Refreshing my RTA 15TLs
Comments
-
I’ll carry on with the other one as planned then, because that’s not what happened with the first one.
Didn’t happen today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
As always, I appreciate everyone's comments. This forum is great.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
I went with 4" x 4" squares of 1" Sonic Barrier behind the MW's on my RTA 12B's and they are not boomy or too subdued - just right I would say. To cut it I used a regular matt knife and straight edge, then a second finishing cut without the straight edge.
-
-
That’s no way to talk about Sitka.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
Last time I suggested someone was a slacker, they ran off with the forum magnet jig, causing many to slack.Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
-
There's a huge difference in cutting Sonic Barrier and BH5. BH5 is best cut on a table saw or bandsaw.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 -
It will not be easy to slice through the plastic sheet in the middle with a knife.
I used a bandsaw myself. -
I disabled signatures.
-
Last time I suggested someone was a slacker, they ran off with the forum magnet jig, causing many to slack.
And kept it?I disabled signatures. -
YepPolitical 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 -
-
And kept it?Last time I suggested someone was a slacker, they ran off with the forum magnet jig, causing many to slack.
wow. who was that piece of crap?YepI disabled signatures. -
Let's organize a Polkie field trip to go visit him lol.George / NJ
Polk 7B main speakers, std. mods+ (1979, orig owner)
Martin Logan Dynamo sub w/6ft 14awg Power Cord
Onkyo A-8017 integrated
Logitech Squeezebox Touch Streamer w/EDO applet
iFi nano iDSD DAC
iPurifier3
iDefender w/ iPower PS
Custom Steve Wilson 1m UPOCC Interconnect
iFi Mercury 0.5m OFHC continuous cast copper USB cable
Custom Ribbon Speaker Cables, 5ft long, 4N Copper, 14awg, ultra low inductance
Custom Vibration Isolation Speaker Stands and Sub Platform -
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
You sure that wasn't Evan? I never had a problem with any careful snail pacing.I disabled signatures.
-
Seriously, unless there's some proper reason like illness, coma, or has just recently been introduced to streaming adult TV, that pos deserves to be openly outed. You don't steal from your own people. Am I presuming too much here?Gardenstater wrote: »Let's organize a Polkie field trip to go visit him lol.I disabled signatures. -
I would be the *last* person to poke someone for going to slow with updates. I've had a set of 2.3TLs parked since 201x, waiting for upgrades. I even have a bunch of the stuff. I'm just scared. Oh, and I've also got all my hobby space jammed up with other stuff right now. But yeah, you take your sweet time there, Brian, no need to hurry on my account; no judgement here!@msg will be proud of me. I’m back on it again. This one is definitely going faster.
I disabled signatures. -
Seriously, unless there's some proper reason like illness, coma, or has just recently been introduced to streaming adult TV, that member deserves to be openly outed. You don't steal from your own people. Am I presuming too much here?Gardenstater wrote: »Let's organize a Polkie field trip to go visit him lol.
Tend to agree. At the very least maybe one of us live close enough to go see and with any luck get it back.
That is just wrong on many accounts.
You know there may very will be a "oh crud I forget all about it, it's been in this box since the day it arrived"
It happens. Sometimes life gets in the way. -
I would be the *last* person to poke someone for going to slow with updates. I've had a set of 2.3TLs parked since 201x, waiting for upgrades. I even have a bunch of the stuff. I'm just scared. Oh, and I've also got all my hobby space jammed up with other stuff right now. But yeah, you take your sweet time there, Brian, no need to hurry on my account; no judgement here!@msg will be proud of me. I’m back on it again. This one is definitely going faster.
It’s all good!
Talk about being scared … it’s definitely a little unnerving to take a drill to your perfectly good cabinets for the tweeter rings, but man, I’m loving the tweeter part of this deal, even if the jury is still out on the BH5. Those billet plates just “thunk” right into place! No more crap plastic, at least on the front!
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
A small C- clamp works better than tape. If you didn't have one I could have loaned you one of my 30😉
Looks like you got'er done though. 👍 -
Before …
After …
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
A small C- clamp works better than tape. If you didn't have one I could have loaned you one of my 30😉
Looks like you got'er done though. 👍
I thought about that, but there's not a lot of purchase area for a clamp with the cutouts for the terminals on the cabinet. Anyway, yeah, I didn't have any mishaps. That template is the bee's knees. Worked very nicely! Thank you, again! 😉
It's good to have them both back in the same configuration again, but no comments on the BH5 for now until I get some more listening time in.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
Where'd you source those Indy State Fairgrounds tweeters, anyway?msg will be proud of me. I’m back on it again. This one is definitely going faster.
I disabled signatures. -
Before …
After …
Wow! That looks great, Brian!
Beautiful speakers. Nice job on all this.
What's this template you mentioned?
I disabled signatures. -
Haha! I had too many BH5 remnants and other debris on the table itself, so I set it on the only clean spot within reach for the pic. That’s the program book for the Mecum Indy auction in May. I had a couple cars consigned over there.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
Wow! That looks great, Brian!
Beautiful speakers. Nice job on all this.
What's this template you mentioned?
Thanks. I like it a lot.
The template is the piece you see taped in the tweeter recess here. It’s used to make the four mounting holes the correct size to accept the Larry’s Rings for the tweeters.
This pic was before I drilled the holes out. You can see the small, original threaded holes for the factory wood screws that threaded straight into the cabinet. I drilled out the holes in each corner with a 1/4” bit and put the rings in from the backside. The rings have a nut that accepts the beveled stainless machine screws that @xschop sent along with the plates. Pretty cool setup.
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
After some time, I think I went too far with the BH5 for these speakers. I lost some of the midrange vocal timbre that used to be there. Male voices don't have quite the body and warmth they did and female voices sound thin compared to before the BH5. It doesn’t sound atrocious or anything (you know, like one backwards-wired SDA-1c would, @chrispyfur 😝). In fact, I'm hearing some noticeable benefits in the separation of instruments, more stable and 3D imaging and they are quite a bit more consistent-sounding as you pour the coals to 'em. I thought they lost some composure playing loudly before and now that's largely gone.
The best way I can explain what I'm not liking is it seems like it took out a section in the +/- 250-500 Hz range and dropped it somewhere around 100 Hz. I had to back the gain down on my subs a fair amount to compensate, but I couldn’t get the midrange back even with the subs off. So, the BH5 might have taken a little too much "boomy"-ness out?
They're totally listenable as-is (we are talking something just slightly more than nuances here), but my plan when I get time is to remove enough from that larger 4'x12" strip on top to leave me with the commonly recommended 4”x4” squares behind the two upper drivers (along with the 4"x4" square behind the one bottom driver) and see what happens. This would be removing 25% of what is in there, now.
If that doesn’t bring the vocal qualities back that went missing, I guess I’ll have two options: 1) try another 33% reduction (50% total) by taking one of the remaining 4”x4” squares away from the top drivers (leaving me with one square behind just one of the two pairs of drivers on the top and bottom), or 2) remove it all.
I was able to cut some scrap pieces I have fairly easily with a utility knife. Hoping that’s gonna work when I get back inside as well as it seemed to work on my bench (since I can't get a band or table saw in there 😊). Then, pick a corner up with a blade scraper and hope I can peel it back off.
I was curious what BH5 would do and now I know. As I read elsewhere, a little definitely goes a long way. Hoping with a little tweak I can keep the benefits I’ve noticed and get back the vocals.
Sorry for the long post. I may be alone here, but I still love these speakers! 😂
Brian
One-owner Polk Audio RTA 15TL speakers refreshed w/ Sonicap, Vishay/Mills and Cardas components by "pitdogg2," "xschop" billet tweeter plates and BH5 | Stereo REL Acoustics T/5x subwoofers w/ Bassline Blue cables | Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum III integrated tube amp | Technics SL-1210G turntable w/ Ortofon 2M Black LVB 250 MM cart | Sony CDP-508ESD CD player (as a transport) | LampizatOr Baltic 4 tube DAC | Nordost & DH Labs cables/interconnects | APC H15 Power Conditioner | GIK Acoustics room treatments | Degritter RCM -
Are you sure it doesn't more break in time....
-
After some time, I think I went too far with the BH5 for these speakers. I lost some of the midrange vocal timbre that used to be there. Male voices don't have quite the body and warmth they did and female voices sound thin compared to before the BH5. It doesn’t sound atrocious or anything (you know, like one backwards-wired SDA-1c would, @chrispyfur 😝). In fact, I'm hearing some noticeable benefits in the separation of instruments, more stable and 3D imaging and they are quite a bit more consistent-sounding as you pour the coals to 'em. I thought they lost some composure playing loudly before and now that's largely gone.
The best way I can explain what I'm not liking is it seems like it took out a section in the +/- 250-500 Hz range and dropped it somewhere around 100 Hz. I had to back the gain down on my subs a fair amount to compensate, but I couldn’t get the midrange back even with the subs off. So, the BH5 might have taken a little too much "boomy"-ness out?
They're totally listenable as-is (we are talking something just slightly more than nuances here), but my plan when I get time is to remove enough from that larger 4'x12" strip on top to leave me with the commonly recommended 4”x4” squares behind the two upper drivers (along with the 4"x4" square behind the one bottom driver) and see what happens. This would be removing 25% of what is in there, now.
If that doesn’t bring the vocal qualities back that went missing, I guess I’ll have two options: 1) try another 33% reduction (50% total) by taking one of the remaining 4”x4” squares away from the top drivers (leaving me with one square behind just one of the two pairs of drivers on the top and bottom), or 2) remove it all.
I was able to cut some scrap pieces I have fairly easily with a utility knife. Hoping that’s gonna work when I get back inside as well as it seemed to work on my bench (since I can't get a band or table saw in there 😊). Then, pick a corner up with a blade scraper and hope I can peel it back off.
I was curious what BH5 would do and now I know. As I read elsewhere, a little definitely goes a long way. Hoping with a little tweak I can keep the benefits I’ve noticed and get back the vocals.
Sorry for the long post. I may be alone here, but I still love these speakers! 😂
It's refreshing to see a new BH5 review that doesn't add to the echo chamber here.
Keep adjusting and tweaking until you're happy with the sound.
Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists. -
I feel mildly attacked!
