Tweets revisited once again

heiney9

I just got off the phone with Polk CS. This post is not in any way meant to be a slam on CS. The guy I talked to was very nice, but now I have a question. I told him I wanted to order new replacement tweets for my RTA-11t's. I was polite and didn't tell him the model # RD0194-1 as I figured he doesn't need someone to tell him how to do his job. He recommened I replace my sl2000 with the sl2500 as a direct replacement. What's up with that.... . I thought the RD0194-1 was the ONLY recommened/avail replacement for this generation Polk speaker. I inqured about the RD0194-1 and of course they are out of stock again.

Again I'm just confused as to why he would suggest the sl2500 as replacement for the sl2000. I've never seen that mentioned before. Maybe it's a case of that's what's in stock and it WILL work, perhaps not as well as the RD0194-1. Again not trying to tell him how to do his job, but I'll wait until the RDO's are back in stock. Next time maybe I should just ask for Ken. So if you are ordering replacements I guess you need to be specific about what you want as there must be several different choices that will work.

FWIW

H9

Ricardo

I also called this morning to order the replacements for the SL2000's; I also did not mention which were the ones I wanted...I asked, and she told me that I wanted the RD0194, and that they were OOS and would be available next week...

Yeah, you would expect the same response/advice from all the representatives :rolleyes:

TroyD

Hmmmm...who knows?

Sounds like Ken is slacking off again!

BDT

ND13

Brock,

I know that in my RTA 8TLs, which came with the 2500s, I replaced one of them with the silks and I honestly cannot hear any difference between the two. I will still replace the other one at some point, but right now it doesn't make a lick of difference.

halo

Brock and I had been considering making the upgrades to our RTA11t's and since I got all the parts first I was the guinea pig.

I replaced my RTA11t's tweeters with the RDO194-1's (Thanks Ken) last week and IMO there is a world of difference after a 20 - 24 break in period. Very smooth, detailed, and almost no listening fatuige compared to stock.

Rich rebuilt my crossovers on Saturday (Thanks Rich!!!) I went with Solen caps and Mills resistors. I did not notice an immediate improvement there but it didn't hurt anything either. I'll put a hundred hours on them and report back.

fredv

From what I have read so far, the tweeter upgrades has more apprent improvement than the crossover. I have done neither; therefore, I have vast interest in watching all the upgrade discussion :-)

heiney9

Yep, I am just contemplating where to order the x-over parts from. My brother has a friend who builds/re-builds speakers as a hobby and he's going to help me do the soldering, etc. I am budget orientated and don't want to pay the extra shipping/duty tax from Parts ConneXion so I'm trying to find an outlet stateside for Mills resistors. No luck so far as not 1 single place has every value part I need for both caps and resistors.

The speaker guy recommended looking at Eagle Metal Oxide Film resistors. They are non-inductive and have the same tolerance as Mills. Anyone ever heard of Eagle Metal Oxide Film reisitors?

As far as the replacement tweets, I'm sure the sl2500 is very similiar to the RD0194-1, but I think I'll wait until they are back in stock.

Victor, glad to hear things went well; I got the pics, and the before and after is a bit grotesque (those new caps are huge). I wouldn't expect a huge improvement with the new x-over parts but after they burn in I'm sure you'll start noticing sublte changes which will definetly be for the better. I'm sure in the end the speakers will have been transformed :cool: . I'm actually getting quite anxious to get mine completed

SCompRacer

heiney9 wrote:

Victor(those new caps are huge)

He just got too close with the camera is all. :rolleyes:

Your most welcome Victor.

madmax

Partsconnexion has great prices and quality components. Help keep the company in business.
madmax

heiney9

madmax wrote:

Partsconnexion has great prices and quality components. Help keep the company in business.
madmax

Yeah, after I wrote the above post I just decided what the hell, I'll support them. The cost difference really will end up being insignifcant as I would probably have to order from 2 places if I didn't order from Partsconnexion. So I'll get on that tonight so they get here by next weekend.

H9

halo

Grotesque? no. Awesome...yes

halo

Nevermind

halo

Nevermind.

heiney9

Damn....looking good . Nah, the x-overs aren't grotesque they just look like they can from the land of the Jolly Green Giant. Way cool. Nice work Rich and Victor

H9

F1nut

Victor,

Better than new speakers, what's not to like!

I think you would have noticed the crossover difference more had you compared one stock to another modded. Burn in time will help too.

schwarcw

That Rich does nice work! Maybe he'll come over to the 'Burgh and do mine!

SCompRacer

Thanks. Victor made sure I didn't slack off. The second xover turned out better cause I didn't use the torch.

486 miles, eh? I'd drive that far to bring back a pair of 2.3's.

Ricardo

Hmmm...would you drive 329 miles for a pair of 1B's???

(And rebuild two SRS crossovers...and pay for the 1B's....does not sound so attractive, does it..)

halo

F1nut wrote:

Victor,

Better than new speakers, what's not to like!

Who said I didn't like it? Thanks for all the advice Jesse

F1nut wrote:

I think you would have noticed the crossover difference more had you compared one stock to another modded. Burn in time will help too.

mmmmmaybe. Rich was fresh off the night shift and the last thing I wanted to do was deprive him of his down time. Thanks again Rich!

schwarcw

LOL! Even if Rich just got off work, I think the adrenaline would get him to Pittsburgh for a pair of oak 2.3's

Larry Chanin

ND13 wrote:

Brock,

I know that in my RTA 8TLs, which came with the 2500s, I replaced one of them with the silks and I honestly cannot hear any difference between the two. I will still replace the other one at some point, but right now it doesn't make a lick of difference.

Hi,

I don't have a trained ear, and when I upgraded the tweeters on my SDA-1C's I experimented with the balance control, switching back and forth between the left main speaker with the original tweeters and the right with the silk replacements. At low listening levels I could barely detect that the silks sounded smoother. It wasn't a blind listening test, and it's quite possible that I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference in a true blind test.

However, I noticed that after all of my 6 tweeters were replaced (4 in my SDA-1C's and 2 in my SDA-CRS+'s) that my normal listening levels for movies increased from -25 db to -15 dB below reference. I found that before I switched the tweeters that sounds became harsh and fatiguing when the volume exceeded -25 dB. Now with the silk tweeters I can listen at near reference levels without fatigue, and at increased levels there seems to be an improvement in the quality of the presentation without sounding uncomfortably loud. This is particularly true when listening to symphonic music.

So even lacking a trained ear I'd say that upgrading to the silks was a significant improvement.

Larry

halo

Bingo Larry! I agree completely. Very well put BTW

SCompRacer

Noel is comparing the 2500 to the silk. Didn't the 1C's come with the 2000's?

Larry Chanin

SCompRacer wrote:

Noel is comparing the 2500 to the silk. Didn't the 1C's come with the 2000's?

Hi,

Yes, I was aware that Noel was comparing the silk replacements for the SL2500's and that the 1Cs have silk replacements for the SL2000's. Nevertheless, I thought my observations might still be of interest, particularly to the original poster who is replacing SL2000's.

Noel might want to compare the original tweeters to the silk replacements at increased listening levels to see if he can hear a difference.

Larry

nadams

I can't wait to get the $200 to replace the SL2000's in my SDA's with the RD0194 tweets... I have noticed the harshness in the highs when listening for extended periods, and really hope to fix that w/ the tweeters. The speakers already have the crossover upgrade done...

SCompRacer

Larry Chanin wrote:

Nevertheless, I thought my observations might still be of interest, particularly to the original poster who is replacing SL2000's.

I'll second that.

halo

anonymouse wrote:

Has anybody tried replacing the SL2000's with Peerless? The Peerless were the original Polk tweeter of choice and are definitely preferred to the SL1000. The question is how they compare to the SL2000 and if any SDA owner has tried swapping.

I asked Ken about this a while back and it isn't really feasible. You'd need to mod the crossover to make it work. I think there is a physical / mounting difference also. The sl1000 and the Peerless are interchangeable.

heiney9

Larry Chanin wrote:

Hi,

I don't have a trained ear, and when I upgraded the tweeters on my SDA-1C's I experimented with the balance control, switching back and forth between the left main speaker with the original tweeters and the right with the silk replacements. At low listening levels I could barely detect that the silks sounded smoother. It wasn't a blind listening test, and it's quite possible that I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference in a true blind test.

However, I noticed that after all of my 6 tweeters were replaced (4 in my SDA-1C's and 2 in my SDA-CRS+'s) that my normal listening levels for movies increased from -25 db to -15 dB below reference. I found that before I switched the tweeters that sounds became harsh and fatiguing when the volume exceeded -25 dB. Now with the silk tweeters I can listen at near reference levels without fatigue, and at increased levels there seems to be an improvement in the quality of the presentation without sounding uncomfortably loud. This is particularly true when listening to symphonic music.

So even lacking a trained ear I'd say that upgrading to the silks was a significant improvement.

Larry

Thanks for the input. You are spot on as to why I feel the sl2000 is undesireable. As my source components have gotten better (namely the DAC) they have become almost unplayable at higher volumes. They "ramp" up fairly quickly. Most piano sounds very unnatural and has a "ringing" that drives me nuts. Maybe I'll call again on Friday to see if they are in yet.

H9

schwarcw

Polk has been out of the RD0194 tweets for two weeks. I won't even listen to my newly acquired 2.3's without them. They are out in the garage waiting, waiting, waiting . . . .

ND13

Larry Chanin wrote:

Noel might want to compare the original tweeters to the silk replacements at increased listening levels to see if he can hear a difference.
Larry

I have/still do and as there is a huge difference between the SL2000s and the silk replacements, there just isn't AS much between the tri-lam SL2500 and it's silk replacement. As I said, I will be replacing the other 2500, too. The reason I haven't done it yet is because the RTA 8TLs are being utilized in my "SOTA 2.1 HT" and not being used for much music at this time. The tri-lams are much smoother than the SL2000s, imo and even when I was using them for music, they never brought on any fatigue as far as I'm concered, ymmv.

And I was responding to the statement by H9 that Polk CS recommended the 2500 as a replacement for his 2000s, which I was told required some xover mods in order to be used , and that the 2500 is MUCH better than the 2000 and would be a good replacement for them IF the silks were not available. I should have made that clearer I guess. I just thought that most would get it seeing that I said that I would be replacing my other 2500 at some time in the future.

BobMcG

heiney9 wrote:

Next time maybe I should just ask for Ken.

I've never done it any other way.