S10's revamp

Rockmore

Hi Guys- Have been reading hundreds of your threats and posts for a while now. I'm a audiophile from waaaaay back in the day and have recently decided to revamp my S-10's. The reason I'm posting and asking for your advice in this section instead of the Vintage Speakers area is a lot of the mods etc. I've seen you experts do is just about what I'm wanting to do of sorts:

My S-10's just don't do it for me anymore- mainly the passive radiator woofers...

I'm wanting to cheaply and "easily" replace the 10" passive woofers, and replace the stock factory 2 way crossovers with 3 way crossovers for a full 'wired' 3 way setup using the existing cabinents.

My thinking is to use the existing tweeter as-is, use the MW8000 driver as the heavy duty midrange, and replace passive woofers.

Initially, my only concern physically is the depth of the new woofers that will fit...

Now, before you professors (LOL) go into too much practical acoustic theory on the initial stock way Polk designed the stock S10 setup, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc, I am still wanting to know and see if my
initial idea will work, and not sound too bad without being down to the engineered acoustic nano spec.... (they will sound decent), and I will still have nominal 8 ohm output.

I'm running a brand new Harmon Kardon AVR-146 for power and would like to keep the same power rating specs for my modified S10's (20w-200w).

Suggestions and sources for new 3 way crossovers and 10" woofers, plus your comments and advice? I haven't hand built a pair of home speakers from scratch since 1978, but have been reading your posts for a year...

(for what it's worth, I also plan on gutting these S10's first and sanding them down to their natural 'wood' color and texture, and replace the cheap fiberglass like angel-hair acoustic crap with something decent).

Thanks!

Rockmore

Suggestions and sources for new 3 way crossovers and 10" woofers, plus your comments and advice?

bikerboy

What you are trying to do is make a new pair of speakers. So why do you leave the s-10 speakers the way they are and sell them and make or buy something else? If you modify them they will have little of any resale value. There are tons of kit speakers and designs available. Good luck.

comfortablycurt

Yeah...I'd just build some new speakers from the ground up. That's essentially what you're going to be doing anyway. Get some MDF and make yourself some new cabinets. Those S10's cabinets were designed with the passive radiator in mind. I'm sure it could be done...but I don't think to many people would recommend.

dudeinaroom

well if you get lucky, you might be able to find a woofer that will work in that box, but good luck. If you do find one, the mid will be fight ting with the woofer unless you build a small enclosure around the mid, which will also change the way that it sounds. I could go into some of the technical jargon, but I might as well just speak some third world tribal language It might be a little more effective. There is a lot more to just throwing speakers in a box to get great sound. By your post, it looks like you like the sound of them, just not happy with the bass. real easy fix. Don't do any thing to the S 10s, just buy a decent sub, and I would be like a new speaker system all over a again, but with a familiar sound.

Rockmore

Geeze... That's what I get for asking for (non) advice in a forum like this...

Project completed, and they sound GREAT.

Merely gutted the existing stock PolkAudio S10 boxes,
siliconed adhered 1/4" sheets of high quality birch
plywood at exactly 11 1/8" x 8 1/8" below the
mid driver onto the only internal stabilizing wood
brace and surrounding edges (to create a sealed
"box" for the woofer), added new 3-way
crossovers and 10" woofers, and rewired.
Even used some of the old existing acoustic
filler material.

My adhesion has to be twice as good as the stock
Polk hot glue that they use to glue the entire
boxes together on a assembly line
on all of the S series.

The woofer lows are very tight and crisp now,
and really toned down the exceptionally high
freqs on the tweeter. The MW8000 stock driver
makes an excellent midrange.

Still debating and determining whether or not to
port the woofer "box" area, and loosen up and
make the low freqs deeper... Probably a good
idea since the acoustic square footage is quite
small for a sealed setup.

comfortablycurt

Good to hear you're happy with the results. What driver did you end up using? Did you design the crossover yourself, or use a prefab XO?

Rockmore

What driver? You mean for the woofer?
Goldwoods from Partsexpress, and the premade
D's for crossovers. Don't have time to put together
my exact parts list from Partsexpress at the moment.
Might sometime for others who want to revamp their
S10's od other crappy S-series. With shipping
was around $90 for everything.
Again, used the stock MW8000 and tweeter
for the tweets and mids.

NOTE: I still CAN NOT BELIEVE how cheaply
and overpriced these S10's were (are) and were made
and the MSRP Polk was getting for them (around $600 ?) when
they were released. The entire boxes were assembly line
hot glued with (now) brittle hot glue. I was even able to lightly
hand separate the crossovers from the post assemblies
because overpriced, cheap Polk just used the same cheap hot clue
to glue them with this cheap, brittle hot glue together....

I used average grade silicone adhesive on everything, that remains
permanently flexible for 30 years or more, and has great acoustic
properties.

comfortablycurt

Yes, I was referring to the woofer.

Good to hear you're happy with it. If you ever feel ambitious, try to put together your own crossover for them. It would probably get much better results than the pre-fab ones they have available.

Rockmore

Curt- name and show with photos the crossovers you have engineered, designed, purchased parts for, and built yourself.

Do not reply to any of my posts in any subject or threads
again.

Thanks

comfortablycurt

Ok...I..apologize? Dude...I was just giving you some advice. I'm not bashing on what you decided to do. Just telling you what you could possibly do in the future, to get even better results.

I think you have some communication issues here if you're getting mad at someone for giving you some advice. Relax man.

nooshinjohn

no help from me on this one either... thats 2 for 2

comfortablycurt

nooshinjohn wrote: »

no help from me on this one either... thats 2 for 2

Yeah...same here. I was actually looking around for a while earlier and found a few things that would possibly work for him...but I guess he doesn't want any help. Oh well...

He also seems to have gotten those parts pretty quick. He was still trying to find out where and what to get on Friday...and it's now Sunday. That's pretty quick shipping...especially for a weekend.:rolleyes:

I got a kick out of that "I told you so" post though.

nooshinjohn

I think he would be happier with bose anyway....

agfrost

Rockmore: Get bent.

No one in this thread has said anything that warrants your attitude. You come in here, professing yourself to be an "audiophile," yet you can't even deal with the term "driver."

You say you are looking for advice, and no one chimes in quickly--I'll interpret for you: Everyone thinks your project is uninteresting and/or unlikely to result in good sound. Then when a couple guys take pity on you and bounce a couple questions/points your way, you crap all over them. If you're going to do whatever you want to do anyway, why bother asking here any way?

I'd suggest you find another forum. We certainly don't need your brand of sunshine.

You don't need to tell me not to post in your threads any more. Trust me, this is one more post than I'd planned to make.

Enjoy your Frankenpolks.

nooshinjohn

'nuff said

Rockmore

LOL lolololololol.

Already had the parts- but as part of the Doctoral
Thesis my wife is doing, used the (expected) results in this
ancient forum and PolkAudio as documented examples.

Over 95% averaged middle aged, territorial, solely white male
dick heads, with a few asian, Indians and others in the demographic.

Supposedly using this long-time ancient forum for social
technical networking and communication.

At the FIRST SIGN of something improved or better, or
rejection of non-advice for those who have time to waste
in their personal lives and demographic, there is name calling,
"dissing", and rejection of anything factual and real-time: based
on time in the social arena and mere familiarity. It doesn't matter if I or anyone else has been here once or a thousand times.

That's why the spammers, hackers, bad-guys, enemies of anything American is so easily preyed upon economically and through means like the internet.

My Polks NOW sound better than they were ever engineered, and are anything but Frankensteins.... I also lost a night out and dinner bet with my wife that at the mere offering of my (now successful) project details, in this forum with the ugly American white male territorial dominance, that it would (in plain terms) piss you losers off quickly and easily. Mainly because of lack of professional 4 year educational degrees. ITT tech and 2 year degrees, or none at all of the extreme less does not count.

It did. And fast (piss the lowlifes off). You all are also representational of how Polk suckered thousands into their high MSRP's for very low end engineering, components, and manufacturing when such as the S series and others were flooded onto the market in the 90's.

Gee.. you wonder how we all are in this crashed market and bad economic times now huh.... My mere two posts on on-topic subject matters clearly provided my wife more fodder for her already proven Thesis. I'm personally ashamed to be in the same demographic, except that I have a masters Degree from Michigan State University in Economics, and could care less what the white trash in this forum think, do, or react.

Hey- we will buy your 4 time over mortgaged houses from you that you have lost or are losing. You can keep your tinker toy DIY speaker quasi "projects". The rest of you can move out of your parents basements.

nooshinjohn

:mad::p....I'm personally ashamed to be in the same demographic, except that I have a masters Degree from Michigan State University in Economics, and could care less what the white trash in this forum think, do, or react.....

you forgot to mention that you have a degree in anal retention from the **** studies program at F.U. san fransisco... I happen to be well educated and my wife is studying medicine.

Your arrogance is what led to the responses you received, and your comments above justify them. your overtly racist comments above demonstrate that your ignorance exists despite your educational acievements and serve to make you look ignorant and just plain stupid. they have no place in this forum, and neither do you.

It is obvious that you do not seek to be part of this group to help others nor to solicit the assistance of members here in a respectful manner so please do us a favor and piss off

comfortablycurt

You my friend...make absolutely no sense. That post was incredibly hard to read.

You're not the first person to come up with the idea to put active drivers in a box designed for usage with a passive radiator. Polk used passive radiators in these speakers for a reason.

I was giving you some advice about the crossovers, because those prefab crossovers, are basically the least ideal route to take. Specific drivers and specific cabinet geometries really dictate where the optimal crossover points are going to be.

The prefab crossovers are really just the simple solution. They work great for the people who aren't able, or willing to take the time to design them. They aren't optimal for 90% of the setups that they end up going in.

I don't know where you get off saying that everyone here is a loser that is losing their house or living in their moms basement? That doesn't even make any sense, and is just showing how aggravated you are. That really makes you look like a whining little kid. Grow up a little bit.

You came here looking for advice, the advice was given. You didn't follow that advice, when you obviously knew what advice was going to be given to you. Why even bother? You said you're happy with your results. GREAT! Be happy with them...I'm glad you are.

Once again, that last post was incredibly hard to read, and barely made sense at all. You might try composing your sentences a little better as well.

Here's an idea. You want better bass output? There's this thing I've been hearing a lot about lately...what's it called? Damn...what is it...Oh yeah. The subwoofer. It works wonders.

Now quit your damn whining.

time to call...

jcaut

Wowie zowie!

LessisNevermore

Rockmore wrote: »

LOL lolololololol.

Already had the parts- but as part of the Doctoral
Thesis my wife is doing, used the (expected) results in this
ancient forum and PolkAudio as documented examples.

Over 95% averaged middle aged, territorial, solely white male
dick heads, with a few asian, Indians and others in the demographic.

Supposedly using this long-time ancient forum for social
technical networking and communication.

At the FIRST SIGN of something improved or better, or
rejection of non-advice for those who have time to waste
in their personal lives and demographic, there is name calling,
"dissing", and rejection of anything factual and real-time: based
on time in the social arena and mere familiarity. It doesn't matter if I or anyone else has been here once or a thousand times.

That's why the spammers, hackers, bad-guys, enemies of anything American is so easily preyed upon economically and through means like the internet.

My Polks NOW sound better than they were ever engineered, and are anything but Frankensteins.... I also lost a night out and dinner bet with my wife that at the mere offering of my (now successful) project details, in this forum with the ugly American white male territorial dominance, that it would (in plain terms) piss you losers off quickly and easily. Mainly because of lack of professional 4 year educational degrees. ITT tech and 2 year degrees, or none at all of the extreme less does not count.

It did. And fast (piss the lowlifes off). You all are also representational of how Polk suckered thousands into their high MSRP's for very low end engineering, components, and manufacturing when such as the S series and others were flooded onto the market in the 90's.

Gee.. you wonder how we all are in this crashed market and bad economic times now huh.... My mere two posts on on-topic subject matters clearly provided my wife more fodder for her already proven Thesis. I'm personally ashamed to be in the same demographic, except that I have a masters Degree from Michigan State University in Economics, and could care less what the white trash in this forum think, do, or react.

Hey- we will buy your 4 time over mortgaged houses from you that you have lost or are losing. You can keep your tinker toy DIY speaker quasi "projects". The rest of you can move out of your parents basements.

So you are book smart, yet socially retarded. Good for you. Where did you develop your personality, in a car crash?

I'm very interested in your "wife's" little term paper. Is it titled: My Husband's Napolean Complex, and It's Effect on People With A Clue?

Bye Bye Bozo.

thsmith

Hey, give the guy a break he can't help it that he is stupid and apparently so is his wife:rolleyes:

jcaut

Rockmore wrote: »

Geeze... That's what I get for asking for (non) advice in a forum like this...

Project completed, and they sound GREAT.

Merely gutted the existing stock PolkAudio S10 boxes,
siliconed adhered 1/4" sheets of high quality birch
plywood at exactly 11 1/8" x 8 1/8" below the
mid driver onto the only internal stabilizing wood
brace and surrounding edges (to create a sealed
"box" for the woofer), added new 3-way
crossovers and 10" woofers, and rewired.
Even used some of the old existing acoustic
filler material.

My adhesion has to be twice as good as the stock
Polk hot glue that they use to glue the entire
boxes together on a assembly line
on all of the S series.

The woofer lows are very tight and crisp now,
and really toned down the exceptionally high
freqs on the tweeter. The MW8000 stock driver
makes an excellent midrange.

Still debating and determining whether or not to
port the woofer "box" area, and loosen up and
make the low freqs deeper... Probably a good
idea since the acoustic square footage is quite
small for a sealed setup.

Four days between asking for advice and "project" completed? You already had the parts,.... oh yeah, OK.

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that:
1) You didn't really want any advice and instead just wanted to stir up trouble, and
2) You don't have a clue about designing/building speakers- You just want to stir up trouble.

Hope it was fun for you!

Oh and BTW, I think I qualify as one of the " Experenced long time posters " whose participation you encouraged. I ought to know better though....

nooshinjohn

To all future posters... please lets just let this thread die... the guy was/is a complete jack-**** so let hope he stays as dead as this post should be...

comfortablycurt

I hope Rockmore comes back. I value his thoughts and opinions very much.;)

I was also hoping to get some advice from him on ripping the PR's out of my Monitor 7's and replacing them with some cheap Goldstar drivers, and prefab Dayton XO's from PE. I'm sure they will sound much better afterwards.;)

ok...now we can let this thread die...lol

ohskigod

Rockmore wrote: »

Geeze... That's what I get for asking for (non) advice in a forum like this...

Project completed, and they sound GREAT.

Merely gutted the existing stock PolkAudio S10 boxes,
siliconed adhered 1/4" sheets of high quality birch
plywood at exactly 11 1/8" x 8 1/8" below the
mid driver onto the only internal stabilizing wood
brace and surrounding edges (to create a sealed
"box" for the woofer), added new 3-way
crossovers and 10" woofers, and rewired.
Even used some of the old existing acoustic
filler material.

My adhesion has to be twice as good as the stock
Polk hot glue that they use to glue the entire
boxes together on a assembly line
on all of the S series.

The woofer lows are very tight and crisp now,
and really toned down the exceptionally high
freqs on the tweeter. The MW8000 stock driver
makes an excellent midrange.

Still debating and determining whether or not to
port the woofer "box" area, and loosen up and
make the low freqs deeper... Probably a good
idea since the acoustic square footage is quite
small for a sealed setup.

Trying to imagine what would be a bigger waste of time......drawing a blank.

how did you pick the driver and crossover parts, a spinner wheel from an old Twister game?.......eeeesh LOL

ohskigod

Rockmore wrote: »

Curt- name and show with photos the crossovers you have engineered, designed, purchased parts for, and built yourself.

Do not reply to any of my posts in any subject or threads
again.

Thanks

well how is he going to name what you want while not responding to your threads? your a silly goose

comfortablycurt

ohskigod wrote: »

well how is he going to name what you want while not responding to your threads? your a silly goose

It's really very complicated...but I think I've managed to figure out a way around it...lol

ohskigod

comfortablycurt wrote: »

It's really very complicated...but I think I've managed to figure out a way around it...lol

by all means, keep me posted

tcavallo

dudeinaroom

comfortablycurt wrote: »

It's really very complicated...but I think I've managed to figure out a way around it...lol

You have done it. Don't you know he is the internet forum master, and said not to post in HIS thread. Oh man you are so going down:rolleyes: