How bad do I want RTA 12B's?

pkquat

Some very clean well cared for RTA 12B's (peerless) popped up near me. They will need a crossover rebuild. What is a reasonable price?

They were a dream speaker at one time but I have too many polks as it is. I am still curious and tempted though, but am not sure if they are worth fixing up and keeping for a while or would replace something. If they were a sceaming deal, I would. My current TOL polks are built 2.3TL, & 1.2TL that need rebuilding, plus some 1c's I have come to really like. I just got some very good condition peerless m7's that need a crossover rebuild that I hope fixes them. They are more layed back and easy listening than I expected. More on that another day. I have RTA 11TL's and some polks that have sentimental value, and others that I need to eventually pass on. Most were around market value.

Tony M

Well I've had a lot of Polk speakers and the RTA12b's have a sound that's fast, solid and bright and crisp. Very nice sound field too! I like them a lot!

A lot of people say they play Jazz very well. In fact, the guy who gave me his pr. said that's all he ever played on them. Now my free pr. had 3 bad drivers in them. but for free, it was a start to hear a model I've heard nothing but good things about. I couldn't afford the 200 or 250 for a pr. when they came on Craig's list years ago.

I've seen them valued at 200 to 350. Check for frozen drivers or even a listening test before you buy. One woofer moved on mine that had NO output.
So 2 frozen and one no output. Just one mid-woofer worked. But the cabinets and grills were in great condition and free.

krazypolk

Tony M wrote: »

Well I've had a lot of Polk speakers and the RTA12b's have a sound that's fast, solid and bright and crisp. Very nice sound field too! I like them a lot!

A lot of people say they play Jazz very well. In fact, the guy who gave me his pr. said that's all he ever played on them. Now my free pr. had 3 bad drivers in them. but for free, it was a start to hear a model I've heard nothing but good things about. I couldn't afford the 200 or 250 for a pr. when they came on Craig's list years ago.

I've seen them valued at 200 to 350. Check for frozen drivers or even a listening test before you buy. One woofer moved on mine that had NO output.
So 2 frozen and one no output. Just one mid-woofer worked. But the cabinets and grills were in great condition and free.

The price was right.

CH46E

I used to have the SRS 2 and the RTA12B. I still have the 12b. Dont underestimate them. They are killer speakers. Even before the xover refurb they sounded awesome.

I still have a pair of 11t with 0194 tweets. But they get used very little.

CH46E

I paid 125 a pair with non working tweeters. Found some peerless on the bay and rebuilt the x overs. Good to go now.

Tony M

Years ago I had a set of SRS2's also. A guy GAVE them to me! I returned the favor and gave him a set of Ohm walsh 2's in fancy veneer that he was eyeing.

I later sold them to get some cash in my pocket.

But I influenced quite a few people with sound sessions on them. Well about a year later, I bought another set of SRS2's w/Adcom 555II amp and Adcom Pre-amp. Still have them all. I JUST replaced the tweeters w/RDO194's around Christmas as a gift to myself for waiting years to do it and I could finally afford it too.

Maybe someday I'll redo the cross-over on top also.

pkquat

TY for the replies.

Plans got moved so hopefully I'll get a chance to hear them this weekend. The ask is around $400, and there is no moving on price. I would assume these have a good deal of punch similar to M10's, or are they still more of a full range easy listening speaker?

While I have not heard SDA 2B's I remember someone saying they have full rich deep bass, but once the volume goes up, eventually the lower bass does not keep up and 1C's and SRS2's do much better. I've been impressed with my 1C's.

motorhead43026

My experience with my 2BTL's is the exact opposite of what you have heard. You do need a high current amp to get get the best results.

I have never heard IC's so I can't make a comparison.

pkquat

Well i got them, and finally got them hooked up. WOW. They still sound very good and the imaging is amazing. They do dig pretty deep, and keep up with the volume pretty good.

There may be more to this story, but I have some investigating to do.

Tony M

I just PM'd to Polk Forum members and my description to them both was WOW also.

Thanks to CH46E exclusively karma'ing and mailing me a woofer designed for this 12b model so I could complete the woofer replacements I needed to do to hear these fully refurbished in the woofer dept..

Today was an experience in music listening enjoyment for sure. Earlier today, I put Chris's woofer in place of a spare one from a Monitor 4 and listened to a few Cds.

And this is coming from somebody who's heard 100 sets of different NICE speaker pairs in my long life.

The RTA12b's are SUPER SPECIAL!

Thanks again for that perfect woofer Chris. Every time I listen to these, your gift will be in my memory!

CH46E

I'm very glad you will get to use it! Enjoy!

Mr. Sharpe

Man if I needed a second pair of the RTA12's id get them. My dad had a pair that he gave me for my birthday when mom told him "too many speakers" lol. They are incredible speakers and they do dig VERY deep. Mine are hooked to a parasound HCA1500.

Try some Michael Murray on the pipe organ (if you're into that type of music at all) you'd be surprised, if not try it anyway:)