thermal protection for tweeters?

mhmacw

in short ... what do i get to prevent thermal shutdown of the tweets on my 11ts? they are "silver coil dome". i thought it was my sadx 940 because its so old but now i know its the tweeters.

zingo

Those speakers and most classic Polks have Poly Switches as thermal protection for the tweeters. However, with age and use, the switches engage more easily and unnecessarily. You can either just by pass them with a jumper as most people don't drive their speakers enough to damage them anyway, or you can give Polk customer service a call and get a few new ones to solder in.

heiney9

More power or if your poly switches are old they may be prematurely tripping. Once they trip of few times their threshold begins to diminish and soon they trip even at normal levels. If they are original they are close to 20+ years old. Not designed to last a lifetime.

H9 the **** (as you put it in another thread)

mhmacw

heiney9 wrote: »

More power or if your poly switches are old they may be prematurely tripping. Once they trip of few times their threshold begins to diminish and soon they trip even at normal levels. If they are original they are close to 20+ years old. Not designed to last a lifetime.

H9 the **** (as you put it in another thread)

i know who you are haha. and i must admit. if your responses were factual not implicative(as this one is) i wouldnt have been so rude. for that i appologise. however i do now, and probably always will, have an aversion to perceived arrogance as it were. . theres another that says you and a football fan (i cant remember who sorry) should get to gether and post a thread about how little you all think of newbies opinions. im not here for the drama H and i certainly dont care to incite it. i willhowever without prejudice pick every polkie brain i can get my hands on. that being said i must say thanks for the info and where do i get the switches? is there a better switch? i honestly dont feel its a question of power. having recently built the **** out of my crossovers i imagine the switches i didnt replace are the cause haha!
thanks a bunch and of course... always a pleasure! ,dan

mhmacw

zingo wrote: »

Those speakers and most classic Polks have Poly Switches as thermal protection for the tweeters. However, with age and use, the switches engage more easily and unnecessarily. You can either just by pass them with a jumper as most people don't drive their speakers enough to damage them anyway, or you can give Polk customer service a call and get a few new ones to solder in.

yea! right on with the where to get new ones! i drive my $hit haha! is bypassing them really a good idea?

ben62670

H9 is one of the good guys;)

mhmacw

ben62670 wrote: »

H9 is one of the good guys;)

kudos!

heiney9

Dan, everyone likes to rock out, but if you don;t have the amp to do that you will eventually do some damage. If I were you I'd replace the poly's and then if you want to continue to listen at loud levels it might be time to get an amp with some more muscle if you continue to have issues.

While you're in there you can replace the caps and resistor and if you've got and extra $100 sitting around get the RD0194-1 silk dome replacement tweeters and get rid of the sl2000 silver dome tweets. It will turn your RTA11T's into a brand new speaker.

You can make a call to Polk Customer Service and they will probably send you a set of poly's for free. Can't remember anyone getting charged for a set of poly's if they just call and ask.

mhmacw

indeed be the case! in fact 2 cases of rock for me please. i am looking into an amp however i just found a pair of sda 1c andwould like to complete my speaker compilation before looking into an amp (or 2 or 3) to get the job done. i upgraded my crossovers recently so im quite confident its the switches. as posted by zingo( and not to defame just to clarify). is it cosher to bypass them? doesnt seem like the tihng to do but with newer tech thiings change i guess.

heiney9

I would only bypass them if you are sure you won't play your amp too loud (as in overdriving it). Or if you are very tuned into to know when you are starting to approach the limit. If not, new poly's will do it for you.

mhmacw

heiney9 wrote: »

I would only bypass them if you are sure you won't play your amp too loud (as in overdriving it). Or if you are very tuned into to know when you are starting to approach the limit. If not, new poly's will do it for you.

do the polys affect sound?

heiney9

mhmacw wrote: »

do the polys affect sound?

yes they do a little bit, especially if you are a critical listener. Many have bypassed them because the speakers sound better w/o them. It's your call on whether or not you think you might start blowing tweets if you bypass them.

H9

mhmacw

heiney9 wrote: »

yes they do a little bit, especially if you are a critical listener. Many have bypassed them because the speakers sound better w/o them. It's your call on whether or not you think you might start blowing tweets if you bypass them.

H9

is it just the tweet to worry about? and if they arent the best tweet any way? right

heiney9

The poly only protects the tweet. You can "blow" the mid drivers, they have no protection. Usualy they make a popping sound when they are over driven. Too many times popping and the voice coil is usually toast.

The sl2000 isn't the best tweeter that's why I suggested to get the silk dome replacements (RD0194-1). Still no sense in blowing tweets unless you blow the sl2000's for an excuse to get the RD0194-1's.

mhmacw

heiney9 wrote: »

The poly only protects the tweet. You can "blow" the mid drivers, they have no protection. Usualy they make a popping sound when they are over driven. Too many times popping and the voice coil is usually toast.

The sl2000 isn't the best tweeter that's why I suggested to get the silk dome replacements (RD0194-1). Still no sense in blowing tweets unless you blow the sl2000's for an excuse to get the RD0194-1's.

a lame excuse is all i need bro! lol. any way. i dont needlessly destroy anything and dont plan to start now. if i have a good control on input do i clip or jump the switches?

heiney9

You have to jump them, just clipping the poly would leave the circuit "open" and you'll get no sound from the tweets since the poly is in the signal path.

mhmacw

heiney9 wrote: »

You have to jump them, just clipping the poly would leave the circuit "open" and you'll get no sound from the tweets since the poly is in the signal path.

i swear i responded to this. how far past the shut down point will the tweets handle? i imagine its relative to the condition of the switches. unless they are damaged to the point of minimum capacity. i got these speakers for free in a house demo so who knows how they have been treated. they were in a closet in the base ment and i literally had to dig out the access to the door. they sound great until about ><60 watts then the tweets go. dont get me wron gthough they were undr cover and look new. i wont let the kids in the room at volumes anywhere close to thermal over load.