How To Remove Grille from Patio 200/Atrium 5?
TheWaterbug
Posts: 4
I purchased this as a Patio 200, but from some reading around here it seems like it's a rebranded Atrium 5.
The Atrium 5 manual (Patio 200 manual doesn't exist?) says to insert a bent paperclip and pull "gently," but how gently? It doesn't release under a modest pull, and I don't want to bend the metal.
In which direction should I pull? Straight out? At some angle? Are there internal clips that I need to release? Does the plastic bezel around the metal grille come off, too? Or just the metal part?
The Atrium 5 manual (Patio 200 manual doesn't exist?) says to insert a bent paperclip and pull "gently," but how gently? It doesn't release under a modest pull, and I don't want to bend the metal.
In which direction should I pull? Straight out? At some angle? Are there internal clips that I need to release? Does the plastic bezel around the metal grille come off, too? Or just the metal part?
Comments
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The drawing would indicate you should pull near the top right corner.Political Correctness'.........defined
"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 trying, but it's not coming loose. I've tried a paper clip, a SIM removal tool, a plastic spudger, and a credit card, and I can't seem to pry this thing loose.
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Well darn!Political Correctness'.........defined
"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 dental pick is the ideal tool to use. Once the grille begins to come away from the enclosure only pull it a small amount. Then move to another corner and do the same. Kind of like removing a stuck lid on a paint can, go around the grille cover to prevent pulling too much at one spot. Pry it off gradually around the edge.
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@TheWaterbug
BTW: why remove the grill? Blown driver? Surgery to upgrade the XO? Regardless great fortune for your objective.
While you have the grill off please post a pic or two. Assuming that’s the way inside, I may develop the overwhelming need to do XO surgery on my Atrium 55s one day.
Thanks, TonySamsung 60" UN60ES6100 LED, Outlaw Audio 976 Pre/Pro Samsung BDP, Amazon Firestick, Phillips CD Changer Canare 14 ga - LCR tweeters inside*; Ctr Ch outside BJC 10 ga: LCR mids “Foamed & Plugged**”, inside* & out
8 ga Powerline: LR woofers, inside* & out
*soldered **Rob the Man (Xschop) LR: Tri-amped RTi A7 w/Rotels. Woofers - 980BX; Tweets & Mids - 981, connected w/Monoprice Premiere ICs
Ctr Ch: Rotel RB981 -> Bi-amped CSi A6 Surrounds: Premiere ICs ->Rotel 981 -> AR 12 ga -> RTi A3. 5 Subs: Sunfire True SW Signature -> LFE & Ctr Ch; 4 Audio Pro Evidence @ the “Corners”. Power Conditioning & Distribution: 4 dedicated 20A feeds; APC H15; 5 Furman Miniport 20s -
I finally got this done. This is, oddly enough, a warranty repair. 2 years after purchase, these started crackling and distorting horribly at modest volume. Polk said they're covered for warranty service, and then they had Sound United ship me one driver set. They said I needed to disassemble the speaker, disconnect the crossover, and connect the drivers directly to my source, by touching the speaker wires directly to the terminals on the driver, to isolate the failure.
I did that this morning, and the good news is that the both old drivers crackle, and the replacement driver does NOT crackle, when driven by the same amp playing the same song. The bad news is that they sent me only one driver set, so I've requested a second. It's also a bit odd that they require the customer to do all the troubleshooting and repair. They've probably spent more talking to me than they would have spent to just swap out the units.
Anyway, on to the disassembly. The main thing to know is that the grille removal is just for the metal grill itself, not for the plastic bezel thingamajig. It's obvious once you've seen it, but if you've never seen it disassembled, you don't know which part to pull on, nor how hard to pull it, nor whether it's coming loose or not:
I asked Polk, repeatedly, for a diagram or photo or specific instructions or ????, but they just kept repeating "pull gently." As luck would have it, when I took the 2nd speaker of the pair down from the outside, the grille fell off. So now I knew what to remove, and the grille came off the first speaker with some modest persuasion from a SIM removal tool.
If they'd just sent me a photo like the above, or if I'd seen that photo on the internet, I'd have had this done months ago. So I'm hoping this thread will be found on google and be useful to someone.
Once the grille is off, there are 6 screws to remove, and then the entire assembly comes apart:
Note that there is a small metal washer and a small rubber gasket behind each screw. These will sometimes come out with the screw, drop onto your floor, and roll under your dresser:
There's a rubber gasket/O-ring that goes between the two halves of the housing:
One of them stayed in its groove during disassembly, so I left it in for reassembly (after replacing the driver). The second one came out of the groove, and it remains to be seen if it will seat properly when I get the 2nd replacement driver and try to reassemble it. I have requested a replacement O-ring as well. We'll see if they send one. -
Here’s the original video of the failing speakers:
https://youtu.be/i0NTRCKd4ek
And after the home repair:
https://youtu.be/OaWM_wlWQ40
