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Help identify Polk Audio Speakers

hnash53

hnash53

Super Member
Please find attached pictures of some vintage Polk Audio Speakers... saved from the landfill.

Surrounds are rubber. Woofers are 10", mid drivers are 6-7".

They seem to resemble some Model 10s.... but can't tell for sure.

Any help would be most appreciated.... Thanks.
 

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Correct me if I am wrong but that is the older style tweeter? A set I recently sold had the silver coil opaque dome.

Amazing speakers some claim were the founder of the company's favorite. The large passive gives a surprising amount of clean bass.

I have used the smaller Monitor 5's for a speaker project reusing the smaller passives in them and they sound amazing!
 
^^^p.s.: Funny thing is that it's a Polk model 7B, and it says so right on the photo showing the speaker terminals.^^^
 
Thanks for ID'ing those for me.

I don't know anything about Polk speakers. The tweeter has a small hole in the center of the dome... if that helps.

Would you think I could sell these on eBay... or perhaps part them out?
 
hnash53 said:
Thanks for ID'ing those for me.

I don't know anything about Polk speakers. The tweeter has a small hole in the center of the dome... if that helps.

Would you think I could sell these on eBay... or perhaps part them out?
Click to expand...

Why, don't you like them? I don't think you would make too much parting them out. Polk made some very impressive speakers; this being one of their early small ones. The center driver is their midrange, of which the model 10 used two of them, side by side. The lower unit is a passive radiator, not a woofer.
 
Selling Polk speakers.... Why?

Valveglow said:
Why, don't you like them? I don't think you would make too much parting them out. Polk made some very impressive speakers; this being one of their early small ones. The center driver is their midrange, of which the model 10 used two of them, side by side. The lower unit is a passive radiator, not a woofer.
Click to expand...

I found these at the recycling center/dump, and rescued them yesterday for 0$:yes:. I've got 4 EPI speakers that I've re-done/re-built, so I don't need anymore speakers.

They do sound good, however. The cabinets are in fair+ condition, but shipping speakers is a real pain and costs lots of $$$. Parting them out seemed like a good way to go. I did a quick search on eBay for Polk vintage speakers and saw that they are selling, whole speakers and parts, too.

Thanks for clarifying that the woofers aren't woofers but rather passive radiators.
 
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That's a newer older Monitor 7A (or maybe even an early 7B), FWIW :-) Here's what an older Monitor 7A looks like.

Polkmonitor7Asn4900 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Polk famously put a little hole in the center of the Peerless silk dome -- perhaps to reduce resonances.

I've owned a pair since 1978 -- and I am pretty picky about how speakers sound. They're fine little loudspeakers by the standards of their time and even still today.

The only real drawback with the older ones is that the glue that holds the magnets on to the 6-1/2" "midbass radiator" driver (woofer) tends to get brittle and lose its grip. OK for normal use, but the older ones sometimes won't survive shipping.

Fortunately the magnets can be re-set (not for the faint of heart, though) and Polk still can supply replacement drivers for many of their legacy products.

Polk has a good set of forums at http://forum.polkaudio.com/
 
Valveglow said:
^^^p.s.: Funny thing is that it's a Polk model 7B, and it says so right on the photo showing the speaker terminals.^^^
Click to expand...

:scratch2:

I really don't think you will like them so you should probably sell them to me.
Heck, I would give ya 10x what you paid for them but hey, I'm a giver. :D
 
Early 7Bs did have Peerless tweeters -- also note that the PR has a larger added mass ("dustcap") than the PR on the 7A.
 
They're probably considerably better known on the East coast, since the company's from Baltimore -- that, unfortunately, willwork against you in terms of selling 'em locally.

I agree that you shouldn't plan to ship 'em intact. The most valuable components to 'em are the Peerless tweeters.

Did you give 'em a good listen? They're (IMO) considerably better loudspeakers than the EPI 100 and its kin (and, yes there are a couple of pairs of EPIs here, too). The Polks will sound best up off the floor and a few feet away from walls and corners.
(actually, so will the EPIs...)

earlypolkfamilyportrait by mhardy6647, on Flickr
(These are the original Polk Audio Monitor Series Model 7 and 10 on the original "Polkstands")

EDIT: and, just for completeness... here's an EPI 110C, sitting on a Polkstand ;-)

EPI 110C by mhardy6647, on Flickr
 
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I see your ad on CL and what your asking for is a very good price. I agree with mhardy6647 in that to me, personally, they are a very good sounding speaker and actually one of my all time favs. (2 pair here)
I also agree that they need to be up off the floor a bit and away from the wall.
Mathew Polk said that with these speakers he got everything just right.
Love those tweeters.
 
You won't have any difficulty selling them as is. I don't have a problem with parting speakers out although if they are an in demand speaker as these are it's nice to keep them together. But, in the end, they belong to you to do with as you please.

cubdog
 
Those particular stands are nice copies of the originals made by a fellow from the Polk forums... he gave away a pair as "Karma" there some years back, and I was the lucky (and quite grateful) winner.

The original Polkstands were particle board covered with a thick vinyl veneer (I have a pair of those, too, of course!)... these are much nicer.

The dimensions are posted at the Polk Forums and here at AK as well -- they're, shall we say, 'straightforward' to construct :-)
 
Thanks for the further comments.

It would be so hard to part with my EPI 150s... especially since I refinished the cabinets, and replaced everything inside with new parts from Human Speakers. Additionally, I refoamed the old woofers that I took out of the 150s, and the tweeters were still good, too... so I found a somewhat smaller enclosure and put the "refurbed" woofers and tweeters in them... they now serve as my "surround/rear" speakers in my modest quad system... and to me they sound great paired with the "new" EPI 150s. I refer to them as M75s... which there never were any of those EPI speakers... they are sort of half way between the M50s and the M100s.

OK... got off track there. Back to the Polks.... Sure, I'll cast them out there for $100-125 and see if anyone's interested. The enclosures have a little water damage... the particle board has swelled a bit under the fake veneer. But they do sound good and all the speakers are in very good condition.
 
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