New RTA 12B Owner Checking In

PolkFanVA

Jazzhead, that is essentially my way of looking at it. Just moved to a new home with more land ($$$ for equipment, unexpected repairs on the house, etc.) and two young kids so money is tight. My collection and tastes will expand as time and funds allow. Right now I am just glad to have a place to sit and listen. With two little ones I have been stuck behind cans for 6 years or so with now as I can generally only enjoy my music at night for an hour or two while they go down to sleep. I'll take mix and match components all day And loving every minute of the 12B's, that is what started everything for me, still in the shallow end but wading slowly out.

Nightfall

Dude those are mint. Are the tophats in good shape too?

PolkFanVA

Yeah, I will get pics with grilles and top hats on

PolkFanVA

Left front and top




Right front and top




Not bad for towers from 82 I don't think. As far as I know totally original

PolkFanVA

Oops, got left and right tops backward. You all get the idea though

pitdogg2

They are very nice, too nice for the garage.

PolkFanVA

While I'm thinking about it, I think these are the peerless tweeters, Danish I believe but I may be mistaken.

PolkFanVA

Pittdogg, these are my only speakers right now. Hard ru do listening inside, brick ranch and two kids generally sleeping when I listen. Maybe I will move them in and beg for funds for new garage towers (or anything freaky I guess). Heated and cooled in the garage at least and not dusty or greasy. I use the bigger one next to it for projects and cars. Just needed somewhere to park the tractor indoors. That goes next for when the attached garage is cleared off boxes from moving.

pitdogg2

Gotcha

PolkFanVA

Ooh my goodness, F1nut you genius or just know speakersand acoustics than I currently do. I moved the speakers out from center close to walls. Night and day, especially with the studying where it should be. I can take back my cheap sub.

Pittdogg, these might just have to come in to the house. I'll start a new thread on suggestions for reasonably priced "garage" speakers after Thanksgiving unless such a thread exists. All feel free to PM with suggestions. Black swan by Thomas Yorke just came on and I can at least hear and feel the bass even in a less than perfect listening location.

theebisonman

Very nice set of speakers for sure.

PolkFanVA

Moved closer to walls (6" from center, slightly angled to listening position) and set approximate distances from listening position in pre amp. Two nights listening with no sub and these are really growing on me. Not sure if I am going to move them in to my office or move my office out to them. Right now I have one corner almost on the wall and the far corner probably 10-12 inches off. Center line to listening appropriately 6" out. Is that a good position? To my untrained ears it is but would welcome input. Also the sound stage is very position sensitive. If I sit up the mid and bass drop out a bit. Would stands that are slightly angled up help broaden the sound stage (I think that is the proper term).

Gardenstater

I would recommend stands if your ear height isn't at a point midway between the midbass drivers and the tweeters. Those speakers are time aligned so no angling should be necessary if you get the height right. How far apart are the speakers? The old equilateral triangle where the distance from the center of each toed-in speaker to the listener's ear (so baffle is perpendicular to the vector) is the same and equal to the distance between the center of the speaker baffles. That's the starting point. If anything you may want to toe the speakers out from there to broaden the soundstage.

I actually prefer my 7B's pulled considerably out into my room that has a 3 sided cantilevered bay of windows behind the speakers. They are up on vibration isolation stands that put the midbass/tweeter 39"/44" high off the floor. In my room it works for a deep soundstage to have the speakers pulled in from rear wall about 5ft and sound absorbing room treatments over the windows behind the speakers. No WAF involvement and there is no major issue with lack of bass even before I added the Martin Logan Dynamo sub, also on a vibration isolation platform with a bass brace at the top going to a stationary object (prevents any rocking motion). Of course, bass is kick A now.

F1nut

Gardenstater wrote: »

I would recommend stands if your ear height isn't at a point midway between the midbass drivers and the tweeters.

Wrong, tweeters at ear height.

Those speakers are time aligned so no angling should be necessary if you get the height right.

Right

I actually prefer my 7B's pulled considerably out into my room that has a 3 sided cantilevered bay of windows behind the speakers. They are up on vibration isolation stands that put the midbass/tweeter 39"/44" high off the floor. In my room it works for a deep soundstage to have the speakers pulled in from rear wall about 5ft and sound absorbing room treatments over the windows behind the speakers. No WAF involvement and there is no major issue with lack of bass even before I added the Martin Logan Dynamo sub, also on a vibration isolation platform with a bass brace at the top going to a stationary object (prevents any rocking motion). Of course, bass is kick A now.

Your nightmare has no relevancy to the OP's situation.

Gardenstater

"Your nightmare has no relevancy to the OP's situation."

LOL. It may or may not. We are talking about different speakers and different rooms. It's called a conversation.

Happy Black Friday

PolkFanVA

All input is welcome for sure, I've always been a believer in tweeters at or as close as possible to ear level when in listening position. Slightly angled in towards the listener. Right now I have the outer edge nearly on the wall and then gradually angle towards listening position. This puts the centerline of the tweeter and mids roughly 6" from the wall and maybe 10-12 at the outer edge. This reproduces much better bass and mids. Should I pull the edges away from the wall side or dthat setup sound reasonable?

Gardenstater

Every room is different and every floor is different. Experiment until you like what you hear the best. Midrange driver sound best on axis and so do tweeters. If they are close together anyway on the speaker baffle, it is not crazy or out of line to line up the ears with the midpoint between the two. That is what I found sounded best for my 7B's but you may feel differently with your RTA 12B's.

What type of floor do you have? What is the size of the room (if you haven't stated)? My experience is too close to walls can give muddier base, but your experience may be different. Usually at audio shows, in small hotel rooms, speakers are not close to the walls, however I was in one room once where the guy had the speakers right in the corners and was raving about how much bass he was getting. Just sounded off and muddy to my ears.

I got my bass to be much tighter and solid by using vibration isolation stands. My floor is wooden over wooden floor joists, room is over a basement. Concrete patio blocks of various sizes can make nice temporary stands to try different speaker heights. Use some anti skid rug backer between the concrete and the floor (small pieces at the corners) and between the speaker and the concrete to prevent damage.

PolkFanVA

24x24 rough measurements, garage with concrete floor. Plywood on the walls, insulation behind. Two tables and an old leather sofa for furniture. I moved the sofa so that my listening position is as centered as possible. 12' from either wall, speakers each approximately 15' in frontat the outer walls angled in to me. Subduing good for a garage with concrete floor.

Gardenstater

OK I got to thinking that you had moved them inside. I see not. A room of that size is a big bass suck and hard to pressurize. Did you try them inside in office? That would probably be best bet.

PolkFanVA

Haven't had a chance to move them in, too many items in the fire at the moment. Even with this being a bass suck I'm more impressed the more I listen. My reference track at the moment is Chameleon by Herbie Hancock from the SDA suggested listening section. Sounded good last night, with the changes tonight it's even better. Also played Cell Phones Dead by Beck as he samples that song. I will report my findings when they go inside, fur now assume no change in room. I will specify when that happens.

Nightfall

In every room I've had my 12Bs I have preferred toe in crossing behind my head a little so not pointed directly at you but a little bit out from that. It's up to you though. The more straight they are the wider the stage and the more toe in the more solid the images are. Find the balance. Every room and speakers are different. My Rosso's sound best with next to no toe.

CH46E

@PolkFanVA could you do me a favor and take a close look at the tweeter terminals and tell me which on has the red dot on it? The black or white wire?

I've got to put the peerless tweets back in so I can ditch these awful sl1500 silver faced tweeters. They are killing my ears.

pitdogg2

Chris,
Black tweeter wire goes to negative
White tweeter wire to red dot or positive.
The vintage speaker section shows this.

The signal does a 180° phase shift in the XO so when hooked up in this manner it is brings it back into correct phase.

CH46E

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Chris,
Black tweeter wire goes to negative
White tweeter wire to red dot or positive.
The vintage speaker section shows this.

The signal does a 180° phase shift in the XO so when hooked up in this manner it is brings it back into correct phase.

Thanks pitt. I always get confused on that, plus the fact that I put red and black AudioQuest cable in from the board to the tweeter. Just adds to the confusion.

pitdogg2

If you put the black on the same side as it was you're good
Blk neg
Red pos

I do believe this was the only Polk speaker built this way so yea understandable

CH46E

I think I did.

Sorry @PolkFanVA not trying to highjack. Just needed quick advice. Sorry bro.....

Gardenstater

Chris just to be on the safe side make sure the tab on the Peerless with the red dot connects up to the trace on PCB that has the 27uF capacitors, regardless of wire color.

CH46E

Ok got them wired up. Will solder the joints tomorrow. But man. What a difference putting the Peerless in. I had a nice rock out jam. Perma smile the entire time.