SDA SRS Cable

oldrocker

Just hooked up a connect cable I bought here and a couple quick questions?
FYI, been running these without the cable in a 2 channel setup thru a parasound 2250, parasound 2100 pre, sony cd player. Now the cable is in and I'm not seeing a big change in sound quality.

Is there a "phase" in period for the cable to do its thing? The cable looks just fine. All is hooked up correctly.
Just not really sure what changes this cable makes or what results others have had.
FYI, SDA's are original, all drivers works fine NO mods at this time have been done.

TKS in advance.

nooshinjohn

Make certain the speakers are set up correctly, no toe-in, 6 inches from back wall, three feet from side walls, etc...

What you should hear is an immense soundstage that seems to take up the entire wall, and 3D pinpoint imaging within the soundstage. The effect is anything but subtle.

zane77

Ohm out the cable and make sure it is good. Like John say's the effects are not subtle.

oldrocker

Will ohm it out, gonna re-measure the distances. THANKS GUYS!!!

TennMan

Polarity of the speaker wires running between the amplifier and the speakers is extremely important when you have the SDA cable connected. If the wire connections are reversed on one of the speakers you will hear little or no SDA effect from your speakers.

PolkieMan

On my Sda 1C and 2.3 Tls I can distinctly hear when I plug and unplug the cable sitting in front of the speaker reaching around the back. Mine are both pin/blade but that should not matter.

zane77

TennMan has a very good point

westmassguy

Also make sure you have the left speaker and right speaker in the correct position. The SRS has a blade/blade, so both wires carry signal.

Schurkey

oldrocker wrote: »

Is there a "phase" in period for the cable to do its thing? The cable looks just fine. All is hooked up correctly.

Should make an INSTANT difference in the width of the soundstage.

Little-to-no difference in frequency response, tone, etc.

There's a troubleshooting guide available for download from this site, but TennMan has most of the stuff covered.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47379&d=1268334955

oldrocker

Thanks a bunch guys, something is not quite right and will investigate first thing in the morning.
Once again, THANKS!

Schurkey

Which series of the Big Guys had the problem where the red and black speaker-wire connections on the back were reversed from the factory?

Kinda thinking 1.2s, but I don't remember for sure. Someone here had a set, owned them for years, and never heard the SDA effect until he swapped the positive and negative speaker cables.

F1nut

^That's correct.^

westmassguy

Schurkey wrote: »

Which series of the Big Guys had the problem where the red and black speaker-wire connections on the back were reversed from the factory?

Kinda thinking 1.2s, but I don't remember for sure. Someone here had a set, owned them for years, and never heard the SDA effect until he swapped the positive and negative speaker cables.

Curious, I'm rebuilding a pair of original SRS crossovers for a customer, and the Binding Posts were reversed. Red posts were on the right, instead of the usual red on the left. They were internally wired correctly too. When I replaced the Binding Posts, I put the red on the left.

F1nut

Only the 1.2's came from the factory with the posts reversed, the wiring was correct. Someone along the line must have swapped the ones on the SRS you worked on.

westmassguy

F1nut wrote: »

Only the 1.2's came from the factory with the posts reversed, the wiring was correct. Someone along the line must have swapped the ones on the SRS you worked on.

Don't think so Jesse, the hot glue on the back was all original from the factory. That's why I found it very strange.

michaeljhsda2

Polk was notorious for using old stock parts on new production speakers, so the sticker on the back of some of the 1.2's were actually stickers left over from the original SRS's (which show that positive is on the right). So when customers read the label on the back, naturally they hooked them up as illustrated, unwittingly wiring them out of phase.

oldrocker

Switching the speaker wires now.
Thanks All!!!

pitdogg2

westmassguy wrote: »

Don't think so Jesse, the hot glue on the back was all original from the factory. That's why I found it very strange.

That may be true but you do not need to disturb the glue to switch the binding post caps.

michaeljhsda2

westmassguy wrote: »

Curious, I'm rebuilding a pair of original SRS crossovers for a customer, and the Binding Posts were reversed. Red posts were on the right, instead of the usual red on the left. They were internally wired correctly too. When I replaced the Binding Posts, I put the red on the left.

Since they are original SRS's, the red post nut (+) should be on the right. 1.2's and 1.2TL's have the red post nut on the left.

oldrocker

No change yet, here is a pic of the wires. I put the positive speaker wire on the back post and negative on the red post, still no change. Have had speaker wires both ways, gonna go buy an ohm meter to check the cable itself.

westmassguy

pitdogg2 wrote: »

That may be true but you do not need to disturb the glue to switch the binding post caps.

I'm well aware of that, however the customer chose new Binding Posts so the hot glue had to go.

michaeljhsda2

Just double checking that the interconnect cable is blade/blade. Correct?

michaeljhsda2

oldrocker wrote: »

I put the positive speaker wire on the black post and negative on the red post, still no change.

That is incorrect. Positive speaker wire should go on the red post (you have the red post nut where it's supposed to be).

oldrocker

I was going by an earlier post that red was negative and black was positive which is backwards to me, I did switch them back. I did the sda test as per hand book and did hear a slight difference in the sound.

Appreciates the input!!!

michaeljhsda2

oldrocker wrote: »

I was going by an earlier post that red was negative and black was positive which is backwards to me, I did switch them back. I did the sda test as per hand book and did hear a slight difference in the sound.

Appreciates the input!!!

You're welcome. You have a blade/blade IC correct?

oldrocker

Yes sir, blade to blade... getting closer here

TennMan

Oldrocker, if you want to be absolutely sure all your wiring is in phase you can do the following test with a 1.5 volt flashlight battery:

1. Disconnect the IC cable
2. Remove the grilles from the speakers so you can observe the drivers
3. Disconnect the left speaker wires from the amplifier
4. Hold the negative speaker wire to the negative (bottom) post of the battery
5. While observing the mid-woofers, touch the positive speaker wire to the positive (top) post of the battery and quickly remove

Each time you touch the battery you should see the mid-woofers in your speakers move outward if the polarity is correct. If any of the drivers move in there is something wrong

Repeat 1-5 for the right speaker.

F1nut

Ok, it's simple enough to figure out which binding post goes where by removing the binding post cup and checking the wires on the backside of the cup. Black or blue is positive, white or green is negative.

michaeljhsda2

^^Bingo^^ You never know how things went during production...coulda been built on a Friday or a Monday :O

westmassguy

F1nut wrote: »

Ok, it's simple enough to figure out which binding post goes where by removing the binding post cup and checking the wires on the backside of the cup. Black or blue is positive, white or green is negative.

Very true Jesse, however the SRSs I'm doing now used different color wiring for the Interconnect Sockets, than what's shown on the schematics. The blade/blade has been replaced with SpeakOn, and the wiring is properly color coded now.

michaeljhsda2

westmassguy wrote: »

Very true Jesse, however the SRSs I'm doing now used different color wiring for the Interconnect Sockets, than what's shown on the schematics. The blade/blade has been replaced with SpeakOn, and the wiring is properly color coded now.

I believe he was referring to the upper and lower frequency drivers, not the IC socket.