Building a pair of Polk Monitor 10's
My name is William and I have decided to build a pair of DIY Polk Monitor 10's.
I have been a long time fan of Polk Monitor Series speakers ever since I heard my first pair of 10's in High School. Now later in life, I have been revisiting the old days of big audio systems and precise speakers. I have put together a couple systems using vintage components I remember always wanting but could never scrape up enough lawn mowing money to buy.
I have a pair of Polk 5's and two pairs of 4's. They sound great and now I'm ready to move up to the next step. I'm skipping the 7's and want a pair of unique 10's.
I have searched the webs for a decent pair of 10's over the years but they are pricey, risky to ship and will most likely either be ready for replacement parts or have already been fiddled with. I got burnt on one of my pairs of 4's buying them from eBay. They arrived in very good cosmetic condition but both drivers were frozen. Nobody's fault, just the nature of vintage Polk drivers with depredated adhesive and the impacts form shipping. $110 later with a pair of Polk drivers and I have an expensive pair of vintage Polk bookshelf speakers. Was it worth it? I'm on the fence but I will never sell them.
So I have come to the conclusion I'm going to make a pair of Monitor 10's from the ground up, essentially ending up with a brand new pair, made to a standard far beyond Polk's original mass produced product, ending up with a pair of Polk "prototypes" before the bean counters got their hands on them and strip the craftsmanship and quality to something they can make money on...
So the theme is a speaker that looks like the original but made from quality materials, excellent craftsmanship, attention to detail, even the details you can't see but certainly can hear. A pair of speakers that only a devoted Polk aficionado could appreciate.
I'm an amateur furniture maker so I am confident I can make a great looking pair of cases and a bit of a renaissance man but in no way an expert on electronics. My intensions are to use original Polk parts when practical, update the drivers, and maybe test a few ideas along the way.
I'm starting this thread not just to inform the world of my progress but to hopefully have you chime in and keep me from doing something silly. I'll post pictures and even include some of the data I have mined that I'm using as my guide.
So here we go. Let me start by showing you what I have already acquired in the next few posts.
William
I have been a long time fan of Polk Monitor Series speakers ever since I heard my first pair of 10's in High School. Now later in life, I have been revisiting the old days of big audio systems and precise speakers. I have put together a couple systems using vintage components I remember always wanting but could never scrape up enough lawn mowing money to buy.
I have a pair of Polk 5's and two pairs of 4's. They sound great and now I'm ready to move up to the next step. I'm skipping the 7's and want a pair of unique 10's.
I have searched the webs for a decent pair of 10's over the years but they are pricey, risky to ship and will most likely either be ready for replacement parts or have already been fiddled with. I got burnt on one of my pairs of 4's buying them from eBay. They arrived in very good cosmetic condition but both drivers were frozen. Nobody's fault, just the nature of vintage Polk drivers with depredated adhesive and the impacts form shipping. $110 later with a pair of Polk drivers and I have an expensive pair of vintage Polk bookshelf speakers. Was it worth it? I'm on the fence but I will never sell them.
So I have come to the conclusion I'm going to make a pair of Monitor 10's from the ground up, essentially ending up with a brand new pair, made to a standard far beyond Polk's original mass produced product, ending up with a pair of Polk "prototypes" before the bean counters got their hands on them and strip the craftsmanship and quality to something they can make money on...
So the theme is a speaker that looks like the original but made from quality materials, excellent craftsmanship, attention to detail, even the details you can't see but certainly can hear. A pair of speakers that only a devoted Polk aficionado could appreciate.
I'm an amateur furniture maker so I am confident I can make a great looking pair of cases and a bit of a renaissance man but in no way an expert on electronics. My intensions are to use original Polk parts when practical, update the drivers, and maybe test a few ideas along the way.
I'm starting this thread not just to inform the world of my progress but to hopefully have you chime in and keep me from doing something silly. I'll post pictures and even include some of the data I have mined that I'm using as my guide.
So here we go. Let me start by showing you what I have already acquired in the next few posts.
William
Will I am
Comments
Unfortunately the seller thought you could wrap some bubble wrap around them and stuff them in a USPS bag and not get damaged.
I found another single driver of the same vintage to replace the board.
I have seen where some have replaced Polk drivers with these and say they are just as good if not better but the result is always subjective. If any of you have a pair of drivers that I could do a side to side comparison, I'm interested in buy for a reasonable price.
I also bought a pair of Dayton 8 ohm shielded tweeters but I have reconsidered using the these and have ordered a pair of new SL2000 Polk tweeters. This way I know this was Polk's initial intent and won't have any surprises.
Polk RT8
Polk Monitor 7s
Working on getting SDAs
Part # 295-305
https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc160-8-6-1-2-classic-woofer--295-305
Of course these go on sale right after buying a pair...
You may get the original intent, but the SL2000 tweeter in all honesty, is not a great tweeter. It has some issues, with smoothness of sound caused by a peak around 12-13 khz.
Not horrible, mind you, but much better can be found for far less money.
Polk also has replacement tweeters that are better sounding, that remove the issues of the SL2000.
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Electro Voice EV-SIX
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Advent-Now gone
Yamaha A-S801
Yamaha RX-V377
Yamaha RX-A860
Yamaha RX-A3060
Harman Kardon Hk-350i
Harman Kardon Hk-........
Harman Kardon PM-665
Harman Kardon HK-775
Pioneer.......Stereo Receiver
Village Idiot of Club Polk
Go with the RDO-194-1s, or modify the Crossovers for the RDO-198-1s. Unfortunately, the crossovers you have are early, and appear to be made for Peerless Tweeters, not the later SL1000 or SL2000.
Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer
Cables: Speaker: Furez 10/2 with GLS Locking Banana Plugs
Interconnect: Furez 10/2 with SpeakONs
ICs: Custom Furez by Douglas Connections
Den:
Bose 901 Series II Continentals Restored, Re-Built Equalizer with Elna Silmic IIs, Sonicaps, and Silver Mica Caps
Carver CT-3 Pre, Carver C-500
dhsspeakerservice.com/
Exclusive Distributor of Gimpod's Custom SDA Circuit Boards
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
I have bought RDO-194's and if I had four Polk MW6504's, I would use them.
The crossovers are being completely rebuilt with Sonia caps and mills resitors...
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
Just recieved my eBay PS's. I need to add some sound dampening material to the cage and they will be ready to install.
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
I had a large walnut tree fall in the woods four years ago. I was cutting it up for Firewood and found the log was nearly all heartwood and worth milling. I had it cut up in 4 and 8 quarter planks, quarter saw which gave me 6" planks. So this will be used for the body. The back will be birch Baltic plywood, the front will be the same laminated with black mat vinyl sheet. I have started making my router templates for the components. I know this is way overboard for functionality but form is very important for this project as well as function, just as important.
Veneered plywood is an excellent choice, even MDF. Very stable.
Let me know how your project goes...
Also using new 194 tweeters.
Village Idiot of Club Polk
Village Idiot of Club Polk
So yes, the inherent flaw of side by side mids is called lobing, which means the imagining is smeared. Of course, the 7's don't have that issue and it was addressed in the Model (RTA/Monitor) 11's as you noted, which you also noted correctly as being very good sounding speakers, way better than the 10's.
willwilly, as DSkip noted plywood is a poor choice unless it's Baltic Birch, but even then MDF is a more inert and uniform product, which is why almost all speaker cabinets are made from it. Furthermore, using different materials for the cabinet walls is simply a bad idea.
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk
I'm curious why baltic plywood is a bad choice. I'll accept using different cabinet components could change the resonance of the air chambers, but can you elaborate on what attribute of plywood, or any other material that is different than the low density partial board laminated with vinyl shelf paper that Polk used would create a deficit in sound quality? What makes MDF a highly accepted speaker cabinet material? Or is it simply cheap and easy to work with?
Baltic plywood is not your typical dog house building material. It's construction results in absolutely no voids in the laminates, offers great stability and durability.
Also, isn't the poly batting suppose to reduce the effects of the cabinet resonating?
Or is it the fact that anything different than what was originally used during testing would change the end result. To that point: I am confident the resonate quality of the M10 prototype cabinet was tested, but the consistency of the cabinet material throughout the years of production was almost assuredly inconsistent and not considered, with cost being the motivating factor.
I can only respond to your disappointment with this, understand what the goal of this project is... I'm making a pair of Monitor 10's using the most accepted electronic component recipe, original Polk components, and actual wood in the cabinets. I'm not creating a test bed for improving a supposed flaw in the M10 design.
I am not an audiophile and quite frankly I have no idea what folks mean when they speak of lobing, good imaging or having a tighter bass. I know what I like and I'm limited in my experience with a wide range of high quality speakers.
So when you say your disappointed in my choices, make some suggestions, tell us you found to work, that is what this thread is all about.
I like monitor 10's and want to own my first pair. I just decided to make my own and take pride in the fact that I created a pair of great sounding speakers. I guess I could have just as easily made a pair of JDL'S but I didn't fall in love with a pair of those when I was 18.
Maybe my next pair will be M7's and we can chat about that process.
Great conversation...
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/45379-lobbing-what-laymans-terms.html
You dont know what imaging is? Imaging is the entire point of the stereophonic experience my good man. Otherwise you might as well be listening to mono from a single speaker.
http://forums.audioreview.com/home-theater-video/what-does-soundstage-imaging-exactly-mean-9713.html
Village Idiot of Club Polk
Village Idiot of Club Polk
I really like the sound of those, with just one woofer. Plus they look nice!
But we also have some small Rti speakers that are nice in other ways..........
........and we have some Lsi speakers that kinda best all of the above in even other ways..........lol
B+W-Sold
Electro Voice EV-SIX
Infinity-Sold
Advent-Now gone
Yamaha A-S801
Yamaha RX-V377
Yamaha RX-A860
Yamaha RX-A3060
Harman Kardon Hk-350i
Harman Kardon Hk-........
Harman Kardon PM-665
Harman Kardon HK-775
Pioneer.......Stereo Receiver