Craigslist Score (Monitor 10's) *PICS*

falconcry72

I hate to brag about good finds like this, but... who am I kidding, I love it!:D

Today I found a near mint pair of Monitor 10's on craigslist. 5 hour round trip was worth it. Drivers, tweets and passives are perfect. Sticky drivers which pass the old "push in the passive" test with flying colors. Grills are perfect. Cabinets are overall 8/10. The guy was the original owner and was pretty sentimental about letting'em go, as they were his first "real" speakers. I made sure he knew that they're in appreciative hands with me. He even threw in 4 speaker stands (not original polks), that elevate them about 6" and tilt'em back some.

He let them go for.....

wait for it......

$75!

Check the pics and drool....


BTW, the table pics are of a deal I got at a thrift store. It looked like **** and cost $10. It has awesome solid oak legs, the rest id poplar with real oak veneer. My first refinshing project, and i like it!

inspiredsports

2 great scores. As a Polk fanatic I love the Monitors, but that retro desk is absolutely fantastic!

Polkersince85

Great score on the Polks. The desk was a nice find also. The mid-century modern designers were on top of it. Watco Teak oil looks good on the veneers. Mission and Danish Modern items are on my collect list.


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AudioGenics

WOW !

inspiring to look for items to restore in this throw-away world !

comfortablycurt

Very nice find!! $75 is a great price! Those look like they're in great shape too.

Do yourself a favor, and get some Mortite to replace the stock gaskets on the drivers. I just Mortited my Monitor 7A's, and my SDA 2A's, and it's made a tremendous difference. I did both pairs of speakers for a grand total of about $4, so it's not an expensive mod at all.


Also, you might want to try a little less toe-in on them. That looks like a pretty severe angle. Just going by that picture, it looks like the tweeters would be intersecting at a point a couple feet in front of you. You'll likely get a much more realistic center image, as well as having a wider overall soundstage with a bit less toe in. The Monitors series can be somewhat picky regarding toe-in. I'd definitely play around with different angles to see what sounds best.



Now you need to go get that Adcom deal!! Believe me...those 10's will sound EXCELLENT being driven by that Adcom setup.

sir_lagzalot

Man why buy those when you could of had these :rolleyes:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/ele/1676719070.html

Just kidding nice score, I'm not even sure what he did to those, is that a passive or a woofer where the passive should be or is it just lighting making them look bad.

skrol

sir_lagzalot wrote: »

Man why buy those when you could of had these :rolleyes:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/ele/1676719070.html

Just kidding nice score, I'm not even sure what he did to those, is that a passive or a woofer where the passive should be or is it just lighting making them look bad.

All they need is some neon lights around the drivers.

sir_lagzalot

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Do yourself a favor, and get some Mortite to replace the stock gaskets on the drivers. I just Mortited my Monitor 7A's, and my SDA 2A's, and it's made a tremendous difference. I did both pairs of speakers for a grand total of about $4, so it's not an expensive mod at all.

Curt I take it you have to completely remove the old gasket and then install the mortite, also does the mortite ever cure and make it hard to remove the drivers?

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Now you need to go get that Adcom deal!! Believe me...those 10's will sound EXCELLENT being driven by that Adcom setup.

+1 An Adcom setup will make those 10s sing

comfortablycurt

sir_lagzalot wrote: »

Man why buy those when you could of had these :rolleyes:

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/ele/1676719070.html

Just kidding nice score, I'm not even sure what he did to those, is that a passive or a woofer where the passive should be or is it just lighting making them look bad.

Actually, aside from the person changing it to a piano black finish, and adding the blue anodized screws(???...lol), those look completely stock to me.

The original Polk Model 10's(before they got the "Monitor" nomenclature) used a much different passive radiator than most of the Monitor 10's. Here's a link to polksda.com that shows another one.

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/5741700035_Monitor10.pdf

One of the other give aways is the fact that the ones on CL have velcro for the grilles, rather than the plastic grille tabs that most of the later Monitors/SDA's used.


Here's another pair of earlier Model 10's, that still used the velcro grille attachments, but appears to have a later style passive radiator. It's sort of hard to tell in that picture...It almost looks like one of those older style PR's, that someone painted black.

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/5723598635_Monitor10.pdf

For $100, those Model 10's on CL are a pretty good deal. Those aren't 10B's, like he states in the ad, but are original Model 10's

They've also got Peerless tweeters, which IMO, were the best tweeters that were used in the vintage Monitors. Very smooth and musical sounding. If you're local, I'd jump on them! They may not be quite as pretty as the later Monitor 10's, but I'm sure they'd more than make up for that in sound quality.


The earliest Model 7's used an 8" PR(unlike the 10" PR in the later Monitor 7's), that was nearly identical, aside from size, to the 10" PR in those Model 10's.

sir_lagzalot wrote: »

Curt I take it you have to completely remove the old gasket and then install the mortite, also does the mortite ever cure and make it hard to remove the drivers?

Yes, you have to completely remove the old gaskets. The gaskets on all of my midwoofers simply peeled right off, but the gaskets on the passive radiators required a little bit of (careful!)scraping.

I can't speak on it curing over time, since I just did this about a week ago...but according to everyone else on here that's ever done it, there aren't any problems with the drivers sticking. At least no more so than with the stock gaskets.

Scroll down to post #171 in this thread, for some info/pictures on the topic.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51420&page=6

gdb

Never seen any oak that looks like your desk,it really looks like some bookmatched cherry panels that I've seen before. Beautiful... no matter what the species !!:)

searay40dad

You did well and you'll love them. I've kicked around selling my 10B's for a couple years now but when push comes to shove, I just can't seem to part with them. I bought them in '87 or so after someone broke into my apt at college and stole all of my gear. Insurance came to the rescue and the 10Bs were my first set of many polks with many more to follow. These sweethearts are nearly 25 yrs old now and they still sing just as pretty today as they did the day I bought em.

i've wondered what it would be like to set the 10Bs up against my RTi12s and compare the sound. but, i think i might already know the answer!

sir_lagzalot

Thanks Curt, I'll have to do that to mine then. I apologize to OP didn't mean to hijack tread.

falconcry72

gdb wrote: »

Never seen any oak that looks like your desk,it really looks like some bookmatched cherry panels that I've seen before. Beautiful... no matter what the species !!:)

I don't know for sure that it's oak; I just guessed. But I do know that it is a veneer over top of other lighter wood. Whatever the species, I'm happy with the reults:D. The table cost $10, and I spent about $75 on sand paper and stains; I think it's a great piece for under $100 total. It did take a couple weeks of after-work work, but it was fun!

falconcry72

jvc wrote: »

WOW !

inspiring to look for items to restore in this throw-away world !

you're damn right, jvc.

engtaz

great scores

falconcry72

Which 10's are these, 10B's? They don't have fuses on the back, and they have sl2000's.

searay40dad

my 10B's have the SL2000s & no fuzes.

comfortablycurt

falconcry72 wrote: »

Which 10's are these, 10B's? They don't have fuses on the back, and they have sl2000's.

Yes, they're 10B's.

Those SL-2000's can be replaced with the RD0-194's(with a big improvement), but I'm sure you already knew that.;)

falconcry72

comfortablycurt wrote: »

Yes, they're 10B's.

Those SL-2000's can be replaced with the RD0-194's(with a big improvement), but I'm sure you already knew that.;)

I do know, and I'm on the fence about it. I need to figure out what I'm doing with my setup(s) first.

I'm currently running a 5.1 system, with the fronts doubling for 2 channel music duties with the same AVR:

Fronts: RTA12C's (sl2000's)

Surrounds: Monitor 5B's (sl2000's)

Center: One of the Monitor 10B's shown above (sl2000's)


It sounds great with 5.1 music sources, and music is my primary audio focus, but 90% of the music I listen to is 2 channel.

If I'm going to keep this setup I will have to do all 6 RD0's at the same time which I would be doing completely on your (and others CP member's) reccomendation. I do trust you guys though

I'm also thinkin about pulling out the RTA12C's to use in a dedicated 2 channel music system that would use separates that I would have to buy as I don't have any. In that case I would just get the RD0's for the 12's at first. In that scenario I would use the 10's as fronts in the HT setup with a polk rt7 for a center.

I could also use the denon 3805 AVR as a pre in the 2 channel system, and use an old crappy AVR for the HT, which would allow me to spend more on the power amp for the 2 channel system. Then down the road I'd get a better 2 channel pre and put the 3805 back in the HT.

I have no doubt you will all recomend the best, and most expensive, route

Whatever path I choose, I have been thrilled with the value of these vintage polks. You can't beat the bang for the buck

concealer404

That desk and for that matter, that whole room is FANTASTIC.

wutadumsn23

Nice score, I just got myself a pair of Peerless 10A's about 3 weeks ago for $50, but they were not in as good a shape as yours are. Still, they sound amazing and I can't wait to get some real power to them and enjoy them even more.

-Jeff

falconcry72

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Nice score, I just got myself a pair of Peerless 10A's about 3 weeks ago for $50, but they were not in as good a shape as yours are. Still, they sound amazing and I can't wait to get some real power to them and enjoy them even more.

-Jeff

cool, I've never heard the peerless', but people around here seem to enjoy them.:)

We are in the same boat with finding "real" power. What are you looking at?

hearingimpared

Nice snag and beautiful work!

lifelongnewb

Awesome deal and that table is just killer looking. Of all the Polk's I ever owned and sold it is the Monitor 10 I miss the most. Glad for ya!

Huck344

That desk is rad! Great job refinishing it!

wutadumsn23

falconcry72 wrote: »

cool, I've never heard the peerless', but people around here seem to enjoy them.:)

We are in the same boat with finding "real" power. What are you looking at?

Peerless is the way to go, I haven't hears the other tweeters, but as you said they come highly recommended by many members here. You can buy them (I think) from Polk, or if not many members here have some laying around they might part with. As for power, i am looking into the usual suspects, but Adcom is topping my list so far. Specifically the Adcom GFA 555 or 585.

-Jeff

comfortablycurt

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Peerless is the way to go, I haven't hears the other tweeters, but as you said they come highly recommended by many members here. You can buy them (I think) from Polk, or if not many members here have some laying around they might part with. As for power, i am looking into the usual suspects, but Adcom is topping my list so far. Specifically the Adcom GFA 555 or 585.

-Jeff

For the record...The Peerless tweets aren't available from Polk.

Gotta go used to find em.


There's another company out there that has a replacement for the Peerless tweets that looks nearly identical...it's supposed to sound very similar. I've never heard it though, so I can't comment on that.

wutadumsn23

Thanks Curt, wasn't sure. Go figure you had the answer, answer man, lol. J/K, love ya La Curtico.

-Jeff

vstarkwell

Way to go!!!, nice speakers!!!

mikeymike

awesome deal! im new to the forum, still trying to figure everything out. however im also looking for some opinion's on the original model 9s (bipolar) i just picked up in b.more for $80 bucks. the cabs are really good shape the grill covers are good shape the badges are good. they were attached by some kind of caulk, it looks like white bubble gum. really.the driver foams are shot but they still sound pretty good. so, what cha think. thanx, mike

Litz

Fantastic speakers for a screaming good deal!!!