Monitor 5b's x-over upgrade w/pics

NJPOLKER · July 2009

Don't forget about the Obbligato's I ordered Copper 4.7uF's and 6.8uF's thru DIY HiFi Supply and I had them with-in 2 weeks from Hong Kong. Total cost with shipping was $35.00 They sound great but still burning -in. I have them in my SDA2a's I don't play often.

Face · July 2009

I'm also a big fan of Obbligato, they define smooth.

NJPOLKER · July 2009

I had a thought about replacing the SonicCaps in my SRSII's with Obbligato's. What do you think? I just can't seem to leave well enough alone. I know what you are going to suggest, go for the BIG BLUES.

Face · July 2009

NJPOLKER wrote: »

I had a thought about replacing the SonicCaps in my SRSII's with Obbligato's. What do you think? I just can't seem to leave well enough alone. I know what you are going to suggest, go for the BIG BLUES.

I should be trying Big Blue in a pair of SDA's this month. You can't go wrong with Obbligato or Duelund either though.

NJPOLKER · July 2009

Which sda's? I bet you'll keep us informed.

MillerLiteScott · July 2009

I thought you should buy caps that are close in values when you are combining them to make a larger value.

Like for a 34uF. You would use 2 17 uF caps if a 34 uF was not available. Dayton offers a 20 uF and a 15 uF which was the closest combo I could come up with. I have not ordered anything for this very reason.

What say you?

NJPOLKER · July 2009

I say, Jesse told me if you can't get the 34uF going for the two 17's is far better then a 32uF and a 2uF.

acerjac · July 2009

I wish I would not of purchased the dayton caps. I have solens for the high pass as of now left over from another project. I did the crossovers in my SDA's and RTA 15's also. I used Clarity cap SA's on the high pass on the 15's and love it. Mybe I will give the Sonicaps a look for the 5 B's high pass. For the low pass though I can use the 30 and 4uf Daytons in parrallel correct?

This site is great and you guys are alot of help.

Polk rocks!

acerjac · July 2009

Are you guys aware of other speaker sites such as this one? My brother has a few sets of Paradigm speakers he is interested in modding but not much info out there.

Mark

NJPOLKER · July 2009

acerjac wrote: »

I wish I would not of purchased the dayton caps. I have solens for the high pass as of now left over from another project. I did the crossovers in my SDA's and RTA 15's also. I used Clarity cap SA's on the high pass on the 15's and love it. Mybe I will give the Sonicaps a look for the 5 B's high pass. For the low pass though I can use the 30 and 4uf Daytons in parrallel correct?

This site is great and you guys are alot of help.

Polk rocks!

You can use the 30 and 4uf's in parrallel. Go with the Sonic Caps and you'll be happy. Also Sonic Craft has a 20% off sale still going on!!

madmike · July 2009

I should be getting my new tweeters for my 5B's and was wondering if I should replace the wire inside the cabinets, looks like the original is about 20 gauge, would 16 gauge be better? Also does a person have to upgrade the X over. I will be sealing the speakers to the cabinet, right now I have the tweeters (peerless) out of my Advance Speaker Korp. A+, which I want to return to working order again. With my M500t Carver thet are one sweet sounding speaker.

heiney9 · August 2009

Tonight a friend helped me swap out the Solen Fast Caps in the high pass part of my 5B x-overs. I put in Clarity Cap PX series caps as well as bypassing the fuse which protects the tweeter.

I obviously only have a few hours on them, but I notice two things

1) much smoother highs although right now they are a bit blurred (should clear up after break in) less "shouty" in the midrange.

2) much less soundstage height and width, which I'm sure will improve with break in. The depth seems to be there on the same familiar recordings, although it could and should improve.

I'll update in a week or so.

H9

comfortablycurt · August 2009

Awesome Brock! I can't wait to hear back from you once they're broken in!

mhardy6647 · August 2009

acerjac wrote: »

Are you guys aware of other speaker sites such as this one? My brother has a few sets of Paradigm speakers he is interested in modding but not much info out there.

Mark

Other speaker sites besides this one? :-)

well... there are speaker sections at
www.audioasylum.com
www.audiokarma.org

www.madisound.com and www.partsexpress.com offer forums and many DIY resources (not to mention parts).

Then there are the really cool sites, such as:

www.lansingheritage.org (which has forums)
www.t-linespeakers.org
www.fullrangedriver.com (a great forum which has fallen very quiet in recent years)
www.quarter-wave.com
http://www.geocities.com/rbrines1/
www.decware.com (all kinds of forums; sort of an acquired taste)

I would guess that every manufacturer has forums like this one; I'll just mention one: Pretty good forums at www.klipsch.com (even if you don't like the klipsch sound).

Hope this is helpful...

Big Dawg · December 2009

I'm planning on upgrading the crossover and tweeters on a recently acquired pair of 5jr+ with SL2000. I'm planning on RDO198 tweeters, if possible, rather than the standard RDO194 upgrade, by changing the 12uF capacitor to a 13.5uF. Is that all there is to it?

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=18770&d=1155784674

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=18771&d=1155784674

Face · December 2009

Nope, this is it: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=18767&d=1155784608

Big Dawg · December 2009

Face wrote: »

Nope, this is it: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=18767&d=1155784608

Thanks Mike. I'll look it over and ask more questions later.

heiney9 · March 2010

Thought I'd resurrect this thread.

I bought some Mortite and will be doing the drivers in the 5B's tonight and adding some more photo's.

H9

heiney9 · March 2010

In August I replaced the Solen Fast Cap in the high pass with a Clarity PX (blue) and I have to say after break in it is much smoother, more open and detailed than the Solen. Here's a pic

Tonight I decided to use rope caulk (Mortite) in place of the foam/paper gaskets to get a better seal between the baffle and the drivers. I did the RD0194-1 tweeters; MW 6502 midwoofers and the 8" passive radiators. This was a practice run as soon I will be doing my 1C's.

I went to Home Depot in search of the Mortite brand, this was all they carried in the store here in IL. It's the same as Mortite.

All 3 drivers with Mortite (rope caulk). Don't forget to remove the old gaskets first

Pretty easy to do. Before I tightened the screws I applied even pressure on the outer edges of the drivers to "seat" the caulk then I carefully tightened the screws diagonally.

I'm listening to the 5B's as I type, I'll follow up as far as improvements in sound I notice.

H9

heiney9 · March 2010

Well the jury is still out on how Mortite (rope caulk) improves the sound. Bass seems to be less but then it seems more "organic". 5B's aren't exactly bass monsters and I definitely feel less bass. More listening is needed.

heiney9 · April 2010

Well, it has been over a week and my initial impressions were way off base. These put out tight, well controlled much more tactile bass. The bass is deep and controlled and it seems to radiate all over the room. Extension seems to be better and they seem to dig even a little deeper.........Also the bass is very clean and crisp and seems a tad "quicker" than before.

My original gaskets were in pretty poor shape, paper thin from being compressed the past 25 years. It is remarkable how excellent these 25 year old speakers sound with new caps, a more modern tweeter and new gasket material.

I highly recommend this tweak and one of these weekends when I can set some time aside I will be doing my SDA 1C's.

H9

comfortablycurt · April 2010

Sweet! I'm planning on doing this sometime soon myself.

I've had a package of Mortite sitting around here for a couple months now...I should do my 7A's sometime soon. These things already seem like they're air tight though...so I'm wondering if it'll even be worth it. The 2A's could definitely use it though...the MW's pop back fairly quick on the 2A's.

heiney9 · April 2010

Curt, it will be worth it. I did the PR test on the 5B's before and after the Mortite and it was the same to my eyes, but damn if these don't sound better on the bottom end with the Mortite in place. The stock gaskets were completely disintegrated in a few areas. This is the easiest, most cost effective tweak yet. You will notice an instant difference.

Remember it's not only about an air tight seal, but also coupling to the baffle. You can have a good seal with poor coupling. The big advantage to Mortite according to Matt Polk and Raife is the superior coupling to the baffle, and i agree.

DO IT

H9

comfortablycurt · April 2010

Brock, thanks for the info. I'll have to try it on my 7A's sometime soon. Would there be any advantages to also Mortiting the terminal cups?

I've also got some Dynamat Extreme that I'll probably apply to the speaker baskets at the same time.

ANWKLO · April 2010

heiney9 wrote: »

I might try a little experiment. I have these 2.7 ohm Mills here that are the correct value according to the schematic for this series (w/fuses) so I have to go back into the x-over since I used 2.0 ohm resistors. I want to see if there is a difference.

I'm thinking now of getting a couple of Sonic caps to bypass the Solens on the highs and see if that improves the highs. Since I'm going to be in there again anyways.

Jesse you have a PM

H9

Have you change the 2.0 ohm to 2.7 ohm or higher ohm?

heiney9 · April 2010

ANWKLO wrote: »

Have you change the 2.0 ohm to 2.7 ohm or higher ohm?

Nope, haven't really found it necessary. I might eventually, but for now no issues.

H9

comfortablycurt · April 2010

Well...I Mortited my 7A's this morning!!

As Brock mentioned, I could see no difference in how quickly the MW's returned...but it made a very apparent improvement! The low end is packing much more authority than it was before...it seems to have slightly deeper bass extension too far that matter. The mid-range, especially in the lower mid regions is sounding quite a bit tighter, and punchier. This was a great, and very cheap improvement!!

I've also got some Dynamat Extreme waiting to be installed on the driver baskets. I was thinking about doing that today when I did the Mortite, but I figured I'd separate the two tweaks a little bit so I can see what differences each is making.

My 2A's will also be getting Mortited in the next few days or so. I'll report back.:)

comfortablycurt · April 2010

Brock-If you haven't already, double check the screws on all of your drivers for tightness. Like I said...I mortited my 7's this morning. I just checked them for tightness again, and I found that the mortite had "settled" a little bit. Enough so that I had to give each screw an extra 1.5-2 turns.

Now that it seems to have settled more...I'm noticing a definite difference in how long the MW's are staying extended. If I were to wait for them to fully retract, it'd probably take about 45 seconds to a minute now...lol I didn't wait long enough to find out though.

I'm guessing that they're air tight...lol

It's too late to do any real testing right now...but I'll get my ears on them some more tomorrow and report back.:) So far, I'm very happy with this tweak. It cost me about $4, and took about half an hour of my time...and the results were well worth it!!!

comfortablycurt · April 2010

I just got done mortiting my SDA's! It's too late to get any listening in tonight...but I'll report back with some impressions tomorrow.

They definitely seem much more air tight now. The MW's are staying extended much longer than they were before.

comfortablycurt · April 2010

Holy freakin crap!! I just got done with a good long listening session with my newly mortited SDA 2A's...and I'm blown away. This simply little tweak has made such a tremendous difference in sound, that I think it should be mandatory for all vintage Polk's.

Low frequencies have MUCH more impact than before...bass notes have a more natural roll off, much more punch, and more of that "solid" feel to it. Bass response is just much more natural sounding overall. It's almost like I added a sub to fill in the lowest frequencies!:D

The improvements haven't been limited to low end though. High frequencies are sounding much better too! Higher notes are ringing out with much more clarity and definition. The high frequencies seem to be radiating from the entire center stage, rather than radiating from two focal points(i.e. tweeters). Higher frequencies that have sometimes sounded slightly harsh on the RD0-194's are sounding much more relaxed and natural now.

For the $4, and couple hours that it took me to do this...this tweak is a no brainer. Like I said above...I'm now going to recommend this as a mandatory mod for all vintage Polk's.

I think this is also one of those mods that kind of gets better over time too. I mortited my 7A's a couple days ago, and upon checking the screws again today, I found that the Mortite had settled a little bit more. Each screw took about another half turn to get to normal tightness.

I'll be checking both the 7A's and the 2A's over the next few days for tightness, and report back.:)

Monitor 5b's x-over upgrade w/pics

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