#!%*!! Knocked my hat off

BlueMDPicker

I've had a bout with a stomach virus, but this really makes me sick. I was lifting an amp from behind my brand effin' new, dead mint RTA 12Cs and hit the right rear corner of the tweeter/crossover cover with my elbow - sheared both the goddamned plastic retainer buttons off flush! If I had a cat, the **** would be in orbit right now.

Does Polk, or anyone, make exact replacements??

I'm going to go throw-up now.

hoosier21

lol, get pissed, find the cat! Cat gets free flight across the room, too funny.

madmax

Do you have a pic of the retainer buttons?
madmax

Loud & Clear

Feel your pain. I recently knocked a computer case onto the side of a nearly pristine walnut Monitor 10. Now there's a nice wound on the side of it. Really pissed me off at the time. I'm mostly over it now, although when I sneak a peek at it I'm reminded of how careless I was and how much of a mistake it was.

BlueMDPicker

Yep, here's the broken off tops. They are made like the receiver hitch for a tractor/trailer rig. The spindly-assed little post (you can see the stub of it in the bottom shot) of the top halves has a round plate that slides into a lipped groove on the bottom (cabinet) halves. I suppose the idea was to provide some wiggle room for alignment, but it made them pretty frail. OD on the spring clip head (that goes in the hat frame hole) is 7/16", as is the bottom half (that fits in hole in cabinet.)

SCompRacer

It reminds me of the plastic expansion fastener clips used in cars. I'll poke around and see what I have laying around.

VR3

Looks kind of like heavy duty grill guides ??

hoosier21

you know the drill, ask Ken if any are available, good luck

RuSsMaN

Partsexpress to the rescue.

Hehe, you dumbass.

VR3

Something like this perhaps..

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=260-368

hoosier21

close Sid, but look at the very small pin that goes in the cabinet (what is remaining of it is shining white in Blues photo)

4 edits in one post :rolleyes:

You could get 4 (or all 8) like what Sid posted, redrill the top of the cabinet to allow you to use the new buttons.

McLoki

McGyver hat on....

Take a small drill bit and drill a small hole in both ends where the pin was. (sized so the end of a paper clip is a snug fit in the hole)

Cut a paper clip to the correct length (short)

Insert paper clip piece into the drilled hole in one of the pieces (hole is drilled in both pieces)

apply glue and clamp together till the glue dries.

good as new. (sort of)

Michael

hoosier21

Red Green Show fix

two wads of doubled over duct tape

cmy330go

You might also be able to remove the tabs from the parts express pieces with a dremel tool or file. Once those are gone it wouldn't be hard to shape it into a round post like the originals.

Just a thought. Hope you find a satisfying solution.

dorokusai

I have replacements and know what you need to do. Email me.

Oh and BTW....smooooth move.

NO, Polk does not have these and they never will again.

BlueMDPicker

dorokusai wrote:

I have replacements and know what you need to do. Email me.

Oh and BTW....smooooth move.

NO, Polk does not have these and they never will again.

Yeah, I know. Nothing that could be said would make me feel any worse.

halo

dorokusai wrote:

I have replacements and know what you need to do. Email me.

Oh and BTW....smooooth move.

NO, Polk does not have these and they never will again.

Damn Mark - what DON'T you have over there?!?! :eek: You should display everything and charge admission. Doro's museum of fine audio. Or you could be like Year One or OPG and start cranking out reproduction pieces.

nadams

Mark- if you still have the cabs from my monitor 5's, there should be some usable ones on there, too

dorokusai

Unfortunately if they are already installed, they are odd to remove and most don't survive. I picked up suitable replacements from PE a long time ago.

RuSsMaN

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Tour2ma

Could have been worse, could have trashed a crossover.

Those are the "hat pins"... yes? Asking because my 12a's don't use those. They have 2 - 1" metal posts.

joelll

Hope the repair works! We've all been there, cursing a blue streak at our own stupidity... I've had a pair of EPI A70's since 1979, currently in use as surround speakers. I managed to pull one of them off its high shelf onto the arm of a chair below. Now there's a nice big ding halfway up the back edge, luckily not too visible. But... no way to treat my first-ever pair of real stereo speakers.

Every time my early RTA-12's travel, they lose a little more rosewood vinyl off the corners and back edges, and the thin curved plastic pieces that keep the corners of the "hats" looking nice start cracking off more pieces of their brittle selves. *sigh*

HiPerf360

hoosier21 wrote:

Red Green Show fix

two wads of doubled over duct tape

I love that show, dont get it here anymore...

"well this winch is kinda heavy, leta use the winch to move itself to the front of the van."

or my fav. The adjustable wheelbase car.

nadams

HiPerf- the show is over. The last show they have listed on their website says "series and season finale". They stopped showing it on my local PBS station

BobMcG

BlueMDPicker wrote:

...and hit the right rear corner of the tweeter/crossover cover with my elbow - sheared both the goddamned plastic retainer buttons off flush!

Sure gotta hate it when crap like that happens. I hope you can make it like new again.

BlueMDPicker wrote:

If I had a cat, the **** would be in orbit right now.

Where's a good cat when you need one?

Tour2ma

Aside from doro's, which has an unusually entertaining cool-factor, there's no such thing as a good cat.

BobMcG

Tour2ma wrote:

Aside from doro's, which has an unusually entertaining cool-factor, there's no such thing as a good cat.

I stand corrected.

My statement should have read... Where's a cat you can toss for a good reason when you need one.

BlueMDPicker

I finally calmed down after the initial gut wrench of the incident. There's quite a bit of vintage gear here and I really do try to maintain it all at the highest level.

These 12Cs, and the walnut 8Ts, I got from Mark are NIB time capsules. The 12Cs come from the South Carey Street era of Polk Audio. Notwithstanding their value to me as a collector, they are stellar performers when paired with the right gear.

My kick the cat rant comes from the only time I saw/heard Lightning Hopkins live. He was famous for making up his own versions of songs on the fly. Some say he couldn't remember the correct lyrics, but I doubt those folks ever actually saw a live performance. He did an old standard titled "Blues in the Bottle" that has a line: "You kicked my dog, because he sat on your hat". Lightnin' did it as: "You kicked my dog, so I hauled off and launched your cat." The line has stuck in my head ever since -- now, nearly 40 years. I've never actually kicked a cat, but the thought of launching one often makes me laugh when I'm super PO'ed.

Thanks for all the suggestions and to Mark and Jesse for their assistance with parts and techniques.

F1nut

Hey Kitty, see Bruce sitting in the chair? Now, ATTACK!!! Ah, good Kitty.

Tour2ma

LOL... That's one cat that could not catch me.... at least not without bumping into every chair and table leg on the way to me. And then odds are it would miss, if I did not move.

F1nut

I wasn't talking about Hera, I was talking about my sweet little natural born killer.