Polk SDA-1A Cabinet Refurbish HELP!

Joshwest90
Joshwest90 Posts: 109
in Vintage Speakers
I have a pair of 1As and the pervious owner wasn’t nice to the cabinets. They sound great, but the base of each look terrible and the veneer is chipping. My thoughts were to take on a refurbish project and replace the veneer, but I cannot seem to find any info on the forum. More than likely I suck at searching but for some reason I come up empty. Any help or info would be appreciated!
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  • JayMX
    JayMX Posts: 446
    I had a similar situation with a pair I just refurbished with ash veneer. The bases were completely wrecked. So I opted to remove them completely and just install leveling feet into the base of the cabinet. There are a few pics here:
    JayMX wrote: »
    Finally finished with these. Grille cloth has been replaced with the jet black from Speakerworks @Toolfan66 recommended. Great stuff! Was quite a journey. Up for sale. If anyone is interested PM me. Probably not worth it to ship, but I do travel from Salt Lake City to Boise Idaho or south to Las Vegas from time to time.

    Thanks to all for your help and suggestions!
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    Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩
    Pairs that have passed through: Monitor 4b (Peerless), Monitor 5a (Peerless), Monitor 5b (SL1000), Monitor 5b (SL2000) (4x pair), Monitor 7b (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7c’s (194’s), Monitor 10a (Peerless), Monitor 10b (5x pair), RTA8, RTA8TL, RTA 11T, RTA12c (194's), SDA CRS, SDA 2 (2x pair), SDA 2a, SDA 2b, SDA 1b, SDA 1c, SDA SRS 2 (2x pair), SDA SRS 3.1TL (198’s) (2x pair)...and more to come, it’s a sickness.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    JayMX wrote: »
    I had a similar situation with a pair I just refurbished with ash veneer. The bases were completely wrecked. So I opted to remove them completely and just install leveling feet into the base of the cabinet. There are a few pics here:
    JayMX wrote: »
    Finally finished with these. Grille cloth has been replaced with the jet black from Speakerworks @Toolfan66 recommended. Great stuff! Was quite a journey. Up for sale. If anyone is interested PM me. Probably not worth it to ship, but I do travel from Salt Lake City to Boise Idaho or south to Las Vegas from time to time.

    Thanks to all for your help and suggestions!
    xtgavttz6rxh.jpeg
    v6k8hppwlr5q.jpeg
    gm2yy4usppk0.jpeg
    lgs8nxnbm1mh.jpeg
    orqgjyddoxrs.jpeg
    lltjsl33hywi.jpeg
    zhycua4s7obd.jpeg
    qlmtpktxwtgx.jpeg
    z7evtz6xc5hu.jpeg

    Those look great! That’s what I’m looking at doing is pulling the veneer sanding down and re applying new veneer. Where did you get the veneer? Any tips/tricks? Any tutorials?
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  • JayMX
    JayMX Posts: 446
    I get my veneer from MacBeath because they’re local, but they have several locations and they ship:
    https://www.macbeath.com/products/108234-veneer

    You can look over a couple of the veneering projects I’ve posted here:
    https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/177885/monitor-7-refresh
    https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/181226/making-monitor-10s-great-again
    https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/183831/sda1b-or-early-c-opinions

    The process is pretty simple. Detailed in the threads above. I use contact cement on the surfaces of the cabinet and the veneer with good results. Others have used veneer with adhesive backing. Use dowels to hold the veneer off the surface as you adhere. Use a roller to squish it all together, then lots of weight for 24 hours to ensure a good bond. Also I learned the hard way that it has to be warm in the space where you’re working. I did some pieces at 50degs F and they didn’t laminate well, no matter how much weight I put on them. I purchased a smaller trimming router which works better/is less cumbersome for the tight spaces (inside driver and port openings).

    Very fun and rewarding. Pm me if you have any questions! Happy to help!
    Current Collection: Monitor 4a (Peerless), Monitor 5B (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7b (Peerless), RTA15TL (SL3000), SDA CRS+ (194’s), SDA SRS 2.3TL, R100's, R200’s, R300 🤩
    Pairs that have passed through: Monitor 4b (Peerless), Monitor 5a (Peerless), Monitor 5b (SL1000), Monitor 5b (SL2000) (4x pair), Monitor 7b (Peerless), Modified Monitor 7c’s (194’s), Monitor 10a (Peerless), Monitor 10b (5x pair), RTA8, RTA8TL, RTA 11T, RTA12c (194's), SDA CRS, SDA 2 (2x pair), SDA 2a, SDA 2b, SDA 1b, SDA 1c, SDA SRS 2 (2x pair), SDA SRS 3.1TL (198’s) (2x pair)...and more to come, it’s a sickness.
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  • BlueBirdMusic
    BlueBirdMusic Posts: 2,278
    edited May 2019
    I didn't see your earlier thread. Those look amazing. I would have never thought ash would that great. Thanks for posting again.

    Your work is impeccable!!

    I returned to the original thread and I did see part of it - the KG4 part evidently.
    Post edited by BlueBirdMusic on
    "Sometimes you have to look to the past to understand where you are going in the future"

    Anger is just anger. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters.
    You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice.     Jim Butcher




    Harry / Marietta GA
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    edited June 2019
    Little bit of the progress photos

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
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  • Faustin
    Faustin Posts: 1,149
    Go, go, go, goooooo! You should be able to remove the lower "kick plate" to make it easier to work on. I think "IIRC" it is screwed in from the inside of the cabinet. Once done, I am sure you will be glad you went through all of the work.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    Faustin wrote: »
    Go, go, go, goooooo! You should be able to remove the lower "kick plate" to make it easier to work on. I think "IIRC" it is screwed in from the inside of the cabinet. Once done, I am sure you will be glad you went through all of the work.


    I’ll have to look into that. I was wondering how it came off. I was going to rebuild the bottoms as well and put a run of felt along the bottom for sound deadening attempts
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    Felt.....no. Put spikes on the bottom.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    F1nut wrote: »
    Felt.....no. Put spikes on the bottom.

    They are currently on wood floors. Will spikes damage the flooring?

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    Use spike floor discs.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    edited June 2019
    @F1nut ok ill look into it! @pitdogg2 @Schurkey On the cross over aspect.. I am going with the Clarity PX capacitors. I cannot seem to find the 27 micro farad capacitor required. Any idea where to find these?
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  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,101
    Lots of options other than Clarity PX

    http://erseaudio.com/
    MPX25-03-27.0

    https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dmpc-27-27uf-250v-polypropylene-capacitor--027-439

    https://www.parts-express.com/solen-27uf-400v-polypropylene-capacitor--027-588

    https://www.parts-express.com/jantzen-audio-27uf-400v-crosscap-capacitor--027-942

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    ok so that was my next question. it doesnt matter to mix capacitor brands? As long as the values are the same?
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    Try Sonicap, they have every value you need and sound great.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • verb
    verb Posts: 10,176
    Looking good @Joshwest90 making great progress! You are inspiring me to get off my arse and finish a 1C project that has been idle for some time now! :smile:
    Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
    Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
    Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
    Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
    Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
    Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    verb wrote: »
    Looking good @Joshwest90 making great progress! You are inspiring me to get off my arse and finish a 1C project that has been idle for some time now! :smile:

    Thank you @verb!!

    @pitdogg2 @F1nut @Schurkey @Faustin @JayMX

    For the caps I went with Clarity PX except for the big 27mfd I went with Jantzen Audio

    For the resistors I went with Mills MRA-12

    I plan on removing the two polyswitch and putting a 0.5ohm resistor in its place.

    Looking into the dimensional tweeter removal is where I have a question. From what I read, the dimensional tweeter is the outermost tweeter. If that is removed is there a sticky somewhere that described this process? I was considering doing so because removing one from each speaker would allow me to upgrade to the RD0194 from Polk. My fiancé won’t notice 80.00 or say much about that but 160 she would haha. Is there a huge difference removing the dimensional tweeter and going with the upgraded tweeter?
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    Disconnect the lead wires and secure the ends so the don't short out. Done.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Faustin
    Faustin Posts: 1,149
    Just leave whatever tweeter you currently have installed in the speaker, and as F1nut said just disconnect it and secure the ends.
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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    Faustin wrote: »
    Just leave whatever tweeter you currently have installed in the speaker, and as F1nut said just disconnect it and secure the ends.
    F1nut wrote: »
    Disconnect the lead wires and secure the ends so the don't short out. Done.

    Ok so there is no need to adjust the circuitry for it then?
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    No
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,101
    edited June 2019
    Joshwest90 wrote: »
    F1nut wrote: »
    Disconnect the lead wires and secure the ends so the don't short out. Done.

    Ok so there is no need to adjust the circuitry for it then?
    There's also no need to buy new caps and resistors for the SDA tweeter section of the crossover.

    In fact, if you just removed the polyswitch for the SDA tweeter, DON'T put a jumper in it's place, the shunt to ground for the SDA tweeter doesn't bleed off power, and the impedance of the speaker goes up just a little.

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    Question: while going through all of this it made me stop and question. If they call for a 27 mFd Capacitor and someone used a 25 mfd or a 30 mfd what would happen. I don’t understand what the Capacitor changes.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    It would alter the frequency response. Basically, throw the sound off.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • Joshwest90
    Joshwest90 Posts: 109
    F1nut wrote: »
    It would alter the frequency response. Basically, throw the sound off.

    Has anyone ever attempted to play with these crossovers to see if changing Capacitor size would make a difference?

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,543
    I'm sure someone, somewhere has. There's no question that changing the value of a component will alter the sound. That you can take to the bank.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    Joshwest90 wrote: »
    F1nut wrote: »
    It would alter the frequency response. Basically, throw the sound off.

    Has anyone ever attempted to play with these crossovers to see if changing Capacitor size would make a difference?

    The guys that designed these forgot what most of us know. They were/are pretty smart. If you can't find a 27uf, use a 12uf and a 15uf in parallel.
    Home Theater/2 Channel:
    Front: SDA-2ATL forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/143984/my-2as-finally-finished-almost/p1
    Center: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/150760/my-center-channel-project/p1
    Surrounds & Rears: Custom Built forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/151647/my-surround-project/p1
    Sonicaps, Mills, RDO-194s-198s, Dynamat, Hurricane Nuts, Blackhole5
    Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV, Carver PM-600, SVS PB2-Plus Subwoofer

    dhsspeakerservice.com/
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