Polk Monitor 10 Quandary

doctorolds

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I saw a local listing for a cheap pair of speakers and I recognized that they were Polk Monitor 10's from the crappy picture. I contacted the elderly lady and she indicated that someone gave them to her and did not know if they worked. What the heck, I'll take a chance and set a time to pick them up the next day.

So here are the problems other than looking beat to death. The speakers obviously sat outside for some amount of time and one of the cabinets has minor water damage and the vinyl on both is trashed. The factory coating on the cones of the driver's and passive radiator is deteriorated and has dirt and small debris stuck to them which does not allow them to be cleaned without removing some of the coating. They did not come with the grills and the frames of the driver's have some rust and corrosion on them. The good news is that the driver's test good on my multimeter, but I have not run an audio signal through them yet.

In my opinion the parts cannot really be sold since they will never be up to factory appearance. I do not need the speakers or another project at this time since I have plenty.

So the question is, do I throw them in the trash or restore them as best I can and enjoy them?
 

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1st off I've seen much worse. Well to clean them up Polk Forum members use Original Windex.This you should find out over on the Polk Forum. If all drivers and tweeters work the way they should you can always cover or paint the cabinets, either sand or re vinyl them and have very good speakers. I had Monitor 7s w/ dog chewed corners which was resolved by getting enough sets of these decorative corners to dress up the cabinets and the Rosewood vinyl was already in good shape. Got at HD @ $4 a set of 4.
NOTE---USE ONLY ORIGINAL WINDEX NOTHING ELSE ( not new and improved or any other product)
If clean up ok and cabinets come out decent,then there are many mods to improve on the Polks.....Lew
 
Thanks for the input, but I sort of figured that I would be encouraged to save them. After all, who in their right mind would throw out a pair of 10's? Since I already have two projects I'm currently working on and another started these will have to wait a while longer to be resurrected. I also appreciate the tip about using Windex on the driver's.
 
I would be cautious about any liquid sprayed on a driver, especially the surrounds. There is a thread on liquids to use in restoration work somewhere around here, and you have to be very careful what you use as it can chemically break down the surround.

Or the vinyl veneer. It makes it sticky over time, and that’s an indication of chemical breakdown. No way to stop it once it’s started. Just change it, and move on.
 
I would be cautious about any liquid sprayed on....

Thanks for your input. I never spray anything on an entire driver. Any type of cleaner I use is usually diluted with water also and carefully tested. As for the vinyl on these it's coming off to repair the water damaged area. I'm not sure if they will get new veneer or a different type of covering, but I'll figure it out when the time comes.
 
The crossover's will definitely be taken care of. I'm not sure about dropping any more money on tweeters since I already have another good set of 10's, but anything is possible .
 
They sound best with a 10 degree tilt back. Stick something under the front of each and enjoy.

.
 
You'll probably want to replace those tired old caps and upgrade the tweeters;)

Disregard that message.

You have the best tweeter they put in the monitor 10. The Peerless tweeter with the hole in the center is SWEET!!! I had 2 pair for quite some time and absolutely loved them.

I never updated the crossovers but it may make them a bit. Visit the Polk forum for advice on that project.
 
Disregard that message.

You have the best tweeter they put in the monitor 10. The Peerless tweeter with the hole in the center is SWEET!!!

Thanks for bringing up the fact that those tweeters are supposed to sound better than those that followed. I have read many threads where people say that also. I just hope that mine are still good, there was a lot of corrosion on the back of them which makes me wonder about their condition on the inside.
 
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/181226/making-monitor-10s-great-again

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FYI I believe those early polk drivers didnt have the black shiny coating on the woofers. Since your a subscriber you could part out on BT for cheap and still turn a profit. Still 100.00 worth of parts there!
 
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Open them up and take a look. :)
I would, but I stripped the cabinets and packed the driver's into a box. Also, I have never taken any Peerless tweeters apart. Any specific procedures involved?

FYI I believe those early polk drivers didnt have the black shiny coating on the woofers. Since your a subscriber you could part out on BT for cheap and still turn a profit. Still 100.00 worth of parts there!
They are definitely coated. I would part them out if possible or keep them for spares, but they are far from pristine .

F1nut, you are absolutely correct.

mjardy6647, I appreciate the link. Those 10's turned out nice.
 
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