Sda's For Home Theater?

racer4551

I have really been considering finding a pair of sda's for my mains that would replace my rti70's. I just have alot of questions regarding if this would be a good move or not. First thing,would any of the sda's blend with my current spekers(fx500i side surr,rti6 rear surround)for home theater and music? Second i am a little confused as to what amp can you use with the sda's,i currently have a 3 channel sherbourn 200w x 3 at 8ohms,300w x 3 into 4 ohms minimum sine wave continuous output per channel, whatever sinewave means.The manual also states 8 or 4 ohms in normal mode or 8 ohm for bridged mode?Ihave heard that you would need a common ground amp, is this true?So would above amp do the job? what about the speaker cables,what would i need there?One last question for now ,how reliable would some of the oldest sda drivers be, being 15 to 20 years old, can you get replacement stuff for sda"s ?I really have never heard any sda's, but have heard they are a great speaker,it would be nice to have a pair of mains that would sound great with pure direct stereo and double for home theater .I realize that there are a lot veribles and questions here but if anyone could give me some feedback i would greatly be apprecative.

Tour2ma

Originally posted by racer4551
First thing,would any of the sda's blend with my current spekers(fx500i side surr,rti6 rear surround)for home theater and music?

Most critical match is with your center channel, which you have not listed.

Second i am a little confused as to what amp can you use with the sda's,i currently have a 3 channel sherbourn 200w x 3 at 8ohms,300w x 3 into 4 ohms minimum sine wave continuous output per channel, whatever sinewave means.The manual also states 8 or 4 ohms in normal mode or 8 ohm for bridged mode?Ihave heard that you would need a common ground amp, is this true?So would above amp do the job? what about the speaker cables,what would i need there?

Yes must be common ground for the original SDA's. With later generations, e.g., 1,2 tl's, non-common ground is acceptable if you use the modified SDA interconnect. Otherwise your amp looks to be hearty enough. SAme speaker wire should work just fine.

One last question for now ,how reliable would some of the oldest sda drivers be, being 15 to 20 years old, can you get replacement stuff for sda"s ?

Only reported issues have been with ferro fluid degredation in the SL3000 tweeter used in the tl generation, and it is far from being a universal problem. Original replacements are avaialble used. New replacements are avaialble, but not necessarily identical. SDA owners geberally consider replacement availability a non-issue.

racer4551

Thanks for the input Tour, my center is a csi40,being my rear surrounds have different tweeters than the sda's,would they really stand out differently in multichannel recordings and movies or would it not be that noticable?How would you know which sda's would require the special interconnect and which ones could use standard speaker connections?Is it just the models that are labled sda? Can you tell by which style connection the speaker uses?

F1nut

Racer,

All SDA speakers use the special interconnect cable.

VR3

the CS400i and CS400 are the match for the SDA line....

The RTi6 should do fine.... FX500i? should do fine as well

I-SIG

Originally posted by F1nut
Racer,

All SDA speakers use the special interconnect cable.

I think what was meant was that with non-common ground amps, the SDA interconnect with the special little transformer built into the cable must be used over and above the standard, wire-to-wire SDA cable.

Wes

Tour2ma

The original SDA's use a blade-blade SDA IC termination. With these models you must use a common ground amp.

Later SDA used a pin-blade SDA IC. With these you may use a non-common ground amp if you have the special SDA IC.

Sid,
I think that the surround speakers that sound best depend on which generation SDA you own.

acdds

I just got a pair of the SDA-1B's. They sound fantastic, musically and for home theater. I unfortunately passed on an chance to buy a set of 1.2's from a fellow member because I was hesitant to spend that kind of money without ever hearing the SDA sound. I wish now that I would have just bought them. My advice would be to get the biggest pair you can find and enjoy!!

PolkWannabie

With regards to the interconnect for SDA's ...

Is this true of the SRT's as well ? or do they some how connect through the control center differently ?

racer4551

So lets see if i got this straight,if the sda speaker has a blade-blade connection,i could not use a non-common ground amp, if the sds speaker has a pin-blade connection i can use a non-common ground amp(such as the one i have now)? When did the sda's quit using the blade-blade connection(what year)Because if i do find a pair i would like to use my current amp and not have to purchase another amp right now.

F1nut

Racer,

You got the first part right, but not the second. With the pin/blade type you can use a non-common ground amp, BUT you must use the AI-1 interconnect cable. The pin/blade was used starting in 1987. You can not buy the AI-1 anymore, but one can be made. Ken Swauger at Polk can provide that info.

PW,

The SRT's use an electronic control box for the SDA effect.

disneyjoe7

just what is a common ground amp ?

how is it different then other amps, tech here so lets get deep ok.

F1nut

A common ground amp shares a ground between the two negative outputs. Example of a non-common ground amp would be mono blocks or dual mono amps, they have completely seperate right and left channels, hence no comon ground.

racer4551

So in regard to the AI-1 CABLE was that a cable that came with the sda speakers or was it something designed so you could use a non-common ground amp?So if i was to buy any sda or sda-srs speaker i would, in order to use my amp,have to have this cable to connect to speakers.

racer4551

So do i have a non-common ground amp ?How do you know?

F1nut

Last time.....

With any blade/blade type SDA speaker you CAN NOT use non-common ground amps, period!

With pin/blade type SDA speakers you can only use non-common ground amps with a AI-1 interconnect cable, which was optional. You had to buy it seperate, so if you buy a pair of SDA's and it doesn't come with the AI-1 cable you will have to make one or buy a common ground amp.

racer4551

So basically i figured out i must have common ground amp and there for you would not need any special cables for connection to any sda or sda-srs speaker? Thanks f1 and others for your patience in trying to explain this to my thick head:D

Tour2ma

Correct, if your Sherwood is in fact a common ground amp.

Most are, but it is usually wise to consult your amp's manufacturer for confirmation.

F1nut

Originally posted by racer4551
So basically i figured out i must have common ground amp and there for you would not need any special cables for connection to any sda or sda-srs speaker?

But you will still need the standard interconnect cable that runs between the left and right speakers.

racer4551

So if i was to add a set of sda speakers to my current setup i would wire them just like i have the rti70's and connect the interconnect between the two sda's to aquire the sda effect ,right?again thanks for your patience on this matter i am really trying to understand this:)

Tour2ma

Yup...

racer4551

Also am i correct in assuming that all sda's used either a blade-blade or a pin-blade connection between the speakers?

Tour2ma

Yup #2...

racer4551

Thanks Tour now i can get some sleep, i just had to understand this,its been driving me up the wall:D . Now if i could just find some speakers!

Tour2ma

LOl... By the way I think they make great mains in an HT imaging-wise...

F1nut

In a thick British accent......

By George, I think he's got it!

racer4551

I really hope to find out , as soon as i find something.

racer4551

Took me awhile:o must have been all that stuff i did back in my school days taking affect!

00p225

I purchased a pair of SDA-1C's from Aaron, who is another member of this forum, and thought I'd share my findings with you concerning sda's for home theatre.

I originally purchased these to run on my vintage basement system which consists of the preamp portion of an HK 730 vintage receiver, technics sl-b5 turntable with denon dl160 cartridge and a McIntosh MC2100 100 wpc amp. While they soundstage quite well, the confines of my basement really didn't let them breath. Though they sounded nice, they don't have the accuracy, detail and above all bass below 50hz that my other vintage Pioneer hpm-100's have. I'll come to the bass issue a bit later.......

I decided to try them on my avr system which consists of an HK AVR 500 80wpc surround receiver and a panasonic rv-26 dvd player using tosslink and the HK's internal dac. What I found with the sda's is if you have enough room on either side of the speakers (3ft or more) they work well for home theatre. Well enough in fact that you could get away without rear surrounds if need be. Also, if your main listening area is the same distance from your tv as the speakers are apart from each other (equalateral triangle) you don't even need a center channel as the speakers almost disappear. If the dialogue is coming from the exact center, that is where the sda's will reproduce it. If your listening position is to one side or the other, a center channel is a must have as the dialogue coming from the left or right can be distracting. The lack of bass is really evident in this setup though, but I have them paired with a 12" powered sub with the crossover set at 60hz and this adds the "punch" needed for ht.

I don't like eq's, but tried one with this setup, and found I needed to boost the 36hz range a full 6dbs to even get close to the bass that my original main speakers will produce. These are PSB Century 500i's which are 2 way with just an 8" vifa woofer in a ported enclosure! A 6 db boost is just way too much and eats up all the headroom my meager 80wpc can deliver, hence the powered sub is a must have. The bass that is there is very good though, they don't sound boxy and sound very "tight". They are just down to many dbs below 50hz that a ported enclosure that I'm used to will deliver.

Also I'd like to mention that natural sounds like hand claps, doors shutting, or even horses running sound, well, very natural with the sda's. Probabally the best of any speakers Iv'e owned. As far as surround effects, they do the left to right panning very well, but don't do the sda imaging quite as well as 2 channel audio. The could be from the compression/mixing of the movie soundtracks though. Sometimes effects do enter into the the listening area, but not as often as many audio recordings. The bottom line is I like these very much for ht and they will be staying where they are at.

In 2 channel mode strangely enough the detail and accuracy are better in this location. It could be room acoustics etc, but I have'nt had time to move them around yet. I do miss the bottom end for classic rock, but these do classical, jazz and blues extremely well with very little fatigue. I hope my findings are of some help to you. Regards.

Zane

acdds

I agree with 00p25. In my set-up the SDA's are about 4 feet from the back wall and 3 feet from each side wall. The bass just isn't there in my opinion. I am used to a little punch when I listen to music (accurate bass or not I don't know). I have it paired with a s***** Sony subwoofer and the combination sounds fantastic to me. I have no other reference to base my opinion though. Movies are great and I can't tell any difference b/w the RTi's and the SDA's when sound is moving across the front stage.

F1nut

Try putting them very close to the back wall, I have mine at 5.5" using the Bass Brace. Your 1C's don't have that, so use floor spikes.