Polk SL-2000 Silver Coil tweeters....is this just how they are?!

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Please check the definition of the word before you continue to comment.

And as far as who/what you may or may not know, this is the internet, you can be anyone you want behind a keyboard.
 
Please check the definition of the word before you continue to comment.

And as far as who/what you may or may not know, this is the internet, you can be anyone you want behind a keyboard.
Rather than blabber on why don't you go ahead and visit the Polk Audio forum and find out for yourself who F1nut is and what he knows as well as what the other real Polkies know.
 
Please check the definition of the word before you continue to comment.

And as far as who/what you may or may not know, this is the internet, you can be anyone you want behind a keyboard.

From a 1987 Stereo Review article, "We noted with interest that the 5dB tweeter resonance peak at 13,000Hz that we found in the earlier version was again present in the SDA 1C."

They call it a peak, I and most others call it a spike. You're welcome to call it whatever you like, but the fact remains that at 13kHz it is 5dB higher and it's nasty. Polk didn't spend years and a good deal of money to make an improved tweeter, the SL3000 without a darn good reason. Furthermore, years later Polk again spent good time and money to make an even better tweeter replacement for the SL2000 and SL3000, which they sell to this day.

You can believe me or not, it makes no difference to me because I know the truth. However, you are more than welcome to do as darkblue94 suggests and ask just about anyone at Club Polk if I know who I say I do.
 
Plenty of information available on the Polk Audio Forum. Folks there include the most knowledgeable experts on Polk matters including current and former high level employees. Careful though because your delusions are likely to be shattered. :)

Still waiting on a measurements. People at Polk also allege to hear differences in power cables. Anything scientific, measurable and repeatable or just opinions?
 
Rather than blabber on why don't you go ahead and visit the Polk Audio forum and find out for yourself who F1nut is and what he knows as well as what the other real Polkies know.

F1 nut hasn't provided any contemporary measurement during the production of Polk speakers with the 2000 which shows a 5 db spike. I've seen graphs and never seen a 5 db spike. Never heard anyone piss on the driver also during their production and sale. Seems to be a great way to sell tweeters.
 
From a 1987 Stereo Review article, "We noted with interest that the 5dB tweeter resonance peak at 13,000Hz that we found in the earlier version was again present in the SDA 1C."

They call it a peak, I and most others call it a spike. You're welcome to call it whatever you like, but the fact remains that at 13kHz it is 5dB higher and it's nasty. Polk didn't spend years and a good deal of money to make an improved tweeter, the SL3000 without a darn good reason. Furthermore, years later Polk again spent good time and money to make an even better tweeter replacement for the SL2000 and SL3000, which they sell to this day.

You can believe me or not, it makes no difference to me because I know the truth. However, you are more than welcome to do as darkblue94 suggests and ask just about anyone at Club Polk if I know who I say I do.

1- where is the Stereo Review measurement? They provided graphs for speakers they reviewed. 5 db would show up.

2- it's only one speaker you mention and an SDA at that. Ya'll saying every speaker with the 2000 is bad. Every time a 2000 shows up, the homie are hollering to replace the piece of donkey doo. Stereo Review reviewed plenty of Polks with the 2000 driver. Certainly they would have mentioned and measured the spike.

3- speaker companies change drivers all the time. You alledge they spent big money on reasearch. Actually many of Polks tweeters are oem with cosmetic changes from Peerless and Vifa. I would think they did much of the research so,

I'm still waiting for graphs for each speaker with the 2000 tweeter that shows the spike. Not personal opinions but graphs.
 
Stereo Review did measurements, but not fr graphs. Hirsch just described the response in text. Audio and High Fidelity published fr plots.
 
Still waiting on a measurements. People at Polk also allege to hear differences in power cables. Anything scientific, measurable and repeatable or just opinions?
Are any of these "people" you speak of the past and present employees including engineers familiar with the subject matter?
 
Hello everyone! My name is Tim, aka onwardjames. While I've moved on to my McIntosh XRT20's, I still daydream of ground-up restoring a pair of those Polk SDA 1-B's with that awful vinyl veneer using proper veneer (heart is set on cherry or walnut for some reason) and doing all the mods I read about. I have a pair in storage, totally functional, but needing love.

I find the discussion of that maligned tweeter, the SL2000, interesting. As I have hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear (due to gunshot blast once, and multiple infections as a teen) I am VERY sensitive to bright tweeters, hence why countless GOOD speakers have left my home, while Epi's and Boston Acoustics have stayed.

Can everyone please dial it down a notch, so this thread doesn't get shut down?

F1nut is quite experienced on Polk. I've seen his avatar all over the net, so his input is golden, and I wish to hear all he would say about these.

For the record, my heavily dampened listening room found me drooling over the SDA effect, and those tweeters, while lively, didn't hurt my ears at all. YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY.

Thank you, fellow audiophools. Let's keep it civil.
 
Hello everyone! My name is Tim, aka onwardjames. While I've moved on to my McIntosh XRT20's, I still daydream of ground-up restoring a pair of those Polk SDA 1-B's with that awful vinyl veneer using proper veneer (heart is set on cherry or walnut for some reason) and doing all the mods I read about. I have a pair in storage, totally functional, but needing love.

I find the discussion of that maligned tweeter, the SL2000, interesting. As I have hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear (due to gunshot blast once, and multiple infections as a teen) I am VERY sensitive to bright tweeters, hence why countless GOOD speakers have left my home, while Epi's and Boston Acoustics have stayed.

Can everyone please dial it down a notch, so this thread doesn't get shut down?

F1nut is quite experienced on Polk. I've seen his avatar all over the net, so his input is golden, and I wish to hear all he would say about these.

For the record, my heavily dampened listening room found me drooling over the SDA effect, and those tweeters, while lively, didn't hurt my ears at all. YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY.

Thank you, fellow audiophools. Let's keep it civil.
I'm sorry Tim. I'm perfectly fine if people aren't bothered by the tweeters in question, that's great for them. If they don't hear the tweeter's 5dB resonance peak then for them there's no problem. It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of verifiable facts which some folks like to vehemently deny despite the evidence of their existence. I hope that I've said enough on the matter and will do my best to refrain from engaging with the few obstinate deniers that like to muck things up.
 
For the record, I never denied the existence of the anomaly that peaks at around 13k.

I "argued" it being defined as a spike. The anomaly starts gradually at a much lower frequency then falls off rapidly at around 13k, more of a hump than a spike when looking at the plot that was posted.

I NEVER said it was good or bad but possibly engineered that way. Regardless of anyone's reputation, until someone who was actually in the room making the decisions can comment I believe it "could" have been designed that way.

I did not stoop to bashing anyone's opinions or beliefs, just merely posting my own.

All AUDIO, no ATTITUDE !!!!
 
For the record, I never denied the existence of the anomaly that peaks at around 13k.

I "argued" it being defined as a spike. The anomaly starts gradually at a much lower frequency then falls off rapidly at around 13k, more of a hump than a spike when looking at the plot that was posted.

I NEVER said it was good or bad but possibly engineered that way. Regardless of anyone's reputation, until someone who was actually in the room making the decisions can comment I believe it "could" have been designed that way.

I did not stoop to bashing anyone's opinions or beliefs, just merely posting my own.

All AUDIO, no ATTITUDE !!!!
You sir, were not who I was referring to. Your posts were reasonable and respectful. :) Perhaps we could all agree to settle on the term "response peak" as opposed to "spike?"
 
1- where is the Stereo Review measurement? They provided graphs for speakers they reviewed. 5 db would show up.

I don't believe Stereo Review included graphs in their reviews.

2- it's only one speaker you mention and an SDA at that. Ya'll saying every speaker with the 2000 is bad.

Yes.

3- speaker companies change drivers all the time. You alledge they spent big money on reasearch. Actually many of Polks tweeters are oem with cosmetic changes from Peerless and Vifa. I would think they did much of the research so,

Twist facts much? Polk used a slightly modified Peerless tweeter in the early 1980's, then many years later a modified Vifa in the LSi series, so two.

I'm still waiting for graphs for each speaker with the 2000 tweeter that shows the spike. Not personal opinions but graphs.

Feel free to measure each speaker yourself since you seem to prefer listening to graphs.
 
Hey F1, come on man, some evidence. Let's just pick one speaker, the 10b. Show something. Everyone and everything reviewed it. Wouldnt any spike be more indicative of a crossover issue? Hell, a simple resistor will tame any spike a hell of a lot cheaper than new tweeters which Polk just so happens to sell.

Not living in a world of hearing differences in amps, speaker wires, etc Just measured evidence that all speakers with the 2000 have a peak and therefore are evil.
 
Hey F1, come on man, some evidence. Let's just pick one speaker, the 10b. Show something. Everyone and everything reviewed it. Wouldnt any spike be more indicative of a crossover issue? Hell, a simple resistor will tame any spike a hell of a lot cheaper than new tweeters which Polk just so happens to sell.

Not living in a world of hearing differences in amps, speaker wires, etc Just measured evidence that all speakers with the 2000 have a peak and therefore are evil.
The SL2000 replacements (RDO-194) use the crossover the SL2000's used in those speakers and yet they remove the 5dB response peak without modifications to the crossover unit. Consider that, then explain it away. o_O
 
Hey F1, come on man, some evidence. Let's just pick one speaker, the 10b. Show something. Everyone and everything reviewed it. Wouldnt any spike be more indicative of a crossover issue? Hell, a simple resistor will tame any spike a hell of a lot cheaper than new tweeters which Polk just so happens to sell.

Not living in a world of hearing differences in amps, speaker wires, etc Just measured evidence that all speakers with the 2000 have a peak and therefore are evil.

A resistor will attenuate the entire frequency range not just one point in the range. Hello!

Since you believe everyone and everything reviewed it you shouldn't have any problem finding what you seek.
 
"The SL2000 replacements (RDO-194) use the crossover the SL2000's used in those speakers and yet they remove the 5dB response peak without modifications to the crossover unit."

Is there any evidence or proof to support that statement ?

If Polk was promoting the replacement as being an improvement then there should be some data to support that claim other than "the internet says so"

FWIW, it doesn't matter to me, not a big fan of Polk speakers, not bashing them, just not my "flavor"; but I would like to see some evidence to support the claims that are being made.
 
Thousands of user comments on how much better the RD0194 and RD0198 tweeters are compared to the SL2000 and SL3000. In fact, the replacement tweeters are so popular that Polk is often out of stock.
 
Once again, "the internet says so" is not any kind of verifiable proof, I am asking for some sort of hard data to support your assertion.

You would think with such a following the data should be plentiful and easily provided instead of arguing over conjecture.

The idea that "thousands of people" said so means nothing, thousands of people "say so" about EVERYTHING, doesn't mean they are right, or wrong.

The proof is in the plot, please put up or...
 
"The SL2000 replacements (RDO-194) use the crossover the SL2000's used in those speakers and yet they remove the 5dB response peak without modifications to the crossover unit."

Is there any evidence or proof to support that statement ?

If Polk was promoting the replacement as being an improvement then there should be some data to support that claim other than "the internet says so"

FWIW, it doesn't matter to me, not a big fan of Polk speakers, not bashing them, just not my "flavor"; but I would like to see some evidence to support the claims that are being made.
Call Polk Audio @ 1-(800) 377-POLK (7655) and ask for the engineering/product development department and the Polk history archivist as well. Maybe you'll be willing to believe it direct from them. :dunno: They may be willing to send you the engineering reports and designs of both the old tweeters and the re-designed and engineered replacements, otherwise you guys just may be SOL because anything else would require searching the internet which you have no trust in.
 
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