SDA 2B Price question

WGDB

Can anyone comment on a pair of SDA 2B's for $300.00. Listed here at San Antonio Craigslist - is that too high? Spoke to the seller - the interconnect is missing and the pictures aren't clear.

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/ele/2286518731.html

Ron Temple

Ok, now you're in the right place...those are 2As and very poor pics. $175 tops w/o the cable (which is easy to make). If they are rough, then $100-$150 depending. 2As are certainly a nice speaker, but 2Bs are more desirable and I wouldn't pay $300 for 2Bs unless they were mint and tweetered.

gdb

I paid $167.50 (IIRC) for mine with the I/C, from ebay with a 30mile trip to go get them. $300.00 is too much IMO

gdb

Ron Temple wrote: »

Ok, now you're in the right place...those are 2As and very poor pics. $175 tops w/o the cable (which is easy to make). If they are rough, then $100-$150 depending. 2As are certainly a nice speaker, but 2Bs are more desirable and I wouldn't pay $300 for 2Bs unless they were mint and tweetered.

How can you tell if they're 2As ?

WGDB

Ron Temple wrote: »

Ok, now you're in the right place...those are 2As and very poor pics. $175 tops w/o the cable (which is easy to make). If they are rough, then $100-$150 depending. 2As are certainly a nice speaker, but 2Bs are more desirable and I wouldn't pay $300 for 2Bs unless they were mint and tweetered.

Thanks for the input Ron - seller's in kind of a run down area of San Antonio known for gangs etc. When you say "Tweetered" do you mean upgraded with new RDO 94's?

WGDB

gdb wrote: »

I paid $167.50 (IIRC) for mine with the I/C, from ebay with a 30mile trip to go get them. $300.00 is too much IMO

Thanks gdb - I may go look at them later. The seller said he'd call me after he gets off work.

gdb

look at the recepticle for the I/C cable if it has one round hole and one rectangular hole, they're most likely 2Bs (very desireable) If on the other hand, they have 2 rectangular holes, my guess is that they're not in the B series and I'd advise waiting for something better to come along.
Either type of I/C cable can be found or made easily, so don't let that deter you.

inspiredsports

gdb wrote: »

look at the recepticle for the I/C cable if it has one round hole and one rectangular hole, they're most likely 2Bs (very desireable) If on the other hand, they have 2 rectangular holes, my guess is that they're not in the B series and I'd advise waiting for something better to come along.
Either type of I/C cable can be found or made easily, so don't let that deter you.

My 1987 2B's (purchased by me from a dealer here in NE Ohio on the last day of 1987) are Blade/Blade (what you are calling rectangular)

Starbuck1851

gdb wrote: »

How can you tell if they're 2As ?

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, I can see that those speakers have overload fuses (vs poly-switches) on the crossovers. Leads me to believe they're an earlier model vs the later 2B's (my 2B studio's have poly-switches and blade-blade interconnects).

gimpod

The only way to tell for sure is to pull a driver. 2A's used 2 MW6510's, 2B's used a MW6503 & a MW6511 also I believe the 2B's will have a single board style crossover.

Joe08867

I am thinking 2A's on these. They have a similar look to the 2B but the cabinet is screaming first gen with single tweeter. Also the SD2b's were made of real wood not MDF. These look like MDF cabs to me.

WGDB

Joe08867 wrote: »

I am thinking 2A's on these. They have a similar look to the 2B but the cabinet is screaming first gen with single tweeter. Also the SD2b's were made of real wood not MDF. These look like MDF cabs to me.

Joe - are the 2A's any good and what should I offer?

Joe08867

300.00 seems high to me. The 2A is good the 2B is better. Like the rest of the SDA line they got better with each new version.

I would say around 150 max just cause you don't know if all the speakers are working and it needs the interconnect cable which you have to make.

gdb

Joe08867 wrote: »

I am thinking 2A's on these. They have a similar look to the 2B but the cabinet is screaming first gen with single tweeter. Also the SD2b's were made of real wood not MDF. These look like MDF cabs to me.

Those cabinets are identical to my 2Bs that have particle board cases covered with vinyl film.Mine have a pin/blade recepticle and no fuse holder. The crappy pics and my crappy eyesight prevented me from seeing what the terminals etc. look like on the back. I didn't know that any 2Bs were fitted with a blade/blade I/C. The only sure way to determine which model they are is to pull the MWs I guess.

danger boy

they look like 2A's to me.. offer $150 to $180-ish depending on condition..

WGDB

Great condition! - Bought them! Both are marked - "Right Side" ... they were really inexpensive after I pointed out that they are both "Right". Seller seemed to unaware of the Left Right interconnect. Auditioned them thru the sellers 70 watt yammi thru FM Radio, and thought both tweeters were cooked. (Price went down again) Got them home and connected to my squeezebox and they sound really good. I guess IC is out of the question. Anybody have any advice for interconnecting 2 "Right" SDA 2b's or maybe there 2a's I don't know.

On3s&Z3r0s

WGDB wrote: »

Great condition! - Bought them! Both are marked - "Right Side" ... they were really inexpensive after I pointed out that they are both "Right". Seller seemed to unaware of the Left Right interconnect. Auditioned them thru the sellers 70 watt yammi thru FM Radio, and thought both tweeters were cooked. (Price went down again) Got them home and connected to my squeezebox and they sound really good. I guess IC is out of the question. Anybody have any advice for interconnecting 2 "Right" SDA 2b's or maybe there 2a's I don't know.

You might want some of the smart guys on the forum to weigh in on that one. If they are 2B's you can probably just swap the positions of the drivers in one of the cabinets, and swap the sets of internal hookup wires connecting them too. Then you could make your own interconnect cable. If they are actually 2A's (and I'm inclined to agree with the general consensus that they are), I think you would have some more complicated wiring changes to make to and from the crossover. Either way, pull out one of the MWs to find out what they are. If the sticker on the back of the magnet assembly says MW6510 then you have 2A's. If it says MW6503 or MW6511 then you have 2B's.

intangible

Sounds like you got a smoking deal. The crossovers for the two channels are identical. All you need to do to interconvert the two is to flip the wiring leading to the drivers. (That is to say, move one set of wires to the opposite driver and vice-versa, don't flip the polarity.) If they happen to be 2Bs then you flip the drivers themselves as well.

Edit: My bad. You need to flip the wires coming to the board from the interconnect cable as well, but that should also be trivial.

P.S. make an interconnect - they're completely different speakers without one.

WGDB

MW marked as 6510 - 2A's they are.

renowilliams

Get those working and you will be happy. The SDA2A's tend to be overlooked for others in the series but I am very pleased with mine. Good grab. Enjoy!!!



Tim

Joe08867

Sounds like a great deal. Now just swap drivers and wires in one set and make a cable. You are well on your way to audio nirvana.

PS I told you guys they were 2A's.

On3s&Z3r0s

Actually, if they're 2A's there shouldn't be any reason to change the position of the MW drivers because it's 2 MW6510's in each cabinet. All 4 MW's are the same.

Instead, you'll need to change the wiring, which probably will involve some soldering. I should probably take a closer look at the schematic before I give advice. It can be found on this thread, the link named SDA 2A Sch.pdf: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55888.

Off the top of my head... again, you won't need to change the postion of the MW's, but you will need to remove them from one speaker (which will become your left speaker) so that you can swap the hookups. You'll probably need to remove the large passive radiator too so you can access the crossover.

When you remove the MW's, make sure you pay attention to which color of wire is attached to which terminal on the MW. The positive terminal will be marked with a red dot. In the 2B's one set of hookups is black/white and the other set is blue/green. I don't know if they did that in the 2A's. In any event, write down or take a picture of how the MW's are connected. Then, swap the sets of wires. You might not want to hook them up and replace them right away because there are more changes to make.

The other change is from the IC socket (called a Jones socket made by Cinch, I think) to the crossover board. If you look at the schematic, you'll see that in the right speaker a blue/white wire combination runs from the socket to the crossover. If you had a left speaker, the wires should be black and white. The important bit is that the positions of the wires are reversed in the other speaker. So, I believe you'll have to either reverse the solder connections on the socket itself, or reverse the connections on the crossover board.

I've removed and resoldered the connections on the IC sockets on the original SDA 2's. It's not too difficult, but there wasn't a lot of slack in the wires, so could be tricky for that reason.

When you've reversed the wires from the IC socket and the hookups to the MW terminals have been swapped and reinstalled, I think you're good to build a cable. The tricky part will be sourcing the Jones plug. They used to be available from Allied Electric, but not sure if they are any more.

Again, it might be good to wait for a second opinion on whether this is enough or the best way to go about it. I'm pretty confident that it's not as simple as just swapping the hookups to the MWs. Doing that and making a straight-through cable could damage the speakers or your amps.

Looks like Mouser carries them: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Cinch/P-302H-AB/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMviIjlYfy6lqid%252b4NDoWAbS94ZJ1pZm9pQ%3d

God bless Mouser. Also note this thread about the cable for reference: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69919&highlight=jones+plug

WGDB

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Actually, if they're 2A's there shouldn't be any reason to change the position of the MW drivers because it's 2 MW6510's in each cabinet. All 4 MW's are the same.

Instead, you'll need to change the wiring, which probably will involve some soldering. I should probably take a closer look at the schematic before I give advice. It can be found on this thread, the link named SDA 2A Sch.pdf: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55888.

Off the top of my head... again, you won't need to change the postion of the MW's, but you will need to remove them from one speaker (which will become your left speaker) so that you can swap the hookups. You'll probably need to remove the large passive radiator too so you can access the crossover.

When you remove the MW's, make sure you pay attention to which color of wire is attached to which terminal on the MW. The positive terminal will be marked with a red dot. In the 2B's one set of hookups is black/white and the other set is blue/green. I don't know if they did that in the 2A's. In any event, write down or take a picture of how the MW's are connected. Then, swap the sets of wires. You might not want to hook them up and replace them right away because there are more changes to make.

The other change is from the IC socket (called a Jones socket made by Cinch, I think) to the crossover board. If you look at the schematic, you'll see that in the right speaker a blue/white wire combination runs from the socket to the crossover. If you had a left speaker, the wires should be black and white. The important bit is that the positions of the wires are reversed in the other speaker. So, I believe you'll have to either reverse the solder connections on the socket itself, or reverse the connections on the crossover board.

I've removed and resoldered the connections on the IC sockets on the original SDA 2's. It's not too difficult, but there wasn't a lot of slack in the wires, so could be tricky for that reason.

When you've reversed the wires from the IC socket and the hookups to the MW terminals have been swapped and reinstalled, I think you're good to build a cable. The tricky part will be sourcing the Jones plug. They used to be available from Allied Electric, but not sure if they are any more.

Again, it might be good to wait for a second opinion on whether this is enough or the best way to go about it. I'm pretty confident that it's not as simple as just swapping the hookups to the MWs. Doing that and making a straight-through cable could damage the speakers or your amps.

Looks like Mouser carries them: http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Cinch/P-302H-AB/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMviIjlYfy6lqid%252b4NDoWAbS94ZJ1pZm9pQ%3d

God bless Mouser. Also note this thread about the cable for reference: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69919&highlight=jones+plug

Just finished opening both up and Yes - all 4 are the 6510's and dated Sep 4 1986 - Appreciate the input and all the DIY - this mod to the left IC is a must. Just need to start gathering parts, set aside a day.

inspiredsports

I haven't been around all that long, but this is a unique situation in having 2 right speakers and converting one of them to a left.

You should closely document what you do (maybe in a new thread with a descriptive title?) so members can "look over your shoulder" to help, and for future reference if another Polkie happens upon the 2 lefts that must be out there somewhere :biggrin:

You might even want to attach the documentation of what you've done to the back of the cabinet in one of those clear plastic packing stick-on envelopes to identify that speaker's special history.

On3s&Z3r0s

WGDB wrote: »

Just finished opening both up and Yes - all 4 are the 6510's and dated Sep 4 1986 - Appreciate the input and all the DIY - this mod to the left IC is a must. Just need to start gathering parts, set aside a day.

No problem, and good luck! The SDA's are definitely different (and much better) with the cable.

WGDB

inspiredsports wrote: »

I haven't been around all that long, but this is a unique situation in having 2 right speakers and converting one of them to a left.

You should closely document what you do (maybe in a new thread with a descriptive title?) so members can "look over your shoulder" to help, and for future reference if another Polkie happens upon the 2 lefts that must be out there somewhere :biggrin:

You might even want to attach the documentation of what you've done to the back of the cabinet in one of those clear plastic packing stick-on envelopes to identify that speaker's special history.

Agree - I really don't want to fry my SC 35 in all this. Thanks