Step one. SRS Reseal

crashb4

I've been listening to my new to me SRS v1.0 blade - blade since I got them recently. I wanted to get a sense of their personality and create a reference point to measure any upgrades that are applied to them. They are bone stock and will require the usual and proven upgrades. I had noticed a less than stellar base response. Don't get me wrong, I can shake the house at will. But I noticed that heavy bass sustains would drop off prematurely. I applied the standard PR push test and noted an immediate fall on the MW drivers. First upgrade identified. I wasn't sure if it was the cabinet or the drivers that were leaking, so I decided to break them down and have a look. The PR seal was applied crooked on the basket base and was not sealing on about 15% of the circumference. The tweeter gaskets were sealed on the mounting bosses only. Let's see what happens when done right, shall we? I have all materials to re-seal the drivers and cabinet and will work on the project as time permits. In the meantime, I will put the SDA1A back in service.

PolkieMan

Kinda sad, I saw some shoddy work when I opened mine and like yours MSRP was not cheap. Remember they are SRS Polks best.

xsmi

We ARE talking about 30yo speakers so I'm sure some of this is just due to age.

crashb4

I'm not knocking the company or the product. Truth is that once you mount the drivers, you can't tell the status of the seals. In a manufacturing setting, there is not time to go back and check. I'm mearly reporting what I found as a cause to the lack luster base response I hear. They were certainly not digging down to their lowest rated frequency. Still a polkaholic no matter.

PolkieMan

I forget which one but there was a brochure showing a quality technician with a stethoscope checking one of the SRS speakers for leaks. $2750 back in 1990 was a lot of money. Page 18 http://polksda.com/pdfs/1985Sales.pdf
http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=170000&year=1990

crashb4 wrote: »

I'm not knocking the company or the product. Truth is that once you mount the drivers, you can't tell the status of the seals. In a manufacturing setting, there is not time to go back and check. I'm mearly reporting what I found as a cause to the lack luster base response I hear. They were certainly not digging down to their lowest rated frequency. Still a polkaholic no matter.

crashb4

PolkieMan wrote: »

I forget which one but there was a brochure showing a quality technician with a stethoscope checking one of the SRS speakers for leaks. $2750 back in 1990 was a lot of money. Page 18 http://polksda.com/pdfs/1985Sales.pdf
http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=170000&year=1990

There was no way I could have justified the price of these speakers when they came out. I was relatively young and had more than enough bills to pay. As you can see from the picture, the tweets were only sealed on a very small portion of the gasket. This pair has never sounded up to their potential since the day they were born. This will be rectified, and the fix is currently under way.

PolkieMan

I pulled the Sub out of one of the big ones and the cardboard damping ring for the back of it was lying on the bottom so they were skimping on the glue.

K_M

PolkieMan wrote: »

I forget which one but there was a brochure showing a quality technician with a stethoscope checking one of the SRS speakers for leaks. $2750 back in 1990 was a lot of money. Page 18

It does indeed show a guy with a stethoscope, but I can not even imagine there is music playing with that up to his ears, it would be painfully loud.

So, what is he doing I wonder?