Vintage Polk owner again, a little bigger this time!

billbillw

OK, didn't think I would be getting anything new for a while since I recently sold off my complete 2-channel system (except for the turntable). With our 2nd child coming along soon, I didn't have room for a dedicated 2-ch anymore. So, I need another pair of speakers, like I need another hole in my head.

But, sometimes deals come along that are just too good to pass up...


I had a pair of Monitor 5A (peerless) a while back and I just loved the sound of them. If it weren't for their general lack of bass, I'd probably still have them. Not the last word in accuracy, but just a great, toe-tapping sound that is non-fatiguing. Prior to my forray into the large Mirage M3, I was (and still am) always on the lookout for the larger vintage Polks.

So, last night, I saw an ad for a pair of nondescript Polk speakers for a low price. Based on some poor photos, poor description, and decently accurate dimensions, I just HAD to investigate them. I had a suspicion of what they were.

My suspicions were right on and today, I snagged a pair of black RTA-11T for less than the average price of dinner and drinks for two at a decent restaurant.

Plus, she threw in a very nice pair of Monster speaker cables (finished M-series with the screw on bananas). She also had a Yamaha 2-ch receiver (RX-595) that she said needed repair and would otherwise be thrown in the trash. I took it too, with remote, for no extra charge. I love to fix things.

So, I haven't heard them yet, but all the woofers seem to be free and move when I gently press the passive radiators. The front grill fabric on both speakers are in dire need of restoration due to cat claw damage, but otherwise, they look pretty good. I can't wait to fire them up.

At this point, I'm not sure if I will hold on to them and do the proper Silk dome update and possibly a crossover rebuild down the road. Just need to hear them first. All these years on the Polk forum, and I've not heard the 11T. Hopefully I'll like what I hear.

heiney9

I had a pair since new for almost 20 years and they are a great sounding and performing speaker. Sit in the sweet spot and you'll be amazed and they have bass in spades. Well worth the silks and x-over freshening, especially since you only gave $50 for them.

H9

ben62670

Nice snag. I have heard a few times the 11's are better than the 15's.
Enjoy
Ben

John in MA

I got mine for $40, although one needed a tweeter. Great little speakers.

MillerLiteScott

I like mine as well. H9 did you do the X-overs in yours?

billbillw

John in MA wrote: »

I got mine for $40, although one needed a tweeter. Great little speakers.

Ha, LOL,
little speakers...:) The lady kept saying how "huge" they were, and how she couldn't get rid of them fast enough.

Oddly though, she was the original owner, and talked about buying them from HiFiBuys back in 1990.

heiney9

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

I like mine as well. H9 did you do the X-overs in yours?

Never got around to it. But having them done in my SDA 1C's and Monitor 5B's, I can imagine what improvements could have been to my RTA 11's.

H9

Deadof_knight

50 bucks niccceee find!

billbillw

It gets better. The lady gave me a Yamaha receiver that was supposedly "dead" after a nearby lightning strike. She was going to throw it away :eek: without having anybody even look at it. I took it home, plugged it in, and it worked absolutely perfect. I cannot for the life of me find anything wrong with it. Its an RX-595, 2ch, 80WPC, circa 1996. Definitely a decent mid-fi receiver.

I cleaned up the 11T and they look pretty darn nice, except for the fabric, like I said above. Its totally trashed on both speakers. Hooked them up and the sound pretty damn good too.

I did find that one of the PRs has a tiny tear in the rubber surround, probably from her cat(s). I couldn't play them loud enough to see if this is going to be an issue or not (whistling?). If so, it looks small enough to be repaired with some kind of pliable rubber glue, if that sort of thing exists.

cubdog

Congratulations. Great price!

cubdog

dorokusai

That's a cool Polk loudspeaker and leave the xovers alone.

F1nut

Nice grab.

billbillw

dorokusai wrote: »

That's a cool Polk loudspeaker and leave the xovers alone.

? You don't agree with refreshing them with newer polys and mills resistors?

I'm listening to them now, alone on my Onkyo in Pure mode. Gotta say, I'm impressed. In my huge open living room, they are putting out a prodigious amount of bass. Not like my SVS, but WAY better than when I run my RT800i by themselves. Probably almost as much bass as my Mirage M3 had. Seems decently tight too. They are a little bright on top, as expected with the silver coil domes. A $100 order to Polk for silks would fix that. I'm thinking that these might be keepers for the long run. With the amount I have invested in them, I wouldn't loose any sleep if I had to pack them up and store them for a year or two until I have space for a dedicated 2-ch again.

I don't think I'm going to worry about the tiny tear in the PR surround. I couldn't notice any whistling when I was cranking my most bass heavy music. Looks like I just need to get some grill fabric and re-do them and listen to them as is for a while (or until my wife says they gotta go into storage )

Here's a little pic.

heiney9

billbillw wrote: »

? You don't agree with refreshing them with newer polys and mills resistors?

I'm listening to them now, alone on my Onkyo in Pure mode. Gotta say, I'm impressed. In my huge open living room, they are putting out a prodigious amount of bass. Not like my SVS, but WAY better than when I run my RT800i by themselves.

There are some members who feel it's not necessary to ever mess with the x-overs unless there is an obvious problem. It's not nec., but if your like me and many others and if your into tweaking, etc. it can't hurt and actually is a noticeable improvement. I will concede when I did my 5B's they had an issue as they were abused at one point in their life.

Isn't the bass so clean and tight on those? There is nothing like the vintage Polk PR systems. The newer ported Polk's just don't do bass as nicely and cleanly.

Enjoy and if you feel a little harshness and resonance from the tweeters consider getting the RD0's, they will improve substantially.

H9

billbillw

Anyone have tips on re-doing the fabric on these? The are glued currently, but I don't know how I could get glue to stick without having some specialty clamps, unless I staple them until the glue sets, then remove the staples. Do staples (with a heavy duty gun) go into that wood ok?

billbillw

Farq it, I'm all in on these 11T. I was enjoying the heck out of them this morning.
I ordered a pair of RDOs today and found out there is a Hancock fabrics only about 10 minutes from my office, so I can pick up some of the grill fabric that DarqueKnight recommends in his SDA compendium.

I found quite a bit of helpful info over at AK (those guys live for resurrecting speakers from the junk pile), I think I'm ready to tackle the re-grill this weekend.

dorokusai

billbillw wrote: »

? You don't agree with refreshing them with newer polys and mills resistors?

I'm listening to them now, alone on my Onkyo in Pure mode. Gotta say, I'm impressed. In my huge open living room, they are putting out a prodigious amount of bass. Not like my SVS, but WAY better than when I run my RT800i by themselves. Probably almost as much bass as my Mirage M3 had. Seems decently tight too. They are a little bright on top, as expected with the silver coil domes. A $100 order to Polk for silks would fix that. I'm thinking that these might be keepers for the long run. With the amount I have invested in them, I wouldn't loose any sleep if I had to pack them up and store them for a year or two until I have space for a dedicated 2-ch again.

I don't think I'm going to worry about the tiny tear in the PR surround. I couldn't notice any whistling when I was cranking my most bass heavy music. Looks like I just need to get some grill fabric and re-do them and listen to them as is for a while (or until my wife says they gotta go into storage )

Here's a little pic.

It's a great way to get into DIY projects and into the guts of the hobby but I prefer a vintage Polk to be a Polk. I'm not in the habit of sinking money into a speaker who's popularity pretty much ends at the CP doorway anymore. Rock on, it's just an opinion. The fabric and tweeters should keep you giddy for awhile.

cfrizz

Nice find, congrats.

F1nut

You need to fix that rip in the PR as it is leaking air. Remove the PR from the cabinet and from the backside apply Permatex RTV silicone. Allow it to cure for 24 hours before using.

The crossover upgrades are well worth the time and money.

billbillw

dorokusai wrote: »

...into a speaker who's popularity pretty much ends at the CP doorway...

I guess you haven't seen the most recently completed auction for the 11T. :eek:

http://cgi.ebay.com/POLK-RTA-11T-SPEAKERS-TOWERS-MONITOR-SERIES-11-T-NO-RES_W0QQitemZ250233184123QQihZ015QQcategoryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I was surprised at that price too.

Anyway, that's not what I'm in it for. I don't really believe in rebuilding the x-over just for the sake of putting better parts in it.

However, with a speaker that is approaching 20 years old, there might be some aging that has occurred with the e-caps that is affecting the performance; So, they may not sound like Polk intended anymore.

I do believe that if/when there is a problem found in the x-over, you might as well replace all the caps/resistors with new, matching stuff to ensure that both speakers match. I'm not a big fan of the super high dollar caps either. Dayton metalized poly do me just fine.

That said, I probably won't bother touching the x-over unless I notice a problem, or if the poly-switches start acting up.

billbillw

F1nut wrote: »

You need to fix that rip in the PR as it is leaking air. Remove the PR from the cabinet and from the backside apply Permatex RTV silicone. Allow it to cure for 24 hours before using.

That's doesn't sound to tough. Does RTV bond to the butyl rubber permanently? I would have there would be something more glue like that was recommended.

heiney9

dorokusai wrote: »

I'm not in the habit of sinking money into a speaker who's popularity pretty much ends at the CP doorway anymore. Rock on, it's just an opinion.

That's actually a good point I hadn't thought of because both my sets of Polk's were/are intended to be kept. If you are in the habit of flipping speakers and/or just want to get something different and fresh from time to time perhaps the expense isn't worth it in the end.

If you're a tinkerer and the x-over stuff floats your boat it does reward and one doesn't have to go all out for Sonic Caps. The Monitor series is pretty cost effective.

Anyway you should enjoy them especially for the amount of $$$ you paid.

H9

F1nut

billbillw wrote: »

Does RTV bond to the butyl rubber permanently? I would have there would be something more glue like that was recommended.

It should, although I have no way to confirm that. The reason I have used silicone instead of glue is the silicone remains flexable, which is very important.

billbillw

F1nut wrote: »

...the silicone remains flexable, which is very important.

Definitely. I know there are flexible glues these days too.

Being a Chemical Engineer, I'm curious about this and will explore the market to see what is out there. I'm thinking, something that contains enough solvent to dissolve the butyl rubber, but also remains flexible on curing. I'm actually getting something called "Amazing Goop" to use for the grill fabric. I'll test some of that out on a spare piece of rubber and see if it remains flexible.

F1nut

Excellent.....look forward to your research results.

billbillw

Well, I had some time last night, so I went ahead and restored the fabric on the grills. Based on advice I found at AK, I used something called Amazing Goop. They have several varieties. I used the "Household" version. For clamping, I used medium sized spring clips, the kind that are used to hold paperwork together. They can be found at any office supply store. I borrowed about 6 boxes (12/box) from work

The job went pretty quickly. That Goop works great. Put down a bead, let is cure for about 2 minutes, then pull pull the fabric tight and press into the bead. Although I used the spring clips, I think it could be done without them. That stuff sets quick and holds like a vise. Since this was my first grill restoration, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the corners, so the corners ended up a bit sloppy, but that's only from behind. They look great from the front. The fabric is perfect for this application and I must say that DarqueKnight found a good one. (Hancock Fabrics, Ponte Knit-black)

I also used the Goop on the small tear in the PR. It worked pretty good, and although it dried flexible, I found that it is noticeably stiffer in the area where I did the repair. I guess thats the trade-off. Its definitely sealed tight.

Anyway, here are some better photos I snapped this morning.









RDO tweeters should be here Thurs or Fri. Can't wait to hear the improvement.

dorokusai

Nice.

Boywonder

billbillw wrote: »

I'm thinking, something that contains enough solvent to dissolve the butyl rubber, but also remains flexible on curing.

Since rubber is a crosslinked thermoset (not a thermoplastic), dissolving it may be tough...If it were easy, tires would be easily recyclable instead of a landfill problem....Some sort of "primer" may be beneficial to get the RTV to stick to the rubber, though, or you could consider having the surround replaced. There is a local speaker repair shop here that re-surrounds 10-12" drivers for about $30/ea.

Thanks to Lasareath's recent post, you may be in luck, there is an ebay seller selling an 8" Polk PR for $9.99-here is the link:

http://stores.ebay.com/agconsultingservices

engtaz

Nice grab. Congrats on the find. Look to be in good condition.


engtaz

billbillw

Boywonder wrote: »

Since rubber is a crosslinked thermoset (not a thermoplastic), dissolving it may be tough...If it were easy, tires would be easily recyclable instead of a landfill problem....Some sort of "primer" may be beneficial to get the RTV to stick to the rubber, though, or you could consider having the surround replaced. There is a local speaker repair shop here that re-surrounds 10-12" drivers for about $30/ea.

Thanks to Lasareath's recent post, you may be in luck, there is an ebay seller selling an 8" Polk PR for $9.99-here is the link:

http://stores.ebay.com/agconsultingservices

Tire rubber is not the same as these butyl rubber surrounds. Much different. Its vulcanized, which gives the extensive cross-linking. Thermosets are not immune to solvents, trust me.

Doesnt' matter because the fix is already done. The Amazing Goop worked well.

BTW, Tire rubber is recyclable, problem is its tough to separate the bands from the rubber. It takes a lot of mechanical effort, which offsets the cost benefit of recycling, therefore a lot of business take shortcuts and illegally dispose them.

Face

Very nice.