Polk RTA12 Crossover upgrade service? New Passive

jakebake

Sorry I am a little obsessed with getting these RTA12C's I just got to sound and look as best as possible and I'm OK with putting money into it as long as the upgrade is actually a noticeable and big difference. I'd love to increase the soundstage as much as possible. Sorry for any dumb questions...

I don't really have the time or expertise to do the crossover upgrades on these so I'm wondering if anyone here offers a service for this (if in AZ that would be sweet, but will ship).

I much prefer the exposed speaker / no grill look, but with the RTA12's having the exposed tweeter I can't decide. I did see a thread on here where someone redid the top crossover and made it look really good. It would be cool if anyone had an idea for making a good-looking cover for the top that still left the tweeter exposed.

Is there anyway to get a different driver "ring" dunno what to call it or cover kinda like something how Zu Audio looks? Or is this not possible?

Any good tutorial or video on dynamiting the speakers?

I wasn't alive when these were introduced and I'm not a big vintage speaker fanatic I just love how these sound so I don't really care about keeping them looking original. Sorry if that makes anyone sad lol

The grills on mine are seeing some age so if I do use the covers, I'll need to replace the fabric. Some of the cabinets are not looking too hot either so I may use vinyl wrap or something. So, any recommendations for that?

Lastly, one of the passive woofers has a scratch on it...where can I get a new one? I'm probably going to get the RD0194 replacement tweeter as well but its backordered right now.

Any other "easy" to do upgrades that ACTUALLY produce a better sound that's worth the effort?

Oh, and final question... does anyone use a sub with these?

Thanks!

Gardenstater

@westmassguy @vr3 both do crossover work

That and better internal wiring should improve the soundstage among other SQ aspects that will be improved as well.

Those speakers you have already take steps to tame diffractions from the tweeters but you can probably improve on that further with some anti-diffraction wool pads around the tweeter and perhaps even on the ramp.

Those speakers, like mine, have very sharp right angle corners on the enclosure which is terrible for diffraction. Diffraction muddies the sound and hurts the soundstage. Anti-diffraction wool on the baffle around the MW's should help. I've built an anti-diffraction frame with a 1-3/4" radius roundover for my 7B's. Got a nice improvement in soundstage and sound clarity, when combined with the wool.

Rings on the outside are a whole nother issue that I'm thinking about.........

Plenty of info. on DynaMATTING (lol) your stamped steel baskets here. Some who are OCD like myself cover the whole basket. Others do a bunch of rectangular pieces and cover most of it.

I would highly recommend some Armacell foam inside the stamped steel baskets if you are interested in tweaking to get better clarity and transparency. Reduces some of the backwave reflections that would come back out through the cone as out of phase time delayed distortions. See my thread on that.

You will have to do the Blackhole 5 behind your MW's as well. I think a 6"x6" square behind each MW is good.

Jazzhead

No sub needed with your speakers if they are working properly. Make sure they are airtight (search the forum for sealing cabinets and performing the "airtight" test), and set up as a left/right pair. Air leaks will detrimentally affect bass performance. If your "scratched" passive passes the air test and it's just a shallow scratch (no foam missing) you shouldn't have to worry with it (others can chime in on this?). You can add replacing the binding posts to your list of upgrades (an audible upgrade) - there are many options; many of us have had good results with Cardas. If nobody has mentioned it, don't forget to epoxy your driver magnets (search this topic as well). It would be no fun to do all these upgrades and then have a magnet shift (the original Polk adhesive fails with age). You might want to do that first. Also, be sure you place the polyfill up behind the midwoofer area (none in the passive radiator area). Some folks use a few staples to hold it in place. There's plenty of forum information regarding veneering the cabinets if you wish to go down that road.