monitor 5?

Options
egp823
egp823 Posts: 74
edited August 2009 in Vintage Speakers
Are these any good? Worth keeping? Thank you.
Post edited by egp823 on

Comments

  • Hamatym
    Hamatym Posts: 269
    edited August 2009
    Options
    those are worthless....sell them to me for $5 right now!! ha ha...they are good speakers, especailly with an upgrade to the caps! Honestly if you do not want them and they both look like that...please PM me. I have 1 more room I need the these exact speaker in:) No worries if not, they truely are great speakers bro!
  • madmike
    madmike Posts: 81
    edited August 2009
    Options
    I'll second what Hamatym said. I've had mine since 1985, I had to replace tweeters, then I just upgraded the X-overs and now I think they sound better then new.
  • Hamatym
    Hamatym Posts: 269
    edited August 2009
    Options
    Nice madmike! ya, they are awesome when you put honest work to them. These are pretty common, but glad to see EPG823 asked for an honest opiniion. I personally like this series of monitors with upgrades. Hopefully he'll PM me so I don't have to crawl through ebay to get another set. ha ha
  • madmike
    madmike Posts: 81
    edited August 2009
    Options
    Hey Hamatym ,there happens to be a set of 5B's at www.canuckaudiomart.ca right now if your interested, they look pretty good, I think they are going for $200 Canadian.
  • comfortablycurt
    comfortablycurt Posts: 6,745
    edited August 2009
    Options
    egp823 wrote: »
    Are these any good? Worth keeping? Thank you.


    Those are Monitor 5B's, with SL-2000 tweeters. Some damn fine speakers if I may say so.

    I wouldn't sell them myself...hang onto them.

    Polk has direct replacement tweeters for them that sound a lot better than the stock tweeters. The model number is RD0-194-1. Discounts are given to Club Polk members as well.;)

    The vintage Monitors are some EXCELLENT sounding speakers, but given how old they are, the caps and resistors in the crossovers can be a little worn out.

    A lot of people have upgrade the caps/resistors in the XO's with higher quality components, and made them sound better than new.

    Sometime next year I'm going to hot rod my Monitor 7A's with Peerless tweeters.

    Here's a thread by Brock(heiney9) detailing the crossover upgrading process of those very speakers, the Monitor 5B's.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51420


    If you have a basic knowledge of how to solder, you should be able to perform the upgrades with no problem. If you're not comfortable doing it, there are several people on the board that will do it for you for a small fee.

    Good luck! And don't sell those speakers! They look to be some fine specimens!
    The nirvana inducer-
    APC H10 Power Conditioner
    Marantz UD5005 universal player
    Parasound Halo P5 preamp
    Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
    PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
    Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's
  • madmike
    madmike Posts: 81
    edited August 2009
    Options
    I would definately keep these. They look into great condition, I don't think you could find any other speakers that sound as good for the money. As comfortablycurt says by following the above link you can upgrade the X-overs and really make them sound fantastic and it is really easy to do.
  • Paden501
    Paden501 Posts: 286
    edited August 2009
    Options
    Dang, I sure wish I had a pair of those speakers..... oh wait, I do!!!

    Keep ahold of them.... I think you'll like 'em. Like everyone else said, you can do some upgrades but I for one like them a lot even in their stock form.
    ~Matt

    My System

    Front L/R: Definitive BP10Bs
    Surrounds -Polk Audio Monitor 4As
    Preamp: B&K Reference 20
    CD: Jolida JD100a
    L/R Amp: Carver TFM-24
    Turntable: Pioneer PL-516 W/ Shure M97xe
    TV: Sony 52" XBR9
  • shadowofnight
    shadowofnight Posts: 2,735
    edited August 2009
    Options
    I have been playing around with the monitor series lately, been nothing but SDA's for so long I figured I wanted to hear them as well. I picked up a pair of 10b's from Azi a while back, and just yesterday picked up a pair of the 5jr+'s ....they were 75 bucks on craigslist.

    When the guy called me and said he would deliver them to me in their original box ( He was the original purchaser , and they had never been moved from straight out of the box to his entertainment center since purchased ) that saved me gas as well. . They were well worth the 75 bucks...and delivered to boot :D I have had them positioned every which way in the mancave...just to play around....both the 10b's and the 5jr+'s sound great.


    attachment.php?attachmentid=42599&d=1250882008

    attachment.php?attachmentid=42600&d=1250882008
    The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club
  • JohnLocke88
    JohnLocke88 Posts: 1,150
    edited August 2009
    Options
    I have been playing around with the monitor series lately, been nothing but SDA's for so long I figured I wanted to hear them as well. I picked up a pair of 10b's from Azi a while back, and just yesterday picked up a pair of the 5jr+'s ....they were 75 bucks on craigslist.

    When the guy called me and said he would deliver them to me in their original box ( He was the original purchaser , and they had never been moved from straight out of the box to his entertainment center since purchased ) that saved me gas as well. . They were well worth the 75 bucks...and delivered to boot :D I have had them positioned every which way in the mancave...just to play around....both the 10b's and the 5jr+'s sound great.


    attachment.php?attachmentid=42599&d=1250882008

    attachment.php?attachmentid=42600&d=1250882008

    Those are just really really ridiculously good looking. worth the $75 no doubt :D
  • zarrdoss
    zarrdoss Posts: 2,562
    edited August 2009
    Options
    I got some monitor 5b's from the pawn shop for 15 bucks, kinda rough missing both grills both dust-caps pushed in and a hole shot through the passive from a BB gun. after pulling out the dust-caps and fixing the hole in the passive they sound great, excellent for the garage. I have another cleaner pair for rears on my main HT, excellent speakers.