Help!!! I can't stop....SDA 1C

dhart86

I can't believe I don't have more control. Long story short....owned several different polk speaks.... 1st purchase was pair of monitor 70 (very nice speakers for a 1st pair newbee purchase) I liked them....then I joined the polk forum! Looking back.....I should have saw this coming. I heard the talk about the rabbit hole, $$$$$ hobby etc, but I thought......not me!

Started hearing (reading) about the SDA effect (folklore) and became curious.
Bought a pair of 2B's from a real cool guy (George Grand) who gave me an education during the visit.

Then bought a pair of LSi 9's. That's when it started getting crazy. Sold the 9's, sold the monitor 70's and bought Lsi 7's (better than 9's for me room)

Got the 7's modded (FACE) and I fell in love. The mod made me swear I would never part with these, but I started to miss the sound of the SDA.

Been on a quest since and just bought a pair of SDA 1C (stock) from a fellow polkie Vlam (nice guy) They look great and sound better. My problem is I've only had 'em for a week and I'm already thinking mods/upgrade.

I know i need help.......... but just for future knowledge...how can I improve upon the sound of the 1C's

If I change the tweeters, do I need to address the crossovers at the same time?

Mods suggestions starting from least expensive to more expensive would be appreciated.

PS: I'm still kinda new in the hobby, but my wallet has been around the block a couple of times.

Thanks for input dudes!

adcomcyclone

A couple easy ones, dynamat the MB drivers and PRs to dampen them, Larry's rings (if available), and spikes if they are going on the floor. All reasonably inexpensive.

I have not started the crossover upgrades or tweeter swap in my SRS set yet (believe the RDO-194 works), but will sooner or later. I just got a set of SDA 2's I may tackle the crossover on to get my feet wet before messing with the SRS.

bluecomet

I would get some RDO 194's in them. You will hear a great improvement over the SL2000's. For a Polk club memeber it will set you back $200 but well worth it.

dcmartinpc

bluecomet wrote: »

I would get some RDO 194's in them. You will hear a great improvement over the SL2000's. For a Polk club memeber it will set you back $200 but well worth it.

Agreed! RDO-194s and Crossover Upgrades (Sonicap and Mills) are by far the biggest bang for buck upgrades to these speakers and give the largest return IMHO. If you can pick up a set of Larry's Rings, I would do that too. Dynamat and spikes do make a difference too. Spikes I would say are more noticeable than dynamat. Those are 2 fairly inexpensive things to do, along with Larry's Rings to get started.

But.... to really take them to the next level crossover uprgades and RDO-194s are the next steps.

Don

nspindel

Congratulations, welcome to 1C owner's club, I'm a proud member myself. Here are the mods I've done to mine:

1) Replaced tweeters to RDO-194's from SL2000's - $200 ($48 each).
2) Rebuilt crossovers using Sonicaps, Mills resistor, removed polyswitch and bypass caps.
3) Replaced binding posts and SDA connectors with Cardas binding posts.
4) Replaced SDA cable with Signal Cable speaker wire.
5) Spikes.
6) Dynamat extreme on driver and passive radiator baskets.
7) Replaced driver, passive radiator, tweeter, and crossover mount cup seals with Armacell.
8) Replaced the big inductor with an Erse (I will be using Solen inductors for my CRS+ rebuild).
9) Larry's rings.

Each mod has it's own benefits, and the decision on which mods should be done in conjunction with others is purely up to you.

My advice would be to group mods together that require substantial break-in time. Particularly, the crossover rebuild and the inductor would both require a few hundred hours breaking in, so best to do those together. If you have any plans to replace your speaker wire, best to do that at the same time as well, since that also requires break in.

The other mods can be done in isolation, but are inexpensive enough and simple enough that they can be simpler if done at the same time. For example, if you're pulling everything out of the cabinets to install Larry's rings, it just makes sense to do the Armacell and Dynamat at the same time.

The major expense in doing the above mods will be the tweeters and the crossover. The Cardas binding posts are expensive but cheaper posts can be found if you want. If you were doing a TL mod (to enable you to use the RDO-198) then you would need to do tweeters and crossovers at the same time. But the TL mod doesn't apply to the 1C's, so you can easily do tweeters and crossovers separately, but realize that the tweeters do also benefit from break in, so you may want to do them together.

Let us know your plans and questions. We've had a good run of newcomers lately, who are now quite pleased with the sound of their upgraded SDA's after following advice from the forum closely, I'm sure you'll be joining them shortly.

dhart86

Thanks everyone........this is really good info. But, excuse my dumbness.......what are Larry's rings and where do you get them?

txcoastal1

dhart86 wrote: »

Thanks everyone........this is really good info. But, excuse my dumbness.......what are Larry's rings and where do you get them?

From Larry:

Toolforlifefan...makes the custom rings

nspindel

They're rings. You get them from Larry. Duh :biggrin:

nspindel

Larry is TOOLFORLIFEFAN. His dad has a really hot set of tools, he can fix anything. Seriously, he's a genius for thinking of the idea for these rings, and is ridiculously cool for making them available to all of us. Have a look at this thread of his where he's modding up a pair of CRS+'s, including the rings:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122119

Reach out to him and get yourself a set. They make a tremendous difference.

Schurkey

dhart86 wrote: »

I'm still kinda new in the hobby, but my wallet has been around the block a couple of times.

If I were you, I'd use that as a signature line. It's wonderful!

dhart86

Schurkey wrote: »

If I were you, I'd use that as a signature line. It's wonderful!

Thanks Schurk.......I think I will

jjkogel01

at the risk of known as way behind the train... How would I acquire a set of these rings? The only thing I found was a " we must have our wires crossed " message the last url I tried

F1nut

The rings are NLA. Use hurricane nuts instead. Search here for more info on those.

gyosa

I have a pair of 1C’s I bought new in the late 80’s - doing duty in my bedroom now.
I replaced the tweeters with 194’s a few years ago ….. they’re stock other than that .
Thought about doing the crossover's but never got around to it…
Feeding them with a Parasound A21 amp .
I’m happy as they are - they sound great - it’s the bedroom system😃.

If they were in my main system I’d probably go all in on upgrading them - but even then , I don’t think they’d come anywhere close to the sound of my Salks …

Bk