full week eval of SDA

leftwinger57

Well it's been a full week to evaluate and and give some opinoins on my find of SDA 2Bs. First they seem to be very effecient because they are louder w/ quality of sound than anything else I own.Sound stage is great and imaging is very close to a modern H/T system so much so that I have been audio muting my avr and running the Polks instead of my Klipsch smalls. Condition, well as some of you know both of the tops caps of solid light/white Oak were water stained from plants being placed on top and leaking through. After consulting some here this can be resolved either by chemical means or a lot of sanding.Both front grills in excelent conditon w/ all pegs intact.Postion,they are 7' apart from far corner to corner and 10' from my seating spot dead center.No toe in straight on shot and close to the equi triangle.Side panels are a little loose but because they are shoe horned in position not a factor now.
Clearly they deserve the praise that I have been hearing about for 4 years now and very very happy I made the move to get them.Interest in getting something else has somewhat wained but I'm still curious about the sound of a Heritage Klipsch Forte -Chrous vs. the SDAs.For the price and the very minor condition issues this was a winner all the way around. I have them connected w/ double set screw bananas and using 14 gu clear w/ the right hand speaker only inches away from the amp and the left again 7' so any boutique wire I do not think is needed for this size run.
One other thing , there should be some kind of universal law stating that kids, cats, candles,and plants be banned from anywhere near speakers and gear in general.....

heiney9

Once you update the x-overs and get RD0 tweets you will **** your flat hat. You haven't heard anything yet. Dynamat, Larry rings. Mortite or other alternative gasket will help a lot too.

Better cables will improve the sound too, it's not all about speaker cable length. You statement about "boutique" cable is simply untrue.

F1nut

After consulting some here this can be resolved either by chemical means or a lot of sanding.

There's two types of water stains, white (light) and black (dark). White can usually be sanded out, but yours are black and Oxalic acid is your new friend.

I have them connected w/ double set screw bananas and using 14 gu clear w/ the right hand speaker only inches away from the amp and the left again 7' so any boutique wire I do not think is needed for this size run.

As H9 stated, "You statement about "boutique" cable is simply untrue."

Oldfatdogs

Say F1,can you use Oxalic acid on mold stains on maple? I have some wood a friend brought me with blueish black staining,wood bleach did nothing.
Thanks Dan

Sorry for the short derail leftwinger

F1nut

Oxalic acid is also known as wood bleach.

There are 3 types of bleach used for wood.

Chlorine bleach - is used to remove color (stains and dyes) added to wood.
Oxalic acid - is used to remove stains caused by a chemical reacton to the wood.
Two part wood bleach - used to lighten the natural color of the wood.

boston1450

leftwinger57 wrote: »

Well it's been a full week to evaluate and and give some opinoins on my find of SDA 2Bs. First they seem to be very effecient because they are louder w/ quality of sound than anything else I own.Sound stage is great and imaging is very close to a modern H/T system so much so that I have been audio muting my avr and running the Polks instead of my Klipsch smalls. Condition, well as some of you know both of the tops caps of solid light/white Oak were water stained from plants being placed on top and leaking through. After consulting some here this can be resolved either by chemical means or a lot of sanding.Both front grills in excelent conditon w/ all pegs intact.Postion,they are 7' apart from far corner to corner and 10' from my seating spot dead center.No toe in straight on shot and close to the equi triangle.Side panels are a little loose but because they are shoe horned in position not a factor now.
Clearly they deserve the praise that I have been hearing about for 4 years now and very very happy I made the move to get them.Interest in getting something else has somewhat wained but I'm still curious about the sound of a Heritage Klipsch Forte -Chrous vs. the SDAs.For the price and the very minor condition issues this was a winner all the way around. I have them connected w/ double set screw bananas and using 14 gu clear w/ the right hand speaker only inches away from the amp and the left again 7' so any boutique wire I do not think is needed for this size run.
One other thing , there should be some kind of universal law stating that kids, cats, candles,and plants be banned from anywhere near speakers and gear in general.....

Great choice. Enjoy them--i had a pair in 2012 & i sold them. Kept a beautiful pair of KLF10's in our other house listened to the Klipsch for awhile not too keen on the horn tweets. I missed my SDA2b's. got some more now & im back listening to them every day & enjoying them i hope someday to be doing upgrades when funds are there. Enjoy

Oldfatdogs

Thank you Sir,I guess the stains are not coming out.Sometimes free wood is more work than anything.
Dan

F1nut

Did you use the crystal form of Oxalic acid? If not, that's what you need to try. Use a very strong mix, lots of crystals with a lesser amount of hot water. Apply generous amounts outside in direct sunlight. Smear the undissolved crystals from the bottom of the container over the heavily stained areas. Repeat as needed.

leftwinger57

Heiny,I'm guessing the tweeters gotten through Polk , I just looked up Dynamat which is usually used for car insulation sound deadening and as seen on the Crutchfield site it comes in many shapes, styles and sizes.Which package do you suggest.About the stains yes they are dark and I have alaready purchased, stripper, steel wool, sandpapaer,gloves and masks.The only thing thing I need is the acid it'self and the new finish has yet to be chosen. I just ran out of money and I wouldn't do w/ that heat wave going on I would need good ventilation to attempt the whole muti step procedure.In time I think I will get to most of this done and yes even getting better cables.They deserve it and if that's the consensus I will defer to the more experienced.

F1nut

Yes, the tweeters are sold by Polk. Be sure to mention you are a Club Polk member to get the discounted price. Are you going to do the TL crossover upgrade? If so, you want the RD0198-1 tweeters, but you'll have to upgrade the crossovers at the same time.

You want Dynamat Extreme and don't buy it from Crutchfield, there are cheaper places. A large sheet is all you need.

Oldfatdogs

Did you use the crystal form of Oxalic acid? If not, that's what you need to try. Use a very strong mix, lots of crystals with a lesser amount of hot water. Apply generous amounts outside in direct sunlight. Smear the undissolved crystals from the bottom of the container over the heavily stained areas. Repeat as needed.

No,I tried the two part bleach,suggested by the woodcraft staff.I will try the crystals,s ,the woods to nice to not use for something.
Dan

zane77

You can get 4 square ft of Dynamat Extreme on Ebay for 16.00. That was the cheapest place I could find for the amount I needed to do my speakers.

leftwinger57

Ok thanks for that.I should of included this w/ my former reply to Heiny. I have already dealt w/ Frank at Signal Cable and use his Analog 1 mt ICs.I looked up his speaker wire and his entry level is about 13gu at set lengths I think.I also looked up Blue Jeans and they have a Belden #5000 series 12 gu at 62 cents a foot would these choices suffice for a better class of speaker wire?Please keep in mind funds do not flow freely and I must choose priorities and pick my battles 1 at a time.

Oldfatdogs

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?150378-Speaker-Cables-and-IC-s-by-Douglas-Pt-2...&p=1936409#post1936409

There seems to be quite a few who like these leftwinger.
Might be worth checking out.
Dan

F1nut

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

No,I tried the two part bleach,suggested by the woodcraft staff.I will try the crystals,s ,the woods to nice to not use for something.
Dan

Somebody there didn't know what they were talking about. Another thought, run it thru a planner. You should be able to tell pretty quickly if the mold stains are surface or run deeper.

BTW, if you try the Oxalic acid, do not breath the crystals as you will have a sneezing fit like no other. Otherwise, despite the term acid, it's pretty harmless stuff to the skin, etc.

F1nut

I have already dealt w/ Frank at Signal Cable and use his Analog 1 mt ICs.

Since you already have the IC's, his speakers cables would be the perfect match.

PolkieMan

The crossover and the tweeters will be your biggest improvement, do that first.

I say that because they are 23 years old and made in Mexico with cheap Mexican parts.
Not only that but the quality of new caps is so much better than they were back then
even if they would have used the best )USA) caps.

And the TL mod is another + that will make a lot of difference.

Call mention that you are a Club Polk Member they are $48 each plus tax always free shipping.

Helen Yarbor
Polkaudio
Customer Service Rep / Parts
Baltimore, MD. 21215
1-800-377-7655
Fax- 410-764-5470

Get the Gimpod crossover boards make your life easy, they are nice and roomy for the much larger, better quality components.
I did mine while watching a movie and have never done one in my life.

Get the parts list on his site.

http://www.gimpod.com/parts2b.html

The crossovers are going to not be a lot because they are the simplest of all the SDA line.

leftwinger57

This will be a never ending back and forth here .IT'S ALIVE I'VE CREATED A MONSTER.now about the dynamat this is to wrap at the basket spars for lack of a better term as seen in npsidel's reahb project.Is it also used to line interior spaces of the cabinets.I'm pretty sure I will not attempt TSUNAMI Nuts .Johnny's rings Larry's doughnuts or Pete's croissants any time soon.

zane77

You don't have to wrap the Dynamat around the spokes but just on the outside. Check out the SDA handbook in the vintage section a lot of people have pasted pictures of how they have covered their drivers with Dynamat and don.t forget the Passive Radiator. http://vr3mods.com/LCSDAUpgrade.html

deronb1

Spikes.and.dynamat around 50 bucks. Tweeters, 100 bucks. Properly upgraded crossover 150 or so. Thats the bad news. The good news is that ur speakers r gonna kick ****.

PolkieMan

That's a pretty cheap for a speaker set that's going to sound like a $1000.

deronb1 wrote: »

Spikes.and.dynamat around 50 bucks. Tweeters, 100 bucks. Properly upgraded crossover 150 or so. Thats the bad news. The good news is that ur speakers r gonna kick ****.

bigaltx24

I used to be a big Klipsch fan, I've owned LaScalas, Cornwalls, Fortes and Heresys. After I got my 1Bs and got them modded I sold the Fortes I had at the time. Klipsch are fine speakers, and I'd take them over a lot other speakers out there, but in my opinion they just don't measure up to modded SDAs