Polk Audio
Home› Vintage Speakers

Need Help Troubleshooting Polk 7

motorcityguymotorcityguy Posts: 40
in Vintage Speakers
I have a pair of early Polk 7s: Peerless tweeters, single fuses on back. One of the speakers works flawlessly. But the other one exhibits an irregular break-up of high frequencies. Seems like it needs a certain combo of freq and volume to occur. It's not a drop out of sound, but more like a raspy sound or distortion in audio quality.

It's hard to replicate, but something is not right. Sometimes I find myself thinking it healed itself, only to find that it reappears. I've switched channels, tried diff amps, and different sources.

Just looking for some thoughts on where to look, or what it might be. I was first going to clean the connections at the binding posts, fuses, and drivers. Anything else to check/clean?

I always thought these Peerless tweeters either worked or they didn't. Is it possible it could be an internal problem with the tweeter?

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions!
· Share on TwitterShare on Facebook

Comments

  • krazypolkkrazypolk Posts: 757
    It seems like you have done a pretty decent job of troubleshooting the issue with these here speakers. The only thing that comes to me is that perhaps your tweeter might be suffering from corrosion to the wires at the point directly behind the fuse.

    Remove the crossover and inspect the wires at the point where they connect to the fuse holder. Ofter the corrosion is hidden by the wiring so you might have to remove a bit of the shielding.

    Hopefully this helps, good luck.
    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • krazypolkkrazypolk Posts: 757
    66r6wel7eyk5.jpg
    If it's this bad it'll be easy to spot.
    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • F1nutF1nut Posts: 45,432
    Clean the fuse and fuse holder.
    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

    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • F1nutF1nut Posts: 45,432
    krazypolk wrote: »
    66r6wel7eyk5.jpg
    If it's this bad it'll be easy to spot.

    You would think so, but I was only able to find that issue by removing the fuse holder, which I did because I was eliminating the fuse. You cannot see that corrosion otherwise.
    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

    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • motorcityguymotorcityguy Posts: 40
    Thanks, everyone. Sounds like a degraded connection is more likely than a bad tweeter. I'll take a look at all the locations mentioned.

    Sounds like getting to the back of the fuse holder is a bit of a pain. I was not looking to permanently remove it at this time, so hopefully I can reinstall it. I believe it is held in with a rivet?
    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • F1nutF1nut Posts: 45,432
    edited August 2020
    Just clean the fuse and the two tabs of the fuse holder first. Do not drill out the rivet unless you plan on eliminating the fuse and replace the entire binding post plate.
    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

    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • teekay0007teekay0007 Posts: 2,306
    Since removing the fuse holder seems to be a PITA, how about trying a swap of the tweeters between the two speakers first to see if the problem follows. If it does, you know the problem is in the tweeter. If not, it's much more likely to be in the fuse holder/wiring, etc.
    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • pitdogg2pitdogg2 Posts: 17,968
    teekay0007 wrote: »
    Since removing the fuse holder seems to be a PITA, how about trying a swap of the tweeters between the two speakers first to see if the problem follows. If it does, you know the problem is in the tweeter. If not, it's much more likely to be in the fuse holder/wiring, etc.

    Only one problem, early Polks were soldered to the drivers.
    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
  • F1nutF1nut Posts: 45,432
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    teekay0007 wrote: »
    Since removing the fuse holder seems to be a PITA, how about trying a swap of the tweeters between the two speakers first to see if the problem follows. If it does, you know the problem is in the tweeter. If not, it's much more likely to be in the fuse holder/wiring, etc.

    Only one problem, early Polks were soldered to the drivers.

    Correct and you do not want to desolder the leads on the Peerless tweeters. Best to cut the lead wires 4 inches away from the tabs on the tweeters.
    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

    · Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
Sign In or Register to comment.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
© Polk Audio 2014