RTA8T vs RTA8TL

seeclear

What is the difference? And what would be a good price for the RTA8TL in good (not mint) condition? I am told they are in good condition, but if they are a little beat us how much does that influence the value? I hope to get a look at them and test 'em out on wednesday. Thanks, folks.

Face

The TL uses the SL3000 tweeter, non TL uses the SL2000. The SL3000 is preferred by most.

seeclear

Thanks, Face.

seeclear

Bump, for the evening crowd.

Value, anyone?

MillerLiteScott

$40-$80 Would be my best guess.

skrol

The RTA_TechInfo.pdf in the link below has some info on the TL improvements.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80780
Stan

seeclear

Thanks, all. That's good info, Skrol. The seller now says one tweeter may be fried. Does anyone know if the SL2500 trilam is still available?

Skrol, I see you have replaced with a RDO198, is that a common substitution and good upgrade? Cost?

Thanks again.

skrol

The RDO-198 is the replacement from Polk and I, as well as many others, consider it an upgrade. If you mention that you are a Club Polk member, Polk Audio will give you a nice discount. With the discount they were $48 when I got mine. I believe the regular price was ~ $65. I recommend replacing the tweeter in the other one as well so that they are matched. I tried mine with only replacing one and it did not sound well. The price adds up when replacing both but the improvement is worth it.

The other option is to pick up a used SL-2500 from another Polk member here or from EB. I see them listed fairly often.
Stan

seeclear

I talked to Eric at Polk and the sl2500 is still available. Any other opinions on the sl2500 vs RDO198?

Face

Where are you getting SL2500 from? It should have SL3000's. Regardless, if you do pick them up, grab a pair of RD0-198's. They're the correct tweeter for the RTA8TL and sound better than any other vintage Polk tweeter.

seeclear

From the literature posted above by Skrol. It looks like the bigger boys, the 11TL and the 15TL had the sl3000, while the little brother 8TL had the sl2500.

Looks like if one tweeter is fried I may end up with RDO198's to replace them anyway.

What would you pay for these knowing you need to replace two tweets ($96 with CP discount)?

skrol

The RTA8TL did have the SL2500 while the RTA11TL and RTA15TL had the SL3000. How much does Polk want for a SL2500? Given the choice I'd go for the RDO198 but if economics are an issue, go for the SL2500.

In my opinion ... No more than $200 for good condition RTA8TL and everything working. I've seen good condition RTA11TL's go for $250. Deduct $50 for the bad tweeter. For $200 you will have a fine pair of speakers with SL2500's or for $250 a finer pair of speakers with RDO's. After you enjoy them for a while, go and upgrade the XO and you will be impressed all over again.

ND13

I have a minty set of RTA8 TLs and they are SL2500s. When Polk CS says they have them, it's the replacement. Mine are in such nice shape, it'll take $175 to get them. Very under rated speaker, imo. Sounds good with tubes, too.

seeclear

Thanks, guys. I am going to go check them out tomorrow, so I'll let you know how I fare.

seeclear

One more question (I almost said one last question, but I know this won't be the last )--Does the RDO198 drop right into the space of the sl2500 tweeter, or is some cabinet mod required? Thanks again.

ben62670

Drops right in.

seeclear

Well, I picked these up this morning for $40. Cabinets are in good shape, a couple of small scratches here and there, but nothing too major or anything I can't touch up with a black marker. Grills really looked excellent, but I didn't go over with a fine-toothed comb, either. One tweeter is definitely not working. Seller said he replaced a tweet about 10 years ago, but not sure which one. He said he talked to Polk CS and they felt the most likely problem was just a fried tweeter and not a crossover issue. I didn't have any time to pull any tweeters out and see what was in there, but if he replaced one 10 years ago, do you think that would have been the original sl2500 back then, or would he have gotten an RDO198?

Anyway, I will need to replace a tweeter or two(if the working one is a sl2500), but I hope to have these back up to full speed in a week or two. And, I may have a sl2500 to karma if there is still one working there!

Thanks for the help, guys!

aljoseph

If the difference between an RTA-8T and an RTA-8TL is the tweeter, SL2000 vs an SL3000, is the crossover the same or is there an upgrade that should to be made?

seeclear

If you look at the schematics for the two from this thread-->http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38755 , they look different. I don't know a ton about reading those-I know the parallel lines with a break is a capacitor, the zigzag is a resistor, but what is the curly-q?

aljoseph

The curly Q thingy is a choke. That particular item and its rated inductance, along with a capacitor forms a tuned circuit. Thus, it allows audio frequencies to either pass or be blocked.

seeclear

You lost me. I knew cars had chokes, even shotguns. I don't remember anything about chokes from the electric unit in HS physics. It probably doesn't matter that much, as I am not going to be designing crossovers anytime soon.

aljoseph

The device goes by several common names, inductor, choke, coil, etc.. They all serve the same purpose.

aljoseph

Edit: You might be interested in looking at some interesting (to me anyway) circuitry that appears on the following website. http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/

ben62670

Swap the tweeter from one cab to the other. If the problem fallows the tweeter it is the tweeter. If the "good" tweeter doesn't work in the other cabinet then there is another issue.
Ben

skrol

Sounds like you got a great deal on a fix-er-up-er.

It kind of raises a flag that a tweeter was previously replaced. Before you hook up a new tweeter, check the crossover. Mine had a couple bad (or non-existent) solder connections. The capacitor in series with the tweeter was constructed of 2 capacitors in parallel with one soldered to the others leads. One of the solder joints was bad and allowed lower frequencies to get to the tweeter. This can fry the tweeter.
Stan

seeclear

Well, we don't know at this point if it is the same speaker needing another tweeter or the other one. Even when I get inside I may not know, unless the replacement was a RDO198 and has gone bad again. Then I'll have to look more closely at the crossover. I appreciate the heads up, tho.

How easy is it to get to the crossover on these? Is it on the back of the "connection cup" or elsewhere?

seeclear

ben62670 wrote: »

Swap the tweeter from one cab to the other. If the problem fallows the tweeter it is the tweeter. If the "good" tweeter doesn't work in the other cabinet then there is another issue.
Ben

So, the fried tweet was dated in '92, and labelled sl2500. The other one was also sl2500, but dated in '95. Switched the bad one to the other cabinet and it is definitely fried. I've got 2 RDO198's on the way from Polk CS.

Funny, when I was talking to Polk CS, I asked if the new ones I am getting are RDO198, the guy (Derek?) says the RDO198 IS the sl2500. Not-it replaces the sl2500, or even - it is the same as the sl2500. He says IT IS the sl2500. Really? Then why is the name changed? I don't know, it seems funny to me.:rolleyes:

Toolfan66

So the RDO 198 is the replacement for the SL2500 and the SL3000????

I just ordered 8 of them on Thursday.

Face

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

So the RDO 198 is the replacement for the SL2500 and the SL3000????

I just ordered 8 of them on Thursday.

Correct.

Toolfan66

Face wrote: »

Correct.

Thank's I started to worry for a minute.

seeclear

Got the new tweeters today, they did drop in very easily just as Ben said they would. I am Karma-ing the extra (old) SL2500 over in the clubhouse if anyone is interested.