Owner of a Nice Pair of SDA SRS 2 (using the wrong Amp)

SDAkid

Hi guys, Bryan Here, long time lurker Polk Fan. (Twice Owner of Monitor 10's and Twice Owner of SDA-SRS 2's)

My first Pair of Monitor 10's where completely redone new wiring inside with easy plugs, recapped crossovers, new tweeters and a new cabinet and sand filled stands built over the old ones with new grills to compensate. Sadly I fell in love and sold everything on a Mad Dash for a wedding.

Second Pair of Monitor 10's got via a trade but did not realized that the 4 drivers where seized and that 1 tweeter worked. The folks over at (thecarversite) helped me with 3 drivers sill missing 1 driver and one tweeter. These are in a A/C stored environment till I have the resources for them again.

My first SDA SRS 2 was picked up along the same time I realized my Monitors where shot. Paid 175 for the Pair. I have the Blade/Blade Configuration on them. These are my current speakers and I use them without the IC Cable with a Carver M500(t) MKII

The second pair of SDA-SRS 2 is a walnut (low serial 900's) 1986 SRS 2 also with Blade/Blade configuration that I bought for 200 then sold them on to a friend who wanted to try the SDA Magic.

I have yet to try this as my Carver M500(t) MKII is not common ground. I have several local options.

Proton AA-1150 (don't know if its common ground)
Adcom GFA-555 (have the option to TRY BEFORE I BUY)

or Can you guys Recommend anything similar to the Carver sound that is common ground to use with the SDA-SRS 2?

Phew!! Sorry for the long RANT

Polkie2009

Welcome to the site SDAkid, I think a number of fellow polksters have used the Carver TFM amps like the 25,35,42 to run their SDA speakers. You definitely want to use a common ground amp no matter what brand you decide on to be able to enjoy the full SDA experience.

codyc1ark

Welcome to CP! Nice first post, hold on, it's going to be a long ride. :

Faustin

Welcome to Club Polk. I am currently using an Adcom 555 I bought used with a Dared tube pre to power SDA 1c's. Happy with the combo. Not boutique high end but it works for me. The Adcom just lost a channel a couple of days ago so it is going in to be looked at Saturday. I think I finally found someone that know what they are doing and should be fair with the repair.

Schurkey

The early-production Carver M1.0 and all of the M500 have one channel with reversed polarity. These amps cannot be made common-ground, they will not work with blade/blade SDA speakers if the SDA interconnect is used.

The Adcom '555 is compatible with the blade/blade SDA; I don't know about the Proton but one minute with an ohmmeter will tell that tale.

Take any quality solid-state amplifier, insert a high-capacity one-ohm resistor into the speaker cable for each channel, and you've got the basis for the "Carver Sound". I'd rather have a high damping factor, but that's not everyone's preference.

SDAkid

Schurkey whats your current setup? You are also on Carversite?

Schurkey

SDAkid wrote: »

Schurkey whats your current setup?

SDA 1B lightly modded with film caps and fresh resistors, low-DCR SDA inductors, most of the typical mods as promoted here. I also changed to RD0-198 main tweeters while keeping SL2000s for the secondary tweeters, since they're rolled-off well-below their 12Khz peak. I'm too anti-Communist Chinese to buy the second pair of '198s...although that may change someday.

Amplifier is Aragon 8008BB with the negative terminals strapped together to eliminate 20-ohm "partial-common-ground" resistance which made the speakers unlistenable.

SDAkid wrote: »

You are also on Carversite?

I'm registered on two Carver sites, but I spend more time on thecarversite.com.

PolkieMan

I used a Carver TFM-25 on my 2.3Tls for about 20 years

Nightfall

Schurkey wrote: »

I also changed to RD0-198 main tweeters while keeping SL2000s for the secondary tweeter

You're using 198's and SL2000's on the same speaker? Is that a typo?

gdb

I have a TFM-35 feeding my 2.3TLs, common ground-great sound, IMO. One day......I'll get Rolland to recap a TFM-55 for me and see what that'll do for the headroom department.

machone

Faustin. If you don't mind shipping the adcom John at musicaldesigns.com can repair and upgrade your amp. Give him a call; he is easy to talk to and his work is excellent. I had him repair and upgrade by Hafler 110 preamp and 500 amp.

gentle_man100

Congratulations on your new purchase. Look forward to hearing more about them.

leftwinger57

While I do like the looks and power of the Carver tfm-35 (sucker for meters) I went w/ an Adcom 555 200 watts a side, instant gratification and plays forever. Mine was $300 w/ shipping included from Audio Classics. No affiliation just on reputation alone and they know how to pack.

Polkie2009

You got a killer deal on that 555 leftwinger! Bryan, keep us informed on what you go with.

Schurkey

Nightfall wrote: »

Schurkey wrote: »

I also changed to RD0-198 main tweeters while keeping SL2000s for the secondary tweeter

You're using 198's and SL2000's on the same speaker?

Yes.

Nightfall wrote: »

Is that a typo?

No.

leftwinger57 wrote: »

I went w/ an Adcom 555

'555 or '555 II?

SDAkid

Polkie2009 wrote: »

You got a killer deal on that 555 leftwinger! Bryan, keep us informed on what you go with.

Well Im hoping for my buddy to swing by with his GFA-555 to do a little A and B with my Carver M500(t)MKII

I know the Adcom sound is nice as I owned a GFA-545 back in the day with a pair of Adven Legacy II's

But in the end Carver with its M500(t) and Polk Monitor 10's won me over

My MKII is powerful too bad its not common ground (check the specs):
M-500(t)Mk II
Power
8 ohms 395 watts <0.15% THD
4 ohms 420 watts <0.15% THD
At Clipping
8 ohms 410 watts
4 ohms 490 watts
Dynamic
8 ohms 520 watts
4 ohms 920 watts
2 ohms 1214 watts

SDAkid