Differences between SDA2 SDA2a and SDA2b?

F1nut

fafner wrote: »

My existing SDA's have blade/blade interconncect cables.

I have also found an issue with the 2nd speaker of the "new" pair. The tweeter just seems to "buzz" and the 12" woofer doesn't seem to work at all. I am also going to open it up tomorrow.


fafner

Ah, in that case you have the early 2B's.

The tweeter could simply be bad, swap a good one in its place and see if the buzz goes away.

The PR has most likely separated at the rear. You will have to reglue the styrofoam disc to the pleated paper. Use wood glue.

Conradicles

F1nut wrote: »

Use wood glue.

Wisdom from the Wood Ninja.:D

fafner

I guess the thing that is bothering me the most about the speakers is why the volume output is so low compared to my other SDA's. Since I do not have the correct interconnect cable for them, that might be one factor. But I have never noticed this issue on the few occasions I have the internect cable was disconnected from my other 2 pairs.

Any particular thoughts on this?

fafner

fafner

Also, is there an experienced Polker in Cincinnati where I am who could help me take a look inside and try to figure out what is wrong?

fafner

ben62670

Your Poly switches may be going on the crossover.

fafner

One last question before I go to bed. I know I can just remove the PR by taking out the screws. I have also been told that removing the tweeter is simply unscrewing it and then taking apart the Plug&Play connector that then lets me remove it. I also know I will see an assembly where the binding posts and the interconnect cable which will be presumbly be screwed/glued to the back wall of the case. If I remove the mid woofers, will the come out as simply as the tweeter? And lastly what else will I see inside the case and should these parts be left as is or also removed so basically the box is totally empty?

Thanks again for all my newbie quesions.

fafner

fafner

Well I have found 3 problems with one speaker: The magnet was detached from the tweeter and one of its wires was also disconnected. Those have been fixed. Lastly, the circuit board is held down by only one of the plastic stand-offs; the others have the tips broken off. Does any have any advice on how to fix this? Thanks.

fafner

fafner

No one has told me to shut up yet so I will tell you what I found with the 2nd speaker. All four of the stand offs on the circuit board were broken and the wires to the inductor were disconnected. I connected the wires, leaned the board against the side of the box, hooked it up and tested it. All I heard was buzz/hissing sound. I thought it might be a bad tweeter so I exchanged the tweeters and still only hissing/buzzing.

I'm guessing that something on the circuit board is bad but visual comparison showed no diffenences between the two. Is it possible to buy a complete circuit board as I have no interest in trying to fix it my self or spend money to have a technician fix it?

fafner

fbm211

They dont have those Xovers anymore.(polk)You would have to have them rebuilt but think of it as a good investment to get them rebuilt with quality caps and resistors.They will last for many years and sound better than original.There are a few members here that could rebuild the crossovers for you at a reasonable cost.And SDA speakers are worth the investment.

fafner

Thanks. Who would be able to do that and about how much would it cost? Should I have both of them done or just that appears to be bad?

fafner

fafner

Would you believe it? A pair of SDA2's is available about a mile from my house from a one-owner person. He is bringing them over for me to listen to tomorrow night. The price is great. If these sound fine, I will buy them and then put the SDA2B Classic's up for sale for some who wants to fix them or have them fixed. The price will not be high at all. So I can't post them for sale in the Flea Market until I know if I will buy the ones tomorrow night. In the meantime if anyone within driving distance of Cincinnati has any interest, please send me a PM. Thanks.

fafner

heiney9

If I might ask what is a SDB2's? or the 2B Classic's?

fafner

heiney9 wrote: »

If I might ask what is a SDB2's? or the 2B Classic's?

I apologize for two mispellings. What I will be looking at is SDA 2b's. What I might have for sale is SDA 2b Classics.....the black all wood version.

Sorry. I have corrected the spelling.

fafner

fafner wrote: »

Would you believe it? A pair of SDA2's is available about a mile from my house from a one-owner person. He is bringing them over for me to listen to tomorrow night. The price is great. If these sound fine, I will buy them and then put the SDA2B Classic's up for sale for some who wants to fix them or have them fixed. The price will not be high at all. So I can't post them for sale in the Flea Market until I know if I will buy the ones tomorrow night. In the meantime if anyone within driving distance of Cincinnati has any interest, please send me a PM. Thanks.

fafner

Sorry where I type SDA2b Classic's I should have typed "SDA2B STUDIOS"

I hope that makes more sense.

fafner

cincycat13

Fafner,

Are those the ones listed in anderson/east side? I really had to crush my hoarding monster when I saw those pop up last night. Hope they rock for you! Then you can grab the $700 15TLs in Loveland
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/ele/1714613258.html
and have us over for a listening party!

fafner

Yup those are the ones. Not interested in the 15TL's tho....i'm stuck on SDA2's and they are stuck on me

You can hoard up on my parlty broke pair of SDA2 Studios for a cheap price and satisfy that monster

fafner

fafner

I am continuing to diagnose the problem with the "bad" speaker in my pair of SDA2b Studios. One thing I have noticed, however, is that the "good" speaker has slightly less volume output and a slightly brighter timbre that my other SDA2B's. I seem to recall that the Studio series has a different arrangement of mid-woofers and and wondering if that might be due to that factor. Does this ring a bell with anyone else?

fafner

heiney9

fafner wrote: »

I seem to recall that the Studio series has a different arrangement of mid-woofers and and wondering if that might be due to that factor. Does this ring a bell with anyone else?

fafner

No, later 2A's and all 2B's had the same driver configuration. 2 mid-woofs, side by side and one tweet. The non-studio 2B's had nicer cabinets, not only visually but better internal support.

Earlier I wondered why you wanted to "rescue" these but then I was under the impression they were "original" 2's, the later 2A's and any 2B's are worthy of rescue. I hope you get things sorted out.

H9

fluffy

cincycat13 wrote: »

Fafner,

Are those the ones listed in anderson/east side? I really had to crush my hoarding monster when I saw those pop up last night. Hope they rock for you! Then you can grab the $700 15TLs in Loveland
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/ele/1714613258.html
and have us over for a listening party!

fafner wrote: »

Yup those are the ones. Not interested in the 15TL's tho....i'm stuck on SDA2's and they are stuck on me

You can hoard up on my parlty broke pair of SDA2 Studios for a cheap price and satisfy that monster

fafner

well so much for my road trip to cincinatti today... :mad:

fafner

I believe I have found the problem. The mid-woofers in the "bad" speakers are from an SDA CRS while in the "good speakers" they are original. I exchanged the midwoofers back and forth and the CRS drivers always failed to work and the SDA ones always worked. Interestingly both are labeled MW 6503 on the non-dimensional driver and MW 6511 on the original driver but the bad ones have printed on the label "Engineered for SDA CRS" while the good ones have nothing like that at all.

I talked to Polk CS and they basically said they had no idea if the CRS MW drivers should work in the SDA 2B Studio's that I have. They said new drivers would cost about $100 for both including my forum discount with free shipping.

Before I buy new drivers, I would love to hear from someone about my reasoning as outlined above. I also will be looking for MW 6503 and MW 6511 specifically from SDA2B speakers. Let me know if any of you have either or both and I will post in the flea market soon.

Thanks.

fafner

comfortablycurt

heiney9 wrote: »

No, later 2A's and all 2B's had the same driver configuration. 2 mid-woofs, side by side and one tweet. The non-studio 2B's had nicer cabinets, not only visually but better internal support.

Earlier I wondered why you wanted to "rescue" these but then I was under the impression they were "original" 2's, the later 2A's and any 2B's are worthy of rescue. I hope you get things sorted out.

H9

I'm pretty sure that all of the 2A's had the dual MW, single tweeter configuration...not just the later ones. It was just the original SDA 2's that had 3 MW's and dual tweets.

fbm211

If your going to get new mid drivers I reccomend you get all new ones.If you dont, one speaker will sound totally different than the other.

F1nut

My head is starting to spin......

The magnet was detached from the tweeter

It's toast, buy a new one.

I seem to recall that the Studio series has a different arrangement of mid-woofers and and wondering if that might be due to that factor.

Nope, exactly the same. The regular 2B version is actually the 2B Studio version wrapped in the nicer cabinet. There is no internal difference. Polk did the same thing with the 1C Studio version and the regular 1C version.

The mid-woofers in the "bad" speakers are from an SDA CRS while in the "good speakers" they are original. I exchanged the midwoofers back and forth and the CRS drivers always failed to work and the SDA ones always worked. Interestingly both are labeled MW 6503 on the non-dimensional driver and MW 6511 on the original driver but the bad ones have printed on the label "Engineered for SDA CRS" while the good ones have nothing like that at all.

Ignore what the speaker model says of the back of the drivers, it makes no difference. The only info that matters is the part number. In your case, you have the correct MW6503/MW6511 drivers, but you have some bad ones and they need to be replaced.

fafner

Believe me my head is spinning too. I have a friend up the street who does audio repair work. If I take one good driver and one driver to him will he be able to somehow confirm that one is bad and one is good?

BTW, I just glued the magnet back on the tweeter and it sounds fine.

fafner

fafner

fbm211 wrote: »

If your going to get new mid drivers I reccomend you get all new ones.If you dont, one speaker will sound totally different than the other.

I know what you are thinking but I doubt it will sound "totally" different. It is also a money question.

fafner

fbm211

Well ok but let me add that I replaced the drivers in one speaker (2Bs) and after listening.............three days later I had 2 more drivers for the other speaker.

fafner

Did you buy all four new from Polk?

fafner

comfortablycurt

fbm211 wrote: »

If your going to get new mid drivers I reccomend you get all new ones.If you dont, one speaker will sound totally different than the other.

fafner wrote: »

I know what you are thinking but I doubt it will sound "totally" different. It is also a money question.

fafner

fbm211 wrote: »

Well ok but let me add that I replaced the drivers in one speaker (2Bs) and after listening.............three days later I had 2 more drivers for the other speaker.

FWIW, when I got my 2A's one of the drivers had been replaced by a newer one. The aesthetic differences always bugged me, so I tracked down an original 6510 to replace the newer one. I wasn't expecting any kind of a sonic difference, but I'll be damned if it didn't sound better.

The driver in question was in my left speaker. The bass response in my room had always seemed stronger on the right side, which I always chalked up to room issues. After I swapped the drivers, I almost immediately noticed that my bass response was quite a bit more balanced across the sound stage. The original MW's seemed to have slightly more excursion than the newer replacements as well. My bass response is now just as strong on the left as it is on the right.


That being said, I don't think using one new replacement driver is going to make one speaker sound totally different. I was still very happy with my speakers before I swapped the driver to an original.

fafner

Thanks Curt. While I haven't been on this board long, I fhave ound just about every post has been worthwile. I generally hope that people don't hold back their thoughts for fear of them being considered useless...so long as they are posted politely of course:)

fafner

comfortablycurt

No problem.

By the way, I checked my SDA 2A's serial numbers last night. On the back of the cabinet itself, it shows the model number as "SDA 2". On the serial number plate, the model is shown as "SDA II". There isn't any letter designation afterwords. I'm not sure if this is the same for 2B's or not.