Are these SDA's a good buy

[OldmanSRS]

Found these on local CL. What are they and is this a good price?

http://images.craigslist.org/3ne3k33ob5O55W55R0aci091d8f5d3be41476.jpg
http://knoxville.craigslist.org/ele/2118912649.html

[leroyjr1]

Polk sda crs+

$250

[gdb]

I'd jump if I were you !:smile: An AC Cobra will get you there quick quick !:biggrin:

[george daniel]

Looks as though he has the IC too--nice looking pair of speakers.

[Toolfan66]

There still there???

[cnh]

Nice speakers! Good Price!

+1, Tool....!

cnh

[OldmanSRS]

Never heard these before. Do they have decent bass and would they be suitable for a 20 X 20 game/party room? How much did they cost new?

Thanks,
Greg

[Toolfan66]

Dude your not going to find a better set of speakers for the price!!! The drivers alone will fetch that much..

[cnh]

Speakers of the late 80s. MSRP 900-1000 dollars a pair depending on the model.

Sample ebay sale price, below:

http://www.polksda.com/ebay/5729007298_CRS.pdf

cnh

[OldmanSRS]

Called seller and left a message. I'm going to look at them tomorrow if he calls back.

[wayne3burk]

Grab 'em up....

Looks like a sweet deal to me.

-- wayne --

[drselect]

If these are the CRS+ with pin/blade than can be 4.1tl mod than yes the are well worth the $175.
They should fill a 20x20 room with sound very nicely

[comfortablycurt]

Run don't walk!

That's a great price for CRS+'s!!!

[Lasareath]

Never heard these before. Do they have decent bass and would they be suitable for a 20 X 20 game/party room? How much did they cost new?

Thanks,
Greg

I just bought a pair. With shipping they were $425!!!

I'm going to redo them completely. You can check out my progress here:

http://www.PolkCRS.com/

[OldmanSRS]

Meeting him today. I hope they are in decent shape.

[OldmanSRS]

Meeting confirmed. These are blade-blade. What's that mean in terms of desirability?

[Joe08867]

You should still get them. Awesome speakers for the price.

[smglbrth]

Pretty sure the blade/blade models can't be TL'ed. However, I'd pick them up as well. These would have 2 MW 6510 drivers in each cabinet. Wish they were closer to me!! (why are all these good buys everywhere else?)

[OldmanSRS]

Picked them up today for $160. The seller was a nice guy with too many audio toys and he took great car of them. Only very minor scratched, not stains or stink, grills are flawless. Cabinet is sealed. These are a 9 out of 10 and sound amazing for their size. Amazing no matter what size for that matter. Pics to prove it happened.

On top of the SRS big boys for some A/B comparisons.

http://www.worldisround.com/hosted/30/211/440_o.jpg

http://www.worldisround.com/hosted/30/211/441_o.jpg

http://www.worldisround.com/hosted/30/211/442_o.jpg

[Tony M]

What a great deal. You are a lucky guy.

[Polkersince85]

That was a steal. Congrats.

[cnh]

Great snag! Excellent condition...I agree 9/10!

Enjoy the NEW babies!

cnh

[Toolfan66]

Congrats!!!!!

[leroyjr1]

Nice grab. You should use them as surrounds.

[indyhawg]

Congrats- great price.

[Tour2ma]

Nice grab. You should use them as surrounds.I hope you're joking...

Well done, OldManSRS... You look to be a kindred spirit. Next time I stop by shack's maybe you'd be up for a visit.

... and if the seller has alot more audio toys... keep in touch with him.

[newrival]

I hope you're joking...

Well done, OldManSRS... You look to be a kindred spirit. Next time I stop by shack's maybe you'd be up for a visit.

... and if the seller has alot more audio toys... keep in touch with him.

I used to use CRS+'s as surrounds. They worked great with my SRS's as mains!:biggrin:

[george daniel]

Very nice snag,, a great foundation for another 2 ch system,,eh?

Congratulations.

[OldmanSRS]

Tour,
I can meet up with you and shack sometime.

I listened to these a lot last night at moderate (33 watt peak) levels. With them sitting on top of the SRS's and the HSU VTF-3 sub crossed at 35 Htz, they would sound VERY nice as a complete 2CH system. They actually have a wider soundstage that the SRS's in my smallish room. They lack some of the midbass punch of the SRS's but that's to be expected. They are just a little more muddy in the 150-300 Htz range then the SRS's but again, to be expected.

I connected them in parallel with the SRS's using a 2 Ohm power resistor (for some attenuation) to see what would happen. You know, the effect was positive. They added imaging height and a slightly wider sounstage, especially on the right side where I have a room shape issue. The SRS's are sort of laid back in the top end and running these in parallel added just enough extra presence to make things intersting.

I may use them with the SRS's as rears, as the mains in the upstars den, OR Keep them on top of the SRS's. IF they stay on top, I'm going to fit them with oak panels to make them look like an exact extension of the SRS cabinet. That will create an exta space behind the CRS's PR that I will leave partially open and lined with 3" foam to attenutate the PR. It's output is not needed for this application.

[Polkie2009]

Congratulations OldmanSRS, they look like they found a great home and will provide many more years of listening enjoyment:)

[Tour2ma]

Tour,
I can meet up with you and shack sometime.
Excellent... Steve's local to you... me, not so much... But summer's is coming and I've yet to ride Thunderhead at Dollywood.

Some of your minor disappointment may be due to the +'s placement atop your SRS's. I'd bet that ear level placement will help. What were you spinning to get to know them?


I connected them in parallel with the SRS's... added imaging height and a slightly wider sounstage... just enough extra presence to make things intersting.Legendary story of a long-ago party at Matt Polk's where they stacked SRS's. Something for you to contemplate...

Enjoy...

[OldmanSRS]

I'm still playing with the CRS's on top of the SRS1.2's. I increased the series resistor from 2 Ohms to a 3.7 Ohms to bring the CRS output down closer to the same sound output level as one pair of drivers in the SRS. This setup sounds like a 10 MW/5 tweeter SRS1.2 system. The interesting thing is the CRS and SRS1.2 have very similar voices. Two diferences I noted were the SDA effect on the CRS is wider and the tweeter is full range and slightly louder than any single tweeter in the SRS. So far it's been an interesing listen. It added a little sparkle and a wider soundstage. I hear some things off to the side that I didn't hear as well before. Sitting about 20' away sounds it like a curved wall of sound from a pair of 6+' SRS1.2's.

I'm spinning newer Steely Dan stuff, pipe organ recording, Keith Jarret and other jazz, actually just about everything I own checking the effect.

[helipilotdoug]

Those look brand new! WoW! Congrats!

[Tour2ma]

Glad you’re having fun… probably the least you’ve paid for a bucket of grins in a while…
The interesting thing is the CRS and SRS1.2 have very similar voices. Two diferences I noted were the SDA effect on the CRS is wider and the tweeter is full range and slightly louder than any single tweeter in the SRS. Voicing is not too surprising… although the +’s MW’s are different (from each other as well as from your SRS’s) both use the same, SL2000 tweeter. Not sure why the soundstage would widen… the +’s rear firing PR?

It’s your last, tweeter comment that I find a tad disconcerting. At low levels only your SRS’s bottom tweeter (as memory serves) is working. As volume levels increase additional 2000’s in the array are added. All things being equal the +’s top end should not sound fuller than the SRS. It is possible that you have a tweeter, or some cross-over element going south on you.

Sitting about 20' away sounds it like a curved wall of sound from a pair of 6+' SRS1.2's. Have you ever tried your SRS’s on your long wall? Obviously I’m asking without knowing your room and how practical it might be, but hard not to notice your left channel is a little tight. I moved my SRS’s to a long wall years ago. It really increased the width of the soundstage.

[TroyD]

Nice snag.....IMO, the CRS+'s are probably the best bang/buck SDA speaker around.

BDT

[OldmanSRS]

Voicing is not too surprising… although the +’s MW’s are different (from each other as well as from your SRS’s) both use the same, SL2000 tweeter. Not sure why the soundstage would widen… the +’s rear firing PR?

Looking at the schematics the CRS's SDA have the older blade-blade XO circuit with the series caps. The SRS1.2's have the newer pin-blade XO with the series inductor. IMO the CRS's SDA driver is being fed slightly more signal amplitude at probabably a slightly different bandwith which expands the SDA effect more than on the SRS's. Don't get me wrong, it's only slightly wider and without any hole in the middle. I'm just hearing a little more side and rear sound queues now. It's very complemetary.

It’s your last, tweeter comment that I find a tad disconcerting. At low levels only your SRS’s bottom tweeter (as memory serves) is working. As volume levels increase additional 2000’s in the array are added. All things being equal the +’s top end should not sound fuller than the SRS. It is possible that you have a tweeter, or some cross-over element going south on you.

The SRS tweeters behave as a line source with all the tweeters operating at the frequencies near the bottom of the XO point and gradually changes to a point source with only one tweeter operating at the high end of the XO output. I don't think the operation is volume dependent. The CRS's tweeter circuit is much simpler. The single tweeter is a full range point source operating above 2k Htz. I seems a little louder in relation to the CRS's MW output. I looked inside the CRS's cabinets and the XO's are stock '86 units.

I've checked all the tweeters and re-capped the XO's in the SRS's. I think the CRS is just a slightly different animal and it's tweeter's output is just a little louder. When I demo'd them at the time of sale I thought the same. Very pleasing. The SRS's have so much midbass and bottom end compared to the CRS's, the relationship of the its tweeters to all that lower frequency energy has a slightly different balance. I've heard them described as "laid back" on the top end.

Anyway, I toned the CRS's down once again. This time with a 5 Ohm series resistor so they are essentially running at 1/2 the power compared to the SRS's. I'm still very happy with running them in prallel and on top of the SRS's enjoying the taller soundtage. Pipe organs sound awesome, like you can visualize the huge pipes towering over you. The bass is deep, full and tight with a slight reverb off the granite walls of the cathederal. The soundstage is room filling and uniform.

Have you ever tried your SRS’s on your long wall? Obviously I’m asking without knowing your room and how practical it might be, but hard not to notice your left channel is a little tight. I moved my SRS’s to a long wall years ago. It really increased the width of the soundstage.

Can't do it. The 26' long wall has a large stone fireplace right in the center.

[Tour2ma]

With well thought out posts like the above, don't sweat the spelling...

[OldmanSRS]

Have you ever tried your SRS’s on your long wall? Obviously I’m asking without knowing your room and how practical it might be, but hard not to notice your left channel is a little tight. I moved my SRS’s to a long wall years ago. It really increased the width of the soundstage.

Corrrect and the right side is 15 feet from a wall since the room is L-shaped. That's why I'm experimneting with the 5" acoustic material pads next to the SDA arrays. They absorb the reflections on both sides and even things out. I noted the sound stage actually expanded with them (cancelled the side reflections) which looks counterintuitive to the those non versed in SDA operation.

[Tour2ma]

My short wall period had the R-ch about 2' from wall while the L-ch was 2' from opening to another room. Much wider soundstage to the left. Moved to a long wall (different room) with 8' to either side before getting to room openings. Much more balanced SDA...

At some point I'd think working around your fireplace has to get competitive with all the acoustical gymnastics you go through...

[Loud & Clear]

"Two diferences I noted were the SDA effect on the CRS is wider and the tweeter is full range and slightly louder than any single tweeter in the SRS."

I noted these very differences as well.

[TNHNDYMAN]

@ Oldman

Nice find and a beautiful addition to your collection. I've only seen pictures of the SRS's and can't wait to listen one day. If I ever get a chance I'd love to buy a pair (or 3) one day. Seeing posts like your find give me hope to find a deal I can't pass up in the East TN area. Thanks!

[OldmanSRS]

Where do you live in TN? These are in Knoxville / ebay for about twice I paid for mine but they are the orginal CRS not the CRS+. I could check them out for you....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Polk-Audio-Speakers-SDA-CRS-RDA-Series-RARE-/380305839361?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item588bfe9501

Same as mine in Houston: http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-Vintage-POLK-AUDIO-SDA-CRS-SPEAKERS-/330515635133?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item4cf4445bbd

No SRS's around here for sale at this time though.....I'll keep my eyes open. I've owned these SRS's for 23 years. Payed $2500 for 'em which is about $4,600 in todays dollar.

Edit: I see you are in Tricities.

[TNHNDYMAN]

Thanks for the heads up. I did see those on the bay and added to my watch list. Also saw a pair of 7's in bristol for $100 I would like to grab but just cut a check to ETSU (my wife is in nursing school) so the budget is kinda empty for a bit. What is the difference in the two version of CRS? Is it just the tweeter or also crossover type? I've seen threads discussing blade/pin but don't really understand the difference or what to look for or which is considered more desirable. Again awesome system. I grew up listening to my dad's ESS AMT1a's with the Heil tweeter on a B&O 4200 turntable and am finally starting to enjoy this expensive hobby myself and relive some good memories.

[OldmanSRS]

Early SDA's were thought to require a tweeter for the stereo and the SDA drivers. Later data proved a tweeter was not required for a good SDA effect since most of the SDA sound is in the lower midrange. The pin-pin XO uses a series cap (two 130 uF caps in parallel) and the pin-blade uses a series inductor in the SDA section of the XO. The latter considered to be an improvement and an easier load for most amps. I don't think the sound is notably different. The IC cable on the pin-pin uses 2 active wires. The pin-blade has two wires but the are connected in parallel and make only one circuit.

[Tour2ma]

The older, twin tweeter SDA's can sound "spacey" (not that that's all bad...).

Most CRS owners simply disconnect the tweeter towards the outside of the speaker.