Replace or Fix RT55i

[craigm]

I currently have rt55i's for my front and a cs400i for my center. Two days ago my 4 year thought he would help me out and stuck the speaker wires from one of my 55i's into the wall power outlet. My son is fine, but the speaker woofers/drivers are now frozen solid and produce no sound (they are blown for sure). I have no idea how much this will cost to fix, buy I'm wondering if it would be better to invest in new rti8's or spend the money to replace the broken drivers and possibly tweeter. I would love to get some rt800i's, but have had no luck finding any.

Any suggestions.

Thanks

[faster100]

Sorry to hear that, and glad your son is ok..
1. you can call CS at polk, tell em your a member and you get a discount, they have all the drivers available..
or 2. e-bay has been having the drivers for sale regulary and you could save some money, Thats a nice set of speakers and i would fix them..

or 3. sell em to me, :D (just kidding)

Good luck

The crossover is most likely fried as well.. if it was in an outlet.

[amulford]

I would think it safe to assume the entire path is fried, ie crossovers and drivers. Personally, I'd replace it all, they are well worth it....

Just my .02.

[craigm]

I didn't think of the crossover. I see that's it's pretty easy to replace the driver's. Is it easy to replace the crossover as well?

Thanks for the help.

[GZ]

Before you fix the speaker I hope you go out and buy some of those outlet protectors if you haven't already done so.

[amulford]

Yes, it's very easy to replace the crossovers, too.

I WOULD NOT give up on those speakers, they are considered by some to be one of the best bookshelf speakers Polk ever made.

[trubluluc]

I would imagine it much cheaper to replace driver and crossover, as long as your cabinets are in good shape.

I do have a set of RT55i's for sale if you decide to replace them.

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21904

I also have a set of RT1000i 's for sale,
http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20081&highlight=RT1000i

-Luc

[craigm]

This is great info. I really appreciate your comments. It looks like my best approach is to fix what I currently have. This seems like the smartest thing to do as I like having matching center and front speakers. I plan on calling Polk support first thing tomorrow and ordering the needed parts.

One last thing. Will I need to order new Tweeter as well. Does this get damaged like the other 6.5 drivers/woofers?


Thanks

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

Call Polk and ask for Ken....

explain the situation to him and tell him you are a CP member...

Also, replacing the crossover is simple, to remove it you just unscrew the binding post and the crossover is connected to that.

The tweeter is incredibly hard to remove...I will track down a link for ya on the steps.

Here are the steps to removing the tweeter from the baffle...

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12227&highlight=tweeter

The woofer is just set in there, and you just pull it right out.

I hope this helps... The RT55i is a great speaker, enjoy...

[craigm]

Well I found out from Polk Customer Service that it will cost around $250.00 to replace all of the internals of the RT55i. This includes a new crossover, 2 drivers, and and new tweeter. This also includes the club polk 20% discount.

The dilema I am facing now is $250.00 is about how much a new RTi8 would cost. I haven't been able to compare the RTi8 and RT55i side by side, but I would imagine a larger floor standing speaker would sound better. Has anyone been able to compare these two? Another option I have is to sell my other like new RT55i and buy the RTi8's to replace them. Or is it worth the $250.00 to still keep the RT55i. The money is not really the issue, but I would like to come out of this with the better speakers.

Thanks

[Strong Bad]

Fix the RT55i's. They are a great speaker!

Too bad Polk no longer makes them.



My 2 cents.


John

[danger boy]

Fix the 55i's. and keep em. If you get rid of them... i bet you anything.. you'd miss their sound. ;)

I've never owned any 55's. but I would love to some time.

[Vr3MxStyler2k3]

The RT55i was like a RT800i

And the RT55i was said to have ALOT tighter bass....

[craigm]

Thanks for the help. I have gone ahead and ordered the $250.00 worth of parts from Polk and so I should be back to normal by the weekend. Thanks for the suggestions.

Craig

[danger boy]

Great choice... those speakers should last you a long time.

many happy years of listening pleasure to you. :D

[trubluluc]

... when you say "other is like new"
how old are these speakers, I mean they haven't been made for about 2+ years or so.

Does anyone think having all new drivers and tweeter on one speaker will make it sound different from one with older, broken in drivers?
If so, how long do you think it would take before they sounded matched again?

-Luc