Speaker Tweak

 

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Inside cup view of old post connections Side view of old x-over config Damn glue chipped out from old post connection cup
Old parts vs. new parts on the right!!  Hope they fit! New tweeter vs. Old tweeter Bare cabinet w/ no drivers.  I used string to make it easer to pull the new Cardas wiring back through.
All the drivers removed Close-up of new Cardas patented binding posts Full view of new posts.  Needed just some drilling to get them in.  These are the same posts used on the Merlin Music VSM and Zu Druid loudspeakers
Top view of the new crossover 3/4 view of the same - it was a bitch to get back into the cabinet, the Cap on the far left was the big pain. Here they all are, glued in place.  If you do this try and get everything on the board a little tighter!
The only spot to glue this sucker down! Closer view of the underside.  I labeled the sections so it was easier to follow. Another view.  The Cardas posts were the hardest to solder because of all the copper, and, of course, the second one took 1/3 the time the first one did!
 
New posts with my Zu Cable Julians New Front view  
 

None of this could have been done without the prodding and help of the Polk forum guys, especially har_navalta and F1nut!  Also the patience, soldering and teaching skills of Jay.  THANK YOU!

A couple of hints, as you can see we labeled the underside of the board and also the schematics - BIG help!  Two people working on this also helped.  Use a sharp drill for the new hole we put in for the inductor lead to pop through.  Get stuff as tight as possible on the board, it's a bitch to get this thing back through the hole in the speaker!

As for listening, when I got everything back together I'll tell you I was nervous to fire it up - and when I did it was clear the right tweeter wasn't working.  I mess around for a bit and determined it was a bad crimp on the connector for the speaker lead - WHEW!  Everything is great now.  I didn't have much time to listen because by the time we finished and I got home it was 9:30, I had to do all the crimping and gluing yet and the pictures so I got stuff back together at 10:30.  I listened to a few songs and so far I can tell a few things, MUCH bigger bass, you thought these had bass before?  And things are much more dynamic, drums kick and you really feel it, things are definitely more live sounding and there is more air around certain things, much more crisp on others.  Tweeters I like much better than the SL2000's.  Smoother and not nearly as bright.  That's all for now...

Parts List:

2 - 1.5 Ohm Mills MRA-12 wirewound resistor 12W (3.95 each)
2 - 12 uF 630V Solen metallized polyprop capacitor (5.95 each)
2 - 16 uF 250V SCR/Axon metallized polyprop cap (5.25 each)
2 - 33 uF 250V SCR/Axon metallized polyprop cap (8.95 each)
8 - feet 20.5ga Cardas tweeter wire, 4' each black & red (1.50/ft)
10 - feet 15.5ga Cardas mid wire, 5' each black & white (1.65/ft)
2 - 0.30 mH 16ga Solo CFAC (7.25 each)
1 - solder wick (4.95)
1 - .25 lb 16ga Wonder Solder (11.00)
1 - Stereo pair Cardas CPBP long bare copper post ($35)

2 - Polk RD0198-1 ($48 and free 2nd day air for club members)

Total cost:  $247

The only thing I would add to the above is get another 6 feet (3 of each black and white) of the 15.5ga Cardas wire, I was short for both mids in one speaker.  Also, you may not need the solder wick, we hardly used it.  Pick this stuff up from www.percyaudio.com

Email if you have any questions or would like a .pdf copy of the crossover schematics for either the RTA-11t or the RTA-11tl.