Polk SDA 1A Speakers (Pair) - $80 (Anaheim, CA)

[dkmuch]

Polk SDA 1A Speakers (Pair) - $80 (Anaheim, CA)

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/ele/1286828030.html

No affiliation.

[everpress]

Seriously?
Too bad I'm in OH.

[AudioGenics]

nice...

[comfortablycurt]

Killer price!

If I wasn't halfway across the country, Id be snagging those.

[NJPOLKER]

good for parts thats about it

[dkmuch]

Contacted the seller, no interconnect cable.

[JohnLocke88]

I was planning on picking these up tomorrow morning. Why would these be good for 'just parts?' I don't understand why one blown tweeter makes these scrap.

[dane_peterson]

The 1C's are heavily favored over the A's. I believe the crossovers and cabinets are different. Still, for $80--

[gdb]

I was planning on picking these up tomorrow morning. Why would these be good for 'just parts?' I don't understand why one blown tweeter makes these scrap.

People seem to lose sight of the fact that these are POLK SDAs, sure there are later, more refined models that are more desirable but the fact remains, this model was designed and approved for sale by POLK. These sound better with only one tweeter per cabinet anyway (stereo) so you could look at it like they come with a "spare" tweeter instead of being short on one. Better yet.... upgrade and modify the XO, buy two RDO tweeters and you'll have a very nice set of SDAs for not a lot of cash outlay. I have 1As that sound great, and when guests hear them.......Holy ****!! is a common response from them. I prefer the sound from my SRS2s over the 1As but, I like the looks of the 1As better than the SRS2s. As always....YMMV;)

[JohnLocke88]

Well. Pulled the trigger. Picked these up about 2 hours ago. Just going to take some time at first and clean up the cabinets. Veneers are actually in really good shape. Grilles have some gunk on them, but are other wise near perfect. The bottom "pedestal" veneer is pulled away from the bottom corner (obviously from being dragged on the floor). I was thinking about sanding/peeling off the veneer on the pedestal and painting the MDF.

I noticed that the "dimensional" tweeter has it's own fuse. Any reason why I couldn't just pop out the fuse and run just the stereo tweeter? I know the tweeter would be a bit 'off center,' but I think it'd be a good temporary measure.

My next question is this: As mentioned above, these do not have an interconnect cable. Would hooking these up to an amp with out the cable actually DAMAGE the speakers, or just make them sound not as good? Another thing. I was reading somewhere (can't remember now where) that somone actually rigged up an internal interconnect and bypassed the interconnect "interface." I got a link from Jesse on the connectors necessary, but by the time shipping and handling, it's up there around $30 for two connectors. Any advice anyone has on these would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to playing with my 'new' toys. :D

EDIT: These were sold from the Salvation Army's Orange County warehouse. Even if they're completely buggered, $80 to a good cause is alright by me.

[JohnLocke88]

What they look like once I got them home and shined up those dull cabinets a bit. :D

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9697/sda1assides.jpg

[F1nut]

Any reason why I couldn't just pop out the fuse and run just the stereo tweeter?

That would work just fine.


Would hooking these up to an amp with out the cable actually DAMAGE the speakers

No, but you won't get the sound that SDA's are noted for.




Jon, as a temporary measure, simply jam the cable ends into the slots or run down to Rat Shack and grab some spade terminals, file to fit the slots and connect. The cabinets must remain sealed, so drilling holes in them is a big no-no.

[AudioGenics]

ABSOLUTELY a GREAT SPEAKER !

easy to restore and your price to performance is like unbelievable !

some have all the luck !

[danz1906]

Great-Deal!

[JohnLocke88]

Jon, as a temporary measure, simply jam the cable ends into the slots or run down to Rat Shack and grab some spade terminals, file to fit the slots and connect. The cabinets must remain sealed, so drilling holes in them is a big no-no.

The interconnect is just a two lead connector right? I actually just got off the phone with a guy in LA who did just that (crammed the cable ends into the socket).

Running to radio shack now....Will update when I get them all hooked up.

[F1nut]

The interconnect is just a two lead connector right?

Yep, just be sure you connect wide blade to wide blade, small to small.

[JohnLocke88]

Well, call me Mr. "Replace your fuses Kids,"

As mentioned in the original ad, the seller thought one of the tweeters was blown. When I first hooked them up, the right channel wasn't producing treble out of the stereo tweeter... the dimensional was barely doing anything either...but I figured that was normal.

So, I got to work. I used my 'broken' 7B (with the blown tweeter) as the test rig. I swapped out every tweeter (all four) and used the Onkyo test tone to listen for good tweeter sound (I actually used this to determine the tweeter on the 7Bs was still bad, comparing the two L/R, the R was clearly more distorted)

Anyway, all four checked out. Well maybe... Nah...I thought! Couldn't be simply a fuse issue again. Sure as ****, it was. Popped out the old fuses (four total) from the 1A's and popped in my two new fuses from the 7B's and voila...treble from both channels. I haven't tested the dimensional ones yet, but I'm sure they're working based on my test tone, uh, test...

Still haven't got the interconnect set up. I'll wait to see if I win an auction for a set of the blade connectors. I'll probably just strap that with some 12 AWG monoprice wire. Thinking a 20' length should be more than enough for any application I could think of in the near future.

Grilles still have a few paint marks, or something goo-y. I'll be using some parts-express speaker cloth to redo the grills. The frames are in perfect shape.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get the grilles done and get the interconnect cable built.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped on Vintage Quest 2009.

-Jon

[zarrdoss]

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=260-335

also if you have a Joann's locally they also have grill cloth.

[Bobsama]

Wow; that's a steal! Too bad I'm completely across the country or I would have jumped on those without a second thought--$80, and you just showed how good condition they appear to be in. That, and I have access to an octet of original SL2000 tweeters.

[beemer]

Congratulations Jon! Nice deal, excellent speaker. What could you possibly buy new for $80 that will come close?

Enjoy!

Paul

[jimbo1421]

The interconnect is just a two lead connector right? I actually just got off the phone with a guy in LA who did just that (crammed the cable ends into the socket).

Running to radio shack now....Will update when I get them all hooked up.

Hi JL. You have a lovely pair of SDAs. You can get the matching SDA cable connectors from Allied Electronics:
http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?SKU=7503200&MPN=P-302-CCT

Mine took two days to deliver.

Jim

[JohnLocke88]

Hi JL. You have a lovely pair of SDAs. You can get the matching SDA cable connectors from Allied Electronics:
http://www.alliedelec.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?SKU=7503200&MPN=P-302-CCT

Mine took two days to deliver.

Jim

Thanks for the link Jim. Jesse (F1) gave me the link as well. I'm going to shop around a few more places locally to see if I can cut down on the shipping.

I went to Joann's and got 3 yards (60 inch bolt) of the speaker cloth. Bought my self a heavy duty staple gun and what I thought where some heavy duty staples. The fiberboard just laughed at them. I think I'm going to need the ones with the angled tips. Probably have to hold off till tomorrow as Home Depot is now closed.

[beemer]

Thanks for the link Jim. Jesse (F1) gave me the link as well. I'm going to shop around a few more places locally to see if I can cut down on the shipping.

I went to Joann's and got 3 yards (60 inch bolt) of the speaker cloth. Bought my self a heavy duty staple gun and what I thought where some heavy duty staples. The fiberboard just laughed at them. I think I'm going to need the ones with the angled tips. Probably have to hold off till tomorrow as Home Depot is now closed.

You may want to try a hot glue gun instead. These are just dandy for lots of stuff.

Paul

[gdb]

I thought that Polk still sells the blade/blade IC , is this no longer available?

[JohnLocke88]

You may want to try a hot glue gun instead. These are just dandy for lots of stuff.

Paul

Thanks for the idea. I actually got them (the staples) to work. Just had to push the gun really really tight against the particle board.

End result...

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4930/sda1asfrontgrilles.th.jpg (http://img24.imageshack.us/i/sda1asfrontgrilles.jpg/)