SDA2b Review

[RuSsMaN]

Room Size 10wx12dx9h

Placement 1ft from rear wall, 2 feet from side walls, 5 feet apart.

Listening position, 7 feet from center of the SDA2b's. Ears slightly below the tweeter.

Gear Used:

Bedini 25wpc Class A Amplifier
Cary Tube Preamp
MSB Dac
Marantz Special Edition Cd player
Vampire Wire Interconnects
Audioquest Crystal Speaker Cable
Tiffany Power Conditioner

Initial impressions:
Manufactured in 1989, but the cabinets and grills show little wear. I thought the 'cloth' sides were a nice touch, that I had not noticed before. Apparentley earlier versions had wood panels on the sides. They literally do appear as a pair of monoliths, accented with maple top and bottom caps.

Removing the grills, the drivers seem to be well made. Rubber surrounds, treated cones, mounted flush with cabinet (midbass drivers). Binding posts are par for the course, and the interconnect cable was present. (on the interconnect, it seemed of fairly cheesy construction, but was all in once peice. This part may actually be something one could make, and make higher quality).

Ok, bored yet? C'mon Russ, how'd they SOUND?

Well....











well.....














well.....









They sound simply amazing. The soundstage produced had incredible hieght and depth, almost seeming to make the room seem larger than it was. Max was right, these are FUN speakers. Very VERY easy to listen to, and made me sit there with a shit-eatin grin on my face, almost the whole time.

Diana Krall's voice was perfect, as was Tracy Chapman, Dave Matthews, and the sometimes harsh Sheryl Crow, who is known to cause some speakers to 'honk' like a goose on certain passages. Instruments seemed to be 'placed' on a virtual stage all around me. In some of Krall's work, I actually looked to my left, I mean dead at a wall, head turned 90 degress, because that is where the piano was....

I think this could be the first time I actually visualized a 'ride' cymbal. The sound literally portrayed a 16" ride, up front, just to the left of the left SDA, about 4 ft in the air. It suprised me over and over. I have to stress placement. Instruments had incredible placement, multiple instruments, not just one. Bass guitars came through with authority. In a lot of home speakers, you may hear the bass guitar, but I could hear harmonics and vibrations, I could hear the musician PLAYING the instrument.

I personally would not need a subwoofer for music listening. The low end is present, tight, and has some authority to it. Neil Peart's kick drums hit me in the chest - lightly, and the 'thud' was gone as quick as it came. No overhang or sloppiness. I think, myself included, music listeners that are home theater enthusiasts, will go without a sub, using SDA's for music only. Not getting off topic, but we all know HT bass is about impact, not accuracy.

How about that tweeter? I found it to blend very nicely, I attribute part of this to the butterworth crossover design, which has a very seemless transition between the midbass and tweeter, in a critical upper-midrange area. Highs rolled off nicely, no harshness at all. Cymbals and horns were projected clearly, with no 'ringing' or shrill.

I know I have heard more accurate speakers, such as Thiel and Jm Lab. But my brothers who have done it know, you can't listen to Jm Lab for 3 hrs at 85db, without feeling fatigue. The SDA's were so easy to listen to, and while perhaps not doing anything absolutely perfect, they sure did a lot of things VERY WELL. These speakers made me FEEL GOOD, wow, I was actually able to enjoy my music.

I may purchase these speakers, I have yet to decide, although my magic 8 ball says 'signs point to yes'. This was a good demo for me, almost a back to the basics lesson. Why did I get into this hobby? I have to think long and hard, and I will admit, sometimes I have followed the path of how accurate a speaker is, and maybe not just enjoyed the music enough. When it comes down to it, I could give a rats ass what anyone else thinks, what matters about MY setup is that I enjoy the music.

It's all about the music, and the fun of listening.

Conclusion, the SDA2b is a great speaker. A FUN speaker to listen to, very capable of inducing that shit eatin grin I spoke of earlier.

Cheers,
Russ

[TroyD]

Great review......

Now, go buy 'em because I want to hear 'em!

Only question, did you unhook the interconnect and listen to them without the cable? Just for comparsion sake?


Troy

[RuSsMaN]

Actually left it in place. I was reading in the manual, and SDA is really less of an effect, as it is a tool for enhanced stereo. They call it 'TRUE' Stereo. The purpose of the cable is not to provide some un-realistic soundstage or dynamics, but to eliminate crosstalk. Basically, information from the left speaker reaching you right ear, and vice versa, is crosstalk. The stereo seperation was great, and I left it there the whole time, because, heck, thats how it was designed to be used.

Cheers,
Russ

[madmax]

Fun Fun Fun, That is what life is about! Let the stuffy audiophile listen to his system and think it is accurate. (untill he gets tired of listening) Accurate in terms of what? When you can hear the different drums in a drum set and are able to tell where each one is and point to it, well, I consider that sort of accurate. When you can hear the trumpet player take two steps to the left something is right. Just a different type of accuracy? I think any musician could appreciate this. Come on over to our dark side.
madmax

[juice21]

thanks for the review russ, i would love to hear a pair of these...

i'll take bids on, 3 days til ya bring 'em home...:D

[madmax]

Oh yea,
Thanks for taking the time to write a professional review for us! I hope you don't mind but I sent a copy of it to one of my friends.
madmax

[rskarvan]

I think I owned the 2b's once a long time ago.
That was when I was using the speaker upgrade program on a regular basis - 100% trade-in value for one year.

The 2b's and the monitor 10's are very, very similar.
The 2b's have just a tad more bass response than the monitor 10's. I upgraded the 2b's to the 3.1TL's and have kept them ever since. The 3.1's do almost everything that the 1.2 and 2.3's do - just with a few less drivers.

With a 2-driver construction.... I much prefer the CRS+'s to the 2b's. The reason is that the sda imaging on the CRS's is superior to the 2b's. It probably has something to do with the passive radiator being mounted on the back of the speaker - my guess. The CRS's have all the bass the 2b's have (slightly more than the monitor 10's).

The 3.1's are in another league entirely. The punch is stronger and the music comes from a line source of drivers vs. just one (or two side by side). Obviously, the 2.3's and 1.2's are superior to the 3.1's. But, honestly, you would have to have a HUGE room to really appreciate the differences.

Be careful with your 2b's tweets. Those SL2000's are fragile. Don't run them loud unless you have a 200+W seperate amp. Receivers can destroy those tweets at high volumes - clipping.
You'll never hear it... but, I've smoked more than one SL2000 before learning my lesson. Its not a pretty sight (or, smell) seeing your tweeter melt down. Don't rely on Polk's tweeter protection - its really hit-or-miss at best for protection.

Like Scott said.... I think the Monitor 10's sound about equal to the 2b's. The SDA configuration doesn't make all that much difference. Yes, absolutely, use the SDA cable. It would be wrong to hook them up without it - thats not how the SDA speaker was designed. You would lose MORE than simply the SDA effect. You would lose a good percentage of the driven sound from the outside drivers.

I suggest you try a trick. Turn your balance all the way to the left and listen only to the right speaker (sda effect only). Its eerie to hear how it works.

I don't think anyone has really heard the full effect of an SDA design until they've heard the CRS. To quote a knowledgeable sales manager... "Those things image absolutely insanely".

[Aaron]

Russ? You've been abducted and replaced by some SDA-cultist alien, haven't you??? Please say it ain't so. :D

Aaron

[raycomics]

That's My Son! "Poppa" Darth Vader

[madmax]

Just a thought Russman,
Suppose you had those SDA's. Suppose you tweaked the crossovers with good caps and resistors. Suppose you picked high end woofers and tweeters and replaced the originals. Suppose you cut the tracks between the bass and treble circuits to add bi-wire capability. The cabinents and passive radiator are already good but suppose you reinforce the cabs a bit. Do you suppose you could get the accuracy AND the soundstage? My project will start towards the end of this coming summer using my 1C's. Just a thought. I think I may have spent too much time on the PE speaker website!
madmax

[RuSsMaN]

If and when I do purchase SDA's, I think I will leave well enough alone, for a while that is.....

Tweeks are endless, before too long you have your own custom DIY design.....

Have you built before? If you are good with wood and soldier, I'd say start from the SDA design, and go from there. DIY is an expensive hobby, it could take you years, many drivers, many xover schematics, many box designs before you get it 'just right'.

If you aren't a natural born carpenter, I tell people the best place to start is your local thrift store/pawn shop. Find a pair of good, cheap monkey coffins, strip everything out, and see what you can do with drop in components and tweeking.

I know a guy that took a pair of $40 Sony bookshelfs, swaped the midbass, used the actual tweeter, and did his own xover, dampening, zobel, and additional bracing....well, all I can is, you wouldn't believe it had a Sony nameplate...

Cheers,
Russ

[rskarvan]

I've left my SDA's alone too. Thats not to say that I haven't thought about it.

Question... the sda's have very good bass with the passive bass radiator. I wonder what would happen if you swapped the passive thing for an active bass driver - and, maybe even add a (dare I say) bass amplifier on the bottom of the cabinet... just a thought.

The only thing the sda's lack is a highly detailed midrange. Of course, that is also what gives the SDA's their warm sound (unlike the RTi series). Tradeoffs - I guess.

Again, I prefer to leave well-enough alone and just enjoy the classic vintage polk sound.

[BobMcG]

As I said in a previous post, I feel they are fine speakers. It was after a good number of years using a pair on my main HS that led me to locate a pair of 2.3s to replace them. The bass, which at the time I thought was tight (and it is) and went fairly low, was exceeded by a large performance margin by the 2.3s.

I still considered the 2Bs fine enough to replace them not long after selling my original '89s for use on a second system. (I did replaced all the posts on the 2Bs and 2.3s with high quality Vampire's) For now, they (somewhat regretably) are pulling rear surround duty on my HT. This is only because I just had to try out a pair of the CRS+'s on my second system.
I enjoyed them very much untill I had a problem with my Carver TFM-35 amp that was powering that system.
An amp I sent into Caver Repair.com and pre-paid $189 (policy) to have fixed early last June. They lost it, and won't do a thing about it. Pardon my French as I don't normally do this, but the man in charge, Mike Anderson and his little company are a bunch of unorganized, lieing, shit heads! They don't deserve anyones business. If only CA wasn't so far away.....

Bottom line, Buy a pair and enjoy them. You'll not regret it. No matter what, you could use them for a time and get your money back out of them if you decided to sell them.

[wangotango68]

are those the 2b's that used to be mine and russ's?

scott:cool:

[madmax]

I am just starting the "building" phase of life. I got a radial arm saw and many portable tools and am the first to say I can't cut a straight line yet. That is why I'm starting now with a few subwoofers. (I did say at the end of the coming summer... There was a reason I put a future date on it) I have been studying intently though. I still have this vision of a true audiophile SDA though. I am an electrical engineer which at least supplies me with some amount of technical knowledge but I am qualified in quite a different area than acoustics and such. I can do it but I believe your comments about many designs and drivers in the mean time are acurate. Bob, sorry about the bad experience with the amp. Someone is gonna pay in audio hell some day. I have a friend who had them replace the parts HE wanted replaced. I won't even go into that fiasco. They didn't even test the final work. Imagine a company that would do what a non-qualified non-tech type person wants done without question and supplies a finished product with no testing? What was the chance of working?
madmax

[BobMcG]

If you were talking to me in your last post...the answer would be negative. I had purchased a pair of 2Bs new in late '89 and my brother Mike did likewise in '90. I sold my pair in early '96 and replaced them with Mike's pair sometime in '98 if I remember right.

[wangotango68]

the ones russman picked up were those the one we had?

scott:cool:

[BobMcG]

I sold my 2Bs to a good friend in Orange County, NY who still has (and loves) them to this day.

[Conradicles]

I had to bring this post back up to brag on my SDA2B's.
I just realized last night how great the SDA effect really can be when sitting in the "sweet spot". I have mine 7 feet apart, 2" from the back wall, and I sit 8.5 feet back in the middle of them. I noticed 2 major things:
1. The phantom center channel sounds better than my CSi3 center speaker!
2. I could here things behind me when watching the game last night!

What I am trying to say is the my 5.1 surround sounds great, but when you run these in stereo it almost sounds better! Imagine that - 2 speakers that sound as good or better than most people's 5.1 or 7.1 systems. Call me crazy, but when in the "sweet spot" these things sound fantastic and I think about selling all of my other speakers!

[strider]

Hell, I think it's cool reading when the "O.G." Club Polkers were discovering SDA's for the first time.