Dead mid driver on Polk 10B

Johncan

I have a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 10B. The left midrange driver in one of them does not appear to be working. It pulled the bad MW 6503 driver. It gets nothing through the multimeter. I found a MW 6502 that works. Can I use that in the 10B? Is it the same ohms rating? Will I change the sound drastically? Can I damage the rest of the speaker by leaving the dead driver in the cabinet?

Thanks!

Love my Polks!

decato

Hi,
No, you should not use the MW6502 in a Monitor 10B. The drivers are connected in parallel, which when using two identical drivers, halves the DC resistance. The MW6503 is 6.5 ohms; 2 in parallel are 3.25 ohms. The MW6502 is a 3.x ohm driver, which put in parallel with the MW6503 will bring the DC resistance lower than you want it to be. It would also shift the crossover point and sound different than the remaining MW6503.

You should call Polk customer service and ask for a replacement MW6503. They still carry them.

-Brian

Johncan

Thanks! I will do that.

Will I damage the rest of the speaker by leaving the dead driver in the cabinet and continuing to play them? They still sound OK with the one dead driver.

John

heiney9

Welcome to Club Polk!! Real nice setup for your main rig. Hopefully you'll stick around and be active. You shouldn't have any issues leaving the dead driver hooked up in the cabinet. I just wouldn't play it too loud and I would replace that driver asap. I suppose if something shorts in the speaker itself, etc., that could cause an issue. For the time being (while waiting for a replacement) you should be fine. But I wouldn't rec it for a long term solution.

Any idea how it became inoperable? Sometimes the glue on the magnet gives way and the magnet slips out of postion causing the VC to lock up. If the driver is still out you might want to take a look, it can be easily fixed.

H9

Johncan

I have no idea how the driver became inoperable. I bought them in June at a pawn shop and just recently realized that one driver was not working. I will check the magnet.

BTW, I bought my first pair of Polks - Monitor 7's at a hi-fi store in Hoffman Estates, IL. It was probably in 1985 or 1986. I went to HS in Elgin, IL and worked at Appletree Records in HS and college (all during the 80s). I got my Polk Monitor 5s at the Olde Main Bookstore in Champaign, IL a few years back while visiting family. Illinois has been good to me for buying Polks

decato

It's probably better to take the dead driver out of the circuit. Just be careful not to short the connectors. Putting some tape around them should do the trick.

heiney9

Johncan wrote:

I have no idea how the driver became inoperable. I bought them in June at a pawn shop and just recently realized that one driver was not working. I will check the magnet.

BTW, I bought my first pair of Polks - Monitor 7's at a hi-fi store in Hoffman Estates, IL. It was probably in 1985 or 1986. I went to HS in Elgin, IL and worked at Appletree Records in HS and college (all during the 80s). I got my Polk Monitor 5s at the Olde Main Bookstore in Champaign, IL a few years back while visiting family. Illinois has been good to me for buying Polks

Are you kidding me. Let's see you probably bought those at at Columbia Audio/Video. I used to work at the one here in my town. There were 3 locations and the one here was the original store before the two owners had a sort of falling out and kept things the same but went their seperate ways. We also had an Appletree stereo and records, which I worked at here. Did you work at the store in Dekalb? I had several friends who went to the U of I in Champaign so I know the bookstore. All this was within the time frame you mention. :cool:

H9

Johncan

heiney9 wrote:

Are you kidding me. Let's see you probably bought those at at Columbia Audio/Video. I used to work at the one here in my town. There were 3 locations and the one here was the original store before the two owners had a sort of falling out and kept things the same but went their seperate ways. We also had an Appletree stereo and records, which I worked at here. Did you work at the store in Dekalb? I had several friends who went to the U of I in Champaign so I know the bookstore. All this was within the time frame you mention. :cool:

H9

I worked at both the Appletree's in Elgin and DeKalb. I started at the one in Elgin while in high school. While in college at NIU, I worked at the one in DeKalb except for the times I was spending more time over break in Elgin (which was dependent on who the girlfriend was at the time;) ). My sister and brother went to U of I, so I used to go into the Champaign store quite a bit. I was jealous they sold stereo equipment and we did not at the other two stores.

I forgot the name of the store in Hoffman Estates, but it was very close to Hoffman Estates High School. I also used to shop at a stereo store in Crystal Lake.

dkg999

Not sure how long Simply Stereo has been in existence, however it is within a block or so of Hoffman Estates High School on Higgins/Hwy 72.

Johncan

Simply Stereo - that is it! It was there in the early and mid 1980's and when I taught at Hoffman Estates High School in 1989-1990. I moved to Georgia in the summer of 1990.

Johncan

I ordered my MW 6503 driver today!

Johncan

I got the replacement driver today. It is an RD6503 and it looks different from my other MW 6503 drivers. Are they sonically the same?

John

F1nut

Yes.

If you want them all to look the same and who doesn't, you can order 3 more new ones or shop eBay for another MW6503.