I got around to fixing my speaker

[thewire]

At some time in history years ago I bought two more rear Polk RTI70 floor standing speakers for my 7.1 setup. They were open box because they had just made way for the new top of the line speakers which featured sub woofers in them and the store told me they would no longer carry my model. They told me the previous open box that had been in the store were sold already and that the new open box were once owned by a reputable employee of the store. Righhhht. In my own error, I knocked one of these speakers off a speaker platform and it landed on it's corner with a loud smash. I was told by a forum to simply return it as I had full coverage for the rest of my speakers but I explained these were the last ones and that I felt dishonest return them as my new speakers when in fact they were open box and I did not pay for the additional insurance on them. The thread went very silent. The frame had become loose and rattled at certain resonance and the mount holding the speakers in place became cracked as well. I tried covering it up using caulk and electrical tape. I tried black ties around it at one point even and it became very ugly to look at. The very tiny pieces allowing air to escape presented a problem at around 200HZ @ at normal listening levels when that frequency was most used. An example is on The Return Of The King on DVD in the extended 4 disc set in the menu scene selectable with its own soundtrack and visual reference. It is the marsh scene (not sure the exact name) and it seemed to exploit the problem best.

I wrote Polk again and this time instead of simply suggesting I return it to them they mentioned adding hot glue inside to seal it. Thanks Polk!! I borrowed a glue gun from the tools rental place that so far has let me have tools free and used it to seal the inside. I used a drill to take the speaker mounting piece (sorry I don't know the correct term) off. I knew very well what and where it was loose. I sanded away the mess from my previous attempts to seal it from the outside and repainted it using a sponge brush, tin bucket, and Krylon black satin finish spray paint. I used a painters mask of and sprayed outdoors of course. I could not remove the speaker wire without forcing them so I opted to do the "repair" with them still wired except for the tweeter which I had to remove to seal it's piece. There never was a seal on the inside where it had became loose but here was one on the backside of it on those corners.
I need to find the necessary help in putting back together the glue gun before I return it or I will be explaining it to the owner. Polk also had suggested I return it to them and they would try but I am pretty sure that would not have gone the way I liked. The speaker looks much better than before and I have yet to test it using some sweeps. Here are some photos to go along with my tale of DIY speaker repair. This should hold me until these start to get old which I have read is something like ten years so I have maybe three left if I don't take the plunge to upgrade sooner. It will never look brand new but it looks allot better. Yes I have the speaker grills. Next I need to order a new tweeter for my center channel and I am not sure I will be getting the same one since people complained about it to begin with. That is another story. I may find a different model but the same size to fit. Then they also complained that these towers don't sound good loud and they are worthless for music but they are satisfied with the quality with a 4.5 out of 5 stars. That is plenty to digest now the photos. To the casual person just glancing at it they might think it was new. The camera flash tells otherwise so this is the best looking photo I can get. The place it landed is on the opposite corners side photographed at the top. If it was a failure and I need to try again I will let you know whenever I get around to testing it. The theater is shut down at the moment for the continuation of the new theaters building process. If you want to see that cosmetic damage up close I did my best to fix and with a flash to boot, I suppose I could show that but there would not be much a point to it. I am just sharing my experience and perhaps some may have taken a different approach. The newer platforms (which are required for the left and right surrounds) are guest bumped and approved thus far but I may do something for those to make those more secure like making them into speaker columns. Comments and questions are welcome.

[nova]

I applaud your integrity and tenacity in repairing your speaker
Gotta wonder though, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you told the folks at Polk the complete story? And knowing they were open box and all, they offered to repair them? and,....you didn't take them up on this generous offer?

Looks like you did a fine job of getting them going again. How does it sound now that it's repaired?

[thewire]

They were going to "try" to repair them. The ones I have are out of warranty now they are 7 years old. The first time back in 2001 I asked them to repair them I did not mention they were open box no but I did not offer them any warranty info as well. They may have given me the instructions how to fix these now since that they are out of production and they could no longer simply swap out drivers. Thank you for the comment. I hope that is worthy enough to hear the difference my new room treatments will make.

Looks like you did a fine job of getting them going again. How does it sound now that it's repaired?

I don't know I will do some test now to see if I need to try again.

[thewire]

I can't find the marsh menu scene to test out but I will look further for that. In the meantime I will play some heavy music on it and feel for the breeze, then later some sweeps also using REW.

[thewire]

First test:

No air out of the edges of the box anymore. There is is plenty moving out of the area that mounts the speaker which is not sealed however that has never rattled. My sub sure makes me nervous to look at with techo. There are no problems with very loud music. More test later.

[thewire]

After the various sweeps I notice that the problem is no longer an issue. I don't have my spl on hand but the volume was loud enough to shake glass in the lobby next door and move to the room after that as well. The doors were open. If the level is that loud, with the sweep at -20rms and my receiver at -8 computer at max, then I have no doubt it will handle reference level for even True-HD. I am calling it a success for what it is worth.

[thewire]

The owner of the glue gun is confident he can put it back together. He would not accept payment for it and he added that he wasn't even aware he owned one. I can still rent tools.

Edit: There was no charge to rent it. Not counting materials I already had the cost to fix the speaker = $0.00

[nova]

So,... sweeps are good, rattles are gone, but how does it sound, just like the other one?

[thewire]

nova wrote:

So,... sweeps are good, rattles are gone, but how does it sound, just like the other one?

I turned off my equalizer to give it a test. With music, them not placed together properly (build in progress) a crossover at 80HZ, it sounds to me like they sound very much the way it might have when I got it but I have since gotten different gear and it was a long time ago so I can't really tell. When I got the other rear channel it was slightly more heavy on the upper midrange but I was willing to live with that before I handed over th cash for them. It sounds to me like the repair may have weekend the lower range some. I get this from walking back and forth and looking at them at around a half foot away. When I got the other RTi70's that were not my rear surrounds. I traded two to make them match. Thats was two trips to the store also. After I add the correct speaker timing it isn't an issue for me and the equalizer helps also. The equalizer I currently only use for rear channels and when I have a EX encoded movie. If I get a HDMI 1.3 capable receiver or preamp soon with an equalizer then they will all match better but I need to figure out the correct way to be-amp with HDMI 1.3 although I have an idea how to try. I could also place them together and do the pink noise but then I would need about 6 feet X 2 of more wire to get them on the riser. With no current ways of fixing the issue the test doesn't sound very fun or easy. I will update if I notice any changes when I get around to enjoying some movies. I only have insulation in my bass traps and no GOM covering them yet, and I also have yet to hang the panels up so no movie demos would be inappropriate at this time.