Monitor 5

ANWKLO

One of the tweeters is Peerless and the other is SL1000 in my Monitor 5.

The SL1000 sounds more open air and spike in high frequency i.e. Kenny G's saxophone. The Peerless sounds smooth and not open air.

Yesterday, I swapped the tweeters to see any difference or there is any problem with the x-over.

It was unlucky that the very small wire (the wire to connect to the silk dome) in front of the Peerless was burn during my bad soldering.


I notice the mid-bass driver is MW6500 together with the Peerless tweeter. The other one is MW6502 together with SL1000 ( I forget the MW6500 was replaced by the local agent some 1x years ago)


The problem are :

1. Should I change the MW6500 to MW6502
2. Should I change the burn Peerless to SL1000 Anyway, I must need one tweeter.
3. Can I upgrade the x-over according to the Heiney's link http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51420&highlight=solen

skrol

I am really not sure how to answer this one. They appear to be two different versions of the Monitor 5. The Peerless being the older. It is a shame about the Peerless tweeter. I picked up a set of Monitor 5's with the Peerless and they are superior. In any event, you have an unmatched pair a Monitor 5A and a Monitor 5B. The components are all different (drivers, XO and possibly cabinet volume).

ANWKLO

I am the first owner of this Monitor 5 nearly 30 years ago.:)

What is the meaning of "you have an unmatched pair a Monitor 5A and a Monitor 5B"

I suppose the one with Peerless and MW6500 is Monitor 5A while the other with SL1000 and MW6502 is Monitor 5B. Am I right

From the thread of this forum, I notice MW6500 is 8 ohms driver while MW6502 is 4 ohms driver. Do you mean the x-over is not match with the MW6502 Any bad effect?

skrol

So, you are the original owner and they sold you two different speakers?

I am having trouble tracking down all the specs. You may have 2 Monitor 5A's but 2 variations of that model. The 5B apparently went to the SL-2000 tweeter with the MW6502 and there were a few tweaks to the XO and possibly the cabinet volume. I have 2 brochures that show the 5B with slightly different cabinet dimensions and specs. In any event, I would expect that your crossovers are different from one another.

I would call Polk's customer service for advice. They are wonderful folks.

leroyjr1

I have an MW6500 and Peerless replacement if you want to buy them.

ANWKLO

skrol wrote: »

So, you are the original owner and they sold you two different speakers?

I am the original owner. Both speakers are the same specification when they are bought. Both have Peerless + MW6500 mid-bass driver + 8" passive radiator.


One of the Monitor 5's mid-bass driver changed from MW6500 to MW6502 15 years ago and a tweeter changed from Peerless to SL1000 2 years ago.

The other Monitor 5's Peerless was burn by my bad soldering on last Sunday.

To conclude: one Monitor 5 is : SL1000+MW6502+8" bass radiator. The other is : burn Peerless+MW6500+8" bass radiator.


From the thread of this forum, I notice MW6500 is 8 ohms while MW6502 is 4 ohms. Is the x-over matching with the MW6502

Should I change the working MW6500 to MW6502 or change the working MW6502 to the orginal MW6500

Should I buy another SL1000 or 2 Peerless or 2 RDO-0194


I would like to upgrade the x-over at the same time, please taking consideration of the about question.:)

ANWKLO

Are these capacitors and resistors suitable for the x-over please? Any other recommendations

Dayton DMPC-12 12uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor
Dayton DMPC-33 33uF 250V Polypropylene Capacitor
Mills 2.5 Ohm 12W Non-Inductive Resistor (1%) resistor
Mills 6 Ohm 12W Non-Inductive Resistor (1%) resistor

NJPOLKER

Maybe you should try Obbligato's capacitors. The return address on my package is as follows. I bought the copper caps and they sound great so far, just not burned in yet.

DIY HiFi Supply Limited
Unit 8,17/F, Block A, Veristrong Industrial Centre, 34-36 Au Pui Wan Street, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong
Tel; 3152 3576

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/?q=catalog/21/capacitors

comfortablycurt

They should have the MW6502's as far as I know.

I'd also stick with the Peerless tweets myself.

ANWKLO

NJPOLKER wrote: »

Maybe you should try Obbligato's capacitors. The return address on my package is as follows. I bought the copper caps and they sound great so far, just not burned in yet.

DIY HiFi Supply Limited
Unit 8,17/F, Block A, Veristrong Industrial Centre, 34-36 Au Pui Wan Street, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong
Tel; 3152 3576

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/?q=catalog/21/capacitors

Thank you for the information. It may save me the shipping cost:)

NJPOLKER

ANWKLO wrote: »

Thank you for the information. It may save me the shipping cost:)

Your welcome.
The Obbligato's are real nice caps and you can't go wrong with them. If you go with them you will have to run them "piggyback" so it's important to insulate the outer copper jacket with a good quality heat shrink. Its easy to do and worth the effort. Keep us informed on your progress.

skrol

My Monitor 5A's have the Peerless tweeters and the MW6500 and were mfg in 1983.

Crossover Parts:

Tweeter - series resistor = 2.5 ohm, series cap = 12uF, parallel resistor = 2.7 ohms, parallel inductor = unknown

Mid-woofer - series inductor = unknown, parallel cap = 27uF

ANWKLO

skrol wrote: »

My Monitor 5A's have the Peerless tweeters and the MW6500 and were mfg in 1983.

Crossover Parts:

Tweeter - series resistor = 2.5 ohm, series cap = 12uF, parallel resistor = 2.7 ohms, parallel inductor = unknown

Mid-woofer - series inductor = unknown, parallel cap = 27uF

How come one of my resistor is 6.2 ohms


Tweeter - series resistor = 2.7 ohm, series cap = 12uF,


parallel resistor = 6.2 ohms, parallel inductor = unknown
Mid-woofer - series inductor = unknown, parallel cap = 34uF

skrol

I have been curious about that myself. I may need to double check as my dyslexia may have gotten me.

Your 2nd pic is interesting. I assume that this is the terminal cup with the XO removed. I had not taken mine apart and I had not seen this 6.8 ohm resistor and cap mentioned in the schematics, though I don't have one specifically for the 5A.

skrol

Here is my Monitor 5A XO. The resistor is different in mine. Do you know what year yours were mgf?

skrol

I just realized that your MW6500 is stamped 1-31-79. So yours are four years older than mine.

ANWKLO

skrol wrote: »

I have been curious about that myself. I may need to double check as my dyslexia may have gotten me.

Your 2nd pic is interesting. I assume that this is the terminal cup with the XO removed. I had not taken mine apart and I had not seen this 6.8 ohm resistor and cap mentioned in the schematics, though I don't have one specifically for the 5A.

Yes, the 2nd picture is the terminal cup with the x-over removed. It is easy to removed with 4 screws. I assume it is the polyswitch, which is connected with the fuse.

The mid-bass capacitor should be 34uf in the schematics. Mine is 34uf too. How come yours is 27uf How come one of my resistor is 6.2 ohms

skrol

Not sure other than a tweak to the design. Perhaps our Peerless tweeters are different models? I don't think that mine had ever been opened before and are all original. I opened mine because when I brought them home I heard something rattling inside. It turned out to be pieces of glue scraps from when they were mfg'd (see photo). If someone had opened them up they would have likely cleaned them out.

As far as the sound, I have compared these to my upgraded RTA11TL's. While their are areas where the RTA11TL is superior (bass and overall imaging) these Monitor 5A's are noticeably smoother on the high end of the spectrum and very enjoyable to the ear.

ANWKLO

skrol wrote: »

Not sure other than a tweak to the design. Perhaps our Peerless tweeters are different models? I don't think that mine had ever been opened before and are all original. I opened mine because when I brought them home I heard something rattling inside. It turned out to be pieces of glue scraps from when they were mfg'd (see photo). If someone had opened them up they would have likely cleaned them out.

As far as the sound, I have compared these to my upgraded RTA11TL's. While their are areas where the RTA11TL is superior (bass and overall imaging) these Monitor 5A's are noticeably smoother on the high end of the spectrum and very enjoyable to the ear.

Any frontside picture of your tweeter?
This Monitor 5 x-over is same as mine. Also has 6.2 ohm resistor.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81337&highlight=crossover

skrol

I have seen others with the same xo values as yours. I might ask Polk CS about the differences. I have a friend who was one of Polk's design engineers back in the late 80's - early 90's. He did work on the later Monitor Series II, RTAxxTL and SDA's but I think these were before his time.

ANWKLO

skrol wrote: »

I have seen others with the same xo values as yours. I might ask Polk CS about the differences. I have a friend who was one of Polk's design engineers back in the late 80's - early 90's. He did work on the later Monitor Series II, RTAxxTL and SDA's but I think these were before his time.

I am waiting for the answer

madmike

I have a pair 5B's and they have the SL2000's in them. That and the front edge of the boxes have a 45 degree bevel on them. I don't remember what they have for MW's.