What do we have here?

Jaybeez

Just cleaned up the main part of my garage, and on the hunt for some Polks to keep me company whilst working at the workbench. Ran across these, and not sure about them. Price seems good, but I don't know much about the model. Bought and sold Monitor 10s in the past, as they sounded too boomy for my space, vs. my current Monitor 7 setup. If these are worth a shot, I could move the 7s to the Garage, and use these for more critical listening.
And yes, it's been a few years. Life, elderly parents and a grandbaby have taken precedence.
But I've got spare time again, and back to scratching my audio itch, with Jesse's Marantz gear in full swing.
https://offerup.com/item/detail/303c68c1-a80a-381f-b1ae-2588c6a243de?q=polk+audio

Toolfan66

In with 45 on Jesse's Marantz Gear.

LOL!!

$200 seems fair but I have never heard them.

Like you, I like the 10's but felt the same way, I prefer the 7's as well..

plastic_avatar

Critical listening, imo, is better on a modded 5 or 7 than a 12.

However, room-filling music you can feel is better on the 12.

I love my 12, but would need to do some work for them to match my 5 in soundfield/locational accuracy.

That said, $200 for a nice pair? I'd snag them, see what they sound like, see what they need, see if you like them, then either re-sell or upgrade.

msg

I've never seen these before. Interesting. A little like an SDA-1C.

For posterity, from the ad...

pitdogg2

Built to compete with Cerwin-Vega.
Bro they've been posted and talked about here many many times.

Reading is fundamental....

Jaybeez

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Built to compete with Cerwin-Vega.
Bro they've been posted and talked about here many many times.

Reading is fundamental....

Thanks. I'll stop posting now. Now I remember why I'd been gone so long.

F1nut

Jaybeez wrote: »

Just cleaned up the main part of my garage, and on the hunt for some Polks to keep me company whilst working at the workbench. Ran across these, and not sure about them. Price seems good, but I don't know much about the model. Bought and sold Monitor 10s in the past, as they sounded too boomy for my space, vs. my current Monitor 7 setup. If these are worth a shot, I could move the 7s to the Garage, and use these for more critical listening.
And yes, it's been a few years. Life, elderly parents and a grandbaby have taken precedence.
But I've got spare time again, and back to scratching my audio itch, with Jesse's Marantz gear in full swing.
https://offerup.com/item/detail/303c68c1-a80a-381f-b1ae-2588c6a243de?q=polk+audio

I'd keep looking as I don't recall reading anything good about them.

Glad you're swinging with the Marantz gear.

pitdogg2

Jaybeez wrote: »

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Built to compete with Cerwin-Vega.
Bro they've been posted and talked about here many many times.

Reading is fundamental....

Thanks. I'll stop posting now. Now I remember why I'd been gone so long.

My comment was to @msg not you @Jaybeez. I was just giving him grief.
No from what I've read over the years they were not a very popular item. Heck for what you bought them I would have too just to hear them.
Rock on @Jaybeez 😎

Emlyn

If a pair of the Monitor 11s had appeared for sale close to me I would have bought them just out of curiosity, and to see if they are 1 louder than the Monitor 10s.

Thanks for posting the info Jaybeez.

Jaybeez

I did end up getting these for $175. Didn't like them at first. They were a bit "muddy". I read quite a bit about things others have done to tame the boominess of 10s and 12s, and started the process.
First, I played with positioning and pulling away from the wall helped a fair amount.
Then, I swapped the SL2500s for the RDO198s from my 7s (I'll reorder replacements for the 7s) and was pleased at the improvement.
Looking for a cheap way to get them off the floor, I picked up 12 inch, 2x2 inch square chair legs, with a plan to lay them sideways very similar to the risers that some of the 12s came with. I added "nail in" chair slides to the front of each leg to elevate / tilt the speakers back (about 1/8 inch). This helped a ton, but suprisingly I was picking up much less bass and an almost annoying amount of mids.
Pushed the speakers back to within 12" of the wall and the bass improvement was noticeable, yet the "forward" mids remained.
I like to listen to my music "flat" with little to no EQ adjustments, but found that turning down the mids slightly was a nice way to tame them and give me a nice overall sound.
These seem like they could well be "keepers" and worth a bit of work, some of which I was planning to also do on my 7s.
Going to order Dynamat for both sets of speakers, which will hopfully tame / focus the mids on the 12s. Also ordering Locktite Power Grab for the magnets. Will do these upgrades and see where we're at.
I'll likely upgrade the crossovers at some point on the 7s as these were the first "big boy" speakers I ever owned post-college and I want to keep them forever and have them sound as good as possible.

F1nut

I suggest adding a 3x3 inch piece of BH5 or Sonic Barrier behind each mid-driver as that is what cleans up the mids. The Dynamat stops the basket from ringing.

I also suggest using JB Weld instead of Power Grab.

Jaybeez

F1nut wrote: »

I suggest adding a 3x3 inch piece of BH5 or Sonic Barrier behind each mid-driver as that is what cleans up the mids. The Dynamat stops the basket from ringing.

I also suggest using JB Weld instead of Power Grab.

Thanks, great suggestions. Assuming sonic barrier on the back wall? And would it make sense to seal the inside of the cabinets since I'll have everything but the tweeters out?

F1nut

Yes, a 3 or 4 inch square on the back wall directly behind each mid-driver. I've never bothered to reseal the joints of any Polk speaker, but it won't hurt anything as long as you don't use RTV.