RDO194-1 Terminal size variation

inspiredsports

Yes! I just received my RDO194-1 (SL2000 replacement) tweeters !!

The male ground blade terminal on the new RDO194-1 is about twice as wide as the one on the original SL2000's.

I could purchase new wider female terminals ends, snip the wire and re-crimp, but I would have the same problem in reverse if I ever want to reinstall the SL2000's.

I'm guessing RadioShack or somewhere like that stocks a "wider sized female to narrower sized male" blade adapter.

Is there any impedence, etc. problem an adapter like this would introduce into the circuit?

Any other ideas?

heiney9

inspiredsports wrote: »

Yes! I just received my RDO194-1 (SL2000 replacement) tweeters !!

The male ground blade terminal on the new RDO194-1 is about twice as wide as the one on the original SL2000's.

I could purchase new wider female terminals ends, snip the wire and re-crimp, but I would have the same problem in reverse if I ever want to reinstall the SL2000's.

I'm guessing RadioShack or somewhere like that stocks a "wider sized female to narrower sized male" blade adapter.

Is there any impedence, etc. problem an adapter like this would introduce into the circuit?

Any other ideas?

They should be identical in size to the sl2000. All the RD0's I have (6) I could use the original factory terminal lugs. Not sure what's up with yours. IIRC, the RD0198-1 each terminal is the same size. Might want to give Ken or Helen a ring and see what's up.

H9

Conradicles

I just got the RD0194-1 and mine were an exact fit.

inspiredsports

The invoice clearly shows 6 EACH RDO194-1 TWEETER SL2000. One male blade terminal is tinted red and is IDENTICAL in size to those on the original 1987 SL2000's I removed. the other male blade terminal on the new RDO194-1 is about twice as wide.

I'll call Polk.

Face

Unless they changed the blade design of the RD0-194, you may have been sent RD0-198's on accident.

inspiredsports

I just checked both of my sets of SDA's (SDA-2B, SDS SRS 2). Both originally had SL2000's. BOTH original SL2000's have the narrower male blade on both the positive and negative end.

heiney9

Face wrote: »

Unless they changed the blade design of the RD0-194, you may have been sent RD0-198's on accident.

IIRC, the blade terminals on 198's are the same size for both.

inspiredsports

That's another interesting point; no markings, stickers, labels, ect. on the 6 EACH RDO194-1's I just received.

heiney9

inspiredsports wrote: »

That's another interesting point; no markings, stickers, labels, ect. on the 6 EACH RDO194-1's I just received.

That's correct. Should say Polk Audio on the face plate...........that's it for markings. The only way to truly tell the difference between the 194's and 198's are the blade terminals..........with the 198's having both the same size and the 194's having (2) different sizes which should fit the stock blade clips.

H9

Face

heiney9 wrote: »

IIRC, the blade terminals on 198's are the same size for both.

Nope, not the pairs I have here at least.

heiney9

Face wrote: »

Nope, not the pairs I have here at least.

Really, I could have sworn that was the case . Oh well my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

inspiredsports

I'm on hold right now after baffling the CS people at Polk

Face

heiney9 wrote: »

Really, I could have sworn that was the case . Oh well my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

No problem. I just pulled a 194 from a SRS 2 and a 198 from a 2B TL to make sure.

inspiredsports

Problem solved. I received 6 of the RDO198's. They are reshipping the 194's and a prepaid return postage label. So I guess the 198 has 2 different sized terminals.

Great Customer Service!

inspiredsports

heiney9 wrote: »

That's correct. Should say Polk Audio on the face plate...........that's it for markings. The only way to truly tell the difference between the 194's and 198's are the blade terminals..........with the 198's having both the same size and the 194's having (2) different sizes which should fit the stock blade clips.

to clarify, as your above quote DOES NOT match my reality . . .

SL2000 = NEW RDO194
SL3000 = NEW RDO198

The SL2000 / RDO194 has 2 EQUALLY SIZED MALE BLADE TERMINALS

The SL3000 / RDO198 had the smaller size RED male blade terminal and ground about twice as wide.

Polk confirms my analysis as above.

Face

inspiredsports wrote: »

to clarify, as your above quote DOES NOT match my reality . . .

Take it easy, everyone makes a mistake sometime.

I'm glad you got everything ironed out.

inspiredsports

Not uneasy at all :-) . . . just want to make sure a search engine doesn't latch on to this and confuse someone a few months down the road. This is a wonderful resource for great information.

heiney9

inspiredsports wrote: »

to clarify, as your above quote DOES NOT match my reality . . .

SL2000 = NEW RDO194
SL3000 = NEW RDO198

The SL2000 / RDO194 has 2 EQUALLY SIZED MALE BLADE TERMINALS

The SL3000 / RDO198 had the smaller size RED male blade terminal and ground about twice as wide.

Polk confirms my analysis as above.

So Polk sent you 198's by mistake? I was going on memory as I knew the only way to tell the difference physically between the RD0's was by the size of the blade terminals on each model.......got 'em backwards as I'm too lazy to pull my RD0's to confirm.

Glad you got it sorted out with Polk and glad we were all collectively able to get the right info out there.

H9

thsmith

I can confirm the following having just upgraded tweeters for the M12s and SDA 1Cs.

M12 has SL2500s replaced with RDO198, one small and one large terminal.

SDA-1C has SL2000 replaced with RD0194s, both terminals same size with red tint/paint on positive.

Ron Temple

Did you hook up the 194s yet? If so, your thoughts?

heiney9

Ron Temple wrote: »

Did you hook up the 194s yet? If so, your thoughts?

If you are talking to the OP it appears he received 198's rather than the 194's he ordered. If you are talking to thsmith I'm anxious to hear his impressions as well.

Ron Temple

heiney9 wrote: »

If you are talking to the OP it appears he received 198's rather than the 194's he ordered. If you are talking to thsmith I'm anxious to hear his impressions as well.

Talking to Tracy (thsmith)...just didn't quote his post. I thought he was doing the upgrade this weekend, but it sounds like he's already done it.

thsmith

Yep, could not wait any longer to install the 194s in the 1Cs. I was going to post impressions over the weekend after getting more listening in but I will comment now on what I heard lastnight.

I have about 3 hours of burn in time. Seems to me the 194s are like the 198s in that the sound gets better after a couple of hours. I like the sound of the 198s better at this point. I think the 194s are very close to the SL2000 at this point, maybe a little crisper.

I was hoping for the warmer sound the 198s gave the M12s after replacing the SL2500s.

Anyway, I am happy with them but at this point I am not sure they were really an upgrade except looks. They make the 1Cs look more menacing being all black.

I will post more comments on the "Its been a productive day" thread Sunday after more burn in and listening.

heiney9

thsmith wrote: »

Yep, could not wait any longer to install the 194s in the 1Cs. I was going to post impressions over the weekend after getting more listening in but I will comment now on what I heard lastnight.

I have about 3 hours of burn in time. Seems to me the 194s are like the 198s in that the sound gets better after a couple of hours. I like the sound of the 198s better at this point. I think the 194s are very close to the SL2000 at this point, maybe a little crisper.

I was hoping for the warmer sound the 198s gave the M12s after replacing the SL2500s.

Anyway, I am happy with them but at this point I am not sure they were really an upgrade except looks. They make the 1Cs look more menacing being all black.

I will post more comments on the "Its been a productive day" thread Sunday after more burn in and listening.

The 194's will ABSOLUTELY get better after about 200 hours. I felt the same way when I did my Monitor 5B's initially. They will get a whole lot better with a bit of time on them. My 1C's sound fantastic with Sonic caps and RD0's.

GL and enjoy

H9

Ron Temple

The problem I have with these long breakins, is that I can only vaguely remember what my first impressions were. I do know this. I listened to the SL2000s w/o any problems for about 6 mos. They weren't perfect, slightly sibilant on some vocals, resonant on cymbal, a bit too much sustain or overhang, but nothing glaring. I don't think my ears are sensitive enough for 13K to bother me. The 194s added better control, little to no sibilance and no overhang, just crisp. In short, better behaved. They grew on me overtime, but initially I thought they sounded slightly dull compared to the 2000s. I was using AQ cables at the time.

Fast forward to acquiring the 2Bs and listening to 2000s again. Initial impressions were, wow, I've been missing this. After a day and a half, I couldn't stand them. I got RDOs within the week.

Fast forward to replacing the AQs with Ben's Silvers. Wow, the zing was back. The 194s are everything the 2000s were, without the annoyances that I first didn't hear, then couldn't stand.

heiney9

sl2000's always gave me a headache after about 30-45 minute listening sessions. Didn't matter the type or style of music except poorer recordings gave me a headache sooner.

For some reason I was sensitive to the hump. Very resonant sounding tweeter as well as being way too "shouty" for my liking a pretty harsh sounding tweet at certain frequencies. Female vocals were altered, piano had an annoying resonance as well as brass instruments.

I get none of that with the RD0194-1..............as you say much better behaved and I personally think they are more revealing and detailed than the sl2000.

gdb

Just a thought....but wouldn't it make for a better connection, to solder the leads to the drivers blade terminals?? It's not like you're gonna be swapping around a lot, as is done with ICs and speaker cables. If a tweeter craps out, a de-solder is easy enough to do.If staying with the push on connectors, would a dab of de-oxit gold be a good idea for maximum transfer?Geoff

heiney9

gdb wrote: »

Just a thought....but wouldn't it make for a better connection, to solder the leads to the drivers blade terminals?? It's not like you're gonna be swapping around a lot, as is done with ICs and speaker cables. If a tweeter craps out, a de-solder is easy enough to do.If staying with the push on connectors, would a dab of de-oxit gold be a good idea for maximum transfer?Geoff

Certainly is a good thought. I tried that on my RD0's for the 5B's and the spades are really small and fairly flimsy and since I was using 12ga internal wire I felt it was too much stress so I used the factory female spade connector.

Certainly try it and see how it works out. That's just my experience

YMMV

H9

madmax

inspiredsports wrote: »

Problem solved. I received 6 of the RDO198's. They are reshipping the 194's and a prepaid return postage label. So I guess the 198 has 2 different sized terminals.

Great Customer Service!

This happened to me several years ago. I think the 198 is the replacement for the SL-3000's (or TL series).
madmax

inspiredsports

There's a lot going on that delays installation. I just (today) received all new Sonic Caps and Mills and Cardas posts for the entire SDA-2B crossovers (with F1nut pioneered TL upgrade) AND the high-pass only for the SDA SRS 2's (low-pass is a problem I will tackle later as it requires huge values; 2 each - 34uf's and 1 each - 55uf + 130uf per side, so using Sonics is not an option on the SRS 2's). These parts and crossovers are in a box and on their way to Ben's.

I also just received my Dynamat order so I will be spending a bit of time applying. I'm also using Mortite to seal tweeters and drivers so I don't want to install until I have the crossovers reinstalled and wired.

After the planets line up and everything is in place, I will be facing 800 total hours of break-in. I have an Isotek Full System Enhancer & Rejuvanation Disc that might shave a few hours, but I'm guessing not much.

That realistically puts us into February before the true magic occurs, but I will post along the way. I have about 80 hours of research into this, leveraged in that I read what amounts to 1,000's of hours of expertise from the group. I'll be glad to share what I've learned if there are questions.

inspiredsports

Ron Temple wrote: »

Did you hook up the 194s yet? If so, your thoughts?

I wanted to place a quick update. I do not yet have all of the crossover work done on the SDA SRS 2 that uses the RDS194-1's so those comments will be forthcoming during the holidays.

I did get my SDA-2B's back together and have 60+ hours on them, and 16 or so of those hours are with the IsoTek Conditioning Disc so perhaps they sound like 100 hrs. I did the TL crossover upgrade adding a 5.8 uf Sonicap with 2.7 ohm Mills Resistor to accomodate the jump up to the RDO198-1.

In only being able to compare them to the original SL2000's and with leaky original 21-yr. old 12 uf caps at that , I must say the 198's are astoundingly smoother and more accurate. Even at the few hours I have on them, they are absolutely listenable for hours on end.

From now on, I'm going to post my SDA-2B comments in my thread at . . .

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74945

. . . and my forthcoming SDA SRS 2 comments in my threat at . . .

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74946