POLK AUDIO MONITOR SERIES 5 Jr

[Master Tasuke]

Just Pulled the Trigger on what i hope to be a genuine Upgrade, POLK AUDIO MONITOR SERIES 5 Jr; (11/8/24)

Grabbed them on Good Faith in POLK AUDIO, as my current Stereo pair, POLK R10 Minis, have done nothing less than Impress
since i found them for dirt cheap at a thrift back in mid-2019;

Incredible. just... Incredible...

Relocated the aftermarket/repro Logobadges... to more closely reflect the Advert Samples shown on the Owner's Manual;

Fans of the MONITOR SERIES product family mainly agree that the stock SL-2000 Silver Dome Tweeter used throughout the line in the 80's is intolerably harsh in tonal character,
and, living with them since yesterday, i am personally inclined to Agree.

that said, the enthusiasts also agree that the RD0194-1 Silk Dome that POLK shifted to for the 1990's is a 100% improvement; Smooth and Clean as you like.
further; the RD-0194 are direct one-for-one drop-in replacements for the SL-2000 mounted within the M5jr,
so; i now have a pair of OEM RD0194-1 coming my way from an authorized POLK Dealer.


Not exactly Cheap... but for these wonderful speakers, - quite possibly the very best and last i'll ever own - Well Worth Every Last Penny...

 

[J!m]

I have some Polk monitors I got for nine bucks at the thrift that sound fine in the office with the old Pioneer receiver.

 

[Bob Boyer]

Had Polk 5 Jrs years ago. Very nice speakers - you've done very well, especially if those later tweeters perform as advertised. Enjoy!

 

[62vauxhall]

I thought it was a pair of Monitor 5jr+ that I bought from a garage sale last year. I could not pass up the $2 asking price.

During my first two or three years with a large audio retailer, Polk was that company's best selling speaker line. I was particularly fond back then of the 5jr+ and they were usually what I recommended at their price point.

But those $2 garage sale speakers I bought turned out to be Monitor 5B not 5jr+. And by the time I was done, my $2 investment ballooned into nearly $400.

-one woofer was a Radio Shack sustitute so I had to get a correct woofer.
-to prevent magnets slipping, I epoxied both woofer's magnets to their baskets.
-nearly all grille post were broken so had to get a set of those then enlarge the holes in the grille frames so new pegs would fit.
-to cover some small blemishes in the woodgrain vinyl wrap, I had to find a particular shade of wood touchup pen.
-replaced the factory capacitors with Clarity film capacitors
-after being cajoled, replaced the cermet resistor with a Vishay Mills wirewound resistor.
-since I went that far, I too bought the new, current replacement tweeters.

 

[J!m]

Don’t the wire wound carry some inductance as well? Perhaps not ideal for a crossover?

 

[8991XJ]

Fans of the MONITOR SERIES product family mainly agree that the stock SL-2000 Silver Dome Tweeter used throughout the line in the 80's is intolerably harsh in tonal character,

Arguement on the other audio board as the collective agreed with this comment but one likes his Polks with the SL-2000 and could not fathom (afford is how I read it) replacing them. Seems this person just liked the peaked high end on these speakers which is what makes folks run for the 0194 replacements.

Enjoy your new speakers.

 

[62vauxhall]

Don’t the wire wound carry some inductance as well? Perhaps not ideal for a crossover?

When I replaced the old bi-polar electrolytics with film capacitors, I ordered 2 new 2.7 ohm cerment resistor from the same vendor. I did not go for a wirewound at that time due to cost.

I had been posting on the vintage speaker page of the Polk Audio Forum to learn where the new generation tweeters could be obtained. It was during that discussion that one member who's handle is F1nut criticised me for cheaping out on the resistor.

Below is that segment of the discussion. Contributor F1nut also posts on AK. He seems to have considerable knowledge of Polk speakers and was specific about what a replacement resistor should be.

Neither Digikey or Mouser had a 5W 2.7 ohm Vishay-Mills resistor so I had to source them from PartsConnexion for the unfortunately high cost of nearly $40CAD.

Resistors were about $12 for two and shipping was $18.

F1nut Posts: 50,501
April 9

62vauxhall wrote: »
Those are not the original (old) resistors in the photo. I changed them when installing the new capacitors. But they are the same value and type as the originals.​

So, you replaced crap with crap. You can do better than that. Get some Vishay-Mills.

 

[Hexis22]

Vishay-Mills produce both wire wound and non-inductive resistors.

I would try this for crossover use:

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayto...IEPS31ZYcCwmjQyUgQ5JXoqEEdhzwimAaAlIzEALw_wcB

 

[62vauxhall]

Just reviewed the order I placed last April. Seems what I got are non-inductive.

Was also off on my itemized costs so bottom line was almost $40 but not $40.

 

[Master Tasuke]

the RD-0194 series Tweeter upgrades i ordered up had gotten held up in transit through the weekend... thanks to USPS.
they came rolling in to my PO today, (11/18/24) and i couldn't pick them up and install them until the Afternoon.

BOY, Do they ever Make a Difference... like a 1000% Improvement, Seriously;



Stock Tweets; SL-2000

New Tweets; RD-0194

Replacement; Drop-in Swap, no Soldering Required