The Right Channel Tweeters - SDA 1.2TL's

[Lasareath]

Hello All,

I took the right channel speaker cable from my AMP and connected it to the right channel 1.2's Mid Drivers only and played a song, it was loud and clear.

I took the same speaker cable (from the right Channel) and connected it to the Left 1.2's Mid Drivers and it sound exactly the same.

I did the same test for the tweeters and I found that the tweeters in the right speaker play much lower.

Are all 4 tweeters dead?

Is there something on the crossover that would hinder the output of the tweeters only if it was blown or dying?

Thanks in Advance for any Help,

Las

[george daniel]

Polyswitch maybe

[DarqueKnight]

Some things to consider and try:

Put the right speaker's tweeters in the left speaker. If they exhibit lower volume, you know one or more tweeters is bad. You could then remove the tweeters and test each one individually. It would be difficult to tell which tweeter is bad while they are all connected to the crossover because the crossover causes each tweeter to have a different response characteristic.

You could test each tweeter in the same position of of a speaker, but that would involve taping the leads of the unused tweeter wires (to prevent the risk of a short) and also involves more installing and removing tweeters, which risks damage to the screw threads in the cabinet. It would be better to connect a tweeter to your amp and then play a test tone (at very low volume) through a good tweeter and then compare the sound of the four tweeters from the suspect speaker.

The tweeter protection polyswitch can go bad due to age or due to being tripped a number of times. It is possible for the polyswitch in one speaker to go bad while the other one remains in good condition. The polyswitch is a two-lead small blue rectangular component or a small or large yellow circular component. For a picture, refer to post #14 of this thread:

SDA-1C Speaker Troubleshooting

Try shorting (soldering a small wire across the terminals) the polyswitches in both speakers and see if the problem goes away. New polyswitches are available free from Polk customer service. I removed all of polyswitches from my SDA's because they have a detrimental effect on the high frequency response (less detail).

You could have a combination of a bad polyswitch and one or more bad tweeters.

[avguytx]

Ok. Something struck me in that post that I don't remember reading. Ben62670 said "One thing that can be confusing about Polk's is that they use the black wire as positive, and the white as negative. Most people think of black as ground. Seeing that amps put out AC currant it is actually correct for the black to be "hot". This does not apply to the external wiring."

Is that true of the Monitor series as well? Like the 10B's? If so, I can guarantee that they are wired the other way inside with the white as positive on everything because that's how they were when I took them apart, too. I just wired them back the same way. That will cause some erratic sounding speakers! Dang...guess I better check that tonight since I go out of town again tomorrow...

More info to follow...

[Lasareath]

Some things to consider and try:

Put the right speaker's tweeters in the left speaker. If they exhibit lower volume, you know one or more tweeters is bad. You could then remove the tweeters and test each one individually. It would be difficult to tell which tweeter is bad while they are all connected to the crossover because the crossover causes each tweeter to have a different response characteristic.

You could test each tweeter in the same position of of a speaker, but that would involve taping the leads of the unused tweeter wires (to prevent the risk of a short) and also involves more installing and removing tweeters, which risks damage to the screw threads in the cabinet. It would be better to connect a tweeter to your amp and then play a test tone (at very low volume) through a good tweeter and then compare the sound of the four tweeters from the suspect speaker.

The tweeter protection polyswitch can go bad due to age or due to being tripped a number of times. It is possible for the polyswitch in one speaker to go bad while the other one remains in good condition. The polyswitch is a two-lead small blue rectangular component or a small or large yellow circular component. For a picture, refer to post #14 of this thread:

SDA-1C Speaker Troubleshooting

Try shorting (soldering a small wire across the terminals) the polyswitches in both speakers and see if the problem goes away. New polyswitches are available free from Polk customer service. I removed all of polyswitches from my SDA's because they have a detrimental effect on the high frequency response (less detail).

You could have a combination of a bad polyswitch and one or more bad tweeters.

Raife,

Thank you for all the excellent suggestions. I will give it a try and report back with my findings.

It's funny, I took them out of my living room and hooked up my 1C's, and I watched a Movie and Just now I saw them in my hallway and I said to myself, "I love those speakers" lol, even though they don't work 100%, I still love them, hehe

Thanks,

Lasareath

[Lasareath]

It would be difficult to tell which tweeter is bad while they are all connected to the crossover because the crossover causes each tweeter to have a different response characteristic.

I noticed this exactly, when playing a song from my source I put my eair right up against each one of the 4 tweeters and they each sounded a little diffrent, they sounded like they were playing a diffrent part of the spectrum.

[Lasareath]

The tweeter protection polyswitch can go bad due to age or due to being tripped a number of times. It is possible for the polyswitch in one speaker to go bad while the other one remains in good condition. The polyswitch is a two-lead small blue rectangular component or a small or large yellow circular component. For a picture, refer to post #14 of this thread:

SDA-1C Speaker Troubleshooting

Try shorting (soldering a small wire across the terminals) the polyswitches in both speakers and see if the problem goes away. New polyswitches are available free from Polk customer service. I removed all of polyswitches from my SDA's because they have a detrimental effect on the high frequency response (less detail).

You could have a combination of a bad polyswitch and one or more bad tweeters.

I think I will try the polyswitch first, to me it sounds like whatever is effecting the tweeters, it's doing it to all 4 at the same time.

I'll have to wait till tonight, (Today's Easter, if I'm late for my Mom's house I'll never hear the end of it)

Thanks Again.

Las

[engtaz]

Don't sleep it will give you mare time. LOL

[Lasareath]

mare or bunny time?

[Lasareath]

Some things to consider and try:

Put the right speaker's tweeters in the left speaker. If they exhibit lower volume, you know one or more tweeters is bad. You could then remove the tweeters and test each one individually. It would be difficult to tell which tweeter is bad while they are all connected to the crossover because the crossover causes each tweeter to have a different response characteristic.

You could test each tweeter in the same position of of a speaker, but that would involve taping the leads of the unused tweeter wires (to prevent the risk of a short) and also involves more installing and removing tweeters, which risks damage to the screw threads in the cabinet. It would be better to connect a tweeter to your amp and then play a test tone (at very low volume) through a good tweeter and then compare the sound of the four tweeters from the suspect speaker.

The tweeter protection polyswitch can go bad due to age or due to being tripped a number of times. It is possible for the polyswitch in one speaker to go bad while the other one remains in good condition. The polyswitch is a two-lead small blue rectangular component or a small or large yellow circular component. For a picture, refer to post #14 of this thread:

SDA-1C Speaker Troubleshooting

Try shorting (soldering a small wire across the terminals) the polyswitches in both speakers and see if the problem goes away. New polyswitches are available free from Polk customer service. I removed all of polyswitches from my SDA's because they have a detrimental effect on the high frequency response (less detail).

You could have a combination of a bad polyswitch and one or more bad tweeters.

Ok Finally I got some time to work on my speakers,

I opened up the right crossover and shorted the legs of the polyswitch and there was no change whatsoever.

I then took out the 4 tweeters from the right speaker and put in the 4 tweeters from the left and it's playing just as loud as the left was.

So i guess I have 3 to 4 bad tweeters. I'm not going to waste my time testing each. I will call Ken now and order 8 RDO0198's

I am home today all day and I think i will now test each of the 16 6.5's as well, if any sound incorrect I will order replacements as well for those.

Thanks All for your input.

Las

[engtaz]

don't you want 16 RD0198's for both speakers?

engtaz

[read-alot]

Not unless he plans on cutting 8 more holes.

[Lasareath]

don't you want 16 RD0198's for both speakers?

engtaz

No, I want 8 RDO0198's, 4 for each speaker ;)

[engtaz]

oops brain dead. I had just read the mids comments and had a brain fart. LOL

engtaz

[heiney9]

Ok. Something struck me in that post that I don't remember reading. Ben62670 said "One thing that can be confusing about Polk's is that they use the black wire as positive, and the white as negative. Most people think of black as ground. Seeing that amps put out AC currant it is actually correct for the black to be "hot". This does not apply to the external wiring."

Is that true of the Monitor series as well? Like the 10B's? If so, I can guarantee that they are wired the other way inside with the white as positive on everything because that's how they were when I took them apart, too. I just wired them back the same way. That will cause some erratic sounding speakers! Dang...guess I better check that tonight since I go out of town again tomorrow...

More info to follow...

YES. Polk used black and green as positive and white as negative. I re-did the x-overs in my 5b's. When I first got the 5b's they lacked bass so I thought perhaps a prior owner mixed up the wiring so I reversed the leads on the mid-driver and then I got the correct anount of bass. After redoing the x-overs and pain stakingly checking and replacing the internal wiring I have the exact same problem. I switched the speaker wire coming from the amp to the speaker terminal to run out of phase and the bass is back again. I haven't got a clue why this is. The terminal cup wiring from the speaker connectors to the x-over used white wire for both pos. and neg.

I'm 99.999999% sure everything is wired correctly, but the only way to get the proper bass is to run them out of phase . I guess the moral of the story is don't always believe what you see. Everything appears to be wired correctly from input terminal thru the x-over out of the x-over and to the drivers .

H9

[george daniel]

congrats on finding the problem,,I know that had to be frustrating--have fun :)

[Lasareath]

congrats on finding the problem,,I know that had to be frustrating--have fun :)

Thanks!, but here's the BEST news!!!! I just called Ken @ Polk CS and he said since I am a Polk Forum member and that i'm buying all 8 RDO0198's that I will get the extra special discount. they were only $48 each!!!! with $23.04 tax and free shipping.

Las

[read-alot]

That does it, I'm not buying from Helen anymore.

Whoa wait, she sold me mine for $28 each.












J/k :)

[Lasareath]

I just called back and got (3) MW6511's and (1) MW6503 for $48 each as well, those 4 drivers looked a little beat up. for $192 I cant say no ;)

[hearingimpared]

Move out the old!

[engtaz]

I just paid 48ea for 4 tweets.

engtaz

[heiney9]

I just got my RD0's today. I ordered on Monday after lunch and got them this afternoon (Thurs). Just got them installed and I'll reserve comments until they have some time to break in. :) . Two day express shipping is pretty cool

H9

[hearingimpared]

I just got my RD0's today. I ordered on Monday after lunch and got them this afternoon (Thurs). Just got them installed and I'll reserve comments until they have some time to break in. :) . Two day express shipping is pretty cool

H9

Thirty hours at least Bro. I found after fifty they were really settled. Jesse described their virgin sound best, he said, "they sound hollow until they break in." Me and Antny were trying to come up with an adjective to describe how they sounded when we first fired them up and don't get me wrong they sounded great but they did sound "hollow."

[heiney9]

Thirty hours at least Bro. I found after fifty they were really settled. Jesse described their virgin sound best, he said, "they sound hollow until they break in." Me and Antny were trying to come up with an adjective to describe how they sounded when we first fired them up and don't get me wrong they sounded great but they did sound "hollow."

Got to be brutely honest, so far not much improvement over the sl2000's. So damn forward almost like Klipsch horns (and that's not good). But I'll give 'em a couple weeks to break in.

[F1nut]

The sound of the RD0194-1 (SL2000) is different than the RD0198-1 (SL3000). I didn't care much for the RD0194-1 and that's the main reason for my CRS+ to 4.1TL upgrade. However, the RD0194-1 is an vast improvement over the SL2000, IMO.

[heiney9]

The sound of the RD0194-1 (SL2000) is different than the RD0198-1 (SL3000). I didn't care much for the RD0194-1 and that's the main reason for my CRS+ to 4.1TL upgrade. However, the RD0194-1 is an vast improvement over the SL2000, IMO.

Now YOU tell me!! :p . I just need to live with them for awhile. I am at a disadvantage because my office/computer room is a very lively room with few soft furnishings and I know that doesn't help.

I may eventually try a 4.7 ohm Mills resistor instead of the current 2.0 ohm just to see if I can make the tweeter less forward. It's not really grainy or edgy, it's just about 10 times more forward than the Vifa in the LSi's.

[hearingimpared]

Now YOU tell me!! :p . I just need to live with them for awhile. I am at a disadvantage because my office/computer room is a very lively room with few soft furnishings and I know that doesn't help.

I may eventually try a 4.7 ohm Mills resistor instead of the current 2.0 ohm just to see if I can make the tweeter less forward. It's not really grainy or edgy, it's just about 10 times more forward than the Vifa in the LSi's.

Whoa I thought H9 was talking about 098s my mistake I shouldn't have commented on the 0194s because I have no experience with them yet.

[heiney9]

Well after 2 hours listening to them they are sounding a little better. Either they are breaking in or my ears are getting used to them. It's very hard going between LSi's (in the main rig) and then these (5b's). They are completely different speakers top to bottom. I don't have a headache like I did with the sl2000's after the x-over upgrade. I've got just under $200 (with mods, etc.) in these so they better shape up and start sounding like a $200 pair of speakers :D :p :) .

H9

[Lasareath]

I just got my RD0's today. I ordered on Monday after lunch and got them this afternoon (Thurs). Just got them installed and I'll reserve comments until they have some time to break in. :) . Two day express shipping is pretty cool

H9

Oh I can't wait to get mine :(, I got 1.2TL's finally and 3 to 4 SL3000's are blown.

[Lasareath]

Has anybody used the follwoing items?

DeoxIT & DeoxIT GOLD (formerly ProGold)?

I Just bought two tubes from www.caig.com , I was planning on using it on all of the connections on my crossovers and on all of the plus & minus quick connects before attaching my new Tweeters.

Is this just overkill?, or for $15.00 I might as well do it?

Thanks,

Las