JBL or Polk
- Thread starter archie2
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DaveElton
A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Archie, I cannot comment on the JBL's in particular (I have a pair of 4312's, not 166's) but do have a pair of Polk Moniter 10A's. If "family name" runs true to form, the Polks will be much smoother on the high-end with the Peerless tweeter, you can listen to them all day with no fatigue. I know some listeners have found the 10's to be a bit "thick" in the mid or lower mid bass, but I havn't found that to be the case... The 10's wont "stand out" for you, which is good, yet you will discover that you will get most all "nuances" in your favorite piece of music. I'm not sure if I still don't prefer a true bass-reflex, over a passive radiator system, but that's just me 
vintageboy
Chicago HiFi
I am a jbl guy but in your case I will go with the Polks!
DaveElton
A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Oh, just one thing to "watch out for" on the Polks, they are well known for having the glue which bonded the magnets on the driver frame for VC alignment to dry out and shift the magnet..especially even if "dropped slightly" from a few inches to a floor, carpeted or not..so you want to make sure that the two 6.5" units move in and out freely suspension wise
bigaltx24
Super Member
It's been years since I've listened to a pair of L-166s, nice speakers, but they can be a little fatiguing. These were JBLs first attempt at using a dome tweeter and it shows. If I found a pair at a bargain price I'd buy them just because they're 70's JBLs, they probably wouldn't get a lot of listening time around here though. The Polk's on the other hand are on my must have list, especially if they have the Peerless tweets. I'd recap with film caps, dynamat the mid woofer baskets, and spike them. They would find a home in one of my systems for sure.
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archie2
Addicted Member
How do you dynamat the mid woofers?
Cut dynamat into strips and press them onto the spokes of the drivers. Also doesn't hurt to do the passive. This simple mod helps to take the "ring" out of the stamped steel baskets and deaden the vibration in the frames. I've done it to all my polks but since I did it when I recapped it's hard for me to tell how much effect just this mod alone has. But rapping the undynamatted stamped steel baskets vs the dynamatted ones tells me there's a big difference:yes:.
archie2
Addicted Member
Thanks. Would "pocketing" the baskets with fiberglass batting have the same effect?
I've never heard of that particular mod. But my thoughts are I wouldn't think that fiberglass would have as much damping effect on the baskets as the dynamat. The dynamat actually becomes part of the baskets with it's sticky coating.
archie2
Addicted Member
Wharfedale and Pioneer used "pocketing" on mids and some tweeters on some of their models. It's also a mod on the Polk Monitor 40's which I have done. I will check out dynamat, thanks again.
rnorton
Super Member
Oh, just one thing to "watch out for" on the Polks, they are well known for having the glue which bonded the magnets on the driver frame for VC alignment to dry out and shift the magnet..especially even if "dropped slightly" from a few inches to a floor, carpeted or not..so you want to make sure that the two 6.5" units move in and out freely suspension wise
And then you want to epoxy the magnets to the basket with J-B Weld.
archie2
Addicted Member
Polk 10A's win the opinion responses in this thread. I was thinking of replacing my Polk 10A's with the JBL L-166's because a local seller with whom I've done business with, was offering a pair for a very decent price. I've heard good things about the L-166's but not good enough. Keeping my 10A's with the Peerless tweeter.
