Amp for SRS SDA 2
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[Deleted User]
Posts: 365
Hello guys,
First post here on the Polk Forum. I just traded for a really clean pair of SDA 2s and need a bigger amp. Right now I have a Onkyo 80 watt receiver, which actually works better than I thought it would, but I know I need a lot more power.
I was going to order the Emotive XPA-2 and use it with a Onkyo Integra 3060R preamp. What do you think? The room is 20x40.
Should I expect a big difference?
Thanks for any help
Tony
First post here on the Polk Forum. I just traded for a really clean pair of SDA 2s and need a bigger amp. Right now I have a Onkyo 80 watt receiver, which actually works better than I thought it would, but I know I need a lot more power.
I was going to order the Emotive XPA-2 and use it with a Onkyo Integra 3060R preamp. What do you think? The room is 20x40.
Should I expect a big difference?
Thanks for any help
Tony
Post edited by [Deleted User] on
Comments
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Congrats on the speaks Tony and welcome to the forum. I would take a strong look at a good used amp like a Parasound HCA-1200 II or 1500 . What is you're budget for a power amp? There are so many good choices for you to look at besides the XPA-2 imho.
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Polkie2009 wrote: »Congrats on the speaks Tony and welcome to the forum. I would take a strong look at a good used amp like a Parasound HCA-1200 II or 1500 . What is you're budget for a power amp? There are so many good choices for you to look at besides the XPA-2 imho.
I'd like to keep it at around 1K. -
That's awesome Tony, you're going to be able to find some excellent power amps at that kind of coin sir!
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How about an Adcom GFA-555SE ?
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The Adcom would be fine, I ran one for years. I too just acquired some SRS 2's and run them with a B&K 200.2 amp and love it. Either of those choices should leave room in the budget for new RDO-194 tweets from Polk.
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chandler9a wrote: »The Adcom would be fine, I ran one for years. I too just acquired some SRS 2's and run them with a B&K 200.2 amp and love it. Either of those choices should leave room in the budget for new RDO-194 tweets from Polk.
Should the tweeter upgrade be the first in the mod chain? -
If you are talking about speakers only, yes, IMO. But you may just want to keep them fully stock for a while and buy an amp to run them and listen to them like they are.
You will love the differences you hear as you go.
Welcome aboard -
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Are we talking SDA SRS 2's or SDA 2's?Richard? Who's your favorite Little Rascal? Alfalfa? Or is it........................Spanky?.................................Sinner.
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I was going to order the Emotive XPA-2
With that budget, you could buy a REAL amp, there's no need to handicap yourself by buying Communist Chinese crap.I'd like to keep it at around 1K.
If it were me, I'd re-cap the crossover BEFORE installing fresh tweeters. This presumes that all four tweeters actually work, all eight drivers actually work, and the passives aren't destroyed. All of this is likely, but not guaranteed. Whatever you do inside the cabinet, you also need to assure that the polyfill has been pulled up--it's probably sagged after all these years, and the cabinet needs to be reasonably well-sealed.Should the tweeter upgrade be the first in the mod chain?
If these are blade/blade SRS 2s, you'll want to decide whether to upgrade to the "standard replacement" RD0-194 tweeters, or to change a cap in the crossover and go with the '198s. -
With that budget, you could buy a REAL amp, there's no need to handicap yourself by buying Communist Chinese crap.
If it were me, I'd re-cap the crossover BEFORE installing fresh tweeters. This presumes that all four tweeters actually work, all eight drivers actually work, and the passives aren't destroyed. All of this is likely, but not guaranteed. Whatever you do inside the cabinet, you also need to assure that the polyfill has been pulled up--it's probably sagged after all these years, and the cabinet needs to be reasonably well-sealed.
If these are blade/blade SRS 2s, you'll want to decide whether to upgrade to the "standard replacement" RD0-194 tweeters, or to change a cap in the crossover and go with the '198s.
Everything works as far as I can tell. I'm getting a Yamaha P2002M today. Thanks,again. -
PC2002M??? Very scary. I can't find a 4-ohm rating for that amp. Found several sources that all say the same thing: 240 w/c/8, 700 w/c/8 mono. Nowhere do they discuss 4-ohm operation. I tried downloading operator's manuals, but without success.I'm getting a Yamaha P2002M today.
First Guess: Current-limited.
The blade/blade SRS 2 is a "4-ohm" speaker; the pin/blade SRS 2 is 6-ohm. Either way, a current-limited amp is not a good choice. You start replacing inductors, and things get even worse. -
Looking at the manual for the PC2002 ,fig.3 is a graph that shows output vs load.It obviously has no problem with 4 ohm loads.The beefy looking output stage and power supply would seem to support that.Why they don't rate it for 4 ohm use?My guess is some sort of FTC rating thing of the day?
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Well, I got it all hooked up and to be honest, I'm less then impressed. The highs are strident, the bass is there but kind of muddy. Same with the mid- range, especially on vocals. I tried it with different electronics and basically the same results. These are the Blade/ blade SRSs that have a few updates( Hurricane nuts, and banana plugs for the SDA connection.
I do enjoy the big soundstage and was wondering how much real difference the crossover and tweeter mod really makes or maybe they just aren't for me.
Electronics are a Yamaha PC2002M, Onkyo 3060r preamp, Schitt's Modi and a Yamaha PX-2 turntable.
Thanks again for any help. -
Could be crossovers and the stock SL2000 tweeter.... Placement is also a big deal with these speakers, especially if you are getting muddy bass. I know the bass is more muddy on my SRS 2s than with a power subwoofer, but try moving them away from the walls/corners, and possibly adding spikes.
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I think it might be the preamp. I moved to a wall that has 20 ft clear on both sides and that helped a lot but still I occasionally heard a scratchy distortion. My stereo/ mono switch has always been noisy, so I blasted it with deoxit and cleared it up. Can a dirty switch like that cause distortion? Anyway, I'm going to keep them and get them sounding right. Maybe it's also time for a tube preamp!
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Do not toe them in if you have. I had to move mine in and out from the wall to get good bass. Mine sit 7" off my wall.
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Just added spikes to mine, works/sounds great.
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Don't overlook the simple things. Do the battery test to make sure all the drivers are in phase. - Disconnect the IC cable. Then momentarily connect a 1.5 volt flashlight battery to the plus and minus terminals on the back of the speakers while observing the drivers. All the drivers should move out at the same time.
Also check carefully to make sure the polarity of the speaker wires is correct all the way back to the amp. SDAs sound like crap when they are out of phase.- SDA 2BTL · Sonicaps · Mills resistors · RDO-198s · New gaskets · H-nuts · Erse inductors · BH5 · Dynamat
- Crossover upgrades by westmassguy
- Marantz 1504 AVR (front speaker pre-outs to Adcom 555)
- Adcom GFA-555 amp · Upgrades & speaker protection added by OldmanSRS
- Pioneer DV-610AV DVD/CD player
- SDA CRS+ · Hidden away in the closet
- SDA 2BTL · Sonicaps · Mills resistors · RDO-198s · New gaskets · H-nuts · Erse inductors · BH5 · Dynamat
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Don't overlook the simple things. Do the battery test to make sure all the drivers are in phase. - Disconnect the IC cable. Then momentarily connect a 1.5 volt flashlight battery to the plus and minus terminals on the back of the speakers while observing the drivers. All the drivers should move out at the same time.
Also check carefully to make sure the polarity of the speaker wires is correct all the way back to the amp. SDAs sound like crap when they are out of phase.
Not a bad idea, I've found this to be the problem more times than I would like to admit. -
I have the same problem with the SRS (but good bass). The tweeter are super loud, the sda drivers sound "hear percing" with some passages, i'am sure it's because I need to upgrade my X-over but won't to spend $800 on that! I just use 2 differents EV (P series) and tame the tweeter with minus 3db with the volume knob of one amp.
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That EV amp is probably your reason for ear piercing highs.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
That EV amp is probably your reason for ear piercing highs.
BTW OP.....your Yamaha is pretty cool looking, but it's got no balls ....not enough current for anything other than an 8 ohm speaker.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
I had this problem sinse I played loudy one afternoon for 3-4hours with a CARVER PM700 (my woofers was at 3-4mm X-mass), then I pluged a CARVER PM1400, a Kenwood KM209, a NAD 2400 THX, all make my SDA ear piercing with no bass...Then with my EV P1200 for tweeter and my EV P1202 for woofers boost my bass (the EV (old "gunship gray" version) are wonderfull).
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Also, the YAMAHA PC2002M are superbe amp and try to find the "Rolls-Royce", the PC5002M (my dream) http://www.thevintageknob.org/yamaha-101M.html
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Sorry, can't resist ! So beautifull! http://www.hifi-studio.de/hifi-klassiker/yamaha/yamaha_5002M/yamaha_5002M.htm
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My 1Bs are very similar to the blade/blade SRS 2. My complaint with them is recessed treble. If you think they're strident, either you have something else going on upstream, or there's something genuinely wrong with the speakers--or you're sensitive to the 12K peak of the SL2000 tweeters. Muddy bass is similarly NOT a characteristic I'd associate with 1B/SRS 2 speakers.Well, I got it all hooked up and to be honest, I'm less then impressed. The highs are strident, the bass is there but kind of muddy. Same with the mid- range, especially on vocals. I tried it with different electronics and basically the same results. These are the Blade/ blade SRSs that have a few updates( Hurricane nuts, and banana plugs for the SDA connection.
How much difference the crossover and tweeter mods make partially depends on what's wrong with them now. If you've got failed tweeters or failed crossover components, "upgrades" which repair existing problems can make a world of difference.I do enjoy the big soundstage and was wondering how much real difference the crossover and tweeter mod really makes or maybe they just aren't for me.
I'm not sure why you think crosssover upgrades need to cost $800.ALSATIAN in USA wrote: »I have the same problem with the SRS (but good bass). The tweeter are super loud, the sda drivers sound "hear percing" with some passages, i'am sure it's because I need to upgrade my X-over but won't to spend $800 on that! -
BTW OP.....your Yamaha is pretty cool looking, but it's got no balls ....not enough current for anything other than an 8 ohm speaker.
I was playing it at rather extreme volume last night and the amp was hardly working. Cool to the touch and it didn't trigger any protection circuits. Now, with my 100 watt receiver, I could definitely hear the strain. Not saying you're incorrect, just passing along my experience. -
Distortion turned out to be the equalizer and input in Itunes was jacked up too far.
