10B modifications

specialidiot

Hi, I have recently acquired a pair of 10B's for my future man cave. They'll be driven by a Yamaha CR-1020.

The speakers are pretty mint, except I hate the "medium oak" vinyl veneer, so I'm going to do the cabs in real rosewood - as the should have been to begin with.

While I have them opened up and the drivers out, what are the common mods for this speaker? I had thought that I'd just recap the XO, anything else?

The tweets have the silver dome, which are they and should I go to the RDO 194?

Yeah I tried the search function. Even a search for "10B" brought nothing.....

heiney9

RD0's are always a good thing. Recap with Solens and Mills because this is the best bang for your buck. Do this and you will have a great speaker. I did a pair of 5b's and they were transformed.

Good luck

H9

P.s. Be sure to compare the values on the actual x-over to the schematic because over time Polk might have changed a few values or added a bypass here or there. Schematics can be found as a sticky in the troubleshooting forum.

Flash21

Personally I think the original 2000s are a better match for a Yamaha amp...the RDOs are somewhat rolled off in comparision, which is also what I recall of the Yamaha "sound".

heiney9

Flash21 wrote: »

Personally I think the original 2000s are a better match for a Yamaha amp...the RDOs are somewhat rolled off in comparision, which is also what I recall of the Yamaha "sound".

Yammy sound is very bright and makes my ears bleed with sl2000's. I lived with the sl2000 for close to 20 years and the RD0 is a superior tweeter in every respect, unless you like a +5dB resonance at about 15kHZ .

H9

Flash21

Well I haven't heard the Yamaha piece this guy has, but the Yamaha sound used to be fairly soft and velvety on the top end. But it has been some years since I have listened to one, so it could have changed. But my point is the 2000 can be the better tweeter in some setups...if you have bright equipment then I can see preferring the RDOs.

I have heard both tweeters in my 10Bs and the RDOs are smoother but don't throw as big a soundstage.

BTW have you had a hearing test lately? I just had one, and since you seem to be in the same general age group I am, I bet you can't hear 15K anymore, at least not with those test tones they use. Sad but true...

danger boy

I hate hearing tests, they never turn it up loud enough for me...

heiney9

Flash21 wrote: »

Well I haven't heard the Yamaha piece this guy has, but the Yamaha sound used to be fairly soft and velvety on the top end. But it has been some years since I have listened to one, so it could have changed. But my point is the 2000 can be the better tweeter in some setups...if you have bright equipment then I can see preferring the RDOs.

I have heard both tweeters in my 10Bs and the RDOs are smoother but don't throw as big a soundstage.

BTW have you had a hearing test lately? I just had one, and since you seem to be in the same general age group I am, I bet you can't hear 15K anymore, at least not with those test tones they use. Sad but true...

To each their own, to me the RD0's are excellent. It's best to try them yourself and see. Some still like the coloration of the sl2000. I just personally found them to be too harsh and way too forward.

The peak isn't so much the issue (although it is there) as the resonant freq. Some female voice's were harsh and shrill and some piano notes were hard to listen to. This was a case with many kinds of source material and a few different source components. It became increasingly worse as the quality of components and cables in the chain became better and better.

I also personally don't feel the RD0 gives any less a soundstage, I've actually found it to be the just the opposite. The depth of instruments (layers) can be startling on the right material.

Just my .02c

H9

P.s. I've always said if you get the RD0's and break them in properly and don't like them you can flip them for almost no loss. So you've got nothing to lose. Also the sl2000 became completely unlistenable after my x-over upgrade.

Flash21

To each their own, to me the RD0's are excellent. It's best to try them yourself and see.

There you go.

Yeah, my 10Bs have the original crossovers...yet another variable...personal preference is an even bigger variable.

In my experience I would agree that the RDOs had good depth of imaging, but the soundstage was...short, if that makes sense. I don't pretend to understand how that can happen with a dome tweeter that is theoretically radiating in a hemisphere, but that is what I was hearing.

geppy1

I have heard the same thing on three different speakers. My wife even sad the sound with RD0194 stops at the top of the cabinet. They do have a rich depth to them