Is there a "best" version of the Polk Monitor 10?

Treker-1701

I am just curious, but is there a version that is considered the "best" of the Polk Monitor 10s?

Personally, I have a set of 10B's with the Peerless tweeter, but since I have never heard any of the other versions that Polk made over the years, I don't really have anything else to compare them to. Just curious what you Polk aficionados have to say.

Later,

Treker

dorokusai

Not really. You own the most grassroots version but there is no "best" Polk Monitor 10 loudspeaker. The older the version and more original, the more it appeals to us low-fi, old school Polk renegades.

Treker-1701

dorokusai wrote: »

Not really. You own the most grassroots version but there is no "best" Polk Monitor 10 loudspeaker. The older the version and more original, the more it appeals to us low-fi, old school Polk renegades.

I did have to replace 2 of the mid-bass drivers in one of the speakers a few years back with some new replacement units from Polk. Does that still qualify as "original"?

dorokusai

It's always nice to repair something with original drivers, if at all possible. The MON10 isn't that old or rare. I'm not sure who those "we" ppl are but I agree with them.

mhardy6647

Well, I'd say the original Model 10, or the Monitor 10A. But I am biased.

Boywonder

Was the "10B" available with a Peerless? I thought the 10B had SL-2000's?

Is it something like this: Orig 10/10A=Peerless, 10B=SL2000, 10 series II=SL2500??? Did the 10A or 10B ever come with SL-1000?

rskarvan

I think the latest version is the greatest. Monitor 10 series 2.
Especially after upgrading the SL2500 to the RDO!!!

jakelm

Boywonder wrote: »

Was the "10B" available with a Peerless? I thought the 10B had SL-2000's?

All the way up to 10c was avaliable with Peerless.

jakelm

Lasareath wrote: »

I like the 10's with the peerless tweeters, I think they are the most sought after. There's also the first run with the round velcro discs that hold the grilles on, I think those are very sought after as well.

Las

The round velcro grill holders had Peerless as well. The Peerless was Polk's first tweeter for the Monitor series. Original, A, B and some C.

Damn Sal, now everytime I see your name, I think of Blue Man Group, ...lol

There is a sonic difference between the original mw6500's and the mw6503's, so , sorry to say, it is not original any longer. Close, very close...

zingo

I would say it's the pair you own, but that's just me.

Treker-1701

Lasareath wrote: »

For some of us purests we feel that you should look for period replacements. Like finding old drivers for sale on ebay or here from other polk fellows.

I'm curious, can you post upclose pictures of the new drivers?

Thanks, Las

Sure. Here you go.

As you can see, the new drivers are MW6502's, while the original drivers were MW6500's.

I had to replace 2 of the original MW6500's because the adhesive that kept the magnets aligned failed and allowed the magnets to shift. This caused the voice coils to lock up due to physical contact with the magnets.

I'm not sure if this is common problem with these drivers as they age, but to try and prevent the same thing from happening to the remaining 2 original MW6500'ss, I ran a bead of medium thick hobby grade super glue around the outside edges of the magnets to help stabilize them and re-glue them to the steel that the magnets attach to. So far after 4 years they are still working, so I think it worked.

So, are original MW6500 drivers pretty easy to come by? I'll have to admit, I haven't really looked on e-bay for them. Do they come up regularly?

Thanks,

Treker

ben62670

The 6502's are not the correct replacements. The 6503's are the new replacements. The 6502's are 4 ohms, and the 6500/6503 are 8 ohms. This will throw the crossover off. The peerless you have are the most sought after.

Treker-1701

ben62670 wrote: »

The 6502's are not the correct replacements. The 6503's are the new replacements. The 6502's are 4 ohms, and the 6500/6503 are 8 ohms. This will throw the crossover off. The peerless you have are the most sought after.

Well, these are the ones Polk Service sold me as the correct replacements several years ago. I guess they either didn't have any of the correct ones at the time or just plain sold me the wrong ones. Oh well...

After my last post, I took a look at current auctions on ebay, and someone has a couple of MW6500's out of a 10A for sale right now. They are currently priced at $12.00 with $8.95 shipping each. Just curious if this seems like a reasonable price. Does anyone know what a typical selling price is on ebay for used MW6500's?

Thanks,

Treker

jakelm

$20 a pc is about right.

I have tested the 10 @ ~6.6ohms. But that was with 8ohm mw6500. I would bet your dipping below 4ohms with 4ohm drivers. I could be wrong.