Monitor 10's or RTA 12's?
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hypertone
Posts: 150
I've wanted a set of what are now vintage Polk's since they weren't vintage. I've always loved the robot look of the dual horizontal woofers ever since I was a kid. I found a couple pairs at a local second hand hifi store. There is a pair of Monitor 10A's with the peerless tweeters, and a pair of RTA 12's that have the tweeter mounted on top of the cabinet. I am not sure of the revision of the RTA's as I can't remember which tweeter they had. I think it was the sl2500. When I first saw them I thought they were some custom job as I've never seen any like that before. Thanks to google I know what they are. I haven't listened to either one of these speakers yet. I'm waiting until I have cash in hand to do that. The price is $150 for either pair. I was wondering your opinions of these models, and which you think is better? I'm looking for imaging and warmth. My custom built tripath amp is detailed as hell, but slightly bright, so I'm looking for a warmer speaker to balance that out.
Post edited by hypertone on
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Rta12.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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pick them both up.. keep the monitor 10's. sell me the RTA12's (if you live close by).PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
Actually I'm not that far away, but I may want the rta 12's.
Now I hear the peerless is the best tweeter, but there are also a couple others. How do they compare with one another? I don't like too bright of a sound. -
if you can find a pair of older polks with the Peerless get them over the standard overused SL2000 silver coil dome ones. if you end up with a SL2000 tweeter pair of speakers.. you can buy replacements from Polk that are an upgrade.. and are much nicer.PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
I am going through the same thing right now in my living room. In fact I just came up from about 3 hours listening and switching. I have a pair of 10s that I have had since 1981 that have had the crossovers changed by Polk . They came with the Peerless but I use the silver faced SL1000 as they sound more open with a larger soundstage. I also have RTA 12bs that orignaly had the Peerless but these came to me with the RDO1094. The first problem to work out which has taken 2 weeks of changing and listening was to figure out which tweeter worked best with the 12s. The RDO had by far the least extention and smallest soundstasge but are very smooth. The Peerless seems to open things up a bit but can sound a little squeezed on voices and on certian discs it sounds somewhat aggressive. With the silver faced sl 1000s the sound stage is huge and holographic. The room just fils with sound.Most of the time voices sound right on and very real. It is a forward sound with lots of depth and great vertical and horizontal. The only complant is sometimes it is on the edge of being thin but the others positives make up for it. I also have a pair of SDA1 that I just got last week. Very impressive but here is the thing. They sound somewhat laid back and the sound does not seem to come much forward of the grills. I listen to classic rock and blues and some big band . They seem to lack the excitment of the 12s and 10s. My syste is very revealing as i use a Bel Canto EvO2 amp Denon 1650AR CD, Analysis Plus speaker wire and cardas neutral Refernce IC. I do have a pair of Anti cable solid core speaker wires and tried them on the SDAs and this helped bring them alive. On the 10s the same cables are a little harsh. Comparing the 12s to the 10s as I have them i decided tonight that afte 26 years the 10s are out. Compared to the 12s they sound somewhat more muddy in the mid bass and are not as open sounding as the 12s. The sound is somewhat more distant on the 10s. Please understand I worked the electronis biz in from the mid 80s to the early 90s and had access to many different speakers but when brought the 10s in to compare or brought speakers home the 10s always sounded better to me and others. Since January I have had Von Schweikert VR2s here and found them to be more closed in then the Polk 10s in vertical and horizontal staging bt they may have had more depth. They left me feeling cold. I also had Vandersteen 2CE sigs. I lived with these for three months and put the 10s in the basement. They are really good speakers but i was never really completly happy as they had a distant sound to the. They are really good though overall. I brought the 10s up and was surpised that I liked them better. I forgot i also tried Polk LSI15s. My wifes comment can sum this up. When compared to the 10s after listing to sevveral cuts she looked at me and said well that sound like a real person singing. Talking about the 10s. I am down to the SDA1 verses the RTA12s with the SL1000 (in essence a 12C) I think I am going to prefer the 12s in the end. They remind me so much of the 10s i have enjoyed since college . They seem like grown up 10s. I hope this helps. keith
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^^Dude try to break up your posts. That is a chore to read on a computer screen.
"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
The peerless and RD0's are the only worthy tweets for classic Polks. The sl1000 and sl2000 are to agressive and harsh. I find very little difference in the soundstage or dispersion characteristics between the tweets.
With decent equipment the sl2000 is unlistenable and the sl1000 isn't far behind.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
Ok the 12's, which I submit are the only true Real Time Alignment speaker or at the very least the concept best put to use, I have both sets of speakers and enjoy them. I have the peerless in the 10's and the 1000 in the 12's, I guess my gear is junk as they sound nice to me.:D
As far as the price, well, 150 is not bad but not a steal, if you like them though cough up the coin and forget about it.
RT1 -
RTA12 you won't be disappointed.engtaz
I love how music can brighten up a bad day. -
Ditto everyone here. My brother has the 10's & I have the RTA12C's & while the 10's do sound great, the RTA12C's are the better of the two (as are all of the RTA12's).
Mine have the sl2000 tweeter and they sound terrific. You won't regret buying them. I'd snag them asap before someone else does."Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." Bob Seger -
reeltrouble1 wrote: »I guess my gear is junk as they sound nice to me.:D
RT1
I know especially the woodshed rig, gawd, what were you thinking when you bought that stuff
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H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
I am thinking I will put these type vintage speaks on the crappy Manley integrated to start with at the fest.........speakers speakers speakers.........
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I've found that tubes mellowed out the 2000s in my SRS 2s quite nicely. I will admit they were a bit harsh when driven by an all SS rig, though."SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE" -
I went with the monitor 10's. I wanted to go with the RTA 12's, but after looking at them closely, they were just too rough. The monitor 10's are in pretty good shape and sound damn good. The treble is right. I don't hear too many speakers that I can listen to critically and not become distracted by bright treble.
I am debating whether I should cover the baffle with felt and maybe paint them black. There's no going back after doing this. What do you guys think?
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No, we hate Franken Polks, waaaaaaaa. They are yours now though, I would put a wood veener on them if your up for it. As far as covering the baffle, well not my cup of tea so to speak, although the AR-9's use a blanket and are some of the best speakers I have heard.
RT1 -
Frankenpolks? lol
Yeah, I think I might just leave them "stock" for now.
Does anyone know if the white putty around the drivers is supposed to be there? It looks pretty crude and looks like a previous owner did it. I took one tweeter out and scraped it all out. I put it back in and it leaked air, so I put some plumbers putty on it. I'm guessing it is factory? -
those are pretty early monitor 10's. i can tell, they don't use pegs to hold the grills on. The putty doesn't look to bad.. if the previous owner did it.. it looks ok from the pictures.
you do want some kind of sealant around all the drivers so they are sealed. I have never seen gray colored putty.. I have seen black sticky putty on my monitor 7's before though.
How bad of shape were the RTA12's? Just cosmetic or more? I am looking for a pair of RTA12's myself.PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin: -
I'd like to come across a pair of RTA12C's around here. I remember hearing those back when they originally came out and really liked the way they sounded. But, I'd have to find somewhere to put them as I listen to the SRS2's too much! I hate the fact that my 1C's and Monitor 10B's are currently serving "closet duty" at the moment. Sigh.Richard? Who's your favorite Little Rascal? Alfalfa? Or is it........................Spanky?.................................Sinner.
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danger boy wrote: »those are pretty early monitor 10's. i can tell, they don't use pegs to hold the grills on. The putty doesn't look to bad.. if the previous owner did it.. it looks ok from the pictures.
you do want some kind of sealant around all the drivers so they are sealed. I have never seen gray colored putty.. I have seen black sticky putty on my monitor 7's before though.
How bad of shape were the RTA12's? Just cosmetic or more? I am looking for a pair of RTA12's myself.
I didn't listen to them. The cabinets had some chips and I took off one grille to look and the radiator looked like it had been used as a scratchpost. They are in Victoria, BC. I'm not sure how far that is from Spokane.
