Good lordy! Them Monitor 5's sound perty decent

[Refefer]

Just snagged a pair from our venerable Brettw22, and I gotta say, these things are pretty dang good!

Right now I have them hooked up to a pretty crappy integrated (Technics SA-EX100), but I gotta say they have earned moving up the chain a little bit! I was especially surprised by the amount of bass these bookshelves put out, reminded me a bit of the lsi 9's in that respect, but they seem to dig a LOT deeper, 10 hz or so. I ran a sine sweep through them and was feeling subsonics at around 30 hz of all things, something completely unexpected.

They also image quite well, and sound good at low-low volume levels. Perfect addition to my computer.

Here's a pic of them setup in my computer rig.

[Deadof_knight]

Now thats a pair of computer speakers!

[heiney9]

Back in 1985 the Monitor 5b’s were my first Polk speaker. I bought them slightly used and kept them for about a year or so because I had my sights set on the then brand new Rta-11T. I ended up selling the 5b’s to a friend and really have wanted a pair again ever since.

Fast forward. My current computer/office rig consists of a Luxman R-113 receiver, AMC DAC-8 digital to analog converter and a pair of Athena AS-B1 bookies. I play FLAC files and my soundcard transmits a digital stream out directly into the Dac via a glass Toslink. I am growing very dissatisfied with the Athena’s now that I have Lsi’s for the main system.

Within the next couple of weeks I will be getting a pair of 5b’s to replace the Athena’s and I am really looking forward to having them again. In time I will upgrade the x-overs and get the new RDO’s if it’s necessary.

[dkg999]

Run the 5b's with a good tube pre and a decent amp and they will scare you :)

[heiney9]

Run the 5b's with a good tube pre and a decent amp and they will scare you :)

Now you tell me.......I see you took the 5b's out of your sig. in anticipation of letting them go to me. This maybe the ticket for me getting my feet wet in tubes..............eventually. A simple, inexpensive, low wattage tube integrated sounds sweet!

[dkg999]

I'll bring the Audcom tube pre when we get together. It even seemed to tame the SL2000's significantly. After hearing the 5b's on tubes, they were hard to give up :( I'm just overstocked on speakers and I want to keep my 10b's with the RDO tweeters. Doug.

[Refefer]

I've been enjoying them, there's no doubt about that. I hooked it them up to my main system, and yes, they definitely sound much better with better components.

I was very surprised at how nice their soundstage was, wasn't expecting them to do height very well, but once on decent stands they do quite well.

I might take in the tube pre + SS amp idea, and hook these things up through a dac instead of a line out.

Oh, H9, if you look at my original WTB thread, dorokusai was offer to sell me pair of mint B's with tweeter upgrades for a really good price. Shoot him a PM, and maybe you guys can work something out.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49217

[steveinaz]

I had a pair of Monitor 5jrs in 1992, those suckers were hooked up to a 215 watt Soundcraftsment amp. They sounded great, and would play at rediculously high levels with no distortion. Great speaker.

[Polk65]

They can get pretty loud for their size with a decent amp. Kudos to Brett for keeping them in the family. I have a pair also and they aren't moving anytime soon.

[heiney9]

Oh, H9, if you look at my original WTB thread, dorokusai was offer to sell me pair of mint B's with tweeter upgrades for a really good price. Shoot him a PM, and maybe you guys can work something out.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49217

Thanks, but I'm stealing these from DKG999 :D :p . Plus I look forward to doing the upgrades on the x-over, etc. If I wasn't getting these so reasonbly the upgrades wouldn't make much sense. Generally my computer /office rig is what I call my budget system and part of the fun is getting pieces on the cheap that sound great. If this was my main system the process would be a bit different.

[mhardy6647]

Now you need a pair of 7's.