Monitor 7 vs 5JR

dpage

I bought a pair of each recently. Both have the SL2500 tweeter. I thought they would sound similar but the 5JR's are very bright sounding whereas the 7's are just the opposite, kind of dull. It's very apparent when I turn on multi channel audio or run test tone to them. Is this normal? Could the different crossover design and cabinet sound that much different, considering the tweeter, midrange, and passive are identical? If normal I'd prefer to sell the 5jr's and use monitor 4's for surrounds since they're much smaller.

FWIW the 7 sounds fantastic with some eq'ing.

pitdogg2

apples to oranges

5jr doesn't have passive 5jr+ does and it is 6 1/2"

7 does have passive and it should be 8" IIRC and of course much bigger cabinet than either of the 5 models


all up in age and should have their cross overs recapped with much better film caps instead of the electrolytic's and or Mylar caps. They could be way out of spec.

cnh

+1. A number of differences between those two models and as P-dogg states above cabs and passives are bigger in the 7s. A lot!

Sounds like a crossover problem as well. I've never heard a set of 7s that sound "dull". They usually have a reasonably detailed top end and wonderful imaging and sound stage for a monkey coffin cab!

Nightfall

I've never heard a vintage Polk sound dull, even the smooth Peerless models don't sound dull to me. I don't have any advice for you, just a personal observation. If you put your ear up to the tweeters while they are playing you can hear them producing high frequencies, right?

pitdogg2

Nightfall wrote: »

I've never heard a vintage Polk sound dull, even the smooth Peerless models don't sound dull to me. I don't have any advice for you, just a personal observation. If you put your ear up to the tweeters while they are playing you can hear them producing high frequencies, right?

yea i was thinking the same, and could they be fused? But with SL2500 you would think not and there is that maybe someone changed out the tweeter for the better 2500 instead of the SL2000.....many questions

dpage

They are both series 2. 7's and 5JR+ with SL2500's. And like I said when eq'd the 7's sound great. It was more how bright the JR's were that surprised me. And how different they sound with same tweeters. I much prefer the eq'd 7's to the JR's. I guess I just expected them to have very similar sound, but they definitely don't. Very different crossovers though so maybe it's just that. Thanks,

TCK

A great feature of the series 2 is that they take the RDO198 tweets as replacements for the SL2500. That would open up those 7s & give them a much cleaner & clearer sound.

Hofy

If they are still stock originals, the first step would be to rebuild the crossovers. Personally I would keep the 7's and upgrade them to TOTL.

TCK

The first thing I would do is put those SL2500 5 jrs tweets in the 7s & see if they brighten up. That may get them up & running till he can get to the upgrades.

teekay0007

pitdogg2 wrote: »

apples to oranges

5jr doesn't have passive 5jr+ does and it is 6 1/2"

7 does have passive and it should be 8" IIRC and of course much bigger cabinet than either of the 5 models


all up in age and should have their cross overs recapped with much better film caps instead of the electrolytic's and or Mylar caps. They could be way out of spec.

Some 5jr's have passives (6-1/2") also. I'm sitting next to such a pair right now.

Monitor 7's have 10" passives.

Yes, the suggested mods/upgrades do make a sweet difference! Enjoy!

pitdogg2

teekay0007 wrote: »

Some 5jr's have passives (6-1/2") also. I'm sitting next to such a pair right now.



Yes, the suggested mods/upgrades do make a sweet difference! Enjoy!

I'm not aware of any 5jr's that have passives 5jr+ had passives, I have both maybe Polk forgot to put the + on the badge or used an old Monitor 5 badge

mascab

dpage wrote: »

They are both series 2. 7's and 5JR+ with SL2500's. And like I said when eq'd the 7's sound great. It was more how bright the JR's were that surprised me. And how different they sound with same tweeters. I much prefer the eq'd 7's to the JR's. I guess I just expected them to have very similar sound, but they definitely don't. Very different crossovers though so maybe it's just that. Thanks,

What frequencies are you boosting with the 7's? I have a pair of 5JR+ where the very high frequencies are dead and the mids and upper vocal range is mashed together. I would like to know if there is a sound difference by swapping a tweeter or two between them, or if you rebuild the crossovers.

Polkaguy58

I have two pair of 5Jr's and a pair of 5's and agree that the Jr's have a brighter more nasal tone to them than my 5's.
After running all 4 Jr's and a sub for awhile, I decided to return my 5's as the mains and the Jr's for the rears.
It's the difference in tone that seem to compliment eachother.
In other words, the Jr's have what the 5's lack (mids).

littlewoodboats

I have both 7's and 5jr+ series II and do not notice huge differences in the upper and mids. The 7's sound fuller and dig deeper when used for two channel. For theater crossed at 80hz the differences were minimal. The crossovers in both sets have been updated with dayton film caps and mills resistors.

As others have said the new tweeters will make a big difference.