SDA2 Upgrade

jabman

SDA2s do not seem to get much respect. I have a pair and I think they sound great. Would doing the crossover modification be like trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" or is it worth the investment?

audiocr381ve

I've been learning a ton about this lately as I'm getting ready to order parts to upgrade my SDA 2B's myself.

Which model and tweeter do you have?

BTW, the SDA's get a ton of respect, what you talkin' bout willis.

gimpod

jabman wrote: »

SDA2s do not seem to get much respect. I have a pair and I think they sound great. Would doing the crossover modification be like trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" or is it worth the investment?

Are you kidding me. If there 2B's there some of the most sought after SDA's out there. Some guys around here think there the best sounding as long as your not trying to fill a concert hall especially if they've been TL'd. Even if there not 2B's the crossovers are worth redoing you won't be disappointed. Just my $0.02

jabman

I have the SDA2s with the dual sl2000 tweeters. Again, I think they're great, but have not heard any other SDAs. These are the ones that seem low on the SDA totem pole, but everyone that has heard them feels the same way I do.

On3s&Z3r0s

I've got a pair of both (the original 2's and the 2B's), and each has its advantages. The two knocks against the original 2's that I've discovered are first that it seems to take a fair amount of power to get good bass out of them. But if you've got a decent 150wpc high-current amp to throw at them you're good there.

Second, the dimensional tweeter bothers some people. My feeling on that is it depends on what you're listening to. If you're in the sweet spot, listening to simply recorded acoustic jazz or folk, for example, it's fantastic. If you're listening to modern pop, or just something where the recording engineer got a little happy adding reverb or playing with the stereo field, the dimensional tweeter will just make it sound wrong (not that it necessarily would have sounded right anyway). So, that's why they get less respect... same story for the early 1's as opposed to 1C's.

Anyway, I've been debating whether to mess with my currently stock 2's too. Putting new caps and resistors on the crossovers couldn't hurt, and there aren't crazy cap values that would make it completely cost prohibitive. The bigger question is what to do with the tweeters. Having replaced SL2000's with RD0-194's and 198's I can say for sure the SL2000's are unpleasantly shrill by comparison. But spending $200 on 4 tweeters for the 2's is a significant chunk of change for some of us. There are a few sufficiently knowledgable guys on the board who could tell you how to disconnect the dimensional tweeter and mod the XO to boost the volume on the stereo tweeter (I'm not one of them, unfortunately).

All in all, I'd say if you like them they way they sound now and have $500 and a few weekends to put into them, there are a few mods that would improve them. You won't see that $500 again when/if you go to sell them, so that might be a consideration too.

Joe08867

I have and will always have my original SDA2's with the dimensional tweeter. I also have B's but I use the originals more.

It's hard not to respect the SDA that really started it all.

Upgrade the crossovers with Sonicaps replace the tweeters with the RDO-194 and live happily ever after.

schwarcw

jabman wrote: »

SDA2s do not seem to get much respect. I have a pair and I think they sound great. Would doing the crossover modification be like trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" or is it worth the investment?

I had the SDA 2's for several years and loved them. I changed out the tweeters and did a crossover upgrade with Sonicaps and Mills resistors. It sounded wonderful. These speakers are highly under-rated. The extra woofer is also a benefit. As you know the stereo drivers have both a mid bass and low bass woofer. I think the SDA 2 has more "punch" that the more popular 2B's. Both are excellent speakers. Upgrade and enjoy your SDA 2's! These guys have about a 5 ohm average impedence and love lots of power as these aren't the most efficeint SDAs Polk made. Use a big solid state amp, 200 watts or more, that is stable to 4 ohms. An AVR or a receiver that can only perform at 8 ohms will not be your best choice for overall sound performance. A tube preamp will really give you the magic you lust after.

Enjoy!

comfortablycurt

I've got a pair of 2A's, and I love them. They aren't the biggest baddest sounding SDA's around, but they sound fantastic. They work very well in my relatively small listening room(15'x18'). Mine have the RD0-194's installed. I've been contemplating XO upgrades for a long time now, and I've actually purchased some of the parts that I'd need to do it, but I'm still undecided. Part of me wants to mod my 2A's and squeeze a lot more performance out of them...but part of me also wants to just leave them as is, and sell the XO components I've already purchased...then eventually sell the 2A's and snag myself a pair of 1C's, and then mod the hell out of the 1C's.

In either case, it'll be a long time before either option actually happens. I've got too many other priorities right now, and am probably going to be moving to Chicago soon, which is going to dry my wallet out.

Joe08867

comfortablycurt wrote: »

I've got a pair of 2A's, and I love them. They aren't the biggest baddest sounding SDA's around, but they sound fantastic. They work very well in my relatively small listening room(15'x18'). Mine have the RD0-194's installed. I've been contemplating XO upgrades for a long time now, and I've actually purchased some of the parts that I'd need to do it, but I'm still undecided. Part of me wants to mod my 2A's and squeeze a lot more performance out of them...but part of me also wants to just leave them as is, and sell the XO components I've already purchased...then eventually sell the 2A's and snag myself a pair of 1C's, and then mod the hell out of the 1C's.

In either case, it'll be a long time before either option actually happens. I've got too many other priorities right now, and am probably going to be moving to Chicago soon, which is going to dry my wallet out.

I don't know how to stress to you that updating the crossover in those SDA's will bring out more sound than you could imagine. The crossover components in those speakers are 25+ years old. A quarter century. And the tolerances on the caps is really bad compared to newer audiophile caps. You went so far as to replace the tweeters now go all the way. You won't be disappointed.

Do the upgrade and enjoy a whole new experience.

chandler9a

I'll agree with Joe here in regards to Curts post #8. I have an almost identical set up as you, Curt and love the sound. I think once you upgrade the xovers on those 2A's you will be glad you kept them. I can't wait to do mine that's for sure. I'm sure 1C's are nice but they are bigger and more expensive to upgrade,

just my .02

pitdogg2

Do the XO upgrade!! you'll ask yourself why you waited so long. I just did my SDA 1 Signature's and SDA2a's put a set of Larry's rings on both. Yes it was very costly, but both are so much better and have not even got burned in so to speak. Right after i did the XO work I sent both my Carver amps(TFM45+25) off to Roland(High-tech Audio Ltd) for a complete rebuild. Before i sent off the gear both SDA's had MUCH better bass and articulation. Hell when the wife notices and says they sound so much better(very non audiophile she is) you know something is right. So Curt get off you butt and get it done. To the OP drop some coin on Sonic caps and Mill resistors you will not be dissatisfied.

One of these days when the internet gets turned back on at my house I will download all the before and after pictures and then you all will be able to pick me apart and tell me what a crappy job I did.
carry on