Sda Poll

[BobMcG]

Lets see how much interest there is in a new line of quality SDA speakers.

[TroyD]

who wouldn't be ?

Troy

[JohanK]

I'd only be interested out of curiousity; I think Polk would price these hypothetical SDAs very high.

[wangotango68]

they would have to sound a hell of a lot better then the older sda's and not look like everybody elses tall skinny speaker i like my old big speaker and it likes me.

scott

[BobMcG]

Only twenty votes? Who hasn't voted yet?

[hoosier21]

I can't vote

[George Grand]

You're not really waiting for the other 25,500 or so "silent" members to chime in are you?

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

[BobMcG]

Yes! Yes I am! I'm keeping this on top untill all members have voted!

Ok, ok, maybe not untill all have voted but maybe half.... no? Ok, How about a quarter? Ok, maybe I'm setting my sights too high... how about double the twenty...forty. That's not asking too much is it? Alright, fifty percent more...thirty. That's not unreasonable. Or is it?

Hey, look! It's up three now!

[BobMcG]

Almost thirty now, mabe forty isn't impossible after all.

[BobMcG]

It looks like thirty seven is the number. Not bad, when it seemed to go stale at twenty. Thanks to the people who voted! This must come close to representing the regulars in the forum and the general interest among us pertaining to new SDAs.

[gidrah]

I had just got done filling out the monthly drawing comment suggestion on this very subject. I started out saying that the Monitor series should return, then set my sights higher. I don't know if they read this stuff, or if it is just a random number generator (for the drawings), but I know within myself.

[BobMcG]

Wow!

I can't believe the added votes! What a nice sight to see this weekend. 51 votes means there is a pretty good size group of regulars here. Larger than you'd think. This is a good thing. A very good thing.
Thanks for the participation in this survey!

[Commodorefirst]

BTTT for more votes. Got mine in.

[BobMcG]

To break the sixty mark?

It looks like we could, soooo..... BTTT with it!

[Micah Cohen]

My thoughts (and they don't count, since I work here): SDA is a good thing. Not just because of this fanaticism that it inspires, but from a marketing standpoint because it gives Polk Audio something no one else has. Simple as that.

Will The Powers That Be ever do anything about that? Who knows? I'll make sure people see this poll.

Thanks Bob!

MC

[mjmcg]

It wont let me vote...but my mark would be obvious.

[Aaron]

....after your first 61 votes, it decided that was enough from one person! :D

Aaron

[I-SIG]

SDA=Good!

Wes

[vanmyster]

I can't believe the 3 votes for no interest in the SDA's. I have a set of 15 year old SDA IIA's and have recently tried to find something that I could replace them with for under $2,000, no chance, nothing even close including everything Polk makes today. If Polk brings back the SDA's, don't make them ported... Bring back the old Monitor series as well, The Monitor 10's were the best speaker money could buy for the $ for years...

[BobMcG]

Wow! I can't believe it's nearing the seventy mark. With sixtyeight showing and sixtynine if it would take Mike's vote, maybe I'll come home to see the seventy mark reached. Thanks to all voters!

[George Grand]

It's 12:05, and I am 5 minutes into one TALL glass of Gosling's rum. Finally off telephone alert. I am enjoying this rum too much to figure out what percent 70 is out of 27,000. Right off the top of my rotten little head, I'm figuring you got LESS than a 1% response from this forum. I wish you were here right now Bob, so you could bask in the glory of this excellent Bermudan rum, and we could both laugh our balls off about that pathetic percentage.

This stuff is sharpening me right up. I'm thinking .25% of the forum responded. No reason why Polk shouldn't run right out and start up the SDA line again.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

[predator]

Hi All,
Sorry I haven't been around, but summer is Car time and winter is Audio time! I put in my vote and of course I am extremely interested. Frankly the SDA line is a high-end line and I wouldn't expect most here to have even heard SDA's never mind vote how they liked them and how interested they would be. They have been out of production for a while. I would be willing to bet a very large % of visitors here don't have high-end speakers (based on my post views). IMHO a new (and improved) SDA line would attract a newer group of listeners to Polk. The kind of listeners that people listen to their opinions! It's time for Polk to realize they still need a med-high end to high-end line to support their mid-fi line. Bean counters will not understand this and will fight it to their death! I don't mean to be disrespectful at all, I know it is difficult to justify a line that will never pull in the same $$ as the upper mid-fi lines which is where I see most of the Polk stuff. I am also sure Polk has many discussions on this kind of subject and I suspect there is still research going on. I don't think Matt is sitting back doing nothing. Also, I am not knocking the current lines because I still think they are great quality and performance for the $$. I just feel a lot of people look to the high end Audiophiles for opinions and there isn't much there from Polk now. I don't consider myself an audiophile and still a lot of people ask me a lot of questions. I think it's an uphill battle for Polk to sell at a higher price point than others that have similar specks without higher-end listeners supporting the higher quality and performance claims. Let's face it, most people listen to opinions not specs, because specs don't mean much.

Build them and they will come,
Ralph-
:cool:

[TroyD]

I have to disagree to a certain extent with some of what Ralph says. I think that Polk IS trying to enter the higher end with the LSi line.
As much as we would like to see SDA ressurected, I wouldn't hold my breath. I have heard from a few "audiophiles" and believe even Matt Polk said that SDA never gained true audiophile endorsement. If that is the case then yes that only makes it even less likely that SDA's would be brought back. That being said, I personally don't believe that endorsement from the audiophile community is the last word on anything however. I also don't think that Polk is a company run by bean counters but there must be some pretty compelling reasons why SDA is not being employed. My personal opinion is that the buying public is generally disinterested in large, non-powered speakers that require a good power source as opposed to an A/V reciever that couldn't do them justice.

Troy

[rmh1]

Have not logged on in a long time. Interesting to see the poll. I have a pair of SDA-SRS-1.2's that will never, ever leave my house. There is STILL no way to obtain a better reproduction of the sound stage unless one is willing to spend many thousands. It would be super for Polk to re-introduce this technology but with current standards of drivers. However, as it was last year on this question, my understanding is the production cost versus sales would not sustain the line of speakers.

[BobMcG]

rmh1,

While it's true, Polk probably wouldn't quickly sell thousands of a new breed of modern SDA speaker, there would still be a market for a lot of them. The prices would be high, but worth it if the quality was there.
Take a good, long look around in the world of audio. There are dozens of excellent higher-end speaker manufactures out there. Yes, some of their speakers are rather pricey, but they are well thought out and working designs, with exceptional quality parts, fit and finish. They don't sell enormous volumes of them. They may not make a thousand of them a week or even a month, but they do sell them and they are very fine products.
IMO, it doesn't sound as though Polk is interested in small production runs. It seems if they can't pump out thousands of a model run at a good pace, for rock bottom, mass production prices and fill the shelves and warehouses of a number of mass market sales outlets, they aren't interested. They'll claim they can't justify doing it. That's all just well and fine. It's up to them. No problemo. It's good the others are out there. It seems to me, Polk would be in a fair position to be able to do it though. You'd think that with the popularity and success they enjoy in the market, they'd be able to support another less mass produced line.
But then again, what do I know about the inner workings of Polk? So, maybe I'm wrong. It wouldn't be the first time by any means, nor will it be the last. It's just my wandering thoughts.....

And BTW: As far as the problem with the SDAs never really being accepted by the true "audiophile" community... who gives a rats ass? They have a good, strong, faithful following anyway.
I do consider myself an audiophile. Why? Because I love audio as a hobby and take it quite serious. However, I know I'm not a member of the true "audiophile " community though. Because: I don't have the price of a house invested in my two channel playback system. I don't support both analog and digital and have the price of a sports car into just the analog playback portion of my system. I don't have season tickets to the opera, or to hear an orchestra, or to listen to live chamber music. I don't have "tube" everything. I don't use 15watt single ended triode amps or the like. For these and other reasons, I'm simply just not with it at all! Audiophile I'm not! Just ask a real one, they'll tell you...

[George Grand]

Beautiful Bob. The latest Stereophile (got it a couple days ago), while saying nice things about the new Polk Lsi line, also has a $75,000 turntable as a "recommended component".

This plants me FIRMLY in the audio "enthusiast" camp, not the audioPHILE camp. My turntable was only a grand (arf-arf!).

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

[wangotango68]

i could not say it any better myself.hell i bought a $20 pioneer turntable just to here my old albums,and i use my reciever as my preamp. what the hell does that make me? smart i guess, i view
my audio gear as a hobby,not my life when most audio mag.
get of there high horse and catter to the working man,then ill
listen. and the comment that polk is not a "true audiofile speaker"? as bob says "who cares"!!

scott:cool:

[wangotango68]

speaking of your rum george the little hotty girly girl down the street stoped in a couple of hours ago and said they were moving
to indy. so she gave my wife a brand new bottle of smirnoff vodka
and a half gallon of "premium" gin she said here dad did not know about it and she wanted to keep it that way. as van halen
says "bottoms up"!!

scott:cool:

[George Grand]

You got it Scott! I should clear the air. My turntable is an $800 Thorens, with a $300 Joe Grado cartridge on it. I saw it in a used hi-fi shop. Guy wanted $95. I went home and got two Fisher receivers and traded those for it. While I DON'T think vinyl sounds better than digital, there are some parts of my vinyl collection that will NEVER be available on a digital format. You do what you have to do.

George Grand of the Jersey Grand's)

[I-SIG]

Rant mode on:

Personally, I think we're a different definition of audiophile. I think this about myself and more than several others lurking around this Forum. I think most of those of us who have an appreciation for the music, not necessarily just the equipment, are audiophiles in a more grassroots interpretation of the word. If my gear can reproduce my music in such a way that makes me grin even with songs that I've heard over a hundred times or the first time, then what more can I really ask for, whether I've spent a few thousand or a few score thousand? When it comes down to it, it's the music that counts and truly makes the system.

This brings me to my next point. If I have to listen to opera, chamber music(?), or whatever else to be a classic "audiophile", then I'll gladly take an additional hole in the head than put up with that $#!+. Why is this music considered to be for the audiophiles? Last time I checked, I'm gonna need and want the same equipment dynamics and characteristics whether I'm playing Eddie Vedder or Pavorati(?), a fiddle or a violin, a bass guitar or a stand-up bass, etc., etc. Faithful reproduction is faithful reproduction, no if's, and's, or but's about it!

Rant mode off:mad: :mad: :mad:

Wes

[George Grand]

You call THAT ranting? You bring up excellent points, but are far too docile for true ranting. A tried and true method for the absolute rant condition, is to think about what you want to say, and then smack your fingers with a hammer, and THEN say it.

A good piece of music, should get your feet tapping, or whatever, even if it's coming out of an AM car radio.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

[I-SIG]

I know what you mean, George, but they would have kicked me off the Forum, if you catch my drift. Besides, it take forever to make all those stupid symbols for cuss words.

Wes

[Aaron]

Wes,
I think the reason "true audiophiles" go for that kind of music is because it presents a much more detailed, life-like projection. For example, how much detail do you really expect to get from a Pearl Jam album? Probably not a whole lot. However, you take someone like Dianna Krall where the music is basically just her vocals and a single instrument (piano), and you can really begin to pick apart the sound of equipment. Those kind of recordings seem to give a more "you are there" sound to them, a solo performance, if you will. They're also not as busy musically, so you can really listen to the subtlties of the vocals. Anyway, that's my take on.

Aaron

[BobMcG]

Wes mentioned, if he HAD to listen to opera or chamber music JUST so he could be considered a "true audiophile", he couldn't do it. He'd rather be shot in the head. I'm very much with him on that one.
Your explaination of the reason (you believe) certain "true audiophiles" listen to opera and chamber music is to hear more detail...??? Sorry, but that argument doesn't hold any water with me. There's plenty of music made that has nice, intricate detail to it without having to resort to those forms of music. I wouldn't search too long and hard for it in heavy metal , hiphop, or rap, but plenty exsists.
I think you're giving too many of the "self proclaimed golden eared, true audiophiles" out there, a convenient excuse for their tastes. Don't you realize they are the "trully cultured ones" in our society. It's because of this higher plain in life that a lot of them float about on that makes them and their tastes in music different from the mainstream rest of us. Face the facts man, 1) you're not cut from the same cloth as the "audio elite", and 2) you're far from alone!

[BobMcG]

Holy smokes gang!
Seventy four votes!!! That's a great voter turnout! Maybe in a couple more weeks we'll see the eighty mark reached?

[Aaron]

Perhaps I should clarify what I was referring to. I was mainly citing the example of Dianna Krall. That is, music with a solo performer and a single instrument. I believe there are certain things you'll get out of recording like that, that you won't get from other types. I think some opera lies along the same lines as this. I really can't speak for chamber music, but I woul imagine that it doesn't fall in line with my example very well.

Aaron

[George Grand]

That's a bunch of bull****. I LIKE Opera. Sometimes she has really interesting guests.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

One of the most sought after "audiophile" records (on vinyl), is Harry Belafonte Live at Carnegie Hall. It is an RCA Victor "Red Seal" or "Black Seal", and is either a shaded or white dog (Nipper is either shaded or white) and who gives a rats ass anyway. You going to listen to "Day-O"?

[gidrah]

The problem with Audiophiles is that they have just too much damn money. They got tired of being called yuppies and Audiophile sounds so much more hoity toity(sp?). I've talked to people that have NO clue about the music they are listening to, and yet are doing it on a system that makes me sport a stiffy. I once overheard a guy asking about putting his Martin Logans "in-wall". The salesman promptly giggled and advised against it. I would have escorted him out the door. These are the same people that will buy a Lotus to KEEP in a climate controlled garage while they drive around in their SUV with OEM stereo. They go to the opera because they can.

I do listen to a fair share of classical and my Polks sound great. Maybe not as good as theirs, but theirs don't sound as good playing Rock n' Roll, which is what I listen to most. I can't count how many times I've heard "these are not R&R speakers", or "they won't play very loud", or "only listen to with low wattage". Thier claim to fame is mostly imaging, duh SDA. And yet,when asked for a brand that can cover an eclectic array of music at reasonable listenning levels, even Audiophiles will admit to Polk being amongst the ranks of many much higher priced systems.

Do I consider myself an Audiophile? Yes and no. I (like you) do not have a second morgage to pay for my new speaker cables, but I do have a semblence of understanding of the way sound should be reproduced, I think about it constantly, and I love the music. If that's not enough, tough luck.

[I-SIG]

Hell, my hole doesn't even necesarily have to be shot in! A claw hammer would also do quite nicely.

Seriously, if the recording is decent, then massive amounts of detail can be found in virtually any style of music. Persoanlly, IMHBCO, if one's stereo can image and detail a rock band well, then something like a single singer and a single instrument should be a piece of cake.

Aaron, I've found a lot of detail in my PJ albums, especially their later ones (Yield and Binaural). Alarms on watches, throat clearing, counts, drum sticks breaking, and even on their latest DVD, spitting. (Granted being able to see it helps too, but I know I heard it.) Listen to Radiohead's OK Computer. All kinds of stuff going on in that CD.

Gidrah, congrats on joining the SDA site. Excellent points about the cash and their "speakers."

Maybe I've been influenced too much by some of the yahoos on this Forum (insert joke here), but my idea of a serious listening rig had better have at least 200W/ch, not this 3W bull****. It's got to play fairly loud to hear all the details. The exponential listening curve that a human hear is tuned to makes it so. (certain frequencies have to be played louder (more amplitude) to be heard at the same level as other freq.) The little bit of classical music I listen to brings just as big a smile to my face as my Pearl Jam collection.

Or maybe I just don't know any better

Wes;)

[TroyD]

...just out of curiosity, where abouts in Atlanta are you? My wife has a bunch of family in Canton, a few clicks north of the city....

Troy

[I-SIG]

I'm from Douglasville, but when I'm at Tech, I live on campus. I live at home when I co-op. I took a pistol class in Canton this summer, as a matter of act...

Wes

[TroyD]

Next time I am in town, to save me from another trip to the freakin mall or wherever, I'll sport at the Varsity if that works for you....

Troy

[I-SIG]

Sounds good to me. If you want to do better, let me know and I can come up with manner of places. Not complaining about the Varsity, in fact I had supper there last night, just saying. How often are you in town, just out of cuiosity?

Wes

[TroyD]

Sounds good to me....We usually go about every six months or so. The thing that irks me is that I am the only male on the trip so the estrogen level is pretty high. Only so many craft sales, antique shops and crap like that a guy should have to endure.

Troy

[I-SIG]

Troy,

Just send me a "heads up" e-mail, I'll work on the schedule and a place.

Wes

[rmh1]

I don't know if I would consider myself as an audio enthusist or an audiophile, maybe a little of both. A while back, years actually, when I made recommendations to folks interested in very clean accurate sound reproduction, I told them to total up the amount of money they have spent on the pre-amp, amp, turntable, cartridge, cassette recorder. Then take that amount of money as the amount to spend on one speaker. Then the same for the other. My point is that you don't listen to the electronics, but the sound from the speakers. Another way to look at it that going by specs on the electronics, most folks cannot tell the difference in a spec stating .001% THD and .1% THD even though that is a factor of 100. BUT, there is a huge difference in the actual sound reproduction side. Polk, by far, IMHO, gives everyone the best sound for the money spent. Even still, I believe the axiom does holds true today on how much to spend on speakers. I saved for about two years to purchase the 1.2's.

[BobMcG]

It looks as though a lot of us are on the same wave-length with this whole "audiophile " lable thing.

I don't want to give the wrong impression though. I do have a small collection of classical music CDs (a dozen) that I occasionally enjoy. However, I'm certainly not buying a pair of speakers or building a system that specializes in reproducing this type of music. I like rock and roll and will build around that. I don't feel guilty about the type(s) of music I prefer either. Nor should anyone else for that matter, to each their own. I'm just not going to be bothered knowing my system doesn't do "The Dance of the Fairy-assed Pixies" as well as it can be done. I'll leave that problem to others to do it justice.

[Aaron]

I'm just not going to be bothered knowing my system doesn't do "The Dance of the Fairy-assed Pixies" as well as it can be done.
Bob, I must have missed that issue of Stereophile. Can you tell me which issue that's from? I was just thinking the other day that my CD collection lacks some fairy-assed pixies, especially dancing ones.

Aaron

[TroyD]

I think it is the same issue that they reviewed "Duets by Fat Hairy Broads"

Troy

[BobMcG]

Aaron,

Good question...

I'm looking, I'm looking, I know it's here somewhere...

[BobMcG]

Oh well, it's been two weeks now and the vote came close to eighty but no cigar. With seventy seven showing and not accepting one vote for some reason making it seventy eight.
Any newcomers that haven't voted on this yet?

[Nashvilletitans]

Hi everyone,was just scanning the post's here and think I'm joining to enjoy this place alot.
I have a pair of SDA-2b's,CS175 center and M3's for the rear speakers . I used the have a pair of 10's for the front before I bought the SDA's. I sold them really cheap to a buddy along with a pair of walnut stands I had made. I have some 4.5's in the den for my Cd player also.
I reckon all of that was just to say.....I'm a big Polk audio fan.
P.S.
If anyone knows where I could get any oweners manuals or even any reviews on the SDA's,please me me a shout,I think mine are put away at my folks house in the attic.
Adios,
John

[BobMcG]

Thanks for the vote.

I'll be able to get you a copy of the SDA-2B owner's manual sometime soon if you haven't gotten one yet.
If you'd like, join the Club at the link Wes (I-SIG) gave you and contact me from there.

We're over eighty now, GREAT!

Lets keep it rolling!

[BobMcG]

...the 100 mark hit. Eigthyfour showing and one it won't take puts it within stricking distance of ninety. Any more newcomers who haven't voted yet? (Any others holding back?)

Thank you all voters!

John,

Are you still looking for an owner's manual for your SDA-2Bs? I can make you a copy if you'd like n/c.