Polk Audio Monitor 10 (1987) problems.

tshade530

Recently, one of my Polk Monitor 10's (Dated Late 1987) stopped working for the most part. The tweeter still works fine, but the drivers and woofer make no sound at all. I checked all connections to the receiver and what-not, but wanted advice before i go taking it apart (i'm fairly new to speakers). However, all the other speakers, including my other monitor 10 still work perfectly. Any ideas what may cause this?
Thanks for any help!:D

Ender

Have you ever replaced the caps on the crossover?

tshade530

Ender wrote: »

Have you ever replaced the caps on the crossover?

Hi there,
Sorry for being a complete noob, but i'm not sure what you mean exactly...could you clarify what the caps on the crossover are for me?
Thanks!

dorokusai

Don't worry about caps.

Move the loudspeaker to the other channel, and see if the problem follows the speaker.

tshade530

dorokusai wrote: »

Don't worry about caps.

Move the loudspeaker to the other channel, and see if the problem follows the speaker.

If you meant moving the entire speaker to the left front channel (its currently right front), I tried that with no result.

dorokusai

Did you get the same result? No bass, only the tweeter was working? One speaker works just fine correct?

tshade530

dorokusai wrote: »

Did you get the same result? No bass, only the tweeter was working? One speaker works just fine correct?

Yes, when i moved it over, the tweeter was still the only speaker that made any noise at all. The Mid-Range Drivers and Woofer still make no sound at all. And yes, my other monitor 10 works fine on either channel.

dorokusai

OK, use a philips screwdriver and remove the mid-bass drivers from the non-working speaker. Ensure the leads are connected to the back....two of them for each driver. I would swap both to the "working speaker" and see what the result is.

tshade530

dorokusai wrote: »

OK, use a philips screwdriver and remove the mid-bass drivers from the non-working speaker. Ensure the leads are connected to the back....two of them for each driver. I would swap both to the "working speaker" and see what the result is.

Yes, there are two wires running to each mid-range driver. I will swap them here in a bit and post back with results.
Thanks for the help so far!

tshade530

tshade530 wrote: »

Yes, there are two wires running to each mid-range driver. I will swap them here in a bit and post back with results.
Thanks for the help so far!

However, there are no wires to the subwoofer...should there be any wires to it?

dorokusai

That's a passive radiator not a subwoofer so it won't have any wires connected to it.

tshade530

dorokusai wrote: »

That's a passive radiator not a subwoofer so it won't have any wires connected to it.

Just an update, while i was trying to figure out how to disconnect the speakers (they are soldered to the speaker), i realized that when i put my ear right up to the mid-range drivers, they are making sound, its just such little sound that it cant be heard from more than 3in away...

HB27

GENTLY push in on the mid drivers and make sure they move freely and have no scraping or scratchy feeling. Do not touch the center dust cap as it will collapse it.
If the mids in the problem speaker are stiff and little or no movement that's most likely the problem. You can compare travel of the mids from the good speaker vs the problem speaker.
You'll eventually run the problem down. Don't be afraid to ask. That's what the forum is for. Lots of good, helpful, knowledgeable people here.
Good luck and "keep us in the loop"
Harry

tshade530

HB27 wrote: »

GENTLY push in on the mid drivers and make sure they move freely and have no scraping or scratchy feeling. Do not touch the center dust cap as it will collapse it.
If the mids in the problem speaker are stiff and little or no movement that's most likely the problem. You can compare travel of the mids from the good speaker vs the problem speaker.
You'll eventually run the problem down. Don't be afraid to ask. That's what the forum is for. Lots of good, helpful, knowledgeable people here.
Good luck and "keep us in the loop"
Harry

...Harry, I think you may have solved my problem. When i touched the mids, i realized that they wont move AT ALL...im not sure why i didnt try this before...how do i fix that, or can i?
Thanks!
As a side note: The good speaker has quite a bit of travel in the mids, where as the bad speaker literally wont budge at all...

bluecomet

It sounds like a frozen speaker. Did you jar or bump this speaker. If it is frozen you will have to replace the mids. Maybe Polk has replacements.

tshade530

bluecomet wrote: »

It sounds like a frozen speaker. Did you jar or bump this speaker. If it is frozen you will have to replace the mids. Maybe Polk has replacements.

Nope, i just remember one day when i was watching a movie (it wasn't turned loud, maybe about 1/2 volume) and i heard it make a strange sound, when i paused the movie to go look at it, it was completely silent aside from the tweeter...i'll look into replacement mids.
Side note: Do you guys think replacement mids are worth it for a 22 year old monitor 10?, or should i just remove them both from my system and replace them with something else?

bluecomet

For the price of new mid's for the Monitor 10's, you will not find a better new speaker. The mid's should run you about a hundred bucks. If your monitor's came with the peerless tweeters I would not part with them.

tshade530

bluecomet wrote: »

For the price of new mid's for the Monitor 10's, you will not find a better new speaker. The mid's should run you about a hundred bucks. If your monitor's came with the peerless tweeters I would not part with them.

Sorry for the poor quality image, it was taken with a camera phone

Which tweeters are these? These are the tweeters in both of my Monitors.

fbm211

You should replace all the mids with new ones or try to find some used ones of the same model.New mids in one will result in one speaker sounding off.

tshade530

fbm211 wrote: »

You should replace all the mids with new ones or try to find some used ones of the same model.New mids in one will result in one speaker sounding off.

Hmm...so you're saying i should replace all 4 mids instead of just the 2 in the bad speaker? The inside of my mids on the bad speaker say that they are MW 6503 Drivers. Would i look for 4 6503's or are there better ones for this speaker?
Thanks for all your help guys, I really appreciate it!

fbm211

Look for the 6503s Thats the right one for that model.Try ebay for 2 used ones.Or call polk to get 4 new ones and mention your a club polk member and you will get a 20% dscount plus free shipping. About 400.00 for 4 of them.

tshade530

fbm211 wrote: »

Look for the 6503s Thats the right one for that model.Try ebay for 2 used ones.Or call polk to get 4 new ones and mention your a club polk member and you will get a 20% dscount plus free shipping. About 400.00 for 4 of them.

Does this seem like a good deal?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-Pair-MW-6503-Bass-Midrange-6-5-monitor-10_W0QQitemZ320367426737QQihZ011QQcategoryZ50597QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

fbm211

A little high for used ones.Those would have to be packed carefully and you should ask seller for a return warranty just in case.

tshade530

fbm211 wrote: »

A little high for used ones.Those would have to be packed carefully and you should ask seller for a return warranty just in case.

Yeah, i was thinking that as well...but unfortunately thats the only MW 6503's i can find on eBay right now. Oh well, i guess ill just remove the monitors for now and replace it with another set of speakers i have until i find a better deal. Thanks guys for all the help!:D

fbm211

Maybe another member might chime in who has a pair of 6503s to sell.

bluecomet

If you get those on ebay, you won't have to change the other speakers mids. I would consider those. They are what you are looking for. I believe the tweeters you have are the SL2000's. If I were you I would buy the new replacement RDO 194 tweeters for the monitors and buy the mid's on ebay and they should sound better than new. It should run about two hundred for everything.

HB27

tshade530 wrote: »

Hmm...so you're saying i should replace all 4 mids instead of just the 2 in the bad speaker? The inside of my mids on the bad speaker say that they are MW 6503 Drivers. Would i look for 4 6503's or are there better ones for this speaker?
Thanks for all your help guys, I really appreciate it!

You don't have to do everything at one time and it's amazing how fresh drivers on one side of the room will change everything. It's pretty cool getting the knowledge of what happens when you do things a little different. Also you might be surprised how much you can like the sound quality with a little different sound until you can replace everything.
As far as the value of bringing your Monitors back to life?
Just look around at prices of speakers that aren't nearly as good as what you have now. A couple hundred bucks or more on a complete rebuild is cheap for great speakers.
You can easily spend 5 times as much to replace your speakers and get much less than you would to rebuild what you have now.
Best of luck to you.
Harry

HB27

tshade530 wrote: »

...Harry, I think you may have solved my problem. When i touched the mids, i realized that they wont move AT ALL...im not sure why i didnt try this before...how do i fix that, or can i?
Thanks!
As a side note: The good speaker has quite a bit of travel in the mids, where as the bad speaker literally wont budge at all...

You might want to use JB Weld to secure the magnet structures to the basket on your good speakers. Your old monitors MWs fell apart. The glue dries up and loses adhesion with time allowing the magnets to slip.
You can secure your good MWs now and not worry about them again.
Harry

dorokusai

Just stagger the new drivers. There's no need to buy 4 at one time. If using JB Weld makes you feel better go for it but I wouldn't bother.

polkmeister

dorokusai wrote: »

Just stagger the new drivers. There's no need to buy 4 at one time. If using JB Weld makes you feel better go for it but I wouldn't bother.

Totally agree. I have a pair of vintage model 10's (circa '79) and THREE pairs of vintage 7's. (also an LSI based "main system".)
On the old polks I've had to replace only two drivers amongst all of them over the years. For the life of me, I could not discern a difference between those repaired, from those still in original condition. BTW, it's a little surprising that BOTH mids went out on the one unit simultaneously... unless the speaker took a fall, etc.

In short, I would just replace the frozen drivers in the one unit, or stagger them between the "good" unit and the one needing repair ... as suggested by dorokusai above. Good luck!