Looking for input on Upgrade Plan for SDA "collection"

movtarget

Long time lurker, with some posts some years ago. Back for some advice.

Summary: Looking for advice on upgrade plan for 8 pairs (from 5jr through SRS & 2.3tl, plan to keep the 2.3tl). As I sell them, better to upgrade and sell, or sell as is. I bought the rdo-194's years ago, so I'm $100+ into any given pair already. Also have the RDO-198's for the 2.3tl.

I had a grand plan to match up SRS, SDA, and 5jr (all running the SL2000, and similar mid-woofs) in a home theater addition. The plan was to use the SRS for front and center, the SDA 2's for the surround, and potentially the 5jr's for surround effect (12.2 DSP). The 2.3tl were an impulse buy when they were on my local Craigslist. ($500) and probably would have been for 2 channel only. All the fronts were going behind an acoustically transparent projection screen (my design had it at 12' diagonal for widescreen)

The home theater addition never became a reality, and now I'm preparing to sell most of them to regain the space they take up and get them some respectable usage (they've been idle for 10 years or so).

Inventory

5jr (w/ bass port - 1985 speaker stamp)
5jr+ (w/ passive - 1990 speaker stamp)
SDA 2 (3 mid-woof, 2 tweeter) (two pairs) - one of these was my original SDA purchase in 1987 - If I recall correctly $250 used in the "classified ads"
SDA 2B (studio black, 2 mid-woof, 1 tweeter)
SDA SRS (original) (two pairs)
SDA SRS 2.3tl

Was thinking about using Dayton caps and mills retsistors to keep the costs down to make the sell on Craigslist or eBay at a reasonable cost. This won't be as attractive for a "club polk" type purchaser since they would likely prefer a higher-end cap. I don't have anywhere near the number of posts to discuss selling them here, although by the end of this project, I might, so the primary topic is making these attractive for the more common buyer that is aware of the legacy value of the SDA series.

My plan is to try to recover my sunk costs for caps, resistors, and rdo-194's, with enough margin on the ones I sell to cover the cap and resistor costs on the ones I keep.

From inventory above, would like to keep (in priority order):
2.3tl
5jr+
SDA 2B

I have 18 rdo-194's, so if I eliminate the dimensional tweeter in the two SDA 2 pairs, I can re-tweet all of them (yes, I have 6 additional rdo-198's for the 2.3tl).

So, the questions (and go beyond with input as you feel warranted):

1) Should I try to offer for sale at a 'firm' price on craigslist (or maybe even ebay) before upgrading to see if I can turn as much margin without the upgrade. This might attract the more knowledgeable Polk enthusiast who wants to insure the work is done to their specifications, as well as keeping the cost lower to attract the more casual Polk fan.

2) Go ahead and upgrade before offering to sell, and then educate the potential buyers on the value of the upgrades. This may leave out some of the true Polk enthusiasts, but not all. I would reduce some of the wider interested Polk buyers due to the higher pricing since they potentially wouldn't understand what value upgraded capacitors, resistors, and tweeters provides.

3) Since I'm not targeting the higher-end caps in order to control my costs and therefore reduce the ultimate sales price, am I taking a financial short-cut I shouldn't? The 5jr and SDA upgrade costs are nominal with the moderate Dayton 1% caps ($15-$45 per speaker). The larger capacitance values in the SRS push the "compromise" at $300-$350 per speaker pair, so I'm hesitant to go at a higher initial investment.

I'm a bootstrapping (cash poor) entrepreneur (business not related to audio/Polk, so off-topic), so I'm ultimately flipping my long-term investments back into cash

In the end I hope to be cost neutral with the modest margins covering the upgrade costs on the pairs I keep.

Thanks in advance for reading my verbose post and any feedback you can provide.

Movtarget (Raleigh, NC)

movtarget

I didn't realize I had 123 posts from forever ago, so how do I know if I'm qualified to offer these for sale in the appropriate forum?

pitdogg2

over 100 posts you are qualified....

Read this VVVVV

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/98162/before-you-post-read-this#latest

then sell away.

I'd just sell then as is if it was me. You're not likely to recoup your cost in most cases.

F1nut

What he said.

movtarget

So should I look to sell the rdo-194s separately? In the case of the 5jr, the value of the two tweeters likely exceeds the value of the speaker pair.

teekay0007

For the longest time, there was a shortage of the RDO-194 (RD-0194?) tweeters, could never get your hands on any.....Now, we know where they all were.

Hoarder!




Sell your excess stock of speakers (and tweeters) without doing the upgrades on them. Rarely does one recoup the costs of the upgrades. Also, the upgrades/mods, done right, are a pretty significant time/labor investment that you'd obviously not be reimbursed for.

Schurkey

If this were me--and it is not--I would do all the low-cost "upgrades" such as lifting the cabinet stuffing back where it belongs, unplug and replug all the internal connections a few times to scrape the oxide off of them, hurricane-nut the drivers if the screw holes are marginal. Check cabinet bracing and re-glue as needed, along with sealing the cabinets as needed.

I'd leave all the resistors and inductors in the crossover as-is. I'd replace all the electrolytic caps with FRESH electrolytic caps. Depending on the deterioration of the original caps, sound quality could be much improved via lower ESR even if the original caps haven't changed capacitance value. This should cost a fraction of the price of film caps, yet restore performance to "new".

I MIGHT spend some money on film caps to replace the Mylar jobs in the HF sections. Or just leave the Mylar units and the silver-mica bypass caps in place. The Mylar caps are in series, not shunt. Polk spent extra money on the series (Mylar) caps because they made the most difference in the sound quality.

I'd scrap the polyswitches, or perhaps replace with fresh ones. Tweeter fuses (if used) would get polished-up (fuse and fuse holder contacts)

Stretch the grille cloth to remove sags, and perhaps vacuum the dust off of it. Your favorite mild detergent on the outside of the cabinets, and I'm told that Windex is fine for the midwoofer cones.

Total dollar investment could be very small. You'd have some weekend projects. The speakers would then show nicely to prospective local purchasers.







Might even decide that they sound 'n' look so good that you don't want to sell...

movtarget

Schurkey, that's a great idea. I was enlightened by the other posts (learning that upgrade costs are rarely recovered), and was thinking that was my path. To do zero-cost and low-cost simple work to prep them for sale makes the most sense. As an example, I have one tweeter in the in the 5jr pair that "might" be wonky. Being that it might also be a cap problem, swapping out a "known good" tweeter, will help narrow that down. Then if it is a cap problem, replacing with lower cost electrolytic will help keep costs down while making the speaker audibly presentable. Similar for the level of care some will need to be cosmetically presentable.

Thanks to everyone for advice. I'll start with some careful evaluation of each pair to see when he ones will benefit from the no-cost/low-cost TLC, and then figure out my sales strategy. I probably won't have any ready for sale within the next few weeks, but may come back with a new thread(s) with specific questions regarding individual pairs.

Thank you,

Movtarget (Raleigh, NC)

Dennis Gardner

I agree with Schurkey's approach. You can most likely sell the RDOs for 75% of your investment as new stock items that never got used. That would also allow you to sell your speakers as stock but serviced for a better value to the new buyers quicker than a fully modified set will sell.

pitdogg2

I could be interested in the RDO194's if you part them out.

VSAT88

Could not help with an answer here. I buy all the vintage Polk I can find and I do not sell them. They ain't making em no more. Best of luck, hope someone here gets them.

delkal

Schurkey wrote: »

I'd leave all the resistors and inductors in the crossover as-is. I'd replace all the electrolytic caps with FRESH electrolytic caps. Depending on the deterioration of the original caps, sound quality could be much improved via lower ESR even if the original caps haven't changed capacitance value. This should cost a fraction of the price of film caps, yet restore performance to "new".

I like this approach. I do not think the OP will recoup his money of a "correct" upgrade so replace the parts that wear out (the electrolytic caps). He can even advertise them as recently being brought up to spec (as long as he is honest and is clear what he did). And it will cost him $2 per speaker.

As far as I know the Mylar caps last a lot longer and don't often get out of spec. I am sure I will quickly be informed if they don't (and sounding better with a high end cap is not the same as the originals being out of spec).

Schurkey

$2 per speaker might be a little optimistic.

Mylar is an "early generation" of film cap, they don't have the problems that electrolytics do (that I know of...) I wouldn't expect the silver mica bypass cap to go out-of-spec, either.

delkal

Schurkey wrote: »

$2 per speaker might be a little optimistic.

Mylar is an "early generation" of film cap, they don't have the problems that electrolytics do (that I know of...) I wouldn't expect the silver mica bypass cap to go out-of-spec, either.

I have not looked at a schematic for all of his speakers recently so $2 each could be optimistic. But usually you can get a cheap electrolytic for $1 (and that is a high price). You only need 2 for most of the Monitor series.

And Yes. If you do all of the "easy" upgrades you mentioned it will be a little more.

Your suggestion is a good one.

nspindel

You can make money updating houses before you sell them. Speakers, not so much.