You guys will feel my pain...

Hol

Here’s the story. It’s long, bare with me:
I’m the wife. I have been told by a number of people that, I’m an audiophile. I don’t really know what that means. I know, I have a very good sense of hearing and I’m pretty particular when it comes to music. My husband and I were lucky enough to get some good advice when purchasing our first system years ago.
Adcom pre amp and receiver with a Klipsch 10” sub and Infinity bookshelves.
I eventually blew those Infinities. My husband brought home some Kenwood floor speakers. They were ok, I guess, not really. I found an awesome job working for a music distributer. I work with a bunch of people that love music. That’s when it happened: I overheard someone talking about getting ready to move out of state. They had these speakers they needed to sell. I sat there and listened. He wanted 400 bucks for a pair of Polk Audio SDA 1C with the wood and the cable. I had no idea what that was but, I had a feeling I wanted to know. I went home and looked them up online. I asked my husband, what do you think? He said, let’s get them. I bought them the next day for 350. AND FELL IN LOVE!
We had just moved and we were renovating our house. I built my whole fireplace wall around these speakers. All I was concerned about was speaker placement. I have a townhouse, it’s a loft; my master bedroom is open to the living room. I have wood floors and a vaulted wood ceiling. The sound imaging (if that’s the correct term) in my house is phenomenal. A few years in, we got an HD flat screen to put above the fire place. My husband started pushing to “upgrade” the Adcom. We “needed” surround sound. He went out and got an Onkyo 7.1 surround and a bunch of little Klipsch’s. He hooked up the little Klipsch’s with the Polk’s and the 10” Klipsch Sub. I knew instantly this was not an upgrade. The Onkyo did not sound as good as the Adcom. For three years, I have whined and pouted about the music quality end of our system. A few months ago, the hubby told me he’s been talking to a guy that does home theater set up for a living. He suggested we get a Denon. The hubby said, we would get it with our next tax refund and I would be happy again.
I live in Florida; do you know that Florida is the lightening capitol of the WORLD? Last Friday my satellite dish took a direct hit. EVERYTHING that was connected to the network was FRIED, including my SDA’s. I’m heartbroken (only because of the speakers) and NO ONE around me is feeling my pain. I have insurance and I will eventually be paid, something. My husband has promised we will get something better. After reading these boards for a couple of days, I’m convinced there is nothing better. I’ve checked ebay and craigslist, nothing. Well, there’s one pair of SRS’s but, I can’t afford that. I know, you guys know, how bad this sucks. What am I going to do?
Thanks for reading my rant,
Holly

F1nut

Welcome to Club Polk.

Have you inspected the crossovers? Do the drivers move at all?

concealer404

Give us a budget to work with, we love to spend other people's money.

Welcome!

Log1x

I'm very sorry (devastated, even) to hear about your mishap. Like the post above me said, if you supply a budget, member's here thoroughly enjoy helping one another out in terms of getting a satisfying audio experience.

If you feel that you will NOT be happy without another pair of 1C's, I would not lose hope. I've been seeing them on eBay quite frequently lately in the $280-350 range, local pick-up, of course. I would keep your eyes open and frequently check eBay, the Club Polk marketplace, and use keywords on Google to try and snatch Craigslist deals (e.g. "inurl:craigslist.org SDA 1C").

Good luck!
Brandon

hearingimpared

Welcome to Club Polk!

thsmith

What F1 said. Oh yeah and welcome to CP.

The 1Cs may not be that damaged. Check that the mid woofers move freely. Tweeters can be replaced or upgraded to the 194s.

Crossovers may have some burned out caps or resisters which upgrading those will greatly improve your 1Cs anyway.

As far as AVRs go they are fine for HT but I use a preamp to feed my analog for music.

AVR has to have preouts to feed the main into the preamp, TT and CDP feeds the preamp and I use a 2 channel amp to feed the mains.

WOrks great for me and no way my AVR sounds as good as my Preamp and amp for music.

I have a Denon AVR and they are ok.

ShinAce

F1nut wrote: »

Welcome to Club Polk.

Have you inspected the crossovers? Do the drivers move at all?

I'm with F1nut!!!

I don't think the speakers are fried. Try to borrow an amp from a friend or neighbor and see if the speakers will play.

Before you do that, lightly push on the speakers and make sure they move fuildly. If they feel seized up or you feel any grinding, then they're bad or going bad. If they all feel ok, hook those puppies up to a borrowed amp and make em play. If they play, then the internal parts of the speakers are probably good. You'll hear a problem if one exists.

Good luck! And welcome to Club Polk.

halo71

Welcome to CP! I wish my wife was into audio like you!

tonyb

A woman who knows what she likes....I dig it. Wait for that insurance check then go shopping. The polks will come up, and maybe a good time to upgrade the pre too. Look for an older Dodd, cary, conrad johnson, once you try a tubed pre on those SDA's, you'll fall further in love. Also, have a garage sale on stuff you may have just collecting dust. That way you'll have the max amount to go shopping with.

Hol

Thanks guys! You've given me hope. I'm going home for lunch right now, I'm going to check them out a little closer. I let my friend set up the adcom at his auto garage. I guess I'll be an indian giver and ask for it back. Just to check the speakers, of course. I don't know what kind of budget I'll be working with yet. I'll let you know when I do!

Schurkey

I'm no electrician, but I don't understand how a lightning strike can fry a pair of speakers. Maybe I'm an idiot.

Was the system in use during the lightning strike??? Was there a REALLY LOUD NOISE from the speakers? If not, you need a batch of fuses in your electronic equipment; maybe there's genuine circuit damage in the amps and source components--but I bet the speakers are fine.

Bobsama

Welcome to CP! But yeah, have you gotta budget and have you gotten around to seeing if the speakers work? Even a $50 receiver will tell you if the speakers still work. Also, check the rest of your equipment for fuses and replace them. I've picked some stuff up that people thought was dead but just needed new fuses. Figure out what's working and what isn't, scrounge eBay or Craigslist for cheap equipment to test with. If you find that you do need to replace some stuff, I've found that Audio Classics and Audiogon are good alternatives to big-box stores and eBay/Craigslist (though you'll still want to cruise ePay & Craplist)

Tony M

I hate lightning:mad:

It's a shame you had to join the forum under this circumstance.
I agree with the others that your speakers might be alright.:)

Good to see another woman who loves the Polk sound. I've seen quite a few female smiles demonstrating the SRS2s for their husbands or just a female friend or neighbor that took the time to sit for a few minutes.

Welcome to the forum.

bluecomet

Welcome to CP. I have to agree with everyone. I doubt if the speakers are fried and if anything if blown it can be fixed. If you love 1C's you can resurrect them with the help of the club. When you get an AVR make sure you get one with pre-outs so you can at least get an amp to run your front mains which will be your 1C's. Find an AVR with pure direct or something similiar for pure stereo sound for your 1C's to lesson to music. We will have you back up and running better than new in no time. You came to the right place.

snow

Welcome to CP. First off after seeing if the speakers work have your husband climb up on the roof and install a Lightning rod who knows you may get lucky and he will fall Next I would look for whatever is both valuable and important to hubby and sell it to get money for a new system.

REGARD SNOW

SivaNevets

welcome to club polk.
trying to help to understand more abt audio equipment.

1. with a decent surge protecter ull have much higher chance to save ur equipment from lightening. a budget good surge protecter is like this
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BP112230-08-Pivot-Plug-Surge-Protectors/dp/B000JE9LD4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1281549156&sr=8-3
higher joule is better, 4000 joule is VERY SAFE.


2. seprate amp is usually much better than the amp from a receiver. Onkyo makes nice receivers, receivers do better at blueray movies etc, has many features.

3. for music, expect multichannel SACDs, majority of audiophile stick with 2 channel system for music.

4. 5.1/7.1 surrounds are for bluray films.

5. klipsch and polk are very very different (almost sound opposite) speakers, they dont sound good together. if you want surround for better home theatre effect, get polk.

6. all entry level klipsch sub (synergy, reference) sound boomy to me, and they are not good for music. try some others u may like them.

7. for $400 dollars u cant really find anything close as good as polk vintage SDAs. ull probably looking to spend 2~3k and up for something significantly better. so try to fix yours.

8. let us know how much u willing to spend

inspiredsports

Welcome to Club Polk, Holly

I definitely feel your pain, but have not had a mishap for more than a decade with proper isolation installed. With some patience, the crew here should be able to help you repair/rebuild the 1C's, but it may take a few dollars.

vc69

Welcome Holly,

I would imagine, as has been mentioned, that your speakers are going to be ok. These guys know their SDA's. You will back in audio bliss before you know it.

Good Luck!

cfrizz

Welcome Holly from one woman to another. These guys will either have you up & running in no time, or BROKE in no time!:D

Cathy

amulford

Don't worry, we know how to hook a sister up... Welcome to the party!;)

Hol

Good news, the drivers move. I told the hubby, I wanted to get the Adcom so we could check the crossovers. He gave me a perplexed look and asked, "Do you even know what the crossovers are?" To which I replied, "No, but my new friends at Club Polk are going to help me self educate!" He just shook his head and grinned. Then he explained what the crossovers are.

Schurkey, this is what happened: The storm came in quick and hard, not uncommon for down here. Everything was on. I was sitting on the couch with one of the Klipsch about two feet away from my head. My husband was sitting next to me with the laptop in his lap. We also had a friend on the other couch. We had a surge. Everything was still ok, something was said about turning off the computers, then there was an incredibly loud buzz (almost like the sound a zip line makes only louder), this lasted maybe 10-15 seconds, we all just kind of looked at each other like, what is that? It was followed by an even louder pop. When that happened, the Klipsch by my head threw out a bright white flash. I couldn't hear for 20-30 seconds. All of my hair was on end and I had a very strange tingling feeling. I did not like it. Hubby said the cord from the laptop shocked him. The friend was sitting across from me and confirmed the flash came out of that speaker.

Snow: He's a good guy. We just don't hear ear to ear on this subject. Personally I think he's going deaf, I'm constantly on him to turn the TV down. Besides, I need him around to help me move these speakers. They weigh almost as much as I do. He will help me fix them. He may not want to but, he will. He still thinks we can get something better. Silly boy.

dpowell

Welcome to the club! Glad to hear the drivers are OK. I wouldn't check the XO's because you might discover they are OK and miss out on an opportunity to send them to Ben to have the Caps and resistors "replaced" with Sonicaps and Mills.

Polkersince85

Wecome to the forum, Holly. In three posts you have said more and made more common sense than most of us will in a year. You may want to ask your insurance agent about an inspection of the house wiring while you are at it. A surge like that can play havoc with a lot of things. Don't settle too quick.

Take your time on the system and get something that will power those 1C's properly. I think you can convince him that he(you) made the right decision.

george daniel

Toobs

inspiredsports

george daniel wrote: »

Toobs

I second the motion!

Fongolio

Welcome to Club Polk. I know I would cry if my 1C's got fried. I really hope yours are ok or at least repairable which it sounds like they are. Hanging around here can lead to audio bliss but it can also lead to seriously diminished bank account balances. That said I hope you hang around. There's some great people here.

Kelvin

texas ed

welcome to CP and sorry about your bad luck. Eddie

cnh

WELCOME TO CLUB POLK!

Where are all you 'Floridians' when someone needs a bit of help? I know we have some members NOT too far away from you.

cnh

dpowell

inspiredsports wrote: »

I second the motion!

Motion carries! Toobs it is!

kawizx9r

Welcome to CP!

I too vote tubes

Bobsama

kawizx9r wrote: »

Welcome to CP!

I too vote tubes

I shall vote tube pre and Mac power.