SDA 1 potential purchase...

punk-roc

There's an SDA1 pair for sale in the area.. I'm pretty sure its just a SDA1, i'm requesting more information about the speaker (the picture is just of the front with grill cover on).

I've been wanting to try out a pair of SDAs for a while. I was holding out for some 1C's, but are these potential 1's or 1A's worth my time? Not a lot of SDAs go for sale in my area and was thinking these SDA's (if they can be gotten for a decent deal) might help tide me over.

People here seem to say that the 1/1A's are the least desireable.. should i just hold out for 1C's? Just looking for some random opinions, doesn't seem like many Polk folk's have/like the SDA1's

Jason

punk-roc

Well, I was contemplating doing the upgrades once I got a pair of SDAs (making it a slowish/incremental project)..

Thanks for the input.. Just curious what others thought about this situation.. maybe I should just hold out..

Thanks anonymouse

Jason

fishbones

anonymouse wrote: »

My personal take is you should venture into SDA's only if you are prepared to make the investment to mod them. I know there are plenty of folks on here who love their SDA's stock, but I'm not one of them. Now are the 1A's moddable? Absolutely. Would you want to drop serious coin on them vs. the 1C's. Thats another question altogether. At the entry level, I'd rather drop coin on the 2B's, CRS+ or 1C's. My personal favorite is the CRS+. I have owned 1C's as well.

Why the CRS+?
a) They are small. They do not have to dominate a room aesthetically.
b) Having a single tweeter IMHO is good for acoustics. I thought the high end with the 1Cs was a little smeared... and I feel thats because the tweeter was not a point source
c) They can be TLed with the RD0198 tweeter, which I preferred to the RD0194
d) Obviously a single tweeter reduces the cost of an upgrade significantly
e) Does not take much power at all to drive

Now will they fill a huge room? No, but 99% of my listening is in a modest sized room at very low volumes where clarity matters much more than loudness.

I also see you have a Nova. I use a Decco with my CRS+. You will not need the TFM with the CRS+ or SDA2's.

Oh, now you guys are just confusing me! I was all set on wanting 1C's

Bobsama

CRS+'s and 1C's are both very nice speakers. I liked the CRS+'s though they were a touch bass-shy compared to its bigger siblings. The issue with CRS+'s is getting them setup properly--most people don't have the original stands so you'd have to fabricate a set for yourself. The blueprints for that are here on CP, but it's still additional work.

wayne3burk

Location: Washington

I take it you're in washington state -- not washington DC.

If you was in DC i'd unload my 1C studios on ya

-- wayne --

Joe08867

I would go SDA1's over CRS+ Any day of the week. I get the idea of a smaller footprint but the SDA1's sound awesome in my opinion. And they are what I consider the middle of the SDA line so you get a good all around sound from them.
CRS+, SDA2, SDA1, 2.3, 3.1, 1.2Tl. Is what I mean by middle of the line.

How much are they asking?

punk-roc

Yeah, I am in Washington state Thanks for the offer though wayne! And to everyone else for the advice

Jason

Bobsama

On a side-note, CRS+'s actually have a bigger footprint than SDA-1's and SDA-2's. Optimally, there should be nothing beneath the speakers. They're still smaller than SRS's, though.

punk-roc

So here is the only picture I have of these SDA 1's.. I'm going to take a look at them tonight..

I am no expert, but from searching this forum and polksda.com, etc - the only thing I can figure out is that these are probably not 1C's right (since I haven't see a picture of the SDA 1C's with the "pedestal" type bottom?

He wants $250 for them, supposedly first owner and well taken care of..

My thought was that I'd probably pass if they turn out to be the 1B's since upgrade tweeters are hard to find..

This seem reasonable or should am I out of my mind?

punk-roc

P.S. He says he has the original IC cable too

Schurkey

Not a thing "wrong" with 1Bs. At $250, they're a steal. Far as I'm concerned, they're the equivalent of speakers costing thousands--provided you upgrade the crossovers, and assure that all the drivers are working as intended.

When upgrading the crossovers, install the 5.8 mF cap instead of the 4.4 or 4.2 or whatever, and use the RDO 198 tweeters.

Bobsama

For that price, I'd take them if they were any version except original SDA-1's (I have a pair of those already).

punk-roc

once i figured out he wanted $250 for them with the IC cable, i was more open to purchasing them regardless of which SDA they ended up being (as long as everything was in good condition).

Since i dont have that fancy SDA compendium, its hard to sort out exactly what type of SDA it is (even if i knew the IC type, tweeter, etc)

If they are in good shape i'll probably just pick them up and give them a go.. and once i get them home i can take better pictures and sort out what they are

Jason

punk-roc

So I got them.. they are SDA2's not SDA1's... so i might have overpaid a bit.. but thats ok. The speakers themselves look to be in good shape, the cabinets have spots on the top from plants being set on them =/

Only one previous owner who bought them from a hifi shop in Germany, years ago... One of the speaker posts on the left speaker is broken off, so i have to fix that.. but otherwise, they look good

here they are:

fishbones

Congrats! I'm jealous...but hopefully not for long.

Joe08867

These are the exact same speakers I have. OMG are you in for a treat if you do the upgrades. They absolutely sing.

One piece of advice. If the sound becomes tiring on your ears it is most likely dimensional tweeter. I disconnected mine years ago and have loved them more ever since. Not that they are bad with but the sound can be a bit gritty with the dimensional tweeter. Especially when playing certain CD's.

Have fun with them. They are great speakers.

danger boy

punk-roc wrote: »

So I got them.. they are SDA2's not SDA1's... so i might have overpaid a bit.. but thats ok. The speakers themselves look to be in good shape, the cabinets have spots on the top from plants being set on them =/

Only one previous owner who bought them from a hifi shop in Germany, years ago... One of the speaker posts on the left speaker is broken off, so i have to fix that.. but otherwise, they look good

here they are:

Let me know if you need any help setting them up... and yeah I recommend either not using the SDA cable or unpluggin the demensional tweeter, as already recommended.

they are fine speakers and congrats on your first pair of SDA's

punk-roc

I'll let you know I gotta get the speaker post fixed first.. I'm excited though..

Jason

whatthehell

danger boy wrote: »

Let me know if you need any help setting them up... and yeah I recommend either not using the SDA cable or unpluggin the demensional tweeter, as already recommended.

they are fine speakers and congrats on your first pair of SDA's

I have a pair new to me too, why do you recommend not using the the SDA interconnect cable?

azlane

I dug up this old post when I was looking for info on Polk SDA II speakers. I have a pair I bought new in the mid 80's and I am trying to figure out how much they may be worth if I try to sell them. I would be interested in what everyone believes is a fair market price. I am the only owner and they work fine (I have the interconnect cable but not the boxes.).

Thanks,
Drew in Tucson