SDA 2 - Very Bright and unimpressive Low End.. What am I doing wrong

kchilaka

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

I love the summary in the damping factor article... choosing an amp based on damping factor is like choosing a sports car because it's red instead of black. You might still end up with a good car, but for a completely irrelevant reason. I can live with that!

Now I really want to try one of these Panny's, if they had pre-outs it'd be a slam dunk. I guess they just ran out of space on the back of the little bugger. Are they still available new anywhere or do you have to look for them on the used market?

This is unlikely to be your issue, but when I got my SDA 2's the interconnect sockets on them had been manhandled enough that the plastic of the socket had broken in a few spots. Without the plastic keeping the contacts inside the socket tight, the interconnect cable wasn't making good contact. When I would mess with them, or run them loud enough for wall shaking, I would get drop-outs on the dimensional drivers. I just thought of it because you mentioned one speaker sounding louder than the other, which was how I figured out there was an obvious problem.

One way to know for sure whether the dimensionals are working or not is to adjust the balance all the way one direction or the other. When the balance is all the way right, you should still hear sound in the left speaker and vice versa (not at full volume of course because you'll only be hearing the dimensionals). If you don't hear the opposite speaker your interconnect has issues. One thing that surprised me was that the interconnect could be working in one direction and not the other.

Well. About the Pre-outs on the Panny. The point of having a digital-path receiver is to keep the audio stream digital from the inputs through processing to the amplification without any d/a conversion (Conversion happens during amplification: Google PWM amplifiers). While a pre-out can provide an upgrade path for amplification, it no longer reflects the quality of the digital path amplification so that might well be the reasoning at Panasonic for eliminating the pre-outs. Of course, having 7 channel top quality DACS is not cheap..

Joe08867

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Now I really want to try one of these Panny's, if they had pre-outs it'd be a slam dunk. I guess they just ran out of space on the back of the little bugger. Are they still available new anywhere or do you have to look for them on the used market?

All of the XR models have stereo pre-outs.

On3s&Z3r0s

Joe08867 wrote: »

All of the XR models have stereo pre-outs.

Are you sure? I was looking at the product manual for the SA-XR55, and I don't see pre-outs on any of the pictures of the back panel. Stereo pre-outs would do the job for me cause I'd either drive fronts with a different amp and let the Panny drive the rest of the channels, or maybe just use it for 2-channel. I'd definitely give it a go with just the receiver providing all the amplification but I'd like the flexibility to play around down the line. I see stereo RCA outputs for a tape or DVD recorder, but usually those aren't going to respond to the volume control.

I've found one available for $200 used. Is that reasonable for an XR55s?

Joe08867

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Are you sure? I was looking at the product manual for the SA-XR55, and I don't see pre-outs on any of the pictures of the back panel. Stereo pre-outs would do the job for me cause I'd either drive fronts with a different amp and let the Panny drive the rest of the channels, or maybe just use it for 2-channel. I'd definitely give it a go with just the receiver providing all the amplification but I'd like the flexibility to play around down the line. I see stereo RCA outputs for a tape or DVD recorder, but usually those aren't going to respond to the volume control.

I've found one available for $200 used. Is that reasonable for an XR55s?

To be honest it says it has them in the literature but I can't find them on any pics. I know my XR45 has a second adiou out that is a pre-out but I don't see it on the 55's.

kchilaka

So I think The SDA2s have earned my respect over the last 2 months. I have compared them to my mid-fi Sony SS-TX7S and B&W DM1600 bookshelfs. The Sony positively sounds muffled and was no comparison. The B&w DM1600 on the other hand were a better match. The tweeter is very smooth but the overall balance of the b&w was too warm for me. The highs are restrained and the speakers have an annoying mid-bass hump when running full range. They are rated to only 70hz but their mid bass is overpowering. Could be a placement issue in my room but that's the best I could do without putting the speakers 5 ft from the front wall. Running them crossed over with a sub at 80hz got rid of the boominess but I could never get the combo to sound right. Most important though, the B&Ws could not match the resolution of the Sda2s in the mid and upper mid region . After listening to the b&w sat/sub combo I realized that I far preferred the full range sound that the sda2s offered with their ultra musical and precise bass. These are truly very very nice speakers and I am now a believer. I will continue in my quest to find affordable speakers I like better than the Sda2s but I think I am going to spend upward of $500 for a pair of really nice bookshelfs that can match the open airy sound of these awesome polks. In the meantime I will keep my eyes open for a pair of the larger SDA speakers.

brgman

I want to try unhooking the one tweeter. Is the left or right tweet the dimensional when facing the front?Can anyone help me on that?

phocion

brgman wrote: »

I want to try unhooking the one tweeter. Is the left or right tweet the dimensional when facing the front?Can anyone help me on that?

I believe that the dimensional tweeter is the outside tweeter, so far right on the right channel, and far left on the left channel.

Edit: User manual from the SDA1 pp16 should hold true for your speakers as well, labels the outside tweeters as the dimensional. http://www.polksda.com/pdfs/SDA1.pdf

kchilaka

I know this thread is old but I had to update my opinion on the lowend of these speakers. All Along it was the lack of oomph in the receiver. I finally upgraded to a yamaha rx-v1800. The amp section on this receiver is a beast it seems like cause now these speakers shake the house down. The bass is thunderous . I imagine things might get better(not sure how it can get better though) with an even beefier amp. All in all, the sda-2b is a very capable full range speaker.

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

Couple of things.

1) For "brightness," some people simply can't stand the older SL1000 / SL2000 polk tweeters. Apparently, somewhere around 12-13 kHz, there's a significant dB spike; This may be what you're hearing. The solution it seems is to replace the stock tweeters with the newer, RDO-194 tweeter. Never heard the 194 in person, so can't speak personally about it's awesomeness.

2) For the bass, because the SDA line, and much of Polk's older offerings are sealed enclosures, and rely on the passive radiator, cabinet pressurization is very important. The best way to check to see if you are losing air somewhere is by pressing down on the center of the passive radiator, watching the midwoofers extend, and counting how long it takes from them to retract back in. Generally speaking, should be ballpark 4-10 seconds, but definitely not "immediately."

Not sure if this would help in either department, but 10 feet is a great distance to have them apart, but it seems you're having to put them awfully close to the corners. I personally would bring them a bit further out from the side walls, maybe to 2 feet off the sides (so, 8 feet apart.)

Hope this helps. The SDA2 is a fine speaker (I owned a pair as my second set of SDA's), but I think many here will tell you the later revisions of the SDA line were quite superior.

All said, you have some nice speakers, and if for what ever reason you end up not being happy with them, I think you'd have no problem selling them on CL/eBay.

ben62670

Try an amp. Don't look at watt specs. There are plenty of recommendations here if you use the search function. Don't bother reading past the first page it always turns into a pissing match.
Merry Christmas
Ben

F1nut

If yours do not recede for a minute, you've got problems.

ben62670

You are fine if they take a while to recede. The idea is that they don't receed too quickly to produce the correct bass. Just make sure none of your drivers are sized.
Merry Christmas
Ben

F1nut

When you push in on the PR and hold it, the mid-drivers should start to slowly recede pretty much right away, taking 3-5 seconds to stop receding until you release the PR. Even though they are a sealed design, air moves thru the dust caps.

ben62670

I agree. I think there is a time discrepancy.
Merry Christmas
Ben