The cure for a tough day at work...

[OldiesButGoodies]

Getting home and turning on the Kenwood KR-9600 to listen to Miles Davis.  Everything is ok after that  .  I am using the 5Jrs in a near-field monitor arrangement.  The sound ok,  the tweeters are bright as all out though.  The AES Esprit A308 sub picks up the bottom end.  Using a spare Sony DVD player as a CD player (also gets me access to two-channel super-audio DVDs as a bonus,  which is OK as I own a few).  Tom supplied most of the hardware. / Pepe

[thuffman03]

Nice setup!  Sure would make me feel better after a bad day to sit there and listen to some good music.

[F1nut]

Pepe,

I can help you to enjoy those speakers a lot more than you do now. Start by replacing the SL2000 tweeters with the RD0194-1 available direct from Polk. The cost for Club Polk members is $48.00 each with free 2 day shipping. That alone will tame the high end considerably. Taking it further, upgrade the crossover caps and resistors. On those speakers it is an easy and fairly inexpensive job. You'll be amazed at improvements, I guarantee it.

Sony sources are known for their bright/dry/sterile sound. If possible, get something else. If money is tight, a used Denon 2900 should run less than $200.00, has SACD and DVD-A and will sound much better than your Sony.

Jesse

[mikey813]

Great Setup. 

[OldiesButGoodies]

Thanks!


Jesse:

I will look into the process of becoming a Club Polk member and ordering a replacement for the tweeters today. 

I was thinking of playing with a few resistors in line to attenuate the tweeter,  but I suspect the issue would be more effectively dealt with by upgrading the tweet.

I have recapped cross-overs once before with so-so results (Paradigm Reference Studio Monitors) - it may have been that original parts were good to begin with.  In the case of the Polks it may make a bigger difference as the original quality of the caps may have been marginal and, well, they are old caps at this point!

Thanks!

Pepe

[F1nut]

Yeah, the problem with the SL2000 is that it has a 5dB spike at 13kHz. The RD0 will take care of that. It takes about 48 hours for the RD0 to burn in, so don't judge it right away.

You should find a 1 ohm resistor, a 12uF cap and a polyswitch. Get rid of the polyswitch and replace it with a .5 ohm 12 watt Mills resistor. Replace the 1 ohm with a 1 ohm 12 watt Mills. As for the cap, anything but Solen will work. Good choices would be Sonicap Gen I or Clarity ESA's. In my experience it takes a new film and foil cap anywhere from 200 to 400 hours to burn in and therefore things will sound like crap until then.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Ok - I joined Club Polk, ordered the tweeters.  I am working on procuring the caps etc. from Parts Express (if you have a better source let me know). 

I replaced all the DVD players around the house with blueray,  so I have a several spares - including a Denon 1910.  I will try that out instead of the Sony (the Denon does not do SACD,  but  I really do most of my listening in CDs and LPs).  Will report back if I notice a difference in sound between the two.

Thanks!

[Slim-Shaddy]

How are you liking the AE sub?

[OldiesButGoodies]

The sub is fast enough,  which was a big concern for me as this strictly for music. It also has speaker level inputs and outputs,  which was important to me since the old Kenny KR-9600 does not manage subs and I wanted to be able to segregate low level signals to it. The remote control that controls the volume and freq x-over point drives servo motors that mechanically move the knobs - very cool!

So I like it and Tom is probably not getting it back.  

I just spent another $50 in resistors and caps to complete Jesses recommendations - I have now invested more in new parts for the Polks than I paid for the speakers to begin with.  Typical audio geek behavior.  It is worth the fun though - soldering those babies, assembling the whole thing and praying to St. Henry Kloss that it all comes together well. Will keep you posted.  

[Could I have obtained the same or better sound by buying a used set of Spica TC-60s?  Maybe - but that is not the point,  I already had Spicas,  been there done that,  so it is time to see what Polk put out back in the day when they were doing monitors for philes!  Next on the list is an old set of AR perhaps...]

[OldiesButGoodies]

And I have a pair of SL2000 tweeters in beautiful shape for sale,  for those of you who like your treble in your face and spicy!
 

[F1nut]

   I am working on procuring the caps etc. from Parts Express (if you have a better source let me know). 
   

Looks like I'm too late, but I prefer http://www.soniccraft.com/

What caps/resistors did you buy?

  Typical audio geek behavior. 

LOL.....so true.

[OldiesButGoodies]

(I am a bit impatient - sorry  )

This is what I ordered:

QTY     PartNumber     Product     Price    Ext. Price
1    CATALOG    FREE CATALOG    $0.00    $0.00
2    005-.5    Mills 0.5 Ohm 12W Non-Inductive Resistor    $4.25    $8.50
2    005-1    Mills 1 Ohm 12W Non-Inductive Resistor    $4.25    $8.50
2    027-246    Dayton PMPC-12 12uF 250V Precision Audio Capacitor    $8.44    $16.88
1       FedEx Home Delivery    $9.11    $9.11

[F1nut]

Well, the Dayton will be better than what's in there, but not as good the two I suggested.

[schwarcw]

I upgraded a pair of Monitor 5's for my son.  Put in the RDO tweeters and got the crossover mod as a karma from a Polk Forum member.  He used Dayton caps.  My son is using an old Marantz 2230 with the Polks.  The setup he has sounds fabulous!  I was impressed with the imaging and clean, smooth sound.  The Monitor 5's have a little more bass than the 5 jr's.  But they are still very nice speakers!!!  you'll enjoy the results.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Thanks.  I have almost all the parts now to do the upgrade - except the Mills 1 ohm resistors - those are backordered until June 15  .  I am calling Sonicraft later today to see if they have them.  Will let you know how it turns out. 

I am aalso considering Tom's recommendation that I put a tube stage in between the Kenwood's pre-outs and power-ins to soften up the solid state harshness.