Raw Newbie using SDA 2As

harcon6567

I know almost nothing about audio/video surround sound stuff, but I would like to have such a system. Please expain to me in the same terms you would use with you 5 yr old.

I have 2 SDA 2A speakers from an old system that I never understood. I donated the amps etc. so i just have the speakers.
I gathered from some other thread that SDA's may be hard to use because they require so much amplification.

Questions:
1 How much amplifications do they need?
2. Are receivers available that will drive the 2A's as well as other surround speakers?
3. How expensive would such a receiver be?
4. would I be better off to just sell the 2A's and buy a surround system in a box?

Harry Allen

drselect

Welcome to CP Harry.
I don't own a pair of 2As but do own a pair of SDA CRS+
It may help to answer your questions with some more infomation:
Are you looking for a home theater setup or just for listening to music?
How big of room will you be using for your system?
Also do you have the interconnect cable that goes between the two speakers?

harcon6567 wrote: »

Questions:
1 How much amplifications do they need?

Not much but it depends on many factors like how much you want to spend and what type of sound do you like (load, bright, warm, ect...)

harcon6567 wrote: »

Questions:
2. Are receivers available that will drive the 2A's as well as other surround speakers?

Yes many.

harcon6567 wrote: »

Questions:
3. How expensive would such a receiver be?

Really depends on how much you want to spend and if you stick around to long you will find yourself spending more than you thought you were going to.

harcon6567 wrote: »

Questions:
4. would I be better off to just sell the 2A's and buy a surround system in a box?

Depends a lot on what you want them for (HT-Home Theater or 2-Channel)

You might also want to check out the search feature but it is a little difficult if you try to search on SDA 2A it would probably be easier to use google and search club polkd SDA 2A

Again welcome.

phocion

Welcome to Club Polk!

1. They sing with lots of clean power, but they are pretty easy to drive, so most receivers will get you in the door of the house of sound with a reasonable 100w output.

2. Yes, most receivers are 5.1 or 7.1 now, with 100wpc being a common number.

3. Pretty much any starter surround receiver will get at your wallet for at least ~$300+, I found the Onkyo TX-SR608 to be a good start, but I am sure others will chime in.

4. If you are looking for movie performance, I would say get a box system (gasp!). Having a center channel, sub, and 4-6 other speakers will work a lot better for movies than a 2 channel polk setup.

That said, if you are listening to stereo music, hang on to the 2A's, they will blow any boxed system out of the water.

smglbrth

Just remember the 2A's are a 4 ohm speaker...

JPSmario

I drive my 2A's with a Rotel high current amp that's rated 120 a side into 8 ohms and may be close to 200 a side into 4 ohms. They like high current.

If you're going to use the interconnect cable (essential for the 'SDA' effect), the amp (or receiver) HAS to be COMMON GROUND.

While I'll tell you up front the stereo music is my priority, I do watch a lot of movies. While I don't have a HT setup, there is so much weight and response down low, I don't miss having a subwoofer. In fact, my neighbor can't believe I don't have one:biggrin: the stage is so wide, the movies sound great to me.

That's my $.02. experts, please chime in if I missed anything

Have fun!

nguyendot

Those speakers suck, donate them to me.

No not really - if they're 4 ohm get a decent receiver and amplifier.

Schurkey

harcon6567 wrote: »

4. would I be better off to just sell the 2A's and buy a surround system in a box?

GOOD GOD! NO! NO! NONONONO!

Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) is most often J-U-N-K. It is at the very bottom of the barrel in terms of fidelity, build quality or pretty much any other measure of quality.

I've seen 'em at Sam's Club where the distortion spec is TEN PERCENT at full rated power. 1/10 of what you're hearing is NOT ON THE RECORDING.

Here's a couple of tips for auditory enjoyment:

1. It's better to listen to TWO quality speakers than a half-dozen **** speakers.

2. It's better to have five quality watts of power than five hundred current-limited (****) watts.

harcon6567

Thanks for so much help from so many folks.

I do watch movies and only rarely listen to music (that gets me dumped from the club, right?) so I want at least a couple rear speakers.

My thought after reading your info:

1. I could buy a good common-ground receiver (100 + watt per), connect it to my 2A's (which do have the cross-over cable and which one of you said do produce great bass), add a couple rear speakers and maybe a center speaker. If I understand you all, the 2A's should give me great sound as front speakers--tweeters, mid-range, and excellent passive bass (bass subbing for sub-woofer). The rear and center speakers would complete the surround sound I'm after.
2. Is there a major flaw in #1 above?
3. Other suggestions?

Thanks again for the help--more than I even hoped for.
Harry Allen

Schurkey

harcon6567 wrote: »

1. I could buy a good common-ground receiver (100 + watt per), connect it to my 2A's (which do have the cross-over cable and which one of you said do produce great bass), add a couple rear speakers and maybe a center speaker. If I understand you all, the 2A's should give me great sound as front speakers--tweeters, mid-range, and excellent passive bass (bass subbing for sub-woofer). The rear and center speakers would complete the surround sound I'm after.

I have a similar system; in that my SDA 1Bs are used full-range and there is no subwoofer. Seems fine to me.

harcon6567 wrote: »

2. Is there a major flaw in #1 above?

harcon6567 wrote: »

The rear and center speakers would complete the surround sound I'm after.

HOW are you powering the rear and center channels? Are you considering a multi-channel "Home Theatre" receiver/processor?

harcon6567 wrote: »

3. Other suggestions?

I'd buy a QUALITY used-but-usable preamp/processor along with stand-alone amplifier(s) to obtain the required number of channels, rather than a "Home Theatre" receiver. The typical mass-market Home Theatre receiver will have to be CAREFULLY chosen, many will not drive a lower-impedance load to satisfaction. Some are truly awful, and mess the bed when driving a low-impedance load.

DON73

Not all 100 watt receivers are the same. Some receivers output is measured at 8 ohms and a lot (maybe most) of them will actually produce less power at 4 ohms or less and the speakers resistance (ohms) will vary quite a lot when playing music. I've found that Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo and Rotel are usually capable of producing more power into low resistance. Read some reviews available on line and check the specifications of the receiver. Some receivers sold at stores like Best Buy carry the name (Yamaha) for example but they're not quite the same as what you can buy in an audio store. Amazon is a pretty good place to find info on receivers. Good luck and welcome to the money pit.

Joe08867

Honestly when looking at SDA2"A's you need to think separates.

They prefer good clean power in the 200 watt range or 125-150 high current. They are a tougher load than a lot of speakers out there. Like the LSI series is.

If a moderately priced receiver is where you want to go I would look at HK, Rotel, or Denon. If you can afford more I say Pioneer Elite.

backinthelou

Just to add a little different spin to the responses you are getting, I am into vintage equipment. I don't have 100 watts on my SDA 2A's. As a matter of fact, they sound pretty sweet on my little Marantz 2230 (30 watts per channel). We watch movies with the sound being handled by the SDA's and the bass will rattle your teeth whenever an action scene happens. Don't get caught up in watts, unless you are doing home theatre with a new receiver-the new watts are mediocre at best(I know you said you are). I personally think surround sound is over rated, but the SDA speakers will have such a nice stage that it gives me plenty of surround. I have alot of vintage receivers and have yet to hook one up that makes the SDA's sound bad(except a late 90's Pioneer).

jagster

I have SDA II's that I am listening too right now, with my back to them, and it is truly amazing what they are doing. I find myself turning around and wondering what the Hell is going on! Amazing speakers. I have a big Adcom coming to drive them, but right now, a vintage Marantz 1150/75watts/ch at a comfortable listening level. Can't wait to feed them all the power they need. On the cheap 5 and 7 channel, supposed 100+watts/channel claims, that is pure BS, and I would like to put them on some serious speakers and watch them go up in smoke. Real junk!

jimmydep

Harry, I'm also new to the SDA's. At this years PolkFest I was lucky to win a pair of beautiful SDA 2A's which Hawkeye generously donated. I've been tinkering with them using different types of equipment and changing the placement of the speakers.
Some of the things I've learned are:

1. While a receiver can drive them they sound 10x better when I connected them to a separate amp. I've had them connected to a Sunfire @200wpc, an Emotiva 200wpc, and a vintage Marantz @125wpc. While all the amps sounded MUCH better than the receiver, I prefer the sound of the Marantz with the SDA's, must be a vintage thing.

2. Placement is critical, I've found that you must keep them out of a corner, they sound much better when placed 3' or more from an adjacent wall. If you keep them 4-8" away from the back wall the bass is much tighter and detailed, farther than 8" and it gets boomy and looses definition.

3. Keep them square with the back wall, when I first got them I had them toed in, and in my room they had some weird reflections which made the sound come from the floor......

The SDA is a great speaker, give them enough good power and you'll be pleased with the results.

I'm looking forward to doing some of the mod's, like new RDO tweeters and upgrading the XO's.

Jimmy

fluffy

i didnt see a direct answer for this question. i plan on using them for home theatre in a multi speaker (5.1 or 7.1) configuration.

i have a pioneer elite sc-05.

my other speakers are polk rti70 and the csi40 for center.

would the sda 2's fit in .. or would they not work well. i originally thought that it was important to have a balanced attack on the home theatre front.. but after i had a remodel disaster i had to take my system down from a 7.2 to a 2.0 and found that i am pretty satisfied even with the rti70's as the only speakers.. which send me back to the premise before that your two front speakers are really important.

which let me to believing i might benefit from having two sda's up front.

what do you guys think?

dcoil

My .02 - the SDA's are lost in a HT environment. The SDA sound stage just gets overrun with all of the other speakers in a HT setup. But there is no 'downside' to using them with other tonally matched speakers. I've done this for years. However, they do great for double duty, HT plus serious 2 channel listening. On the 2 channel side, this is where a quality amp will start to really show the SDA's off. Actually, all of the well educated CP'ers have separates, and after reading about all of the benefits of them that's where I'm headed. You can also do some serious improvements on these for not a lot of dough if you are willing to do the work (soldering, etc.).

helipilotdoug

As dcoil said, there is no down side. I've used 2A's, 2B's, and now SRS2's in my double duty system, and have had great success.

fluffy

thanks for the replys fellas!! i may drive the two hours and get them.. cant go wrong with the price...

dpowell

Joe08867 wrote: »

Honestly when looking at SDA2"A's you need to think separates.

If a moderately priced receiver is where you want to go I would look at HK, Rotel, or Denon. If you can afford more I say Pioneer Elite.

+1. You need separates as most receivers won't drive 4ohm loads well, if at all. If you're going to invest some $$, you want them to sound good as an end result.

You should also consider a separate sub for LFE duty in a HT setup. I don't think you'll find their bass output satisfying for hard hitting LFE movie tracks.