Lets play 'Identify These Speakers' again!

[Zack]

Hello all,

I recently purchased this pair of Polk bookshelf speakers, and there's no model number, serial, or anything on them. I thought they might be fakes, but the speaker cone does have 'polk' stamped into it (Plus, if so I'm only out $50). Just wondering if anyone knows anything about them.

Thanks for your help,
Zack

[concealer404]

About how large are they? Both the cabinets and the drivers?

[Zack]

The cabinets are 17 inches/42 cm high, 8 inches/23cm wide, and 8 1/2 inches/22.7 cm deep. The driver is 6 inches, the tweeter 1 inch.

[danger boy]

Not again?



















:p

[danger boy]

I'M going to say.. S10's that's just a hunch.

some model of S series fo sure.

[danger boy]

check out this link


http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/s8/

to find other model of S speakers.. just replace the s8 with s6, or s4, or s10 it's one of them.. do some investigting on the dimensions. i don't have the time. good luck.

[lightman1]

Monitor 4's me thinks. single driver, funky tweeter. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/search.php?searchid=11235004

[concealer404]

I'M going to say.. S10's that's just a hunch.

some model of S series fo sure.

I'm going to have to agree.

For $50, and they look in decent shape, i'd say you did ok. :)

<EDIT>

Nope, they aren't S-series.

[danger boy]

I'm going to have to agree.

For $50, and they look in decent shape, i'd say you did ok. :)

<EDIT>

Nope, they aren't S-series.

You might be right... not an S series.. because the front isn't all plastic.

[Zack]

I'm 99% sure they're monitor 4's - just with black painted wood (ugh) instead of the natural wood look of most models. Case closed! Thanks so much to everyone that posted. Anyways, I'm off to have a listen to them...

[agfrost]

Monitor 4's me thinks. single driver, funky tweeter. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/search.php?searchid=11235004

Methinks that's right, I bought a single one of these, funky tweeter and all, just to scavenge the polk audio logo off the grill to replace a lost one on my Monitor 5jr+.



Jay

[messiah]

Early prototype for the monitor 4.6. Same dimensions and woofer, same porting, similar tweeter to what is in the monitor 4. Slightly higher hookups in back, and the no model/ serial lead me to believe they are prototype, pre-production limited run.

Christopher

[messiah]

Methinks that's right, I bought a single one of these, funky tweeter and all, just to scavenge the polk audio logo off the grill to replace a lost one on my Monitor 5jr+.



Jay

Too big to be 4's. The size matches the 4.6

[agfrost]

Too big to be 4's. The size matches the 4.6

You are, of course, correct. I was lumping all the 4 series speakers together and generally being unclear... :o:p

My "lone ranger" is a 4.6 (not a series 2, which had the SL2500 tweeter) and is a match for these, IIRC.


Jay

[messiah]

ok, so it's a 4.6 series one then?

[Zack]

Hmmm, the plot chickens. Looks like a Monitor 4.6, series one prototype then. Whew, that's a bit of a mouthful. How common/uncommon is it to find prototypes around anyways?

[messiah]

Probably not too often would be my guess. I'm buying a pair of rt7's from a guy who worked at Polk for 15 years, and he told me the have no model number/ serials because they are either pre-production "demo" models or prototypes, cant remember which. I'll ask him next time I talk to him.

[agfrost]

Just to add to the confusion, here's 2 similar appearing pairs of 4.5's on the bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-POLK-audio-monitor-reference-bookshelf-speakers-4-5_W0QQitemZ360164104476QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSpeakers _Subwoofers?hash=item53db74191c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_4583wt_810

[messiah]

Yep, nice detective work! They are Monitor 4.5's. Just Google it. Case closed lol.

[comfortablycurt]

Those are Monitor 4.5 Studio editions with SL-4000 tweeters. The black finish means that they're Studio's...the standard 4.5's had a natural wood grain finish. The Studio edition 4.5's are fairly hard to come by.

The lack of model number/serial number is easily explainable. Those were produced around 1987-1988, at which point Polk was using adhesive labels for the product number and serial number. The adhesive didn't hold up over time, and the labels fell off and became vacuum fodder. It's a very common issue with Polks, especially Monitors, from that time period.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk!:)

[woodsman10b]

That is definately not an SL-4000 tweeter Curt, it is in fact a 1in polymer tweeter. most likely with the model #K01D020FFM. these were the 1st pair of Polks that I bought back when l was a 17yr old kid, powered with a 65 watt per channel Scott receiver.

Hard to believe ive had those speakers for 23 years and still sounding great! I bought a Pioneer cd player that same day, paid $240 for it and it didnt come with a remote, and its still in use and working well :)

[comfortablycurt]

That is definately not an SL-4000 tweeter, it is in fact a 1in polymer tweeter. most likely with the model #K01D020FFM. these were the 1st pair of Polks that I bought back when l was a 17yr old kid, powered with a 65 watt per channel Scott receiver.

Hard to believe ive had those speakers for 23 years and still sounding great! I bought a Pioneer cd player that same day, paid $240 for it and it didnt come with a remote, and its still in use and working well :)

My bad...I have a pair of Polk Mini Monitors that have very similar tweeters...I was going by memory. Mine are round though, these are square.

Regardless, the number you mentioned is the serial number, not the model number.

[woodsman10b]

Well you have the newer model, the only other # on the tweeter is 4693 with no letters in the part #. If you would like I can send you copies of the original owners manual, and no where does it state this sl-4000 that you speak of.

[comfortablycurt]

edited my post



My tweeters are SL-4000's, they're a bit different than these though. Mine are round, these are square.

I don't think I need any copies of the owners manual...

Not all of the Polk drivers had the model number printed on the back. In many cases the model number was on a sticker, which fell off over time. Some of them didn't even have the model number on the driver to begin with...such as the Peerless tweeters.

[woodsman10b]

No problem, the later models of these bookshelfs did in fact come with the better SL series tweeters. I bought mine 1 yr to early :( they still sound great and kick ass for their size though.

[smglbrth]

I used to own a pair of these. Not the black though, think they were in the walnut version. I thought they were, at least the ones I had, Monitor 4 Jr+. Maybe a different year though.

[StantonZ]

You are, of course, correct. I was lumping all the 4 series speakers together and generally being unclear... :o:p

Very risky here! The original 4's (no dots, no jr) had the Peerless tweeters; I use a pair as my center channel speaker(s).

[gdb]

Those look similar to a pair of mini-monitors I bought on eprey except mine have foam (yuck) surrounds. Only one label, and it's held in place with scotch tape. There'll be no fixing mine, when they cease to function, they're out'a here!:)

[Bobsama]

Those actually appear to be original Monitor 5 JR's. The cabinets appear too tall to be a Monitor 4 speaker. SL1500 tweeters, by the way. Of the vintage Polk lines, very few were ported. Monitor 4's, early Monitor 5JR's, and RTA-8's are about the extent of Polk's 1980s ported designs. Some other speakers had multiple chambers, some of those chambers ported.

[comfortablycurt]

Those actually appear to be original Monitor 5 JR's. The cabinets appear too tall to be a Monitor 4 speaker. SL1500 tweeters, by the way. Of the vintage Polk lines, very few were ported. Monitor 4's, early Monitor 5JR's, and RTA-8's are about the extent of Polk's 1980s ported designs. Some other speakers had multiple chambers, some of those chambers ported.

These are definitely Monitor 4.5 Studio versions...which were ported.

Here are some Monitor 4.6 series II's...basically the same speakers, but a newer version.

http://www.polksda.com/monitor4-6.shtml


Some non-studio 4.5's...

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/Monitor4_5826621910.pdf


Another pair of Standard (non-studio) 4.5's...

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/5740517471_Monitor4.5.pdf


Definitely not 5Jr's.

The early 5Jr's did look very similar, but didn't use the same tweeters. The earliest 5Jr's had the SL-1000's and SL-2000's, as well as a few with the Peerless tweeters IIRC.

[kcoc321]

game..

set...

match..