[JCarney]

I know it is a long shot, but has anyone attempted upgrading the xover in this little two way? One iron core inductor, one copper wound inductor, two sand cast resistors, one electrolytic, and one cheap poly in the mix.

Thanks in advance for any and all help offered.

JCarney

[E-Zee]

Polk as a company has a very strict policy of not being willing to support their customers with any information related to crossovers.  If you can post photos of front and back of your crossover board and tell us what you want to do  than that would be a good start.


edit: For clarity, as corndog71 correctly states below, Polk will provide schematics for designs that are no longer in production. That has been my experience as well.  However, in the case of the S15 or anything still in production, they refuse to provide any info.   

[corndog71]

Polk as a company has a very strict policy of not being willing to support their customers with any information related to crossovers.  If you can post photos of front and back of your crossover board and tell us what you want to do  than that would be a good start.

Around 10 years ago or so I offered to improve a friend’s inexpensive Polk towers.  I called Polk to ask for the crossover schematic and they told me there were actually a couple of revisions to the crossover of that model and happily sent me the final version.  I vaguely recall them saying they would not do this for any current models.  The model in question had been discontinued for a few years.

I rebuilt them using Erse coils and caps and Mills resistors and wired them point to point.  I replaced the 18awg pvc internal wire with 17awg Kimber TC wire.  Finally, I added No Rez to the bare insides of the cabinets. 

My friend was blown away by how much better they sounded!  (Obviously )  He used them for TV and movie watching and said dialogue was much clearer and he didn’t have to turn it up as loud to understand it.  He also said he could turn them up louder than previously and they still sounded good including better bass detail. 

[JCarney]

Thanks for replying guys. I'll open one up and see if I can get good enough pics to see all the values.

E-Zee:
I am looking to do the same thing I did with a pair of KEF Q-350's recently, you provided a drawing for me even , is to just upgrade the parts from the price point junk they came with. I did watch Danny's upgrade vid on the Sig 20, but they are a larger two way so the xover will have different values. I looked at the xover, but could not see all the values, and was not in the mood to dissect them at the time. I did pick up on a couple of things I can do that help from the vid that don't touch the xover. I just know how much difference it makes having quality parts. This will be my third upgrade. I'm always looking for good ideas, so I guess my question was more to see if anyone had any tips to offer to help the little project.

corndog71:
It looks like the Sig 15 is still in production so I'm guessing they will want to wait until that model is no longer produced. Thank You for telling us that Polk has that mindset.

JCarney

[Danny Richie]

I have had the Polk T15 in a while back. You can see it in one of my video's.

[JCarney]

I have had the Polk T15 in a while back. You can see it in one of my video's.

Sweet! I did watch the Sig 20 vid, did you do both? I will look for it. I need the values for the inductors so I can figure out where I am going to put the new board. I am going to make sure I am reading the parts correctly. I see two resistors with one being a 5 watt 3ohm and the other being a 5 watt 1.5ohm. I see one poly capacitor with an 8.2uF 100V value and one electrolytic 27uF 50V value. I cannot see either inductor value. Any help here would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
JCarney

[Danny Richie]

I did design a crossover for both of them.

You'd have to send one of them in for me to take a look at it.

[JCarney]

Thank You Danny, I may take you up on that when I get back home next week.

JCarney

[JCarney]

Not that anyone cares, but I thought it might be funny to pass along how I figured out the values of the inductors for the Sig 15. I bought a $40 LCR meter to see if I could measure the inductors myself. I tried to measure with the inductors still attached to the board, no luck, must of done something wrong. I remove the inductors from the board and what do I find? The values of the inductors printed on the circuit board.    So I bothered Hobbs and Danny and who ever else was kind enough to help for no good reason. 

Thanks to all who have been kind enough to take the time to give this ole curmudgeon a helping hand.

JCarney

Here is a pic of both sides of the crossover. I just want to make sure I wire it correctly. As always, all and any help are appreciated.

[Danny Richie]

They never measure correctly while on the board. You have to at least lift on leg.

If you need any parts please let us know.

[JCarney]

Thank You Danny for that tip. I cannot figure out how to point to point wire a new crossover from just looking at the circuit board. I just don't have enough experience yet to figure it out. If a drawing of some kind could be provided of the original layout I would be very appreciative. All the help I get here is a wonderful thing.

Thanks to all who have helped me with my little projects,
JCarney

[Danny Richie]

If you can't figure it out then send it in and we'll draw it out for you and provide you with all of the parts.

[JCarney]

Thanks Danny, good guy as always.

JCarney