Getting rid of some and getting 1 better set....SDA's.

bd1886

Been a while since posting as I've been learning a ton about vintage stuff and actually fixing some without causing fires. For the past couple hours I've been learning about SDA's....I think they are for me! The SDA's I'm leaning towards are the SRS TL 3.1's. Even though they are bigger than my present LS70's, I can give up the real estate. I'm thinking that these will be fine for my small 15x18 room AND fill a larger room in the future just fine.

Since finding my LS70's at a thrift, the audio bug has bit....and the friendly reception here is what led me into audio as an adult. (You guys were a HUGE influence for me starting out.) My acquisitions have been through a curve of expansion and now.....consolidation is in progress. (People have a birthday....they get a setup,marriage...same,new cat....nothing as I'm sick of repairing grill fabric.)

I'm having to head out the door so going to just have to ask this one question for now...... How would my Sansui G-9000 push these SDA's? (If I need to I do have some separates,but would rather not for the living room....different story for elsewhere.) Watts isn't everything is it? Appreciate it guys! I'm off....

gdb

Make a sack from ruined grille cloth, find bridge over river..................

westmassguy

The concensus around here, is that you shouldn't use a Receiver of any kind for SDAs. That being said, the Sansui is a beast of a receiver @ 160 watts per channel, and conservatively rated most likely. There are two potential problems however. Does it have a common ground, which SDAs require, and what type of output protection does it have? If it's not a common ground, you'll need the AI-1 IC cable. If it doesn't have any output protection, then you risk damage to the tweeters should something in the amp section fail, or even running the SDAs at high volume levels causing the amp to clip.

Michael8it

I personally REALLY like vintage Polk speakers and Carver Amps. I think they pair very nicely. the M500t and M1.0T have plenty of power, especially if you can find one that has been upgraded.

bd1886

This is exactly where I needed to learn. (Some very important concerns!) I'm trying to keep my rotated gear down to minimum as limited space and cabinet design. My space is also double duty for theater (using a modern AVR and the other needed streaming stuff) kept away from the vintage....kinda hidden really. With 3 spaces or surfaces available....out will go the cassette deck or figure out an ingenious way to keep it in. Priorities will be receiver,amp,turntable.

This all leads to another direction of questions:
1. My best amp is a Marantz Model 1250. (It needs to have some servicing "from a real tech" rather than myself.) Not much out there on these but once you deal with one issue on them....sweet. This is one of the big boys from Marantz,simple and classic design,mint cosmetically, and would be fine with throwing some resources at it. Does this have any inherent weaknesses for SDA pairing and should I move it along to get a better match?

2. We have no space from the wall to bring these out for the best performance. For now, I'm fine with that as a bigger place is coming down the road soon. How huge of an impact will this have in the interim? (the whole reason I'm moving on the SDA grab is a nice pair is being made available to me for a killer price and will not pass them up. (Off and running again.......here kitty kitty kitty......hee hee!) Thanks guys!

cnh

I don't know, how are those old Sansui receivers driving 4 ohm loads? I know they can but how well do they do it? That's certainly a vintage powerhouse into 8 ohms. Also, that probably has pre-outs so you can use it is a pre-amp and buy one heck of a used power amp to run off it if you like its sound! Something to consider?

cnh

westmassguy

According to the Service Manual, the G-9000 is rated 160 watts/channel @ either 8 or 4 ohms. It also states there is a protection device on the output. I couldn't find any details on it, so not sure if it's thermal or some form of DC detection. Either way, it would be a better choice than the 1250, which is rated 125 watts/per channel.
I skimmed through the Service manual on the Sansui, and found myself wiping the drool off my lip. It's quite impressive under the hood. I would have it checked though, especially the power supply caps etc. SDAs are a difficult load for any receiver.

soundfreak1

Do look at a seporate amp not reciever, but not for reasons of watts but rather current. Find a high currant amp it will serve those speakers much better.imho.

mhardy6647

The G-9000 is one of the most mammoth FM stereo receivers ever foisted on the hifi-buying public. Don't discount it.
(and, yeah, I do know about the G-22000 and G-33000...)

By which I mean to say, if you're gonna use a receiver with such speakers, the G-9000 wouldn't be a bad choice.

westmassguy

mhardy6647 wrote: »

The G-9000 is one of the most mammoth FM stereo receivers ever foisted on the hifi-buying public. Don't discount it.
(and, yeah, I do know about the G-22000 and G-33000...)

By which I mean to say, if you're gonna use a receiver with such speakers, the G-9000 wouldn't be a bad choice.

That things a monster. The Toroidal transformer and caps takes up half the interior.

bd1886

soundfreak1 wrote: »

Do look at a seporate amp not reciever, but not for reasons of watts but rather current. Find a high currant amp it will serve those speakers much better.imho.

Yeah....current load is what I'm seeing is a very important factor with these SDA's. I don't really care to run separates because of the need in my chosen space and....call me superficial but many of our vintage receivers are drop dead beautiful. Still, you can bet I'll have some good separates when I do end up maturing into that need (AND...."I'll have these speaks to enjoy with them!"). I also have a lead on some SDA 1.2's.....a grand so it'd take too much wheeling and dealing to work up to that cost. I only wheel and deal for this hobby....wife'd neuter me if it came out of our budget and I'd hand her the knife. (Plus, at almost 6ft. tall, that would force them into storage for now...NO!)

Thanks for appreciating the G-9000 you guys. It IS one glitzy receiver but it is just done so well. I loved cleaning and detailing the thing when I first got it. (The interior is a marvel of beauty and engineering in and of itself.) Is it my favorite? I don't think the collector in me will allow any piece of equipment to be my favorite as even just learning about this stuff brings even the quality smaller stuff into a high level of appreciation. Heck! Even a little Sansui 4000 pushes a pair of Dahlquist DQM-9's (with a warm power) that will bring a smile to anyone's face....keeping that to show what a "Danny DeVito" receiver will do to keep the respect of it's big brothers! Fun hobby we have guys and don't take any of you guys for granted. Thanks,I'll keep you posted on how this all goes.

mhardy6647

Having spent some quality time shaking the walls last night with the Black Crowes' first album and 3.5 watts per channel of single-ended 2A3 amplification, I read parts of this thread with great amusement.

Yes, I realize the SDAs are a tough load... Polk had an era when hard-to-drive/amp-destroying components represented their 'state of the art' -- Cobra Cables, anyone? ;-)

But... I do think it is safe to say that a G-9000 has some pretty ample power/current (P = V*A) reserves on tap. What sort of filter capacitance does it have on tap on the P/S rails? I wouldn't be surprised if it's 20k or 30k uF per.

PolkieMan

Music I run my 2.3TLS on Onkyo TX-NR808 in pure audio 2 channel mode, on movies I run 5.2 but I roll off the 2.3tls at 40hz for the powered subs. I have a Carver tfm-25 that was used but this seems to work quite well and one less thing to mess with.
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-NR808&class=Receiver&p=s

westmassguy

PolkieMan wrote: »

Music I run my 2.3TLS on Onkyo TX-NR808 in pure audio 2 channel mode, on movies I run 5.2 but I roll off the 2.3tls at 40hz for the powered subs. I have a Carver tfm-25 that was used but this seems to work quite well and one less thing to mess with.
http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-NR808&class=Receiver&p=s

I do the same thing with my Pioneer, set it to pure direct, through the PM 600 out to my 2As