constructing homemade sda crs interconnects

replicant
replicant Posts: 6
edited March 2005 in Vintage Speakers
looking for a quick and dirty assembly tutorial on putting together an IC for these, blade/pin type. Any help here? I assume I can just use some good 14 or 12 gauge speaker wire and solder on a pin and a blade, but does anyone have dimensions of the pin and or blade? Any other hints? I bought the crs pair at an auction and they didnt come with the interconnect cable.
should I throw these ol speakers in
the garbage?
Post edited by replicant on

Comments

  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited March 2005
    For the blade you can use a standard 1/4" male spade. The pin is the same size as the center of an RCA connector. Wiring is straight through, pin to pin and blade to blade. I used spare 12ga wire that I had laying around.
    9/11 - WE WILL NEVER FORGET!! (<---<<click)
    2005-06 Club Polk Football Pool Champion!! :D
  • replicant
    replicant Posts: 6
    edited March 2005
    had something nice, here is the post I posted to AVS when I got them.

    Hey guys. I got a pair of polk speakers along with some other boston and polk speakers (CR2 reference center (niiiiice), tasty little vrs micro surrounds, polk r-10s, r25s, psw120 sub and cs245 center) at an auction last week and needed some input on what might become my new mains. They are a pair of older polks, SDA compact reference series. This is what I can tell about them. They are meant to lay "sideways" and are directional, as in they are labeled Left and right. Of the two, one works pretty well, sounds good although I thought I noticed some slight "scratching" noises yesterday when I hooked it up. The configuration is of two 5 or six inch midranges and a small flexible rubber covered tweeter labeled, " silver coil dome" Opening the other one up to investigate a nasty clunking noise, I found one of the copper wound coils from the crossover banging around loose inside the cabinet. That should be no problem to fix with a bit of solder. I have never seen floor standers like these with a couple of features, though. Behind a wire mesh speaker cover on the back is about a 9" woofer with no magnet or voice coil attached. I assume this is for some kind of bass response improvement or something. the other is that ther is what is labeled an "interconnect" with a diagram showing a stereo pair with a connection of a spade and a pin joining the two speakers directly. Weird. Have any of you owned Polks like these before? are they worth keeping? I may have them checked out by a local speaker shop to see if I should replace the CV mains I am currently using (DX-3). The cabinets and covering is a bit beat up, but I thought it might be a fun project and make them look VERY distinctive to cover the cabinets with a hard surface laminate to match the dark burgundy paint on the screen wall. Couldn't help to improve the looks of them a bit. They have seen a bit of banging around, but structurally they seem pretty good, with the cones and rubber surrounds in nice shape.
    Any input? Should I just throw em out? or relegate them to the garage?




    Now, I will be soldering the loose coil from one of the xovers back into place and zip tying it down, constructing an IC this weekend andputting them through a few paces, so to speak.
    should I throw these ol speakers in
    the garbage?
  • nadams
    nadams Posts: 5,877
    edited March 2005
    The loose coil appears to be a common problem on older Polk crossovers.

    Whatever you do, don't send these out to the garage. They're meant for serious listening. If you're going to garage them, for the sake of the speakers, sell 'em to me!
    Ludicrous gibs!
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    edited March 2005
    You have a pair of SDA CRS+, a very nice bookshelf speaker which are actually suppose to sit on custom stands. Much, much better than any CV speaker. I'm not clear on why you want to solder the coil back on, it should sit on some stand off posts. Is there a broken wire? The 10" driver on the back side is called a passive radiator, it helps produce the low end. When set up, do not toe in, you want them parallel to the back wall and about 5" to 10" from the back wall for the best bass response. Contact Polk for a owners manual, it'll explain everything.

    Do NOT disgrace those speakers with some colored laminate, fix them right with new veneer if needed.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • replicant
    replicant Posts: 6
    edited March 2005
    The coil was actually banging around inside the cabinet, wires and tie straps having both broken. the standoffs are 3/4 good, one of them has a busted tip, but the other 3 should hold it in there just fine.
    Jury is currently out as far as the cosmetics on the cabinet. It looks not much like veneer, but almost like vinyl, I haven't scraped one of the damaged corners up to check. I have never veneered before, but I am familiar with the process, and they might look quite nice with some real red oak on them. or maybe birch.....
    Shrugs.
    should I throw these ol speakers in
    the garbage?
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    edited March 2005
    Yep, those coils do pop off some times, usually in shipping. Sounds like you're on top of that situation. Polk did make some of their speakers with a vinyl "wood grain" covering, but no reason you couldn't have them redone in wood veneer or have new vinyl applied, just don't cover them with colored laminate, please!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,708
    edited March 2005
    To give you an idea of what yours could look like, here's a link to a restored pair.

    http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26009&highlight=crs

    They are the older SDA CRS with two tweeters.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk