# replacing drivers for polk rt3000 speakers



## pietsch288 (Sep 10, 2006)

I have 3 pairs of polk rt3000 tops (front L/R - rear L/R - surround L/R) and the cs1000 center, fully treated room ect. I am using the "current" terminals on my sunfire amp for the front 3 speakers, I love the sound except for the midrange has a little harshness to it. My first thought was to get different speakers like paradigm studio monitors or another forward sounding speaker with clear midrange, but I don't want to spent thousands more for a little better, so I was wondering is I could replace the dual 6" midranges with something else from parts express or something but I have no idea what to buy. They are a sealed design.....the outside box size is 8 w X 9 3/4 d X 20h I assume 3/4" mdf. 
I am using the voltage terminals for the 6 1/2's and current terminals for the tweets which is how I found the harshness the current terminals nock down tweets perfect but it makes the weekness in the midrange stand out.
If I was to swap out the speakers I would just replace the bookshelf "tops" and keep the bottoms (duel powered 8's) Any idea what I could replace them with??????? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks rich


----------



## chaluga (Mar 5, 2013)

These would crush the polks
http://www.diysoundgroup.com/waveguide-speaker-kits/fusion8-mtm-kit.html

Go to avs to read about these types of speakers . Clear , clean , dynamic , and will play crazy loud. Easy to put together with flat packs from this site. Get three.


----------



## pietsch288 (Sep 10, 2006)

If at all possible I would like to replace the drivers in the box I already have. If that is impossible then I will keep those in mind. I do like the word crush though. lol


----------



## chaluga (Mar 5, 2013)

Replacing drivers may improve somewhat .... but not " crush " .. I had some polks before I went DIY so I know the difference between the two. Dayton makes some nice drivers to replace them


----------



## Viggen (Dec 31, 2008)

Yea I am sure it can be done but so difficult to say what would be the best bet or I guess improvement for your dollar. I do not have a clue on what to suggest speaker wise

Have you considered buying a better amp to power the speakers? There can be huge improvements in that area.....


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Replacing drivers with something else is going to be very problematic as you would need to replace the crossover and possibly the tweeters. The box is specifically designed for the Polk drives and would likely not give the results you want. Sadly it is not that simple.


----------



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> Replacing drivers with something else is going to be very problematic as you would need to replace the crossover and possibly the tweeters. The box is specifically designed for the Polk drives and would likely not give the results you want. Sadly it is not that simple.


agreed. unless the replacement drivers are VERY VERY VERY similar than you're going to have to redesign the crossovers or suffer some sound quality dips.... I'm not sure of the EXACT drivers for your polks in the dayton lineup but you very well might be better off buildign some new speakers vs. just replacing a driver. many times those drivers are almost the cost of a good SEOS speaker built


----------



## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

Or figure out how many cubic feet the box is and buy the appropriate driver, crossover, and tweeter from parts express or gr research and have a whole new speaker that's surly better than the original.


----------



## pietsch288 (Sep 10, 2006)

ok, so if I want extremely clean--large sound stage ---forward sound----clean midrange and highs---what do I want???? I feel like I want a speaker kit with a dedicated midrange, with no larger than a 6 1/2 driver.....as I plan on keeping the 3000p bottoms with 2 powered 8's. I am just looking for a kit that will play super clean down to 80hz. rich


----------

