Proud New Owner of Polk Monitor 10As

[pjdami]

Well I picked up the Monitor 10As here locally from an eBay find. The speakers were like the seller claimed ... in excellent condition. The drivers and cabinets are like in new condition except for a few small scratches on top of one of the cabinets. These are serial # 109204 & 109205. This morning I relocated my reference Spendor S8 speakers to the spare bedroom to give the Monitor 10As a listen. I need to get some stands for them and get them off the floor where I think the sound will improve further.

My two channel system that I have been putting together consists of:

Musical Fidelity Cd - Pre 24 w/ Bob Crump power cord

Rogue Audio 88 Tube Amp w/ ElectroHarmonix KT88EH, RFT 12AU7s, and Sovtek 12AX7LPS

Acoustic Zen Satori single run speaker wire

Acoustic Zen Wow interconnects

Chris Venhaus Flavor 2 power cord for the Rogue amp

First impressions were very very good. These speakers do not need a sub to help them out. Plenty of nice deep bass. I disconnected my Hsu STF2 sub as a result. Highs are very detailed but not sibilant at all. I was expecting female voices to be a little harsh but its not the case. This could be a result of the tube amp and the Zen wires (which are a little dark sounding on my Spendors).

Here are some pics. Damn camera and spots.

[pjdami]

right speaker...

[pjdami]

left speaker ....

[Zero]

Looks good brutha.

[polkatese]

Cool setup, Paul! very nice gears! Thanks also on the feedback on PB1+...

[Shizelbs]

I am very happy for you. So very, very happy for you. :rolleyes:

[Tour2ma]

Again, congrats Paul. Had no doubt you'd be happy with them.

I think in your other thread Russ alluded to the fact that your 10's have the Peerless tweeter Polk used in their initial Monitors, the "A" series. We heard this tweet in his 7A's at TX PF II and were all very impressed with their sound.

Not that your Zens have nothing to do with the sound, but the Peerless is a very smooth sounding tweeter.

[HBombToo]

Very nice and you'll have to keep an eye out for some stands.

HBomb

[pjdami]

Thanks guys for the congrats. Shiz, you're killing me over here;) Now I'm starting to feel a little guilty because they really are very nice:( He didn't have the original boxes though and these bad boys are very heavy (I'm guessing like 40 lbs / each).

Tour,
Thanks for the info on the tweeter. Yes they are amazingly smooth sounding. These actually caught me off guard how good they sound. Just goes to show that one doesn't have to pay a fortune on the used market to have some good sound.

One thing I notice about the tweeters is that they have a small "hole" in the fabric in the dead center of each tweeter. I'm thinking this is intentional though and it came that way stock?

I've been scouring the forum looking for that thread that Russ posted on the Monitor 7 & 10 original spec sheets but can't seem to find it. Wonder if it got deleted with the server upgrade a while back? Shame that the TPG II got deleted as well.

[Shizelbs]

Sorry, I was just being a dick. :D Those are some good pics you grabbed there. Glad to hear the bass is more than ample.

[RuSsMaN]

Mon 7a - 10a Brochure scans (http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14441&highlight=The+one+that+put+polk+on+the+map)

As far as the 'hole' in the tweeter, Polk did that themselves - with the tip of a HOT SOLDERING IRON! Believe it.

Cheers,
Russ

[pjdami]

Thanks Russ for the link and for putting that together. I can see why I had trouble finding it. I was searching under "monitor".

Yep, I can believe 32 hz +/- 2 db with these guys.

You know its really a small world. The guy I bought these from used to be an installer at the audio store where I bought some Rotel gear, the Paradigm Studio 40s, and my Rogue amp.

I met the guy in a bar parking lot in the warehouse district of New Orleans and bought him a couple of beers inside the bar after as we were shooting the breeze with the hottie barmaid behind the bar.

[gidrah]

Those look very sweet. Much better than my 10Bs. Congratulations.

[HBombToo]

Originally posted by pjdami


I met the guy in a bar parking lot in the warehouse district of New Orleans and bought him a couple of beers inside the bar after as we were shooting the breeze with the hottie barmaid behind the bar.

NOW thats what I call the closing of a GOOD deal!;)

HBomb

[F1nut]

Nice set up Paul, very nice!

[organ]

Conrats Paul. That's a very nice system with killer gear. Do you like your new 10A's more than the LSi9?

Maurice

[pjdami]

Maurice,

Wow that is a tough question.

I have come to the conclusion that speakers are where it is at. I like different types of speakers and different manufacturers. One thing that I feel is most important is that the speaker must have great midrange and must be able to recreate the human voice realistically. The Monitors are definitely keepers.

On this system, with the tube amp, I feel the Monitors are a better match than the LSi 9. I haven't done a side by side comparison, but I did hook up the LSi 9s a couple of weeks ago to this system and I removed them after a couple of hours. The sound was not terrible, but very warm sounding and just didn't have the "life" to them that I am used to with solid state gear on the LSi. Just my opinion here. The Monitor 10As are an easier load on the tube amp and are well balanced top to bottom on sound. Actually, and some people may think I'm crazy, but the Monitor 10As kind of have that LSi sound to them in a way. I'll have to hook them up side by side to really do a comparison one day but that was the first thing I thought of when I heard the Monitors.

[dorokusai]

My favorite series ever, the Monitor 10(B) series turned me on to good sound in 1990.

They look fantastic!

[organ]

Very interesting. I thought the exact same thing after switching to the 800i from the LSi9 using my tube amp. So did the 9's still sound chesty with your tube amp? One thing's for sure about amps though. The more efficient the speakers, the better the amp will sound.

I remember someone else writing about the LSi here when it first came out and he said the sound signature is similar to older Polks.

Maurice

[dan t]

Nice! I'm the proud owner of the M10 Series 2 and have not replaced them yet.