new to polk- seeking guidance regarding monitor & rta series
velvetfog
Posts: 17
recently on another hifi forum i posted seeking speaker recommendations according to my preference for a warm, rich, full-bodied, ultra smooth, liquid, dark, punchy sound and several suggestions came forth for the polk monitor 10. i began researching the speaker and was initially very excited. then i encountered complaints about shouty artifacts (due to the dual drivers run in parallel creating excess energy in the upper mids) as well as an "in-your-face" vocal presentation. this is not my thing at all. i am extremely sensitive to any sort of harshness or cone shout in the upper mids as well as any sort of hardness or excess energy in the highs. i kept reading. seemed like the RTA-12B may be a better choice because of the refined crossover. no more dual mids in parallel. however, i've found enough people describing these speakers as overly bright that i'm discouraged. then there is the monitor 7 and 7B, which is very interesting to me because apparently an old spendor loudspeaker was the inspiration for it. i happen to love old spendors. but as it goes, the internet is full of conflicting information. so keeping in mind that i want an extremely forgiving, warm, rich, musical sound... which of the vintage polks should i be looking at? and what is the deal with the cone shout in the 10? please educate me further regarding the monitor 7 and the RTA-12B. i would be grateful for any advice. thank you
Comments
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I wouldn't call the RTA 12 B or C bright unless it had the SL2000 tweeters.
Either way they are long in the tooth. I'd recommend a full XO rebuild on any of if them, with Clarity or Sonicaps film caps, throw in a Mundorf for the large caps. -
Monitor 7 with the Peerless tweeter. Upgrade the crossover components due to age. IMO, the best non-SDA speaker Polk ever made.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 -
Mel Torme sounds great on Monitor 7 speakers.
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that's all, huh? no advice, no descriptions or specific commentary regarding the sound attributes of the speaker systems i mentioned? weird. i figured this would be the place.
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Maybe tell us what your audio system consists of, amp,preamp, CD player and such.
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You already got excellent advice.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 -
Maybe tell us what your audio system consists of, amp,preamp, CD player and such.
that's not really relevant to the question. i have a lot of gear. i can build a system around whichever speaker i choose. -
Truly in a velvetfog.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 -
You already got excellent advice.
really? so far i've been told that the 12B is not bright. that's just one opinion. i've been told that the monitor 7 is the best speaker polk ever made, but i have no idea what that means. not much to go on. i'm not looking for the best speaker they ever made. i'm looking for the one that specifically meets my criteria, which i described. and there have been no comments or advice regarding the driver shout issues. would you be willing to elaborate on your assessment of the monitor 7? i would be grateful.... would like to know more. -
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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 -
same old stupidity on the speaker forums. this sounds great. that sounds bad. this one is best. that one sucks. re-do the crossovers and they'll really sing, insult here, insult there, blah, blah, blah. anyone capable of basic reading comprehension skills and writing more than one or two sentences?
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your hostile behavior/commentary is vastly devaluing your opinion. i am therefore led to believe that the monitor 7 must be a speaker for knuckle-draggers. probably not my thing. -
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looks warm, furry, smooth, soft, and fat. my type of sound. which polk speaker sounds like this dog? -
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Why did you come here again?
does this forum have mods or just a bunch of **** trolls? -
We all tend to self-regulate.
If you want the sound signature you described, you'll have to update and modify these old classics.
The only great sounding Monitor 10's I've heard were converted to SDAs using CRS+ crossovers. In factory form they were lobing.
Others here have modded them with foam chambers and report great results.
No matter what mods you do, the 35-40 year crossover components need renewed. JM2senses
Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists. -
We all tend to self-regulate.
If you want the sound signature you described, you'll have to update and modify these old classics.
The only great sounding Monitor 10's I've heard were converted to SDAs using CRS+ crossovers. In factory form they were lobing.
Others here have modded them with foam chambers and report great results.
No matter what mods you do, the 35-40 year crossover components need renewed. JM2senses
i see, so if i update the crossovers all the vintage polk models i mentioned will sound like i described. right. i don't want to modify the speakers. i've found that crossover updates are overrated. sometimes it makes a huge difference, but most of the time not. either way, i may or may not mess with them depending on what the speaker sounds like. some have aged better than others. my question still remains open. thus far i have determined from your comment only that the model 10 should be avoided because the two drivers overlapping and creating unpleasant artifacts is a real thing. thank you for that. that answers part of my inquiry. i guess i've now narrowed it down to the monitor 7 or the rta-12b. -
Monitor 7s weren't intended to be Spendor style BBC monitors, they were intended to be a speaker more suited to American living room tastes with similar midrange qualities but greater dynamics. They were a big hit. It's rare to see them with the original stands, but they were angled for a degree of time alignment. The Monitor 10s that followed were designed for rock music. More like a higher output party speaker than the Monitor 7s. I wouldn't call either of them velvety, especially with the eventual SL2000 tweeter.
For a speaker that is somewhat similar in spirit to the original Monitor 7s, take a look at current Wharfedale Lintons. Just a really fun smooth sounding speaker to kick back and enjoy music on. -
Monitor 7s weren't intended to be Spendor style BBC monitors, they were intended to be a speaker more suited to American living room tastes with similar midrange qualities but greater dynamics. They were a big hit. It's rare to see them with the original stands, but they were angled for a degree of time alignment. The Monitor 10s that followed were designed for rock music. More like a higher output party speaker than the Monitor 7s. I wouldn't call either of them velvety, especially with the eventual SL2000 tweeter.
For a speaker that is somewhat similar in spirit to the original Monitor 7s, take a look at current Wharfedale Lintons. Just a really fun smooth sounding speaker to kick back and enjoy music on.
i like the tonal balance of the lintons, but i wouldn't call anything about them enjoyable. the drivers are cheap garbage and they have a nasty, fatiguing, coarse tonality to them. horrible, imo. sounds like the 7s are pretty nice. thanks -
We all tend to self-regulate.
If you want the sound signature you described, you'll have to update and modify these old classics.
The only great sounding Monitor 10's I've heard were converted to SDAs using CRS+ crossovers. In factory form they were lobing.
Others here have modded them with foam chambers and report great results.
No matter what mods you do, the 35-40 year crossover components need renewed. JM2senses
i see, so if i update the crossovers all the vintage polk models i mentioned will sound like i described. right. i don't want to modify the speakers. i've found that crossover updates are overrated. sometimes it makes a huge difference, but most of the time not. either way, i may or may not mess with them depending on what the speaker sounds like. some have aged better than others. my question still remains open. thus far i have determined from your comment only that the model 10 should be avoided because the two drivers overlapping and creating unpleasant artifacts is a real thing. thank you for that. that answers part of my inquiry. i guess i've now narrowed it down to the monitor 7 or the rta-12b.
Find both and decide which model suits you best.Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists. -
It truly is relevant.
Honestly we get trolled A LOT here. Far too many come from other forums, ask questions, we take time to answer and give great advice only then to have said newby tell us how we are all WRONG and have no clue. They then go and try and "school" us on how we are all wrong about such and such speaker. They had them, they were shouty, in your face and way too bright.
Then we find out they were using a $100 receiver found at a pawn shop that has 100 wpc and it's way more than enough power. 😂😂
Then we recommend a power amp. They then buy a cheap behringer pro amp, come back and complain that it sounds horrible OR tell us all amps sound the same and this amp has 1000 wpc, yet doesn't have enough current to light up a 20 watt light bulb, BUT hey it has 1000 wpc.
I asked a simple question and you stated "it doesn't matter"
Annnd here we are, we are not butthurt, YOU are.
Polk built some outstanding speakers. They built some outstanding theater speakers over the years, some innovative stereo speakers, maybe you've heard of them, called SDA's. They cannot be used on certain amplifier topologies. SO once again we are back to what your gear IS.
ENLIGHTEN US Obi-Wan! -
It truly is relevant.
Honestly we get trolled A LOT here. Far too many come from other forums, ask questions, we take time to answer and give great advice only then to have said newby tell us how we are all WRONG and have no clue. They then go and try and "school" us on how we are all wrong about such and such speaker. They had them, they were shouty, in your face and way too bright.
Then we find out they were using a $100 receiver found at a pawn shop that has 100 wpc and it's way more than enough power. 😂😂
Then we recommend a power amp. They then buy a cheap behringer pro amp, come back and complain that it sounds horrible OR tell us all amps sound the same and this amp has 1000 wpc, yet doesn't have enough current to light up a 20 watt light bulb, BUT hey it has 1000 wpc.
I asked a simple question and you stated "it doesn't matter"
Annnd here we are, we are not butthurt, YOU are.
Polk built some outstanding speakers. They built some outstanding theater speakers over the years, some innovative stereo speakers, maybe you've heard of them, called SDA's. They cannot be used on certain amplifier topologies. SO once again we are back to what your gear IS.
ENLIGHTEN US Obi-Wan!
not interested in trying to prove myself to you. my gear is fine and i have multiple amps. i'm a veteran audiophile, so you're barking up the wrong tree. if you want to answer my question, then fine. if you want to act like an arrogant dipstick and make assumptions about me because i'm new, then piss off.
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We all tend to self-regulate.
If you want the sound signature you described, you'll have to update and modify these old classics.
The only great sounding Monitor 10's I've heard were converted to SDAs using CRS+ crossovers. In factory form they were lobing.
Others here have modded them with foam chambers and report great results.
No matter what mods you do, the 35-40 year crossover components need renewed. JM2senses
i see, so if i update the crossovers all the vintage polk models i mentioned will sound like i described. right. i don't want to modify the speakers. i've found that crossover updates are overrated. sometimes it makes a huge difference, but most of the time not. either way, i may or may not mess with them depending on what the speaker sounds like. some have aged better than others. my question still remains open. thus far i have determined from your comment only that the model 10 should be avoided because the two drivers overlapping and creating unpleasant artifacts is a real thing. thank you for that. that answers part of my inquiry. i guess i've now narrowed it down to the monitor 7 or the rta-12b.
Find both and decide which model suits you best.
i've been pretty clear about what suits me best. the whole reason for asking for guidance and help from others who have experience with these speakers is to save myself the trouble of bringing in speakers that have zero chance of pleasing me. you can't understand that? -
Maybe just start with a Polk soundbar and go from there.Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
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I was in no way being arrogant. I simply asked relevant questions.
As for a "veteran audiophile" well I have my reservation about that.
You should look for the Monitor 12, it's right up your alley
Good day! -
I was in no way being arrogant. I simply asked relevant questions.
As for a "veteran audiophile" well I have my reservation about that.
You should look for the Monitor 12, it's right up your alley
Good day!
why would you have reservations? you have little to zero info about me. do you often form opinions about people you don't know? feel free not to answer that. i don't really care. -
Maybe just start with a Polk soundbar and go from there.
more troll crap. wtf is your problem? is this how you people treat all new members?
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😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
