New SDA 2b's

larbor

Hi,
I just picked up some Sda 2b?s really cheap. They need some cosmetic work, but all the drivers are there and they appear to be in good shape. I have some 3.1tl?s that I?ve been upgrading, but the 2b's were too good to pass up.

Cosmetically one speaker needs a new top cap and side panels (missing). The other speaker is in pretty good shape. How hard is it to remover the top cap (might go with new veneer if it's hard to remove)? The side panels look pretty easy to redo. I just need to find the right covering material to match the other speaker. I'm also thinking of just using wood side panels (both speakers). Has anyone done this and how does it look?

The speakers have a blade/blade interconnect but the crossover board is a single board. I?m assuming it's fairly easy to do the "tl? upgrade because I have the single xover board(??). When you do this upgrade, does your interconnect plug change to a pin/blade configuration. I looked at the inside plug and I see only one wire connected to the top blade. The other blade was not connected. I didn?t do a detail inspection and maybe the other wire fell off. The owner never had or used a interconnect cable.

I?m going to start getting the cabinets in shape before I do any upgrading.

I posted some pictures.

Thanks.

teekay0007

PolkieMan did some terrific work on his SDA 1C caps that had some water ring damage - don't know if it was anywhere near as bad as what you have there - so, you could check with him, or pull up some of his posts where he's posted some pics.

Also, regarding doing the sides in wood, here's some pics of someone's done that way - not mine, they were ones done by a recent eBay seller.

Good luck.

stubby

I think the tops are glued on and will probably vary from piece to piece on difficulty of removal.

Yes, you will have only one wire hooked up for the SDA connection. On previous B/B connections, both blades carry a signal. With the single board 2B's and CRS, only one blade does. Then they converted all to Pin/Blade connection.

And they are an easy TL conversion.

Schurkey

larbor wrote: »

The speakers have a blade/blade interconnect but the crossover board is a single board. I?m assuming it's fairly easy to do the "tl? upgrade because I have the single xover board(??). When you do this upgrade, does your interconnect plug change to a pin/blade configuration. I looked at the inside plug and I see only one wire connected to the top blade. The other blade was not connected. I didn?t do a detail inspection and maybe the other wire fell off. The owner never had or used a interconnect cable.

Early-production units had leftover blade/blade sockets installed. One terminal was left un-connected, just as you've seen, and the other terminal substitutes for the "pin" part of the pin/blade assembly.

If you connect the currently-disconnected terminal to the negative speaker wire binding post inside the speaker cabinet, it is ELECTRICALLY the same as the later-style pin/blade socket.

You won't be able to use a normal blade/blade interconnect, though. {edit}< is that correct??? Maybe you CAN use an ordinary blade/blade cable.

Probably better to just install a single binding post where the existing SDA socket is, or place it nearby. A single conductor of ordinary speaker cable will connect that binding post on each speaker. If you use an AI-1, the second wire goes to the negative binding post that already exists.

tophatjohnny

Congrats on the find an when you get them babies all done, you will be happy. SDA effect rules.

larbor

Thanks Guys

I will search PolkieMan's threads for his cap redo..

Looks like the xover will be fairly straight forward. Is there a good post the lays out the xover upgrade - parts needed and board placement. I've did a search, but the detail ones were on the old bd. layout.

Larry

GospelTruth

Those look like the same ones I saw out in the SF area on Craigslist. I can understand with the price he had that they were a great deal - even given their physical condition. I thought about checking them out myself, but with time and gas prices - and the fact that I have a set already - I decided against it. Glad to see someone else here got them though and wants to fix them up!

I've asked about removing the tops and bottoms of these and have been told that you need a crowbar type tool it as they are glued and stapled down. I still might remove and refinish them and find a better way to secure them back on like the higher end models.

With regard to finishing the sides like the originals, I would think you would need to redo both speakers with all new grill cloth so that they matched correctly. Or, you could do like teekay0007 pointed out and finish the sides with wood. I always wondered if that would somehow affect their sonic signature - did Polk put speaker cloth on all sides of the SDAs for some reason or was it just to cut costs. Can't answer that one, but I'm sure someone can. They look nice with the wood sides though, however I think I'll keep mine stock in that regard.

Good luck with the cabinets!

GospelTruth

larbor wrote: »

Looks like the xover will be fairly straight forward. Is there a good post the lays out the xover upgrade - parts needed and board placement. I've did a search, but the detail ones were on the old bd. layout.

In one of the sticky threads here you can find out a lot of stuff for upgrading the 2B. A lot of upgrades are found on this site posted by a forum member VR3. http://www.vr3mods.com/LCSDAUpgrade.php

Additionally another forum member Gimpod, has a list of all the parts needed for a good number of SDA speakers that he made custom boards for. That list can be found here for the 2B - http://www.gimpod.com/parts2b.html

Both those members are great at helping out with regard to crossovers and VR3 will even do it for you for a price.

larbor

Yes, GospelTruth, those are the ones that were listed on Craigslist.

Got them for around 1/2 what he had listed them for..... the guy had them sitting in a small garage...just wanted to get rid of them....

I think I'm going to the redo the veneer. Might be a pain to get the caps off ( looks like they are glued on tight).

Thanks for the links...

F1nut

How hard is it to remover the top cap (might go with new veneer if it's hard to remove)?

That damaged end cap is too far gone to repair. Time for new veneer. They are stapled and glued on. You will need a thin edged tool and start prying from the back edge.

The side panels look pretty easy to redo. I just need to find the right covering material to match the other speaker.

Nothing out there is an exact match, so you'll have to do all sides and fronts to get a match.

I'm also thinking of just using wood side panels (both speakers). Has anyone done this and how does it look?

Every one that I've seen looks like dog poo. Don't do it.

PolkieMan

Yea mine wasn't nearly that bad, it looks like it is past the veneer into the particle board if not then a lot of sanding is needed .
I bet the bottom cap looks better than the top. Switch them out?

teekay0007 wrote: »

PolkieMan did some terrific work on his SDA 1C caps that had some water ring damage - don't know if it was anywhere near as bad as what you have there - so, you could check with him, or pull up some of his posts where he's posted some pics.

Also, regarding doing the sides in wood, here's some pics of someone's done that way - not mine, they were ones done by a recent eBay seller.

Good luck.