How to Identify my model of Speakers

bigcarpileup
bigcarpileup Posts: 7
edited October 2009 in Speakers
My brother gave me his Polk Audio Speakers that he bought new as well a Pioneer Receiver. I am trying to wire the whole thing up and make it sound as good as possible. I have moved twice since acquiring them and lost the metal jumpers for the terminals in the back. I don't know how many jumpers there originally were, but I now only have 1. Without the jumpers I decided to wire them up not knowing the first thing about "bi-wiring" and that has led me here.

My Main question is: How do I identify the model of Polk Audio Speaker that they are? I have looked all over the black exterior and have taken the black covers off the front that simply say "Polk Audio". They each have 2 mid-range looking speakers and 1 tweeter on the top. My last resort was to maybe unscrew them and look inside. Any other advice?

The model # i thought would help me to obtain the Jumpers online somewhere. Or I thought I could learn more about bi-wiring. So far my success with the bi-wiring is minimal. I have gotten some good sound, but if I go too far up with the volume, the receiver displays "OVERLOAD" and shuts down. At first I had the highs wired to the Front B connectors in the back, but after reading some about bi-wiring I put both the highs and lows in the Front A connectors.
Post edited by bigcarpileup on

Comments

  • McLoki
    McLoki Posts: 5,231
    edited October 2009
    take the grill off one of the speakers, set them side by side and take a picture then post it here. Someone will be able to identify it. Not enough in your description to do it for us.

    For the jumper you lost, just cut a short length of speaker wire and use it like a jumper to connect the top and bottom red or black terminal together.

    Before you change anything though - post the pictures to ensure that we are giving you the correct advice.

    Michael

    BTW - Welcome the Club Polk.
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  • polkanddie
    polkanddie Posts: 224
    edited October 2009
    Me thinks they are RT12, or RT16. But I agree, take a picture and you will have your answer in about 3 seconds. lol
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  • bigcarpileup
    bigcarpileup Posts: 7
    edited October 2009
    Here are the photos of the speakers (atleast one of them). This one has a tweeter that is pushed in! don't know if that can be fixed.

    As far as the "overload" problem, the only time this happens is when the tweeters are connected. If I disconnect them, I can turn the volume to max with no problems...

    polk_audio_speakers004.jpg
  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited October 2009
    http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/rt3000p/
    It looks like the sub part is missing. You can try to pull the tweeter dome out with some tape.
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
  • messiah
    messiah Posts: 1,790
    edited October 2009
    Those are the Rt55 original, not the i series. You can make jumpers out of speaker wire to replace the lost ones. Some say that actually works better than the original. Oh, and try a vacuum to pull out the crushed tweeter.
    "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
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  • bigcarpileup
    bigcarpileup Posts: 7
    edited October 2009
    It looks like the sub part is missing.

    Do you mean that slot on the bottom? Is that the subwoofer?
  • w_coyote
    w_coyote Posts: 66
    edited October 2009
    No he was thinking they were something else. There is no sub part with that speaker, you have 2 mids and a tweeter.
  • w_coyote
    w_coyote Posts: 66
    edited October 2009
    http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/rt55i/ -this might help. The rt55 and the rt55i were almost the same. Some small changes were made but still pretty close. Didn't know I could post a link or I would have the first time.
  • classic carl
    classic carl Posts: 648
    edited October 2009
    As you may have already figured out, biamping requires 2 seperate amps. You do not want to wire the highs to the speaker A output and the lows to speaker B on your amp. Use the jumpers to connect the high and low terminals on the speakers to each other and then connect your speaker A output from your amp or receiver to the low terminals on the speakers.

    Bi-wiring is just running 2 sets of wires to the same terminal on the speakers from the same speaker output on the amp. The only reason to remove the jumpers would be to bi-amp, that is to connect one amp to drive the highs and another to drive the lows.
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  • Kex
    Kex Posts: 4,892
    edited October 2009
    Those are great speakers, and yes, they are the RT55, from the late 90's IIRC. The printed specifications are absolutely identical, in every way, to the link posted to the RT55i. Get some proper juice to those and you'll get some pretty stupendous results IMO (the Pioneer may already be good enough, depending on which model).

    BTW, that tweeter has been pushed in, which will affect dispersion. It's a pretty bad push, by the looks of it. You might be able to minimize it by using a vacuum cleaner, and slowly, very carefully, bringing the tube closer and closer so that it starts to suck the dome out. Do NOT let it come into contact with the front of the speaker or it might just suck the whole dome off completely. You can use your fingers, in front of the tube, as you bring it closer, to avoid this risk.

    If you're good with D.I.Y., you can even dismantle the tweeter, and push the dome carefully out from behind, using a cotton tip stick. There are also replacements available, but the are silk dome, AFIK, not tri-laminate, and do not have the silver colored finish.
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  • Iā€™m trying to also figure out what model speaker I have they have red on the front grill they are heavy and the serial number on the back is ls17 rc 011161z75ua8vcrlz.jpeg
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    That sticker says LSi7 so guess what they are LSi7's

    https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/795/index.html
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  • FirstSetOfPolk
    FirstSetOfPolk Posts: 2
    edited August 2022
    I'm a new owner of a set of Polk Audio speakers and a little confused about proper connections. No model number and all it says is see manual. Can anyone here please identify the model of "Powered Tower" speakers I have? n7s3j0celgzs.jpg
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    RT2000P
    s7o55q4lga89.jpg

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    Same RT2000P 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."


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  • jlwshmily
    jlwshmily Posts: 1
    edited October 2022
    Can you identify these? Behind the top screen is a single midrange driver and tweeter, behind the bottom screen is wood. They are passive speakers. pqz1g8n18gh4.jpeg
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    edited October 2022
    Says Polk Audio right there in front.

    The top receiver smells like a Sony.
    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

  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,346
    RT series. Looks like RT600i as they're passive. RT1000i were powered towers.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,477
    Mine was a hard guess of little more than knew they were RT.

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