No more SDA drivers available for SRTs

brody05

I can't believe it, Polk are telling me that there are now no more MW5805 drivers available for SRT speakers:mad:

I have had 5 on order here in NZ for the last 5 weeks and today just learnt that they cant supply them any more and I have the last 2 they have.

Pretty average!

Anyone have similar issues with speakers that were still being sold new in the last 7 years?

ESavinon

Are you sure? I just got one last month.

ESavinon

Maybe they're on backorder.

brody05

Hi Brody,

Polk have just advised they only have 2 left and they are no longer available after that. Do you still want us to get these 2 in?

Thanks


That was the email I got from the NZ branch of Polk Audio today. Maybe I should try the US but that is where they get them from.

ESavinon

They have them in the us.

brody05

Who and how do I make contact to buy them direct?

Cheers

ESavinon

http://www.polkaudio.com/support/dealer_sales_refunds.php

brody05

Thanks ES, let you know how I get on.

brody05

Good-day Mr. Macbeth,
Unfortunately we do not have the MW5805 available any longer.
We do apologize for any inconvenience.



Thank You,
Helen Yarbor

Customer Service / Parts
5601 Metro Dr.
Baltimore, MD. 21215
1-800-377-7655
Fax- 410-764-5470

From Polk Audio:mad:

zingo

If that's true, it's bad news...

heiney9

It is bad news, but the SRT's were a very limited run and it's impossible to stock/manufacture every single part for a long time for such a limited speaker.

Talk to Ken or your local dealer and see if they can come up with an alternative.

Good luck

H9

brody05

They have in the past done reruns of certain drivers so as to maintain service for speakers.

I dont think I know too many people that will be happy to learn if they blow some drivers they might as well throw the speakers out, these were not cheap to buy and the top of the line, I would hope Polk do the right thing here and make some more.

dorokusai

They're aren't that many around so it won't be too many angry folks.

polkie4life

zingo wrote: »

If that's true, it's bad news...

For every SRT owner very bad news....

heiney9 wrote: »

It is bad news, but the SRT's were a very limited run and it's impossible to stock/manufacture every single part for a long time for such a limited speaker.

H9

I can understand, feet, grills etc , but drivers? I would've thought being a limited run speaker, would be more cause to keep extras.

brody05

dorokusai wrote: »

They're aren't that many around so it won't be too many angry folks.

I know the total made was at least 2000 sets and as above, still sold new 7-8 years ago, for $10,000USD I would expect a longer life cycle than what it is now with no more drivers.

dorokusai

I'm aware of the production numbers and your a sucker if you paid that much 7-8 years ago.

treitz3

I would suggest putting a WTB ad up or as suggested before, see if Polk has an alternate in mind. This isn't rocket science, it's audio.

This could be a great opportunity to upgrade the driver as well.

John30_30

brody05 wrote: »

I can't believe it, Polk are telling me that there are now no more MW5805 drivers available for SRT speakers:mad:

I have had 5 on order here in NZ for the last 5 weeks and today just learnt that they cant supply them any more and I have the last 2 they have.

It would be really nice if Polk or someone could at least recommend an alternate brand as a replacement in situations like that. Especially for 10k speakers.

You probably know more about alibaba than we do. I saw 2 here:
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10832746/Jamo_Polk_Audio_Drivers.html

heiney9

brody05 wrote: »

I know the total made was at least 2000 sets and as above, still sold new 7-8 years ago, for $10,000USD I would expect a longer life cycle than what it is now with no more drivers.

Knowing Polk; I can't believe the drivers in the SRT's were only used in the SRT's. For a small production run I'd think they'd use a driver "off the shelf". As I stated earlier; ask about alternatives.

The reason Polk has made older drivers available is because those drivers in question fit many "classic" models of which had production run of several years and longer with many, many models still in use.

Good luck

H9

brody05

John30_30 wrote: »

It would be really nice if Polk or someone could at least recommend an alternate brand as a replacement in situations like that. Especially for 10k speakers.

You probably know more about alibaba than we do. I saw 2 here:
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10832746/Jamo_Polk_Audio_Drivers.html

Never heard of them but thank you for the link, I have emailed them, fingers crossed.

brody05

heiney9 wrote: »

Knowing Polk; I can't believe the drivers in the SRT's were only used in the SRT's. For a small production run I'd think they'd use a driver "off the shelf". As I stated earlier; ask about alternatives.

The reason Polk has made older drivers available is because those drivers in question fit many "classic" models of which had production run of several years and longer with many, many models still in use.

Good luck

H9

I believe they were used in RT series such as RTi 3 ect. Considering each speaker has 8 mid woofers that totals 16000 drivers plus spares. This seems like a lot but then again, we are only used to the limited size of New Zealand and anything in the US would be a far greater scale than we are used to seeing.

I am struggling to get my head around it, the SRT's must be the most expensive speakers Polk made and by not supplying parts anymore they are making a rather sad statement to all those that outlayed so much money to own them. Not to mention the value of them have just fallen through the floor, who wants to buy speakers that cant be repaired as required?

I have emailed Ken, heres hoping he has something positive to add. If not I will just have try coming up with something else - or crawl into the corner and blubber like a baby.........:(

ben62670

I understand your frustration, but to have speakers made that would match would cost the consumer too much money. Can you give me the dimensions of the drivers? IE the cut out, and overall diameter. I will see what I can do. Do you have the complete set F/R/C/SR/SL? I have equipment that can pull the impedance/efficiency of drivers so if someone wants to volunteer a couple drivers I may be able to match them.
Ben

treitz3

^^^Well there you go^^^

You still have options to explore. I predict this thread will have some good news "hear" shortly.

polkie4life

I just looked up the RT3 specs...

They're magnetically shielded so they must be the MW5804 driver. The 04 driver differs in regards to impedance so that avenue is not open to us i guess.

brody05

ben62670 wrote: »

I understand your frustration, but to have speakers made that would match would cost the consumer too much money. Can you give me the dimensions of the drivers? IE the cut out, and overall diameter. I will see what I can do. Do you have the complete set F/R/C/SR/SL? I have equipment that can pull the impedance/efficiency of drivers so if someone wants to volunteer a couple drivers I may be able to match them.
Ben

Thats very good of you Ben and greatly appreciated, the issue with other drivers is that the speaker frame itself is countersunk into the SRT cabinet, the driver frame housing the cone and coil ect is not round it makes it a difficult hole to throw another in.

I only have the fronts and control center.

I have 3 drivers here which have damged cones from transit that if possible I am hoping can be replaced, just need the cone and surround if it can be put on the original voice coil, not sure if this can be done but likely to be my best option at this stage, I am far from an expert regarding drivers design and construction, do you know what is changed to make a driver different ie can I put the whole spider, coil and cone from the Stereo array drivers into the SDA drivers without changing the SDA designated impedence/efficiency?

The reason I am wanting new ones is some of the ones I have now have cuts in the rubber surround that bridges the span between the cone and the frame, this was done when I had them 'repaired' and I had thoughts that this would impact the drivers ability to function well.

Thanks for your help, will keep working on a resolution in the next few days and see how I get on.

Even if I can sort something out, it doesn't bide well for all SRT owners really.

brody05

treitz3 wrote: »

^^^Well there you go^^^

You still have options to explore. I predict this thread will have some good news "hear" shortly.

Thank you for that and for the PM, the willingness to help strangers in the club polk community is awe inspiring and I am grateful to be a part of it.:)

warlocks1

A couple of years ago, I needed woofer's for the RT2000P, Polk didn't have them, but let me send my damages one to Polk in San Diego and they re-coned them for me for about $30.00 a piece. Maybe they can do the same for your driver's? I would see if Ken can make that happen. Best of luck! Jeff

ben62670

There is no way of getting a replacement cone to match. The voice coil is part of the cone. There are way to many factors involved to get them to match. Also the VC's differ between the dims, and stereo drivers. If you can shoot me some pics, and physical measurements I will see what I can do. If I can find something that physically would fit, or could be modded to fit then I would need to model the speakers electro specks to see if we could do something. Please don't take this as an easy solution. There are way too many variables to find an easy drop in solution. I have a few friends that have SRT's, and I will do my best to try and make sure that they don't end up being pretty boxes that don't work.
Ben

brody05

warlocks1 wrote: »

A couple of years ago, I needed woofer's for the RT2000P, Polk didn't have them, but let me send my damages one to Polk in San Diego and they re-coned them for me for about $30.00 a piece. Maybe they can do the same for your driver's? I would see if Ken can make that happen. Best of luck! Jeff

It is certainly a great idea, probably cost more in freight than anything else but well worth it to have my baby's back to 100%.

Thanks for the tip!

brody05

ben62670 wrote: »

There is no way of getting a replacement cone to match. The voice coil is part of the cone. There are way to many factors involved to get them to match. Also the VC's differ between the dims, and stereo drivers. If you can shoot me some pics, and physical measurements I will see what I can do. If I can find something that physically would fit, or could be modded to fit then I would need to model the speakers electro specks to see if we could do something. Please don't take this as an easy solution. There are way too many variables to find an easy drop in solution. I have a few friends that have SRT's, and I will do my best to try and make sure that they don't end up being pretty boxes that don't work.
Ben

http://s442.photobucket.com/albums/qq144/BRODY_05_2008/?action=view&current=IMG_1664.jpg

brody05

Sorry Ben, I am not very savy with the photo thing but I managed to get a link to it on photobucket.

The dimension is 5 and a quarter inch.

The frame of the driver is about 2mm smaller that the where the rubber glues onto it, the frame itself is counter sunk into the cabinet of the speaker and where the rubber surrounds joins on - that is where it sits flush. Hope this makes sense.

I will see if the option of sending these ones back for repair is there before asking you to go to too much trouble.

Thanks again, Brody