New guy from Richmond with some SDA 1's
kidglove13
Posts: 207
Hey all,
New guy here from Richmond, VA looking to learn all I can about the possible tweaks to the new speakers I just got.
I just picked up my new to me SDA 1's for $250
I bought them from the original owner and they are in excellent condition including the interconnect cable.
I will be driving them with an Adcom 545 for now which should fit the bill till I get more power
I did audition them but my own testing on my system will commence tomorrow
I hope to learn alot about these speakers for all of you.
Thanks
A few pictures for your enjoyment.
New guy here from Richmond, VA looking to learn all I can about the possible tweaks to the new speakers I just got.
I just picked up my new to me SDA 1's for $250
I bought them from the original owner and they are in excellent condition including the interconnect cable.
I will be driving them with an Adcom 545 for now which should fit the bill till I get more power
I did audition them but my own testing on my system will commence tomorrow
I hope to learn alot about these speakers for all of you.
Thanks
A few pictures for your enjoyment.
Post edited by kidglove13 on
Comments
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Welcome to the Forum! Congrats on you very nice looking set of SDA 1s. You got them for a terrific price! You will enjoy them for may years. Good luck!Carl
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Welcome to CP!:cheesygrin: I lived in Richmond most of my life; now I'm in NOVA.
Congrats on the speakers. Those are SDA-1C Studios. I have a pair of 1C's too, and I love them! You have the right idea by keeping them parallel to the front wall with no toe-in; that's the only way to do it. You can play around with how close to the wall they are to adjust the bass response. The closer to the wall, the more bass.
I also have a few of those Adcom GFA-545's, and they're great. That amp will power those speakers very well. In fact, my 1C's are running on a 545 right now.:biggrin:
There's a ton of info on SDA's here. Search away! One thing you'll learn is that there are a lot of modifications you can do to get more out of them. A common mod is to replace the stock tweeters with Polk's factory replacement, the RD0-194. They're smoother and all 'round better. There are many many other mods you'll find as you search... spikes, dynamatting the driver and passive baskets, steel retaining rings, after market gaskets, upgraded capacitors, resistors, and inductors for the crossovers, new crossover boards, new internal wiring, new binding posts, upgraded interconnect cable, new wood, etc...
Enjoy! Those SDA's are really special speakers, nothing else sounds like'em!2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Thanks for the welcome
New wood is what they need
The tiny pedestals under these things are garbage
What have people done for support under these things?
The original owner which was a nice man and his wife in their 60's told me they were just SDA 1's
I said ok went to pick them up and took off the grill and said to myself these are the 1C's but did not know which ones regular or studio. -
I would remove the pedestals and spike the speakers right away. They should be held onto the speakers with small finishing nails. Order some hurricane nuts and spikes. Drill the cabinets but not all the way through. Insert the hurricane nuts. Screw the spikes in. Done! Make sure you have discs for the spikes to sit in because it looks like you have hardwood.
Man I wish I had some 1Cs to play with!
Enjoy............SDA2BTL
Marantz CD5004
Adcom GFA-545
Bottlehead Quickie Tube Preamp -
Congrats on your purchase and welcome to CP!
Falconry's post detailed most of the mods you can do to take these to another level. Lots of good DIY posts here if you search."Science is suppose to explain observations not dismiss them as impossible" - Norm on AA; 2.3TL's w/sonicaps/mills/jantzen inductors, Gimpod's boards, Lg Solen SDA inductors, RD-0198's, MW's dynamatted, Armaflex speaker gaskets, H-nuts, brass spikes, Cardas CCGR BP's, upgraded IC Cable, Black Hole Damping Sheet strips, interior of cabinets sealed with Loctite Power Grab, AI-1 interface with 1000VA A-L transformer -
I believe those are 1B's. Do you have a pin/blade cable or blade/blade?Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
What F1nut said. If they were black, I'd say 1C Studio. Brown...1Bs.
The blade/blade interconnect socket isn't a dead giveaway, apparently some early 1Cs were made with the blade-blade socket--but the wider blade isn't electrically connected as manufactured.
The SDA circuitry is very different between the 1B and 1C regardless of the socket style used. Even if a 1C has the Blade/Blade socket, it's wired essentially the same as a pin/blade 1C--once you connect the second, wider blade to the - binding post. -
OK so I have been doing a little testing this morning of my new to me SDA 1B's
System: HK preamp Adcom 545 Onkyo CDP w/dual Burr Browns
Room: 12x14 +/-
Speakers: On 12 foot wall: 16 inches from rear wall 6' apart and approx 28" from the outside walls
These speakers are a significant upgrade from my previous setup: Modified Mirage FRX7 towers
First impression:
I have never owned a speaker of this caliber so I have nothing to compare them too
The 545 powers them nicely
These things can drive you out of the room pretty quickly
The sound stage was the first thing I noticed and how the speakers just blend right in and it sounds as if that whole wall is just one giant speaker and with the added affects of the SDA system with sounds seeming to come out of no where.
As noted by others the tweeters can be a little fatiguing at higher levels
Also they definitely need to be spiked as others have mentioned
These things really shine when at just the right volume level.
I can only imagine what they sound like when modified correctly.
Music tested so far:
Sade Greatest Hits
Rush Moving Pictures
Seal Commitment
And still listening -
Congrats on those speakers. Very nice.Michael
In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
NORTH of 60° -
kidglove13 wrote: »...it sounds as if that whole wall is just one giant speaker and with the added affects of the SDA system with sounds seeming to come out of no where..
Hell yea, man, that's what SDA is all about!:cheesygrin:... the tweeters can be a little fatiguing at higher levels...
Get the RD0-194's! You won't regret it.
btw, sorry for misleading you as to them being 1c vs 1b, I obviously need to go back to SDA school!:redface:2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
falconcry72 wrote: »Get the RD0-194's! You won't regret it.
Yank out the 4.4uF, install a 5.8uF in it's place. (I used a 5.6uF--it's what I could find, and that is within the 5% generally-accepted tolerance range.)
I reworked the crossovers on my 1Bs a year or two ago...I'm still amazed at how wonderful they sound. -
Room: 12x14 +/-
Speakers: On 12 foot wall: 16 inches from rear wall 6' apart and approx 28" from the outside walls
Try them on the longer wall and closer to the back wall, say 6 inches. The bass will improve.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Try them on the longer wall and closer to the back wall, say 6 inches. The bass will improve.
The problem with putting them on the longer wall is that the wife put all of this stuff in the room, some call it furniture, I call it stuff that is in the way.
Bass does not seem to be a problem at this point, but that is comparing it to what was there before so anything this size will be a great improvement.
I have been listening to them all morning thus far from rock to jazz etc.
I definitely need to upgrade the tweeters they can be really fatiguing at times depending on the music
But overall I am hearing music in a way I have never heard it before, this is new territory for me. -
Congrats on your new speakers you got a good deal.I picked up a pair of 1c sdas from another member a couple weeks ago.Im still getting used to them but have to say they are the best speakers I have had.Enjoy Dan
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welcome! the speakers look great...the adcom will keep them singing..
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They have been singing all day:biggrin:
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Still listening and enjoying he new SDA 1's
I just listened to Desert Rose- Sting
If none of you have listened to this song before I would highly recommend it.
It seems as if the SDA's take the song to a different level, pure enjoyment -
Nice. There's a sticky at the top of this forum called "SDA Playlist". It's a place for SDA-heads to list songs that play nice, or make magic, with the stereo dimensional array.:cool:2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Well I epoxied the MW's and put on the dynamat.
It definitely tightened things up quite a bit and brought the midrange out alittle more it seems
Either way a great cheap mod that was very easy to do. -
kidglove13 wrote: »Well I epoxied the MW's and put on the dynamat.
It definitely tightened things up quite a bit and brought the midrange out alittle more it seems
Either way a great cheap mod that was very easy to do.
Nice, good work! Before you know it you'll be switching out tweeters, updating the crossovers, etc etc etc...2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
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Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
He will regret it once he learns the 198s work just fine with a single, different capacitor in each high-frequency crossover board.
Yank out the 4.4uF, install a 5.8uF in it's place. (I used a 5.6uF--it's what I could find, and that is within the 5% generally-accepted tolerance range.)
I reworked the crossovers on my 1Bs a year or two ago...I'm still amazed at how wonderful they sound.
I didn't know that the 1B's were TL'able. Are the 1C's TL'able? I've heard of anyone TL'ing 1C's, just the 2B's, CRS+'s, and some SRS-2's.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
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Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
falconcry72 wrote: »I didn't know that the 1B's were TL'able. Are the 1C's TL'able? I've heard of anyone TL'ing 1C's, just the 2B's, CRS+'s, and some SRS-2's.
There will be argument until the end of time about the TL mod on the SDA-SRS 2 (pin/blade) and it's companion the 1C. I have not done it, I don't have access to either of those speakers.
I will say that the 1B/1C/SRS 2BB/SRS 2PB ALL use the same 4.4uF capacitor in the high-frequency crossover as a tuning aid for the SL2000 tweeter that they also share; and I don't think using a 4.4uF cap in all those applications is coincidence. If the blade/blade models can be made to accept the 198 by swapping a 5.8uF cap for the 4.4, I can't think of any good reason it wouldn't work on the pin/blade models. Others disagree, but far as I remember it's a disagreement based on "It hasn't been done...yet. And Matthew hasn't approved it."
I'll tell you right now, if I had access to a 1C or SRS 2 PB, I'd damn sure try it and see how it sounded. My suspicion is that it'd work JUST FINE.
Admittedly, I am NOT an electrical engineer, and I can't even fathom the mathematics of a circuit design change like this. I am a hot-rodder, I'm used to taking out existing parts and installing aftermarket stuff based on hunches, educated guesses, and the prior experiences of myself and others, and seeing how it works. OOOPS. Sorry. I meant "I favor empirical testing" not "I'm a hot-rodder..."
Why don't one of you sell me a pair of SRS 2 pin/blades for cheap, and we'll get this show on the road??? -
...Why don't one of you sell me a pair of SRS 2 pin/blades for cheap, and we'll get this show on the road???
lol. Thanks for the info. How about I send you my 1C crossovers, you TL them and send then back, and then I'll let you know how it sounds.... and I won't even charge you for the privilege!2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
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Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
falconcry72 wrote: »lol. Thanks for the info. How about I send you my 1C crossovers, you TL them and send then back, and then I'll let you know how it sounds.... and I won't even charge you for the privilege!
You want just the TL, or a complete capacitor/resistor overhaul? Doing just the 4.4/5.8 cap swap would be a snap. That, I could knock out fairly quickly. Complete overhaul would create a time issue for me.
Are yours the two-board crossover, or the single-board? -
Could happen. I'd expect you to buy the parts and cover shipping. How much of a rush are you in?
You want just the TL, or a complete capacitor/resistor overhaul? Doing just the 4.4/5.8 cap swap would be a snap. That, I could knock out fairly quickly. Complete overhaul would create a time issue for me.
Are yours the two-board crossover, or the single-board?
bet he didn't expect his volley to be returned like that! nice offer! -
Could happen. I'd expect you to buy the parts and cover shipping. How much of a rush are you in?
You want just the TL, or a complete capacitor/resistor overhaul? Doing just the 4.4/5.8 cap swap would be a snap. That, I could knock out fairly quickly. Complete overhaul would create a time issue for me.
Are yours the two-board crossover, or the single-board?
Thanks, man! No rush at all. I don't even know if I'm going to do it to these speakers. I might try to find a set of SRS-2's or 2.3TL's and then mod those. When I do mod the crossovers of whatever pair it ends up being, it will be a full overhaul. Capacitors, resistors, inductors, the works. This is at least a few months out... maybe longer.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
The TL mod for the SDA-SRS 2 (blade/blade) and the companion SDA 1B (which is electrically identical except for one resistor value) was pioneered by inspiredsports a couple of years ago. The basis for this work is a suggestion by Matthew Himself, and collaboration by other members.
There will be argument until the end of time about the TL mod on the SDA-SRS 2 (pin/blade) and it's companion the 1C. I have not done it, I don't have access to either of those speakers.
I will say that the 1B/1C/SRS 2BB/SRS 2PB ALL use the same 4.4uF capacitor in the high-frequency crossover as a tuning aid for the SL2000 tweeter that they also share; and I don't think using a 4.4uF cap in all those applications is coincidence. If the blade/blade models can be made to accept the 198 by swapping a 5.8uF cap for the 4.4, I can't think of any good reason it wouldn't work on the pin/blade models. Others disagree, but far as I remember it's a disagreement based on "It hasn't been done...yet. And Matthew hasn't approved it."
I bet it would work also on my SDA1 Signatures as if I remember right when i did my XO's they have a 5.8uf cap that also straddles a resistor for tweeter contouring. Mine came from factory with SL1000's and I still use them until i route out for SL2000's which i have on hand or RDO-194 when i get some cash....