SDA SRS 2 need CPR and ICU life support

[proffitt]

love the sound. You probably read that this is my first pair of SDAs. I wasn't even aware of the unique technology of "sharing" some of the signal between channels, R to L and L to R. Amazing! Sound sources coming from parts of my room where there are no speakers.

You probably also read where the wife unit won't allow these up into the living room so I'm having to build a second system from scratch for my basement. I'm looking for adequate components to drive these now. I have a crappy QSC amp (200wpc) with just a CD player plugged directly into the amp. I'll be using these in a 20% 2 channel vs 80% Home Theater split. I'm looking for a new Onkyo AVR that has front L/R preouts to allow a separate amp to drive these speakers for 2 channel. and full 7.1 surround for theater. Then a quality amp also needed.

I think I've found an Onkyo HT RC270 that looks like it would fit the bill. anybody have any experience?

Even with just a CD player connected directly to the amp, and leveling volume with 2 knobs... sounds awesome!

[proffitt]

Thanks Hofy and Geoff. It really was rags to riches. I picked these up for $50 from Goodwill when we were in there dropping off donations. Even after seeing them the first day, seeing how BAD they were, I didn't take them home that day. I went home and couldn't get them out of my head... just being BIG old Polks. But i went home and researched them and found their cult-like following. I went back to Goodwill the next day after work and they were gone. I asked about them, and was told they were moved back into the warehouse just because the were so big and ugly. They brought them out for me and i took them home. Been having fun ever since. The soundstage is wider than my room is. and there are sound sources hovering in air all around.

[michaeljhsda2]

Great job!!! Wow

[drumminman]

Great job Proffitt! I'm thoroughly impressed! You've resurrected some classics and made them even better.

[teekay0007]

What a great thread and a job well done! Aside from the terrific work you did, you documented the process very nicely and the draw of the Polkie Brotherhood came through very nicely for everyone, especially noobs, visitors and lurkers, to see.

If you ever decide these SDAs were done as Not-For-Proffitt endeavor, I'm sure you'll have interested parties lining up to get their hands on them! Very nice.

[proffitt]

That's a good one TK.... "not-for-proffitt". I like that. These are for Proffitt though as I think I'm going to be hanging on to these. Heck just getting them has made me push up the finishing of my man cave home theater way sooner than I had planned.

[Toolfan66]

Not bad!!

These are the only and last set of SDA's I would like to get my hands on. but I want them PIN/BLADE. I have no desire to own any of the others..

I am pretty much done with this line..

Maybe next year my journey will take on another path. Nothing to crazy and not that I would get rid of my SDA's but I need something different..

[Mike Reeter]

Very nice work, for a "first timer" you did good! The SRS 2's are some of my favorites, feed them with a good source/power and they will keep repaying you for all your efforts for years.

[PolkieMan]

Great Job you are to be commended you could have been one of those that just parted it out on ebay.

Question though, I thought only the SDA-2B and the SDA CRS+ could use the Rdo198 and in order to do that
the crossovers had to be modified.

Here they are with their clothes off... ahhhh speaker porn!

Attachment 79433




In addition to the exterior wood (tops, bottoms, & sides), new fabric (6 panels)....,
I've also replaced the tweeters with new RDO198s.
New armacell gaskets on all drivers and PRs.
New Speakon Neutric connectors for Interconnect cable.
New binding posts.
Replaced all Caps with Daytons or Sonic Craft, all resistors with new Wills, and removed and jumpered the polyswitch.
Dynamat treatment on all drivers and PRs.
Repositioned and fluffed up the polyfil to a higher position in the cabinet.

They sound incredible.

[Mike Reeter]

Question though, I thought only the SDA-2B and the SDA CRS+ could use the Rdo198 and in order to do that
the crossovers had to be modified.

The SRS 2's have been added to that list.

[Oldfatdogs]

Very nice job Proffitt enjoy your hard work.
Dan

[Mike Reeter]

The SRS 2's have been added to that list.

Well, after reading this thread http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...Led-my-SDA-1Bs I stand corrected.

[PolkieMan]

Yea F1Nut seems to really know his stuff.
See I was thinking that I could do the "TL" on 1C's too but no I was told.

Well, after reading this thread http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...Led-my-SDA-1Bs I stand corrected.

[Dawgfish]

Those really came out nice. Really great job you did there! I have a set of pin/blade SRS 2s that I really love. Mine were in decent shape when I bought them, but still needed a little work. I have done basically all of the mods you have done to yours except for the crossovers. That's next. I love them now, so I can't wait to here them with the crossover mods. Thanks for all of the great pictures/info you have shared throughout this thread.

[proffitt]

Dawgfish.... do the crossover mods! Its really not too difficult. I can't testify to the improvment, as you may have read, i never heard mine before the modifications... but i think plenty of folks here say its worth it. I can just attest to the relative ease of the task. Looks like you are probably nearby too, if it got hairy I might could help.

[Dawgfish]

Thanks! For whatever reason I didn't notice you were in the ATL area before. I live in the Dawsonville/Dahlonega/Gainesville area. My SRS 2s are actually in MS right now. I'm working on the MS/LA border on a longterm job assignement. I bought the SRS 2s in New Orleans on CL. I fully intend to do the crossovers as I have a set of Gimpods circuit boards for this. I was going to have VR3 do the boards, but I may end up doing them myself. We'll see.

Whenever I make it back into GA we need to get together and compare notes and shoot the breeze. I need to do the same with Naturallight also as he offered an invitation to come by. I was going to do this over the Christmas break, but some family issues came up.

[Toolfan66]

Thanks! For whatever reason I didn't notice you were in the ATL area before. I live in the Dawsonville/Dahlonega/Gainesville area. My SRS 2s are actually in MS right now. I'm working on the MS/LA border on a longterm job assignement. I bought the SRS 2s in New Orleans on CL. I fully intend to do the crossovers as I have a set of Gimpods circuit boards for this. I was going to have VR3 do the boards, but I may end up doing them myself. We'll see.

Whenever I make it back into GA we need to get together and compare notes and shoot the breeze. I need to do the same with Naturallight also as he offered an invitation to come by. I was going to do this over the Christmas break, but some family issues came up.

It's easy, but I would still get a set of cheap speakers to mess around with just to get used to soldering. I took a couple of speakers and did this before I ever dug into my SDA's but once you do one it can get addicting..

Gimpod really made this easy to do it's as easy as paint by numbers...

[helipilotdoug]

Beautiful Work on these speakers. You truly did bring them back to life from junk yard nominees! Congrats on a job well done!

[Dawgfish]

Thanks Larry. I've been doing some soldering/repair on one of my tube amps, so I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it. It's a time issue more than anything as my job is having me work some crazy hours, but it would be really cool to know that I did it myself.

I think you will really like the SRS 2s. I've had SDA-1Cs in the past and while they were awesome, the SRS 2s give you a good taste of the bass and wider soundstage that the big boys (SRS, 1.2s, 2.3s, etc) give you while still being able to work in a greater variety of room sizes. Of all of the SDAs, I think they are the best on a performance/size basis.

[proffitt]

Yes I'm really liking the SRS 2 bs. I can turn them up enough to really get the drivers moving a little. I can't imagine the 2.3s in my moderately sized room. I think the 2 Bs that I stumbled across are the perfect ones for me.

Get some time back at home and look me up.

[proffitt]

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...rence-in-RDO-s

[proffitt]

there was some discusson of the tweeters in that thread above ^^^.

[proffitt]

Polkieman - to respond to your question regarding the use of 198s instead of 194s in the these, I had read what many have written across many threads, and I decided to go with the 198s based alot on what I heard here:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...rence-in-RDO-s

And since I made that decision when there was also compelling arguments to BOTH sides, I did decide in my crossover mod, to still be a bit conservative with the choice of my resistor value in the critical placement for the 198.... When some suggested that i could go down to as low as 1.5 ohms... I decided to stick with....a higher value. Down from factory 3.5 ohms to 2.5 ohms.

You can see Schurkey's and my discussion at post #s 113 through 116, (a even more before 113), back on page 4 of this thread. I felt he sure made sense and there had been some historical precedent set with good outcome... by somebody that I'm sure could guage the qualtiy of sound better than myself. I like the way they sound now, but I'm certainly not a good judge.

Physically, they were a striaght drop in to the space, fit like a glove.

[PolkieMan]

Yeah the 198's are different and I had heard it was 194's for all sl2000 except for the 2B and the CRS+ which are the same system electronically so they could be modded (TLed) to use 198. If you like the way they sound, that's the main thing, and they certainly look superb, so be it, room placement has so much to do with this anyway.

[proffitt]

All,

I just read back through this thread, was looking for Helen Yabor's contact information to help out a guy in another thread. One of you turned me on to her and she was a great help and seemed to respect the club member status.

Anyway, was reading back through the thread... and wow, so many of you were such a huge help. THANKS!

And you might note, that I'm not just posting an empty comment to add up my post numbers. I've successfully reached 100+ status with 98% of it being in this one thread. So its sincere gratitude being sent out here. I LOVE the SDA SRS 2 set and they are sounding incredible. I might be at about 60-70 hours on burn in right now.

I couldn't be happier. Keep helping out the newbies, and I will too. This project was a major undertaking, probably a little more than I was expecting, but with all of your help, nothing ever got too difficult, and I never felt like I wasn't going to get it done, or do it right.

Take care all, and Thanks -
proffitt

[proffitt]

I can make a brand new piece of walnut look exactly like a 100 year old piece.

Hey F1Nut... I can too, but it takes me 100 years to do it! haha...

Seriously, I have seen those that can make aged masterpieces out of new material. Amazing.

[drumminman]

All,

I just read back through this thread, was looking for Helen Yabor's contact information to help out a guy in another thread. One of you turned me on to her and she was a great help and seemed to respect the club member status.

Anyway, was reading back through the thread... and wow, so many of you were such a huge help. THANKS!

And you might note, that I'm not just posting an empty comment to add up my post numbers. I've successfully reached 100+ status with 98% of it being in this one thread. So its sincere gratitude being sent out here. I LOVE the SDA SRS 2 set and they are sounding incredible. I might be at about 60-70 hours on burn in right now.

I couldn't be happier. Keep helping out the newbies, and I will too. This project was a major undertaking, probably a little more than I was expecting, but with all of your help, nothing ever got too difficult, and I never felt like I wasn't going to get it done, or do it right.

Take care all, and Thanks -
proffitt

Glad everything turned out so well. Your work and posts, especially all the pics are now of course added to the "database" of knowledge around here that others can draw from. Great synergy

[proffitt]

Polk Brethren-
An update for you. Its been about 3 weeks since I posted last, and I think I'm coming up on about 150 hours of burn in. I'm not hearing a huge night and day difference between the first few days and now, but the sound is still amazing as ever. I'll pay close attention as approach 200 hours, and on.

Loving all my old music and hearing things within the recordings I never knew was there. I'm like a kid in a candy shop finding old CDs I haven't listened to in years.

This is fun!
proffitt

[evhudsons]

my crs+ crossovers varied quite a bit during burn in time. Sometimes awesome, sometimes not so awesome, sometimes I thought the same thing not much difference. Towards the end though you will hear such sweet sound it will be unmistakable.

[PolkieMan]

Yea when I first did mine I was like "ok then that's not all that" but now I hear things I never heard before so everything so almost like new again.

Polk Brethren-
An update for you. Its been about 3 weeks since I posted last, and I think I'm coming up on about 150 hours of burn in. I'm not hearing a huge night and day difference between the first few days and now, but the sound is still amazing as ever. I'll pay close attention as approach 200 hours, and on.

Loving all my old music and hearing things within the recordings I never knew was there. I'm like a kid in a candy shop finding old CDs I haven't listened to in years.

This is fun!
proffitt