New owner of some SRS 3.1TL?s.
larbor
Posts: 10
Hi, New to forum,
I just picked up some 3.1TL?s for $150. The tweeters were bad and it didn?t come with an IC cable but I think it was a pretty good deal (no frozen drivers). Seller was moving and needed to get them out.
Ordered new tweeters and going to modify a RCA cable to use for an IC cable for now (I will build a better one later). I have two amps I can use to run them, a Proton D1200 (100w?s but good headroom) and a Yamaha MX800 (170w). I also have a Harman Citation 16a, but it needs some work. I know these take some watts to sound right ?hopefully one of these will work. Game plan is just to get them working and later on do some modifications.
I?ve been reading a lot of posts on how great these speakers can be. I?m current running some Rectilinear Highboys now, hoping this is a step up.
Any helpful information will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I just picked up some 3.1TL?s for $150. The tweeters were bad and it didn?t come with an IC cable but I think it was a pretty good deal (no frozen drivers). Seller was moving and needed to get them out.
Ordered new tweeters and going to modify a RCA cable to use for an IC cable for now (I will build a better one later). I have two amps I can use to run them, a Proton D1200 (100w?s but good headroom) and a Yamaha MX800 (170w). I also have a Harman Citation 16a, but it needs some work. I know these take some watts to sound right ?hopefully one of these will work. Game plan is just to get them working and later on do some modifications.
I?ve been reading a lot of posts on how great these speakers can be. I?m current running some Rectilinear Highboys now, hoping this is a step up.
Any helpful information will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Post edited by larbor on
Comments
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Pan right, and show off that DIY RCM!
Nice speakers, great find and great buy. Enjoy.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
Great find! I just finished rebuilding a pair, and they are a supurb example of the SDA line. The original tweeters needed to be replaced anyway. Make sure your amps are a "Common Ground" type before hooking them up for a test run.
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That's an awesome deal on those speakers - even having to replace the tweeters! I'm always keeping an eye out for 3.1TLs on the local craigslists - but in the meantime I enjoy my 2Bs. Congrats!Speakers
Energy RC-70 Mains, Energy RC-LRC Center, Energy RC-R (x4) Rear Channels, Energy RC-R (x2) Front Effects
Polk 5jr+
Polk SDA 2B
Polk SDS 3.1TL
Equipment
Panamax 5510 Re-generator Power Conditioner
Yamaha RX-V3800 Receiver
Digital Sources: Sony CDP-X339ES CD Player, HHB CDR830 BurnIt Professional CD Recorder, Sony PS3, Oppo DV-983H DVD Player
Analog Sources: Sony TC-K890ES Cassette, Nakamichi DR-1 Cassette, Technics SL-7 Turntable -
OOH........shiny !!! As a point of fact, you didn't buy them so much as "stole" them ! Enjoy !! :cheesygrin:
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Welcome to Club Polk! Phenominal deal on those 3.1TL's! Good for you! Get some RDO-198 tweeters directly from Polk Audio (phone number listed on this site) and mention you are a Club Polk member and they will be $48.00 a piece shipped. I highly recommend buying some of Larry's Rings (Member name:ToolFan66) when you can get them (the next round he does). I also highly recommend upgrading the corssovers by going through Trey (Member name: VR3) and I recently saw he doing modded crossovers using Tony's (Member name: Gimpod) crossover boards that are phenominal and Clarity Cap capacitors. Definately talk to Trey (VR3) here on the forum. Of course, there is the additional mods such as Dynamat Xtreme, etc. The 3.1TL's are very nice speakers. You will enjoy them before and especially after the mods. Please keep us informed on what modifications you do to them.
Also, watts matter to a certain extent yes. But high current is most important. I am running a pair of 2.3TL's using a Pass Labs Aleph 30 that has 30 watts per channel and can drive my 2.3TL's just as well (to reasonable dB levels i.e 90 to 95 dB's) just as well as my Aragon 8008bb that is 200 watts and extremely powerful as far as current goes. Watts ain't the whole bag, they matter yes but high watts doesn't equal nicely driven speakers and low watts doesn't (necessarily) mean poorly driven speakers. I'm sure some will disagree. But as I said, I've experienced both firsthand and therefore stand by this statement.
Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
"I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion."![:\](https://forum.polkaudio.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....
"Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson
"Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee -
Thanks Guys,
Didn’t really know about these speakers until I got them and did some research (one of the deals that kind of felt like it was a good deal). Hopefully I can get them up and running in a few weeks. Already order the tweeters from Polk with the discount (good deal).
I will test with both my amps to see which one sounds the best, but what does this “SDA” sound like? Is it more like surround sound but coming from two speakers. Hopefully it will be fairly easy to know.
Great forum …the more a read the better it gets…
Thanks again.
Oh..the DIY RCM was something a slap together using a VPI HW-16 TO HW 16.5 upgrade kit and an old turntable platter . Works pretty good. If you need more info on this let me know…easy to put together. -
The nice thing about the price is you won't have as much $$$ in upgrades as you move along..
Yes you stole them...
Congrats!! -
As already said. You got an incredible deal. Even after getting them in good working order you will still have plenty of "headroom' to mod them more. And unless you have a huge room, the 3.1tl's are more speaker than most room sizes require. I sure do love mine. And I've barely started the modding.
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Yes he did!! What a deal !! And besides you were gonna do the tweeters anyway
The nice thing about the price is you won't have as much $$$ in upgrades as you move along..
Yes you stole them...
Congrats!!POLK SDA 2.3 TLS BOUGHT NEW IN 1990, Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-198
POLK CSI-A6 POLK MONITOR 70'S ONKYO TX NR-808 SONY CDP-333ES
PIONEER PL-510A SONY BDP S5100
POLK SDA 1C BOUGHT USED 2011,Gimpod/Sonic Caps/Mills RDO-194
ONKYO HT RC-360 SONY BDP S590 TECHNICS SL BD-1 -
I had a pair of these and the sda effect on some tracks is very eye opening, playing with placement worked wonders for mine.
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I had 3.1's the sda effect was a real eye opener on some trax, i had to play with room placement a lot though.
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ooops,:redface:
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Been listening to these …all I can say is - Wow
At first I thought something was wrong with the speakers. Sounds were all over the place. I had to get up a number of times to see if the left or right speakers were working. I found out speaker placement is key. My space is 10x20 (not great) but I got them working. My only problem is my wall where the speakers are have two indentions on each side (around 1.5ft openings –not the same on each side, 12 inches deep). To get the spacing on the speakers, I’m going into these indentions. I still get the SDA effect, but probably not full
Anyway…way cool sound…
I currently don’t have any feet on the speakers. Will adding enhance the sound and what size/brand would you recommend?
Thanks. -
Been listening to these ?all I can say is - Wow
At first I thought something was wrong with the speakers. Sounds were all over the place. I had to get up a number of times to see if the left or right speakers were working. I found out speaker placement is key. My space is 10x20 (not great) but I got them working. My only problem is my wall where the speakers are have two indentions on each side (around 1.5ft openings ?not the same on each side, 12 inches deep). To get the spacing on the speakers, I?m going into these indentions. I still get the SDA effect, but probably not full
Anyway?way cool sound?
I currently don?t have any feet on the speakers. Will adding enhance the sound and what size/brand would you recommend?
Thanks.
Have you read the manual (or downloaded a copy to read)? Placement is CRITICAL with these and the manual gives you the exact guidelines for proper placement.
P.S. I realize we all have certain factors that may not allow us to set them up correctly be it the room layout, the wife, ect, however it does pay to know how to set them up and get as close as you can to the ideal setup."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Placement is the best that YOU can achieve within your room. If you SHOULD rearrange to get that ideal setup, that's your call.
Spike those babies, feed them some clean, solid power and enjoy. I'm looking forward to getting mine hot rodded but for being 20+ years stock, they have impressed everyone who I've played them for... -
I downloaded a copy of the manual and it looks like I'm a little cramped on space using the 10' wall. I might need to rearrange and use the longer wall. Don’t know if it's doable (lots of things to move).
They sound really good, but I know the setup is not quite right.
I’m using a Yamaha MX800 amp (175w) now, going to try my Proton D1200 tonight (100w but, 7+ headroom).
Thanks… -
Congrats on your new 3.1Tls, nice vintage set. Polk doing what they do best, building awesome speakers.
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Quick update
Redid the crossovers with Gimpod’s boards using Sonicap's, installed a speaker binding post for the interconnect cable and installed spikes. Big improvement in sound (and the burn-in is not done yet - around 50 hrs).
I still have to upgrade the IC cable. I’m using an old monster speaker cable for now (single strand, around 8 gauge). I can go with a better cable (like a Z2 Reference, as suggested) or build a Dreadnought AI-1 interconnect box. It will probably cost around $100-150 to upgrade the cables and another $300-$350 to build the Dread box (missed the group buy on the transformer). I’m really looking for an improvement gauge. The crossover and tweeter upgrade was a major (couldn’t believe my ears). I think the next upgrade has to be the IC cable, but not sure which route to go.
If I build the Dreadnought box it will be used with a common ground amp.
Any discussion on this will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks -
Congratulations, nice work! Shameless plug – I will have a fully assembled dreadnought to sell, probably next week. Too bad that you didn't get in on the group buy for the 1000VA, but I will be selling my 800VA fully assembled in Larry's case with Vampire posts..Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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nice pickup
