SDA 2B Value

nikolas812

Yes. I know this is a redundant thread... I've not been on the forum in a long time and I'm too busy with school and work to search all day. I just need to know what a fair price is for a pair of SDA 2B's, non studio version. I would guess they're probably 7/10 possibly 8/10 with interconnect cable included. 4 hour round trip give or take. Stock. Non modified. The seller is asking $300.

Thanks


Nik

nspindel

That's on the high side but not outrageous. If they are close by (in these parts a 4-hour round trip is pretty close by) and they are in good shape, the price is pretty reasonable. Try to talk him down to the $200-$250 range, but I wouldn't lose the deal over it. You may find a pair for $200, but it may be a 6-hour drive each way.

jeremymarcinko

$225 would be the most I would pay given the 7/10 condition.

Mystery

Sold mine for $225 and studio is up for sale at $250 due to better condition.

boston1450

I payed 300.00 for minty pair in 2012.

TennMan

The price depends on where you live and how far you are willing to drive to get them. Here in East Tennessee a nice pair of 2Bs will average near $300. They are scarce here compared to some other parts of the country. You can get them cheaper if you are willing to drive but when you factor the cost of driving to get them into the price you end up paying about the same money. Sometimes people report on here on CP that they pick them up dirt cheap but I'm never that lucky.

nikolas812

I thought I remembered them going for $175-$250... Thing is. They don't come up that often close to southern Indiana. And over the years that I've been on the forum the numerous threads that have been created talking about them have been nothing but positive. I've always wanted to hear them... I've owned so many different polks its insane. Everything from 5jr's to 1.2tl's, lsi, rti, rt... I'm not really interested in anything from polk anymore except for the 2b and the 3.1tl's. I'll guess I'll just get with the guy and see if we can work something out as far as price and maybe meeting half way or something. If that can't happen I'll just pass and wait for something closer and or cheaper.

Thanks for refresher.

Nik

nikolas812

Here's the ad...


http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/3990981508.html

Mystery

nikolas812 wrote: »

Here's the ad...


http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ele/3990981508.html

They look to be in good condition but I would not pay $300.
If they don't come too often, then it's really up to you.
Offer $225-$250 and see what happens.

F1nut

I know everyone likes to get stuff as cheap as possible. That said, they are a steal at $300.00, should be double that.

Mystery

F1nut wrote: »

I know everyone likes to get stuff as cheap as possible. That said, they are a steal at $300.00, should be double that.

You can have my 2B's for double that anytime.
I'll even throw in an A/V receiver for freeeee plus six-pack beer plus pizza plus chicken wings etc...

My 2B's sat in CL for 2 months before finally selling at $225.
They are worth double that sound wise but no way that's their going rate.
Even 3.1TL's go for less.

My studio 2B's are still there for more than a month at $250.

nspindel

F1nut wrote: »

I know everyone likes to get stuff as cheap as possible. That said, they are a steal at $300.00, should be double that.

All depends on your perspective. They're "worth" double that because you won't find $600 speakers that sound as good. But at the end of the day, something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

boston1450

250.00 would be a very fair deal. Less even better for you. But those look pretty darn nice. Even if you did pay 300.00 for them it would be a half way decent deal. I paid 275.00 for the ones i have now & 130.00 in shipping from Colorado. Too much-MAYBE.....but to me-i am very happy. Its all on what your willing to pay.. If you do travel for them-you may come home empty handed. The cord is probably worth 40 smackaroos SO THATS A BIG PLUS----good luck with your search

TennMan

There seems to be a lot of Polks in Colorado. That may be what is hurting Mystery when he is trying to sell. I had to wait about a year to see a nice pair of the wood top 2Bs to come up for sale near me here in TN. They were priced at $325 and the cable was a cheap, non-original one.

boston1450

TennMan wrote: »

There seems to be a lot of Polks in Colorado. That may be what is hurting Mystery when he is trying to sell. I had to wait about a year to see a nice pair of the wood top 2Bs to come up for sale near me here in TN. They were priced at $325 and the cable was a cheap, non-original one.

up here in Maine ive seen 1 pair that were for sale in 3 years time-besides the ones i sold a year ago to a Massachusetts guy who traveled 4 hours to get the ones i had. In some areas you dont see them pop up often....

westmassguy

boston1450 wrote: »

up here in Maine ive seen 1 pair that were for sale in 3 years time-besides the ones i sold a year ago to a Massachusetts guy who traveled 4 hours to get the ones i had. In some areas you dont see them pop up often....

Rarely see anything Polk related near me.
If those were close I'd snap them up

leftwinger57

They look to be in pretty good shape w/ the usual exception of the tops either being stained or marred a bit which of course does not effect the sound and is fairly easily remedied by either putting a doile over them or refinishing them like I did .Again tell him your interested but gas and tolls and hours on the road other assorted bs. is getting the way and is there any wiggle room to move these.They do look like keepers.

Polkie2009

Nik, how far will you have to drive to go check these out? Call the man and negotiate a price , hopefully he'll give you a break if you end up having to drive an hour or two each way.

Mr. Bubbles

I paid $225 for my 2A's and since hearing them would pay much more. To me the 2A/B's are the best of the best. Well worth the money. Adding in the 4 hour round trip and the associated fuel cost may be the kicker. Also keep in mind almost nobody posts the price they will take on CL because they know most will try to talk the price down. Do just that. talk them down and go for it.

A good example is a pair of speakers i bought just last night; A pair of DCM TF600's i saw a CL a couple of weeks ago listed at $250. I called and determined i did not wish to spend that even though that is the range they normally sell in. I made a $125 offer and they said no. But they texted me back and asked if i was still interested. At that point I didn't have $125 cash so I ended up getting them for $80 in 8.5/10 condition.

By the same token SDA's are getting hard to come across, at least in my area. If you really want them you may have to pay a little more, or wait it out. feel the situation and go from there. You should love them. Awesome speakers.

Mystery

Mr. Bubbles wrote: »

A pair of DCM TF600's i saw a CL a couple of weeks ago...

Off topic but I passed on TF600's several times.
How do they compare with SDA-2's?

EndersShadow

Hey Nik, let me help ya out a little bit and alleviate any concerns you have.

I personally know the person who owns these speakers. He is a member of this board (wont mention names in case they want to remain anonymous). I have personally laid eyes on them and they are in VERY GOOD shape and sound phenomenal.

I was talking to this member earlier this week and he mentioned that these were for sale and that he had some bites from another local forum member. As far as I know they are sold pending funds to that forum member (again no names, but its not me either). They were simply working on the pickup arrangements for them.

If that sale falls through I am sure you will be contacted.

So you might be out of luck on these, but if not I can tell you they look MUCH better than the pics and are well worth the asking price.

I also felt like I should respond to some of the comments here just so you know where that member stands on the price of the units.

Polkie2009 wrote: »

Nik, how far will you have to drive to go check these out? Call the man and negotiate a price , hopefully he'll give you a break if you end up having to drive an hour or two each way.

Mr. Bubbles wrote: »

Also keep in mind almost nobody posts the price they will take on CL because they know most will try to talk the price down. Do just that. talk them down and go for it.

In this instance the price is right for these and the seller doesnt really have any reason to drop the price any. Why do you ask? Because he has been debating TL'ing them himself he just doesn't have the time for a project right now, but he doesnt "need" to move them. He's got more than enough space in his basement for them to sit along with his other speakers he's collected over the years. So if they dont sell at that price, he will just keep em and TL em and then they aint going NOWHERE :biggrin:

In addition the other forum member looking to buy these has a similar roundtrip time to come pick them up.

indyhawg

These are mine. I currently have a sale pending to a fellow forum member. He and I have been talking over the past week. He will be out of town this weekend. So the status of these is up in the air until next week. If the sale does not happen, I will contact Nikolas to see if we can work out a price.

I picked these up a few months back but decided to put these up for sale to try to fund some bigger SDAs. I really like these speakers, so I will not be offended if they do not sell. I do not need the money and am not trying to flip them. If they do not sell, then I am going to TL them. Unfortunately, TLing would be several months down the road since I have several other projects going on right now. Dan, Endershadow, has seen and heard these speakers and can vouch for them.

Mystery

There you go straight from horse's mouth.
Good luck with the sale indyhawg!

leftwinger57

Mystery, I have TF 350s and were my go to speakers before I got my SDA 2bs. Climbing the TF ladder as it were they do get better up till the #2000s , then they turn into a different line altogether the vaunted Time Window series w/ the 7s as totl.Now for comparison TFs have an incredibly bright sounstage ,project extremely well and have enough bass for most people w/ only a 6.5 "woofer and tweeter in phased array and are mirrored imaged so placement left and right does make a difference w/large spring tab type connectors, now all that said there is really no comparison w/ the SDA 2bs w/ bass clearing out the room and that desired SDA effect and are much ,much more powerful.If a gun was put to my head the Polks would win out unless 7s dropped into my living room.

boston1450

Nice of him to chime-in....those look very nice BTW & GLWS

Mr. Bubbles

indyhawg wrote: »

These are mine. . If the sale does not happen, I will contact Nikolas to see if we can work out a price.

I picked these up a few months back but decided to put these up for sale to try to fund some bigger SDAs. .

Ender; i agree these are worth the price. That is one point I was trying to make in my earlier post. Sorry if it didn't come across that way. However look at the sellers words. He is evidently willing to work with the posted price somewhat; As I said people almost always talk down somewhat from their posted price (not always and not always a lot).

Indy, I have the 2A's as well as the 1C's, SRS and 1.2TL's. The 2's sound the best of all of them. If I were you i would keep them and not worry about the big ones unless it is an ego thing. The 2's will sound as good or better than the big ones unless you are filling a stadium. Good luck either way.

Mystery; The TF series are a totally different animal than the SDA 2. In some aspects they better the Polks and in some they do not. Steve Eberbach focused a lot on time alignment in his designs. the Polks loose out on that. The stock tweets though lower quality than the Polks prob sound better, however there are no easily drawn out upgrades for the DCM's. could be done but one is on their own. bass reached deeper on the Polks but the DCM's really surprise for the size cabinet. Vintage DCM's are a big part of what has led me to this hobby and are now one of the brands I collect. I have a good many models but still looking to fill in ones I do not have, or in the case of these just buying extra pairs at a good price for spare parts and such. The 600's are the sweet spot in the TF series from all that I have heard. If you get a chance to audition a pair at a good price I would recommend it. Of all my speakers I own If I were faced with having to get only keep a few pairs I would keep my SDA 2's, Time window 3's and TF600's in that order. after that My VMPS and other DCMs and Polks. left winger is correct with his description of the DCMs however they don't really get better as the models climb. I also own the TF1000's and prefer the 600's far and away over the 1000's. The entire Time window series is pretty awesome and they do tend to get better as the models go up. I too would love to run up on a pair of 7's. And he is also correct that the TF series is no comparison to the SDA 2's as a whole. of all my speakers my favorites are my 2A's, even over the big boys.

nspindel

Mr. Bubbles wrote: »

Indy, I have the 2A's as well as the 1C's, SRS and 1.2TL's. The 2's sound the best of all of them. If I were you i would keep them and not worry about the big ones unless it is an ego thing. The 2's will sound as good or better than the big ones unless you are filling a stadium. Good luck either way.

I think that statement needs a lot of qualification. Pound for pound, the 1.2TL's will lay waste to a pair of 2A's or 2B's. That's not a knock on the 2's by any stretch. However, they require a LOT more power in order to bring out what they are capable of. They also need a bigger room. You may have amplification/space that is just fine for the 2B's, but not up to snuff for the big boys.

When I bought my first pair of SDA's back in 1989, the shop I bought them from had a beautiful listening room. Large, open, and acoustically treated. I can't remember what the system is they were using to demonstrate them, but it was serious quality. Ooodles of power. The sales guy demonstrated the 2B's for me, since that was my price point. But then he switched out the 2B's for a pair of SRS's, and there simply was no comparison. Again, not a knock on the 2's. The price points were/are totally different.

If you take a pair of 2B's, do all the mods on them that you want, and then take a pair of 1.2TL's and mod them comparably (same caps, resistors, rings, spikes, dynamat, etc.), and put them in a room that is adequately sized for the 1.2's, with power that is adequately sized for the 1.2's, and then compare them, the 1.2's will win hands down. Sure, if you have an amp that is not powerful enough for the 1.2's but can feed the 2's just fine, you may think the 2's sound better, but once you climb the ladder with the rest of the chain, there is no contest. It's all about synergy across the entire system.

EndersShadow

Mr. Bubbles wrote: »

Ender; I agree these are worth the price. That is one point I was trying to make in my earlier post. Sorry if it didn't come across that way. However look at the sellers words. He is evidently willing to work with the posted price somewhat; As I said people almost always talk down somewhat from their posted price (not always and not always a lot).

Its cool, there is no issue there. I was aware Jeff may have been willing to work with him on the price, as well as what that other price may have been, but I didnt feel it my place to discuss that information publicly. So I just held the line on his pricing. I figured he would chime in on pricing if he wanted to.

boston1450

Well said nspindel. Nice to be able to compare both in one sitting

zingo

$300 is not unreasonable for those speakers in that condition.

Mr. Bubbles

nspindel wrote: »

I think that statement needs a lot of qualification. Pound for pound, the 1.2TL's will lay waste to a pair of 2A's or 2B's. That's not a knock on the 2's by any stretch. However, they require a LOT more power in order to bring out what they are capable of. They also need a bigger room. You may have amplification/space that is just fine for the 2B's, but not up to snuff for the big boys.

When I bought my first pair of SDA's back in 1989, the shop I bought them from had a beautiful listening room. Large, open, and acoustically treated. I can't remember what the system is they were using to demonstrate them, but it was serious quality. Ooodles of power. The sales guy demonstrated the 2B's for me, since that was my price point. But then he switched out the 2B's for a pair of SRS's, and there simply was no comparison. Again, not a knock on the 2's. The price points were/are totally different.

If you take a pair of 2B's, do all the mods on them that you want, and then take a pair of 1.2TL's and mod them comparably (same caps, resistors, rings, spikes, dynamat, etc.), and put them in a room that is adequately sized for the 1.2's, with power that is adequately sized for the 1.2's, and then compare them, the 1.2's will win hands down. Sure, if you have an amp that is not powerful enough for the 1.2's but can feed the 2's just fine, you may think the 2's sound better, but once you climb the ladder with the rest of the chain, there is no contest. It's all about synergy across the entire system.

Though I do agree with much of what you say I still disagree that the big boys sound better than the 2's. But each one of us is different. I have tried all of my SDA's on the same equipment with thw amplifiers varying from an integrated Marantz 3250 to a Carver M4.0T with several others in between, passive bi amped in some cases. I have also used them in different rooms but tried all in the same rooms. The smallest being 13ft x 10ft x 8h and the largest 28 x 16 x 9 with several open archways and a hall. I have the 2A's, 1C's (actually tried 2 different pairs of these), SRS, and 1.2TL. When it comes to power handling and massaging my male ego, the SRS and 1.2's win hands down definately. However the 2A's have come out on top in each case for overall tonal balance and percieved bottom end range as well as detail. The 1C's are the weakest of all I have heard in my system or others. The SRS and 1.2 TL's definately surpass the 1C's in all areas but still are not quite as pleasing to my ears as the 2's. Overall I listen to the SRS more than any as they show off well in the main living room and sound great, but if I had to go with only one pair of SDA's it would be 2A/B's.

I have described it before but believ the reason for my choice comes down to several things; #1 the cabinet volume/ driver/ passive surface area. #2 the number of drivers is kept to a minimum reducung time alignment and phasing issues between the multiple drivers. The SRS and 1.2 do have the progreesive point source tweets but do not have any such characterisitc with the mids/ bass drivers. The human ear can detect the arival of the same sound from different sources at differing distances from the ear. With the SRs and 1.2 this creates a minimum of two arrival times even if your ear is perfectly situated in the center of the drivers but usually 3 or 4 which muddy the sound even more. #3 flexibility; the smaller ones will work in more situatuions. This last has nothing to do with sound but as I age I may very well have to downsize as many others have to do and not only are the 2's easier to move but will work in more situations.

Again this is my take and I speak for no one else. I hear what I hear and have no clue if anyone else hears the same thing the same way. We all have a different hearinfg response jsut as speakers differ in the response curves. For me I prefer the 2A/B's then the SRS, then the 1.2 next would be the CRS with the 1C a distant last. I would take those if I had no other SDA's but do not prefer them in any way. I have my current pair in hopes of one day finding some passives for SRS 2's ans building me set of those. I have also not yet heard the 2.3 or 3.1 and make no judgement on those.