3.1tl Review.... LONG

[Tour2ma]

Life with 3.1tl’s… by Tour2ma

I put these “little” SDA’s through their paces over the past couple weeks, but before I get into that…

I want to thank Joey for selling them, and Brett and Jesse for deciding they did not want them. Thanks also go to the Mrs., who green-lighted their taking up residence here. I believe I’d cry, if I had to part with them.

The set up…
Slipped these in front and inside of my SRS’s, the front stage of my HT rig. I borrowed my SRS’s MW feed from my Sunfire’s voltage output to power them with a mere 400 wpc.
As no SDA IC came with them, and my SRS’s blade-blade was not compatible, I rigged one from some old 16-ga lamp cord that was lying around. The simple cut, strip, twist and push into the Pin-Blade approach was aided by dual banana plugs on the speaker wire runs straddling the IC. Worked rather well…
Leveling was an easy one-man job, as was aligning them, thanks to the grid provided by a ceramic tile floor. The split was roughly 5’ from inside edge to inside edge.
And we’re off…

The test material…
I threw all my stock demo stuff at them: Flim and the BB’s “Tricycle”, DSOTM, Stravinsky’s “Firebird”, Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out”, Portishead’s “Dummy”Robbie Robertson’s “Storyville”, Dean Peer’s “Lord’s Tundra”, Horowitz’s “The Studio Recordings” and, yes, my beloved Dee-Lite “World Clique” and more.

The findings… SQ
At a little less than half of the enclosure volume of my SRS’s, I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of bass… Way wrong on that count. These little effers can thump. Not quite to the degree that the SRS’s can (Portishead did not quite rattle the rafters as much through the 3.1’s), but damn close.
The 3.1’s do take a bit more persuading than my SRS’s, about 6 dB more volume level, to achieve the same output, but they do get there. Through all the demo material the 3.1’s seemed to laugh and say, “Is that all ya got?”
While they thumped away, delivering a pleasant intestinal massage, they also delivered great detail. Not only did I hear everything I was accustomed to hearing, e.g., Dean Peer’s pre-plucking of his bass, I heard several bits (no pun intended) that I did not remember hearing before. Little “extras” came forth in several tracks, a smile producing, if not jaw dropping, experience.

The findings… Soundstage and SDA
Very impressed here. Now as the 3.1’s are “only” about 4’ tall, standing does noticeably drop the SPL. This just made sitting down even more enjoyable than the standard “take a load off”. I ended up doing most of the critical listening cross-legged on the floor about 6’ in front of them, kind of a pseudo, near-field position.
Orchestral placement was quite good in both width and depth. Occasionally the strings location was a bit smeared, especially 2nd violins, but SDA can do that. Horns and woodwinds were three dimensionally pinpoint, as was the percussion section.
On simpler ensembles, e.g., Dave Brubeck, the quartet’s placement was very good. I listened closely for the magic movement of Paul Desmond’s alto sax on ”Blue Rondo”, but it was not to be found here and thus remains the domain of Maggies and, to a lesser degree, CA’s.
The SDA is strong within this one…
Considering that in the 3.1’s the SDA drivers are outnumbered 4 to 1 by the stereo drivers, I expected a somewhat less than SRS level SDA experience. Again… wrong. Pink Floyd’s “Money” produced all the requisite SDA grins. However…
It was Dee-Lite’s “Deep Ending” that provided the sessions biggest, “WTF… Let me play that again”, SDA thrill. In this track there is a high frequency, rhythmic “rasp” that moves from channel to channel through out most of the track. The effect is entertaining enough on an ordinary stereo, bounded by the speakers. On my SRS’s it’s travel to and fro is nicely exaggerated several feet “outside the box(es)”, but is one-dimensional. The CA’s produce a circular, clockwise motion in this sound’s travel, adding up and down to back and forth. The 3.1’s displayed all the unbounded back and forth movement, and in place of the CA’s vertical “circling”, they added a flat circle protruding from and receding into the soundstage. Put another way, as the sound moved from right to left, it passed almost close enough to touch my nose, and as it moved from left to right it traveled to the wall some 2’ behind the 3.1’s. This is the stuff of which jaw drops are made…
On the other hand, dual-microphone, solo piano recordings remain unbearable for me to hear on SDA’s. There’s something about a twenty-foot wide keyboard that is just not realistic. Horowitz barely had time to complete “The Minute Waltz” before he was sent back to his jewel case.
I did no formal HT testing, but did make some casual observations, one of some significance. I have always felt that my CS400’s tone blended nicely with my SRS’s, and it does. The 3.1’s showed me what a really well matched front stage should sound like. Abso-friggin-seamless…

Conclusions
While my search for the speaker that does everything very, very well continues unfulfilled, these mid-sized Polk’s came closer than I thought they would.
The 3.1tl is a damn fine SDA representative. It just might be the one that Polk should bring back. It is not so big that it cannot fit in with a room’s décor, and delivers a very high percentage of the thrills of its bigger, low WAF brothers.
I never had designs on owning any additional SDA’s other than the CRS’s, that impressed me so much at Russ’s TX PF-II last January. Then these 3.1’s fell into my lap and they are not going anywhere other than the 2-channel room, where they now sit and where I thought they were destined to serve. However, it is very possible that they may end up as my HT mains pending the results of an upcoming test run with Mr. SVS. And since the SRS’s would not be too shabby in a dedicated 2-channel rig, how can I lose?

Decisions, decisions… ain’t life great? :D

[DarqueKnight]

Excellent review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.

[HBombToo]

Great read bud! How bout some pics?

HBomb

[trubluluc]

Nice job Tour.
Can you imagine doing that for a living?
I could :)

-Luc

[Tour2ma]

Gracias, amigos...

Yup forgot da pics... (effin' amateur, I be...)

Coming right up...

[Tour2ma]

Other angle.... for no apparent reason...

[Tour2ma]

.. and one for the nudie fans...

[HBombToo]

Thanks for the pics... I like them and as an aside they look as though they were developed from the RTA15TL's that I purchased from Russ.

After seeing these I would think they would be awsome for HT with MR. SVS;) My 15TL's continue to impress me in HT duty and mixes quite well with my twin CS+ subs!

HBomb

[dorokusai]

Nice review, it changed my life.

[VR3]

I wonder if I got some of them...would my mom notice :p

Very nice review! Old Polks rule!

[reeltrouble1]

Nice Tour very nice, you made me want to leave here, go home sit and enjoy the music and that is what its all about.

RT1

[okiepolkie]

Thanks for the nudie shot.

How many drivers do you have total in your orgy of music making delight?

[bikezappa]

I also have the same issue with solo piano music. It's like I need a center channel. The sound is big however but not very realistic.

Good review!!

[trubluluc]

POLKHENGE

-Luc

[Tour2ma]

bz,
Pulling the SDA "plug" does the trick. The speakers are more than capable, just can't focus a dual mic set-up with SDA in play. No such issues with single mic'd piano in trios, etc. Even Polk Paul commented on this at Troy's wing ding...

op,
You know, I've yet to fire them all up at once... :D

rt,
What? With the fun job you have? :)

Thanks again all...

You too, doro... I hope it was for the better... :)

[VR3]

I dont understand one thing

Dont the outside drivers stop working completely with the SDA IC disconnected?

If so, wouldnt the outside drivers that dont work, wouldnt that change the overall sound since they would be like passive radiators?

Or does it just stop transfering the opposite channel into that channels speaker? I dunno, I forget

[F1nut]

Nice review Bruce! Are your reviewing services for hire? :D

[bolitasboy2]

i like to review srs 3.1tl since that speaker i play that using carver 5.0 amp/pre carver/ cd player marantz play the song diana krall the sound , its amazing and sound stage are great, i missed my stuff including my monitor 10a.when my 2 channel rig system gone,i used another receiver harman kardon avr 525, what i can say to this speaker, men amazing using any kinds of amp / pre amp they are sing very well,u can used that as a h/t front channel the high, mid.low are detailed,i wish i have that speaker again,i never regret to've them again, , i have so many stuff, any speaker come to my hand, but this srs 3.1tl never ever to compare any brand , , i list speaker on my hand right now jbl L112, pioneer hpm 100, epi 150, genesis model 320 older model, ihave ads L1290, but its gone now.

[Tour2ma]

Sid,
No pulling the SDa IC just kills the SDA array drivers... The stereo drivers are always directly fed by the speaker wire runs.

Originally posted by F1nut
Nice review Bruce! Are your reviewing services for hire? :D

You can't afford me... :D... I know this beause I can't even afford me...

joey,
Sorry to hear of your remorse, but understand it. We will definitely work out some visitation rights.

Right now the house is in the middle of several inside projects, but when they are substantially done you can expect an invite... and bring the whole family... and the chess board...

[NuckingFuts]

HOLY GUACAMOLE PEDRO!!

Its like the redwood forest's avenue of giants!!
They must have used half the forest to make those babies


SHWING!!

[Tour2ma]

Thanks, NF..

Originally posted by trubluluc
POLKHENGE
-Luc

LOL... Missed this before... funnny thing is the wife actually refers to "it" as Stonehenge"... I think your twist is a little catchier...

[Zero]

Awesome set-up, Bruce. Thank you for sharing your insight with your well thought out review.

Cheers,

Sean

[VR3]

So...

If you cut the SDA array drivers on the 3.1 - that would leave it with ONE active driver??

Or, the 1.2 - 4 actives instead of 8??

Again, If this is so, wouldnt this cause a change in how the passive radiator works with the rest of the 'system', since it is obviously tuned to (1.2tl) 8 midbasses instead of 4...

Just missing the logic..

Hehe, but that is nothing new :D

[F1nut]

Sid, the lone driver is the SDA driver, you'd still have 4 stereo drivers working.

[Tour2ma]

Yup, in either a 3.1 or a SRS there would be four active, stereo drivers, if you pull the SDA plug...

Sid, only saying this helps in the case of solo piano that has been dual mic'd... that's all. Not for everyday, all music, all the time...

Capice'?


As for the PR... good question to spend a little thought on...

If the Left SDA MW's are 180 deg's out of phase with the Right Ch stereo MW's, then they are likely to be out of phase with the Left ch stereo MW's. But this is only in the frequencies where localization occurs.

Down near the bottom end of a SDA speaker's FR, I think all the MW's in a given cabinet work together. So yes, I'd think the PR displacement would be diminished by pulling the SDA plug.

[VR3]

Ol Insomniac Sid checking in...

Ah ok, makes sense now :D

Anyways, very interesting thoughts...

Very nice, are those big black things maggies or what?

[danger boy]

very nice and well written review.. and i love the pics too.

thanks for taking the time to listen.. i'm sure it was hell... having to listen to so much music for hours on the SDA 3.1 tl's. ;)

[Tour2ma]

Thanks, db... the things I do for this Club I tell ya... :p

Sid,
The middle "big black things" are Maggies; the far right "bbt's" are Carver Amazings...

Thanks to you as well, Sean. Have another "review" in the works from a little trip downtown I took last week that you may enjoy as well.

[rskarvan]

I´ve had a set of 3.1TL´s since they were new.
They do most of what their bigger brothers accomplish.
The only thing they lack is the size-intimidation factor.

[HBombToo]

Originally posted by rskarvan
I´ve had a set of 3.1TL´s since they were new.

NOW I want a pair!!!! whats a neeing soul like me to do.

HBomb