Monitor 7A's+broken grille tabs=PITA!

comfortablycurt

So, as some of you know, I recently picked up some Monitor 7A's. The speakers are in great condition, unfortunately though, all but one of the grille tabs are broken off on one of the speakers. I actually have the tabs though...amazingly, they were in the boxes.

So, as I said, most of them are snapped off. Has anyone ever tried super gluing them back on? I have my doubts as to how well that would really work, especially since I tend to take the grilles on and off fairly frequently.

Is there some kind of ultra strong glue out there I should try to find? Does Polk have replacements for them? They look like they could be a bit of a pain to remove, and replace...but I'm sure I could manage it if replacements were available.

As always, any help would be appreciated,

Curt

HB27

Send my your address and I'll send you 4 of them.
Harry

woodsman10b

comfortablycurt wrote: »

So, as some of you know, I recently picked up some Monitor 7A's. The speakers are in great condition, unfortunately though, all but one of the grille tabs are broken off on one of the speakers. I actually have the tabs though...amazingly, they were in the boxes.

So, as I said, most of them are snapped off. Has anyone ever tried super gluing them back on? I have my doubts as to how well that would really work, especially since I tend to take the grilles on and off fairly frequently.

Is there some kind of ultra strong glue out there I should try to find? Does Polk have replacements for them? They look like they could be a bit of a pain to remove, and replace...but I'm sure I could manage it if replacements were available.

As always, any help would be appreciated,

Curt

Curt, there is glue named Zap-a-Gap that should work well. It is sold in most hobby shops, and alot of pool cue repair guys use it for glueing on the tips. You will want to clean the surfaces using rubbing alcohol first. If you do decide to try this be very careful with this glue, it makes superglue seem like elmers glue.

F1nut

Glue isn't going to work, at least not for long as there isn't enough surface area. Parts Express sells replacements that will work.

comfortablycurt

HB27 wrote: »

Send my your address and I'll send you 4 of them.
Harry

You have a PM.

F1nut wrote: »

Glue isn't going to work, at least not for long as there isn't enough surface area. Parts Express sells replacements that will work.

Yeah, I figured glue wouldn't really work. The tabs have to bend a little bit for the grille to go on or off...so I guess I'm going to have to replace them.

The tabs are broken off...but that part that presses into the baffle is still stuck in there. Do these screw in, or are they just pressed in? Any particular way I should take them out?

I figured I'd just get a screw into them a little bit, and use that to pull them out. Any other suggestions on how to remove them?

F1nut

They are pressed in. Try needle nose pliers.

comfortablycurt

Alright...I'll give that a try too. There's not much to grab onto though because of how they broke off, so we'll see. I'm not going to try and get them out until I get new tabs in either case though.

HB27

Curt,
I just sent you a reply. I've got 4 in an envelope for you waiting on an address and stamp.
Harry

comfortablycurt

HB27 wrote: »

Curt,
I just sent you a reply. I've got 4 in an envelope for you waiting on an address and stamp.
Harry

I just replied to your message. Thanks a lot Harry. It is much appreciated.

Curt

comfortablycurt

Are the original grill tabs on the 7's called "treelocks"? I just heard back from Polk customer service, and they told me that what I needed were the treelock tabs, and that they had some in stock. They said they'd send me some free of charge.:D

Harry sent me some tabs, and they ended up being the wrong ones unfortunately. He's a great guy regardless though. Thanks Harry!:)

I'm wondering now if the tabs on here are the original ones or not...I just tried taking a picture of them, but the battery in my camera is dead...so once it gets a little charge in it, I'll snap a picture or two and post them up.

comfortablycurt

Got some pics of the grille tabs. Can anyone tell me if these are the original ones...or the "treelocks"? The tabs are mounted directly on the speaker baffle, not on the grilles themselves.







Here are the holes in the grilles that the tabs go into. There isn't a plastic insert or anything...it's just a hole cut into the MDF.



Original? Not original? What's the verdict?

tx_polkhead

mine look diff. but they are 7c's so that might explain the diff. I had 3 of the 4 broken on my RTA12c's and pulling the broken bits out was a pain, like you said not much to grab. I drilled a small hole in the broken bit and screwed a small screw which I was able to grab with needle nose and pull srtaight out. New ones (I swipped from a set of Advent Legacy II's) were a perfect match. Of course now my Advents need 3 grille tabs but my Polk are happy!

comfortablycurt

The 7C's must have had a different kind of grill tab then. I was talking to another forum member yesterday, and he has a pair of 7A's just like mine. They've got the same grille tabs. So I do have the originals I guess.

I talked to Polk customer service, and they had some of them in stock, so they're sending me some free of charge(great customer service).

That's probably what I'm going to do to get them out. Needle nose pliers probably won't really work...because there's barely anything to grab on to.

So I'll just drill a hole, and put a screw in them and use that to pull them out.