minds though, pretty soon we'll have to start using pig Latin.

BTW....love the Avatar. Not many young-uns remember that wonderful piece of literature.

Micah Cohen

Maybe a little high, you're right. They are in rough condition, missing a grille. I said something similar to lightman1. I'd be willing to take less, especially because he's local here. I'm waiting for him to get back to me on it. I'm not greedy. I want someone to enjoy them, and I need the closet space. So, I'm not taking a hard line on "the value" of these things, ya know?

Micah

tonyb

Need the closet space ? How many tie-dyed T-shirts you still got ?

Jstas

I dunno, maybe $300 is high but how many 7B's do you know the exact provenance on after Polk Audio's in-house shop refurbed them?

That's like Carroll Shelby himself (if he was still around) rebuilding your '65 GT350 just because he wanted to see it run again. All of a sudden, that GT350 doubles in value at least for the mere fact that Shelby himself took an interest in it.

If I was closer I'd grab them but it seems there's a waiting list already, anyway.


Also, Micah, I know it seems like there isn't but there really is some cool stuff worth owning in the non-youngwhippersnapper loudspeaker market from Polk Audio. While the prices are considerably high than they were 10, 15, 25 years ago, they are still relative bargains in today's market. So while the criticism is shared by many here, don't be TOO hard on them.

F1nut

BDT wrote: »

Mine. Sold. I want em. I'll come get them...

Micah, did you miss this? That's TroyD.

Micah Cohen

Yeah, lightman1 emailed me first. But I heard from Troy. He said he was "banned," and we had a laugh over that. Lightman1's here in CLT. If I can get him to take these I might just bring them to him, easy. If he doesn't want them then we'll take an opportunity to visit Troy and Wendi and I'll take Troy's money. He owes me, anyway.

Micah

tonyb

Cool, looking forward to seeing Troy's noggin photo shopped on something. Don't know what exists though that his noggin hasn't appeared on.

lightman1

A confirmed Micah Cohen sighting!
He was here!

tonyb

Kinda wondering.....about that big grin on his face, and the fact we can't see where your other hand is.

Hope you 2 had some laughs.

lightman1

Yep Tony. Sat around listening to some remastered Patsy Cline through the jolida. Forgot how fun those 7s are. All in good working order. A little refurb on the cabinets and they'll y back to 100%. The lady folks yappin about how bad significant others we are blah blah blah turned up the volume....What ,honey? Speak up please!

cnh

Really? I thought Micah was Ruler of the Hobbit Troll universe. That pic with Russ would put him at a minimum of 6' tall if not a bit more because Russ is bending down! lol Is that what we call misrepresentation? Did he take HGH as a teenager? lol

lightman1

Nope. I'm leaning in a bit. I have him by about a foot.
The 7b sound most sweet. Love that classic Polk richness. And they are mine. Great pedigree as well. Thanks a bunch, Micah!

Nightfall

I'm barely over 5 foot tall, somewhere around 5'3"-4" or so. I'm a friggin' hobbit, Micah isn't a short guy by any means. At 32 years old I'm still waiting for this so called "growth spurt" I was suppose to go through 18 years ago or so.

lightman1

He seemed short to me. Go figure.

Micah Cohen

I'm standing on a chair in that picture. (I thought you promised to destroy all the evidence, man!)



SOLD! To the tall man in the front of the room.

Here's my side of the story, officer: Waking before dawn yesterday, I hauled these awesome bad boys up to lightman1's beautiful secluded getaway-slash-survivalist compound (who knew this state was so... big).

There, he & Linda welcomed us, and Russ set up the 7Bs for an impromptu bare-wire demo (dry and crisp Asleep @ The Wheel, a gloriously remastered Patsy Cline, etc). Thankfully, even with no warm-up, they sounded great. We nodded, and agreed: there's just something so detailed and so accessible about their sound. It's not volume level so much as a surprisingly lifelike depth and breadth.

I don't have the technical knowledge of tweeter types and crossover settings that Russ has, but he was pleased, and that's what counted. I was so grateful to be able to pass these amazing loudspeakers on to someone who appreciates the heritage of them. Maybe Russ can further renovate them and bring them up to the glorious, fully-restored level they deserve. Please take pictures every step of the way, if you do.

Thank you so much, Russ & Linda, for having us to your home. We tried not to mess things up too much. (Sorry for that!)

Also, thanks to this forum and all the great people here who've stuck around for years despite the waverings and fluctuations of the company itself. I promise to keep posting. I'm just trying to think of some more fun stories from the Polk past. Maybe we didn't have as much fun as I thought I remembered?

Micah

F1nut

I'm just trying to think of some more fun stories from the Polk past. Maybe we didn't have as much fun as I thought I remembered?

I told you those mushrooms were bad for ya.

tonyb

LMAO !!!!

lightman1

He's good people.

lightman1

I don't remember... Tweeters up or tweeters down????

tonyb

lightman1 wrote: »

I don't remember... Tweeters up or tweeters down????

Does it matter ?

Wait.....you mean women or speakers ?

lightman1

tonyb wrote: »

lightman1 wrote: »

I don't remember... Tweeters up or tweeters down????

Does it matter ?

Wait.....you mean women or speakers ?

Heeheee! Speakers! Gutter boy!