Anyone Know what kind of Polks these are?

Odd I/O

Hello all --- I found these at a thrift store for 50 dollars for the pair. I have no Idea what model they are, but when I saw the massive crossovers and general quality construction, I knew that they were a bargain. They sound fantastic. the only markings on them is the tweeters are stamped with SL1000 and the sticker on the crossover seen in the photo. --- anyone have any info about these? Click on the links below for photos of them ---- Thanx! Edit: Oh, and one more thing maybe someone might know --- The passive radiators appear to have some kind of damper on the front of them --- Is that an original feature or did someone mod those radiators?

danger boy

RTA 12 B's

a very nice sounding speaker.. as you've already found out. They look to be in pretty good condition. The "hat" that covers the crossover looks good too.

for $50, I'd say you scored a really nice pair of vintage Polk Audio RTA 12's

Congrats!

ben62670

Dusty RTA 12 B's
Very nice speakers:)
Stock, and you payed way too much. I'll help you re-coupe your losses, and give you $25:D

Welcome to Club Polk
Ben

Face

Nice find!

I believe those are RTA12's. AKA R2D2 Polks.

danger boy

i'll do better then ben62670 and give you $51 for them.. then you have made a profit ha ha ha.

JK!

seriously, those are a really good Polk speaker. They have in some ways become the little darling of many people in here recently.

danger boy

the cover on the passive radiator is normal.. it has not been modified.

danger boy

here is some info on them.. from a old Ebay auction..

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/5760960807_RTA12B.pdf

Odd I/O

Cool, Thanx for the info, folks! 90 db sensitivity --- Not too shabby, Can't wait to try them out with my vintage Harman Kardon Tubers as soon as I get them unpacked --- I'm in the process of moving to a new apartment.

hearingimpared

The model number is right on the circuit board.

ben62670

http://www.polksda.com/pdfs/EarlyMiscFlyer.pdf

http://www.polksda.com/srsad.shtml

Some good reading here.
Enjoy
Ben

avguytx

Good God...at the thrift store. It's amazing what people are turning in at the end of the year. I guess they are replacing the BIG speakers with those cute little "cubes"...or maybe inwalls. (not knocking inwalls/inceilings because that's what the 7 speakers are in my 7.1 setup)

Great find! Enjoy and welcome to the forum!

Face

avguytx wrote: »

Good God...at the thrift store. It's amazing what people are turning in at the end of the year. I guess they are replacing the BIG speakers with those cute little "cubes"...or maybe inwalls.

It could have also been from someone who "passed on".

lightman1

You can go to the bonus round!

Odd I/O

Lasareath wrote: »

Are these your photos?

Or did these photos come with the speakers?

I haven't seen a rotary phone in like 30 years.

Sal

LOL--- Yep, it's my phone, and it is connected and works too! --- But it's mostly for decoration, I also have a cordless. I like vintage stuff for their style, and sometimes for practicality, some vintage electronics like old phones and old tube amps are pretty "bullet-proof" and often preform really well.

---

And if you look closely at the piece of furniture behind the speaker.... It's an old tube stereo console. I mainly use it for just a table/countertop fixture, but it still works too, and actually produces some pretty rich sound --- powered by a pair of EL84 ..... But still, I cant wait to unpack my vintage HK workhorses for these polks

---

---- Interesting, too---- The coils on the transformers appear to be "scatter-wound". They appear to lack the uniformity of machine wound coils. If that's the case, then each crossover on each Polk will have subtle nuances, making them one-of-a-kind.....Or it's possible that someone re-wound the coils on these by hand; If so, they did a good job, because these things are incredible sounding ---- Making me re-think the Magneplanar/JBL combo I've been using....

BottomFeeder

From one RTA12 owner to another, welcome! Do a search here on them and you'll find all kinds of helpful tips.

ajohnston26

As a "newbie" here, I was surprized to find that someone else actually owns a pair of 12B Monitors like mine. Great sound but just one warning: These are 4-ohm speakers and need LOTS of juice at high volume. There are 3/4-ohm fuses on the back of each tweeter for those times when a receiver/amp can't feed these speakers enough to drive them and clipping begins. Yes, I have blown a few. Never put a fuse of greater amperage in place of the 3/4-amp. They are supposed to protect the tweeters from damage like right now!. The answer is to drive them with enough good, clean power, something I have yet to spend the money on. Good luck and enjoy them!

Boywonder

Are they real wood veneer or vinyl siding?

zingo

Should be vinyl, but they do look good...

BottomFeeder

There are, in very rare cases, some real wood ones out there. Can't quite tell, but these could be real wood.

& I'll have to disagree that these speakers need lots of power. I run mine w/a 50wpc NAD, my dad uses a 35wpc NAD and another guy on here, Fireman, runs something like 10wpc through his and all w/no problems. They're rated to need 50-500 wpc. What matters most is not power, but clean power.

Enjoy those beauties!

P.S. & I'm not really sure, but I think these are 6, not 4 ohm speakers. Do a search here - you'll learn loads!

Odd I/O

Boywonder wrote: »

Are they real wood veneer or vinyl siding?

I was really lucky with these. It's wood veneer and in really great shape. Only a couple of really shallow surface scratches that disappeared as soon as I put a light coat of furniture oil on them. A trainload of thanx to you guys/gals who pointed out that they are 4 ohm. I researched and found out also that over a broad part of the spectrum, they draw more like a 3 ohm spkr would.

---

"According to the equipment test report done by Hirsch-Houck Laboratories in the early eighties on the RTA 12 B "the impedance of the Polk 12B was less than its rated 4 ohms between 100 and 1500 Hz, measuring about 3 ohms over much of that range."

BottomFeeder

Thanks for the correction - they're 4 ohm, not 6.

Odd I/O

BottomFeeder wrote: »

Do a search here - you'll learn loads!

Thanx BottomFeeder , Yep, the search function is excellent. I would not have thought these to be 4 ohm speakers either.... I was thinking 6 or 8 myself--- And, with an efficiency of 90 db or better, these speakers lend themselves well to low Wattage amps... I just tried them with one of my old Harman Kardon tube amps which kicks out about 14 WPC via its quad of 6V6 tubes and they sound awesome thru that amp!