Fair price for Polk Audio SDA 1C??

thsmith

I would get with musky for for new tops. Side panels are easy and recovering grills are easy and cheap. You are going to replace the tweets anyway so if these do not come up to often in your area and there are no other problems you did ok, not great but ok.

newrival

heiney9 wrote: »

He already posted he paid $200 for them w/one tweeter not working, trashed end caps, no cloth covered sides and ruined grills.

ah... that's what i get for skimming. not a horrible deal if he's handy with the work they'll need. Good luck OP. congrats on your purchase and god luck! you're in the right place when you need advice getting them happy again

heiney9

Factoring in not having to ship them it wasn't a horrible deal, but now he has a salvagable pair of SDA's. A little elbow grease, labor and $$$ they should sound and look pretty good.

nhhiep

Does anyone has a SL 2000 for sale? it doesn't look like I got a great deal on this set afterall, so I am not trying to spend more $ into buying 4 new tweeters

SDA1C

I have a set of cabs.....in what the previous owners feel are Great condish. I'd call them 7.5 of 10 (agon) but one hell of a lot better than the ones you have there. Swap the guts and you have a descent set ready to upgrade. I am south of Quad Cities, Iowa if you are close and interested.

nhhiep

sorry, but I am in AZ. Today, I took the hair dryer and took out most of the glue (not candles like I previous thought). Not sure why the previous owner went through the trouble to remove the side panels, but didn't clean the glue. My next step is to use auto anti-scratch or clay products to remove the rest of the glue. The sides are pretty clean now. I tried hard to pull the top off and it's not moving. any tips?

I just realized there are 2 versions of 1C. What Polk did was add side and top/bottom panels and call it Cherry/Wood, instead of black Studio version.

F1nut

Not sure why the previous owner went through the trouble to remove the side panels, but didn't clean the glue.

I doubt the owner had any trouble removing them as they were probably falling off like most 1C's.

My next step is to use auto anti-scratch or clay products to remove the rest of the glue. The sides are pretty clean now.

Just scrape it off, the new panels will cover it.

I tried hard to pull the top off and it's not moving. any tips

The ends are glued and stapled (really big staples) on. Use a thin blade pry bar from the back edge to get things started. Once started, they come off pretty easily.

What Polk did was add side and top/bottom panels and call it Cherry/Wood, instead of black Studio version.

SDA's never came in cherry. The wood veneer color choices were light oak, medium oak or walnut.

Does anyone has a SL 2000 for sale? it doesn't look like I got a great deal on this set afterall, so I am not trying to spend more $ into buying 4 new tweeters

Completely redone and modded, you'd end up with speakers that will outperform a lot of what is in the market today at a much higher price point.

nhhiep

ohh ****...this hobby is fun.... I just used car wax to get the glue off and now, the sides look like new and shiny. the people in my house gave me a weird look when they saw me spraying car wax on speakers

Now just need to remove the top/bottom and I have a black speakers.

F1nut

Now just need to remove the top/bottom and I have a black speakers.

With some rather large holes from the staples not to mention the grills are going to look funny.

nhhiep

looking at my Deftech Sub gives me an idea to make them look good and clean. Just cover the whole thing with sock? do you know where can I buy big black sound-transparent cloth/sock?

heiney9

Even at $200, these are worth saving with a little TLC. These are 100% salvageable and even putting $200-300 into them you will have an awesome set of speakers that if/when you decide to sell you won't loose too much money on.

A nice pair with upgraded RD0 tweets can sell for $400-500 easily to the right buyer. Get the end caps refinished, buy some grill cloth, polish them, replace all 4 tweets and you are ready to rock and roll.

Do not take the end caps off and just leave it that way. Do it right.

H9

nhhiep

Does anyone know if 1C is magnetic shielded? because I plan to put my desktop pc next to hit.

After trying for 2 days, even with 1 dead tweeter. I am so surprised that I enjoy them more than lsi9s, super wide soundstage and less bright. Kinda strange that 20+yrs old speakers from the same company sound better than their current top of the line series. I wonder why Polk stopped using this SDA tech? Shouldn't be too difficult to create a new series, like LSi SDA.

Switching between this and Rti12s. Rti12s sound like crap, very boxy sound (which I'd not agree before trying the 1C).

Overall, for $200...what an experience !

newrival

nhhiep wrote: »

Does anyone know if 1C is magnetic shielded? because I plan to put my desktop pc next to hit.

After trying for 2 days, even with 1 dead tweeter. I am so surprised that I enjoy them more than lsi9s, super wide soundstage and less bright. Kinda strange that 20+yrs old speakers from the same company sound better than their current top of the line series. I wonder why Polk stopped using this SDA tech? Shouldn't be too difficult to create a new series, like LSi SDA.

Switching between this and Rti12s. Rti12s sound like crap, very boxy sound (which I'd not agree before trying the 1C).

Overall, for $200...what an experience !

there is a thread dealing with that very question. As a new SDA owner, you should check it out:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?45468-Why-were-SDA-s-discontinued-by-Matthew-Polk

newrival

and you should have no issues with having your computer near by. I ran an HTPC right next to my SDAs. The interconnect might not be though, but I'm not sure.

heiney9

nhhiep wrote: »

Does anyone know if 1C is magnetic shielded? because I plan to put my desktop pc next to hit.

After trying for 2 days, even with 1 dead tweeter. I am so surprised that I enjoy them more than lsi9s, super wide soundstage and less bright. Kinda strange that 20+yrs old speakers from the same company sound better than their current top of the line series. I wonder why Polk stopped using this SDA tech? Shouldn't be too difficult to create a new series, like LSi SDA.

Switching between this and Rti12s. Rti12s sound like crap, very boxy sound (which I'd not agree before trying the 1C).

Overall, for $200...what an experience !

Exactly why these are worth putting some $$$ into them and why they have a sort of cult following. They are quite the speaker even though they are 20+ years old. Polk never stopped using the SDA technology. They had the $10K SRT home theater experience and they developed the Surround Bar's. Certainly different applications and the latter is electronically controlled rather than passively controlled, but still SDA technology.

H9

nhhiep

I pulled out the top left dead tweeter today and found out that the wire colors aren't correct. According to the Sticky, wiring for top left tweeter should be Black/White. I am seeing Blue/White, which is for the lower tweeter. On the lower tweeter, I am seeing Black/White.

The owner told me that the speakers are 100% stock, unmodified in anyway. Does anyone know if the sometime Polk changed the wire colors or location of the tweeters?

it's hard to find 1 used sl2000 cheap, I think I will just buy 4 new RD0194s and resell SL2000s. Are RD194 100% match Sl2000 in term of size? just plug n play?

heiney9

That is a GREAT idea. The 194's are 100% plug and play. Be sure and save the gaskets if they are still intact from the sl2000's as the new ones don't come with gaskets as they are no longer avail. Save the cardboard boxes the 194's come in as they make perfect shipping boxes for the sl2000's when you sell them.

As far as the wiring someone will come along hopefully and sort that out. If not perhaps you can look at the schematic and trace the proper path. Do your 1C's have two seperate x-over boards or the later single x-over board?

H9

nhhiep

new tweeters arrived and installed this weekend. 100% plug and play. Overall, sound is a little less bright, more balance. More suitable for classical/jazz music, older tweeters are more for pop/hiphop type. Just different sound, old ones are pretty good, in my opinion.

About the wiring issues, I assumed that Polk wired the Left speaker wrong, so I switched the Left tweeters' position to match the Right speaker. Tweeters on the Right speaker match the Sticky diagram.

now anyone interest in 3 working SL2000s?

For $410 total. I think I got a better deal on it than the $510 LSi9 set because at least I enjoy it more. Lsi9s are sitting on the floor doing anything for now. but man, the Lsi9s look dead sexy with cherry and piano black contrast compare to the boxy SDA.

heiney9

You need to wait for them to break in, they will change and be even better.

gdb

My my, how folks have changed their $50-throw em away tunes ! Enjoy those speakers AND the low price you paid for em !