Upgrading x-over tonight

heiney9

I have a box of goodies from Parts Express sitting here on my desk and 5:00 can't come fast enough . I'll be rebuilding the x-overs in my 5b's tonight. Stay tuned to this thread for pics and an eventual review. :cool: . I haven't been thrilled with the way these 5b's sound (compared to the LSi's) so I hope new caps, resistors and wiring improves them greatly and gives me an excuse to spend another $96 on RDO's.

H9

MillerLiteScott

I think I have the RDO 0194 in my Monitor 5's and I am real pleased with the sound. I would be interested in hearing what you think about your crossover mods.

Scott

george daniel

tonights the night,,,

heiney9

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

I think I have the RDO 0194 in my Monitor 5's and I am real pleased with the sound. I would be interested in hearing what you think about your crossover mods.

Scott

I thought I would do it in steps. The tweeter will most likely make the biggest impact, but who knows. After spending some time with the Vifa tweeter in my LSi's I have a real distaste for the sl2000 tweeter, even moreso than before. I think Doro did both the x-over upgrade and RDO's in the ones he sold you.

I really want these to work out for me, but if they don't I'll move them along.

H9

MillerLiteScott

I asked him and he said he just did the RDO's.

I bought a pair of RTA 11ts that I'll do the RDO's to and maybe the X-overs.

heiney9

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

I asked him and he said he just did the RDO's.

I bought a pair of RTA 11ts that I'll do the RDO's to and maybe the X-overs.

I miss my 11's . If I had the choice (between the x-over upgrade and RDO's) the RDO's will probably make the best improvement for the $$$. But the x-overs are just plain getting old and I would think the combo of RDO's and fresh caps and resistors would be really really good. I'll keep you posted. According to Jakelem doing the x-overs on the 5b's is a piece of cake. The 11's will have a couple additional caps which can complicate things a bit because of space issues in the x-over pcb.

MillerLiteScott

I am a little concerned about the the 6 ohm rating of the RTA 11t's for tube applications. Most tube amps I have seen are rated for 4 or 8 ohms and I don't know if my ASL's can handle the 6 ohm load.

But none the less I am excited and my wife is going to kill me so I got that going for me. I may even replace my RTi10's with them if they sound better after the mods. However I am really pleased with how the the RTi10's and the CSi5 work together. As you can see I really do not know what to do.

heiney9

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

I am a little concerned about the the 6 ohm rating of the RTA 11t's for tube applications. Most tube amps I have seen are rated for 4 or 8 ohms and I don't know if my ASL's can handle the 6 ohm load.

But none the less I am excited and my wife is going to kill me so I got that going for me. I may even replace my RTi10's with them if they sound better after the mods. However I am really pleased with how the the RTi10's and the CSi5 work together. As you can see I really do not know what to do.

I don't think it's going to be an issue at all. The 11's are very amp friendly. The RDO's will help a lot. If nothing else you could swap them out of your 5b's to see how different they sound.

dorokusai

You'll be fine Scott.

MillerLiteScott

Great, now I need something else to worry about.:rolleyes:

Thanks guys.

ben62670

You go H9. Have fun. I will be awaiting your reviews.

dkg999

H9 - I have the RDO's in a pair of Monitor 10's that are setting in my apt. We could set them up to give you a reference point on how the tweeters compare. Doug.

heiney9

dkg999 wrote: »

H9 - I have the RDO's in a pair of Monitor 10's that are setting in my apt. We could set them up to give you a reference point on how the tweeters compare. Doug.

That's a great idea :cool: . I want to give these a listen for a bit with the new caps and resistor's, but that would save me some $$$ if I decide to move these along and get something like a pair of EPOS ELS-3's.

I'm really thinking the combo of fresh x-over parts and the RDO's will really make a huge improvement. Before I got my 9's the sl2000 could be annoying on some stuff, but now I can hardly stand how bright they sound.

Thanks for the offer, I def. take you up on it soon.

H9

Jonesy

I am eagerly waiting your results as I may do the same to my newly acquired 7b's.

heiney9

The project is complete. Really a very simple (a bit time consuming) procedure. I'm going to wait before I comment and let them break-in a bit. My brother has the pics he will edit them down to a manageble size and I will post them over the weekend.

Note: My 5b's had a 2.7 ohm resistor which according to the Polk schematic was deleted and in it's place they used a 2.0 ohm (which I used). This is in the signal path and I'm not sure how much difference less resistance will make. I'm sure since I used a Mills resistor it should sound better ???.

Upon the very first listen the midrange has really moved forward, not sure if that is good or bad. Obviously way too early to go into how they sound.

H9

ben62670

With the SL2000's if you didn't like the highs before it will a little more pronounced, but if you do the RDO's it will actually benefit with a little more juice. I found the RDO's to be a little to laid back.
Enjoy
Ben

heiney9

ben62670 wrote: »

With the SL2000's if you didn't like the highs before it will a little more pronounced, but if you do the RDO's it will actually benefit with a little more juice. I found the RDO's to be a little to laid back.
Enjoy
Ben

Yeah, the sl2000 has to go. I'm going to have a chunk of $$$ in these and they still might not be what I'm looking for. RDO's too laid back, don't know about that. I could use a good dose of "laid back" right about now. I suppose I should bite the bullet and spend the $96 to get them. If this whole project doesn't work out I could always sell the RDO's seperately.

H9

heiney9

One thing I do notice is that while the tweets are still very forward, a bit of the edge is gone. They are a tad smoother and have a bit less grain. Still way to forward but perhaps a bit less fatiguing. Coherence seems to be a bit better as well. Still too early to tell and they need to break in. I'm hitting the sack for the evening.

H9

heiney9

I had some time to sleep on this and I need to stop comparing the 5b's to the LSi 9's. They are not and never will be in the same leauge. So far most of my comments are based on comparing the two. I need to just look at them as they are by themselves and evaluate from that POV.

Break-in will continue and then I post more comments.

heiney9

Started a new thread in the DIY Mods forum

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=613756#post613756

heiney9

Well, I’ve had some time to get the new tweets and x-over broken in as well as some decent listening time. All I can say is, “I have a big fat grin from ear to ear”. These speakers have been completely transformed. The RD0’s are every bit as good as everyone says. These are still lively on the top end and the vocals have a forwardness that put them right out front, but not in a cardboard cut-out type presentation.

Vocals and upper frequencies are so smooth and effortless and not a hint of harshness or grain compared to the original tweeters. The depth for and aft is simply amazing. The soundstage is simply awesome and has so much realism when it’s in the recording; especially live piano. The natural tone and resonance can be startling.

These are not bass mongers, the bass is tight and taught and very solid, but they don’t dig deep, probably not too much below about 45Hz., convincing nonetheless and, there is a naturalness to the bass that’s hard to explain. It doesn’t sound forced or like it’s trying to “fake” it, like many other inexpensive ported speakers. (my Athena AS-B1’s come to mind).

It’s amazing how different these sound from my LSi 9’s, but at the same time I can now live with both of them. The 5b’s aren’t in the most listener friendly environment, but even so they sound remarkable. My 2 favorite audio adjectives now apply; completely open and effortless sound.

I picked these up from dkg999 for $35. The cabinets have a few very minor chips on the back edges where the veneer meet the particle board, a few scratches on the bottom and the grills need to cleaned a bit, but overall they are a solid 7. I spent $48 for x-over parts and $102 for the new tweets. I sold the sl2000’s for a net of about $40 after shipping, so the total cost for these speakers is about $150. A complete and utter bargain for the sound these produce. Classic Polk sound doesn’t get any better than this.

For the record here’s what I’m driving them with. It’s a PC based system in my office/computer room. Chaintech AV710 soundcard for its direct digital output capabilities; Harmonic Technologies-Sonic Impact glass toslink; AMC DAC-8 digital to analog converter; Yamaha AX-900U integrated rated at 130 wpc using the CD direct input. I use a program called Foobar to play regular cd’s and FLAC (lossless) files and yes, I play some mp3’s as well.

H9

engtaz

H9
Great to hear. That's my impression also after RD) change.

Congrats