RTA 11t evaluation
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ttownscott
Posts: 11
First post.
My co-worker has offered to sell me a pair of RTA 11t speakers that he bought new so I have them home for the weekend. They are in very nice shape but I noticed that one of the speakers does not produce sound out of the 6" speaker directly below the tweeter. Is that a known issue? What might I look into to troubleshoot?
I have the speakers paired to my recently re-built Dynaco ST-70.
My co-worker has offered to sell me a pair of RTA 11t speakers that he bought new so I have them home for the weekend. They are in very nice shape but I noticed that one of the speakers does not produce sound out of the 6" speaker directly below the tweeter. Is that a known issue? What might I look into to troubleshoot?
I have the speakers paired to my recently re-built Dynaco ST-70.
Comments
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The driver magnet shifted. Could have been that way or happened when you transported them.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Awesome. Thank you F1nut. Loos like there is a lot of information on how to fix that. I'll check if he is comfortable with me fixing it before further evaluating the speaker. (I am)
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Easier to replace the affected driver with a replacement driver. The best thing is to prevent it from happening to begin with by applying JB Weld to the back of the magnets. I need to get off my lazy keister and do mine, but I have 16 of them to do and a two year old at home...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
Try Loctite GO2 worked for meYamaha RXA1030, Yamaha CD-S2100, Yamaha AS-2200, Bluesound node 2i
Polk SDA2btl highly modded
Polk SDA 1C modded
Polk CS350 LS x2
Kimber 8TC
Sony 55" Bravia
Wish list SVS sub -
Got the OK from my co worker to attempt to fix the speaker since I'm handy. Haven't worked on speakers before though so I may ask some dumb questions.
I'm not seeing a lot of MW-6510 available.
There is a used one on auction site a few miles from me that the seller says needs a voice coil repair. Is it easier to frankenstein two speakers than to fix the magnet?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-MW-6510-6-5-woofer/254039404569
I knew going into this that I would probably replace the two SL2000's and upgrade the crossover and I was OK with that because I have seen great reviews researching these speakers after he mentioned he was interested in selling them. Not sure if this is allowed on this forum, but if he is asking $150 is it still worth replacing drivers if I can't fix the one? I assume replacing should be done in pairs. -
Your damaged driver needs a voice coil repair. When the magnet shifts the voice coil becomes locked, which is why the driver doesn't work. Therefore, it is pointless to buy another non-working driver.
There is a member here that offers a swap service for the MWxxx drivers. If he has your model in stock, he swaps his good repaired driver for your non-working one.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Repair, do not Frankenstein. The hardest part is separating the pole plate without damaging the magnet too much. Once an edge is lifted start placing wedges in the gap untill you can work the plate off. Clean the surfaces, then build a jig to recenter the pole plate. There's a few posts on here about how to get it done. You'll want an amp or integrated and a tone generator app to do the fine tuning once things are back in place.
OR there are *ahem* a few of us that can do it for you. -
First off, welcome to the forum!
As far as the replacement driver goes Polk usually sells replacements directly from them. However, just recently another posted that Polk is out of stock on the 6510's and it is questionable if they will continue making them. So..., if that's the case then you'll have to find some used ones on ebay. There are a few threads here where some have fixed the dreaded magnet shift issue drivers. You'll have to do a search as I'm not that computer literate to post a thread.
Is $150 worth the effort? That depends on you. If I didn't have spare drivers and couldn't get any from Polk I'd have to think long and hard about it. You are already talking of replacing the tweets and that's around $100 alone, not to mention crossover work. Realistically you could have almost $400, or over, in them after everything is done...Remember, when you're running from something, you're running to something...-me -
Craigslist can be a good resource if you are looking to try vintage Polks. 150 bucks is a bit much IMHO...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
150 is about the range for 11Ts round this way.
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You can do a saved search on eBay. I have them for 6500, 6501, 6503, 6510, and 6511. I get an email anytime one is listed. JIC.Home Theater/2 Channel:
Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer
dhsspeakerservice.com/ -
Well, I created a jig and tried to re-center the magnet but was not able to fix it. I'm gave up on tweaking the speakers and just listening to them today and reading until the Seahawks come on. I will say that with my Dynaco ST-70 on the 4 ohm tap these are quite impressive. I've never had a speaker with as much bass. My main speakers are Kef Q100 on stands.
If I decide to keep them, I will probably do like westmassguy suggested and keep an eye out for a replacement. They don't sound half bad one speaker down. -
Where are you located?The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
ttownscott wrote: »Well, I created a jig and tried to re-center the magnet but was not able to fix it. I'm gave up on tweaking the speakers and just listening to them today and reading until the Seahawks come on. I will say that with my Dynaco ST-70 on the 4 ohm tap these are quite impressive. I've never had a speaker with as much bass. My main speakers are Kef Q100 on stands.
If I decide to keep them, I will probably do like westmassguy suggested and keep an eye out for a replacement. They don't sound half bad one speaker down.
Go Hawks! -
nooshinjohn wrote: »Where are you located?
I'm in Tacoma -
ttownscott wrote: »nooshinjohn wrote: »Where are you located?
I'm in Tacoma
Puyallup here. Welcome neighbor! -
I used to live in Kent off 132nd. I dont miss the traffic. Being in FL now makes me miss the weather and mountains up there.
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I did the full mod on the 11t's I put in my girlfriends LR. To this day I am amazed at how dynamic they are! Truly a hidden jem in the Polk library.Gustard X26 Pro DAC
Belles 21A Pre modded with Mundorf Supreme caps
B&K M200 Sonata monoblocks refreshed and upgraded
Polk SDA 1C's modded / 1000Va Dreadnaught
Wireworld Silver Eclipse IC's and speaker cables
Harman Kardon T65C w/Grado Gold. (Don't laugh. It sounds great!)
There is about a 5% genetic difference between apes and men …but that difference is the difference between throwing your own poo when you are annoyed …and Einstein, Shakespeare and Miss January. by Dr. Sardonicus -
Thanks. I definitely plan to buy them from my co-worker. They sound really nice even one driver down, and the imaging is just so great. I can tell that after 30 years the crossover caps need replaced. A combination of the 4 ohm tap and old caps and I can sense that the highs are not what they could be. Especially since I just re-caped a pair of Jensen System 200 speakers this weekend and their imaging and dynamics dramatically increased.
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ttownscott wrote: »Thanks. I definitely plan to buy them from my co-worker. They sound really nice even one driver down, and the imaging is just so great. I can tell that after 30 years the crossover caps need replaced. A combination of the 4 ohm tap and old caps and I can sense that the highs are not what they could be. Especially since I just re-caped a pair of Jensen System 200 speakers this weekend and their imaging and dynamics dramatically increased.
They are nice speakers!
I like that they are able to go fairly deep in the bass but still a slim width.
My Fav of the older tall non SDA models. -
So I thought I'd update. I did go ahead and buy the speakers from my Co-worker and re-capped the crossover with Dayton caps and some mills resistors per searching another thread. I have been calling Polk customer service for two weeks but they are 'experiencing higher than normal call volume' so getting a replacement MW6510 and newer tweeters may take longer than I expected. Still, though, I am very happy with these speakers.
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I have been calling Polk customer service for two weeks but they are 'experiencing higher than normal call volume
That's code for we suck at customer service because we don't have enough reps.
You need to toe in those speakers.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
eBay has several 6510's available.2 channel: Anthem 225 Integrated amp; Parasound Ztuner; TechnicsTT SL1350; Vincent PHO-8 phono pre; Marantz CD6005 spinner; Polk SDA2BTL's; LAT International speaker cables, ZU Mission IC's and power cables all into a PS Audio Dectet Power center.
Other; M10 series II, M7C's, Hafler XL600 amp, RB-980BX, Parasound HCA-1500 amp , P5 preamp, all in storage. All vintage Polk have had crossover rebuilds and tweeter upgrades.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
It is imperative that we recognize that an opinion is not a fact.
Imagine making politics your entire personality. -
those speakers are beautiful. The upgraded tweeters will make you
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Randy/Maine -
I did the full mod on the 11t's I put in my girlfriends LR. To this day I am amazed at how dynamic they are! Truly a hidden jem in the Polk library.
I agree. I TL'd some ragged M11t's and love the way they sound. I used them to demo some vintage receivers and amps, and buyers couldn't believe how good they sounded. #2 son ended up taking them with a Sansui 7070, which was a very sweet combo imo.
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Nice. I wish mine were the oak finish instead of black. Those look great! I went with the 194 tweeters (from a member here) and liked them very much.
Haha that little half door in the back makes them look really big.
How do you like the Acurus? -
How do you like the Acurus?
The Acurus is great. I had it re-capped and a power supply upgrade though. Mondialfan on audiokarma did the work. Very well done and reasonable. It's very invisible I would say. No coloration that I can tell. I have not really compared it to anything though. It's better than my previous 70's Pioneer integrated amp. I have a Dynaco PAT5 preamp that i'm going to refresh myself from the upgrades on the updatemydynaco site. Then I will have something to compare to.
Also picked up a MW6510 and installed it last night. Local ebay seller. That really helped. Now if I can just get through to Polk for those tweeters.
My listening room is pretty constrained as it's the 2nd floor landing, entrance to the attic (small door) and tv room. I think the Polk's are great because of the front passive radiators. Many speakers have rear ports which wouldn't work well here. -
Finally got through to Polk customer service and ordered a pair of RDO194's. They say they have a new shipment coming and should be shipping in the 2nd week of February.
