How do the new L800 SDA compare to the Original Legend SDA-SRS 1.2TL?
Comments
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I finally got to experience the vintage SDA (F1NUT what version were Scott's SDA 2's?) for the first time in many years and was completely blown away. The bass is deep and tight and the sound stage is phenomenal. These things have some strange magic to them.
While I don't have any vintage SDA's, I do have similar vintage RTA11TL's (with upgraded XO and RDO-198) and I have the LSi15's (w/ DB804). There are things that I like about the RTA's over the LSi's, namely the bass. The bass is cleaner, tighter and more impacting than the LSi's. Maybe I just like the PR system character over ported systems. I would almost choose the RTA's over the LSi's except when I switch LSi's, the mids and highs just sound much more realistic and the sound stage is much wider (not SDA wide though). I guess new technology and materials count for something in the speaker world. If only I could combine the RTA bass with it's passive radiators with the upper stage of the LSi...
That is what I am hoping for in the L800 (even though it isn't PR). I look forward to hearing vintage (Legacy) SDA technology combined with new tech design capability and drivers. Should be well worth the hype.
It shouldn't be long before we start seeing head-to-head comparisons of old and new SDA.Stan
Main 2ch:
Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.
HT:
Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60
Other stuff:
Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601 -
RIP the Dynavector cart John sold me. John is just selling everyone carts around here. Enabler.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
What happened to the Dyna?The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
motorstereo wrote: »I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.It shouldn't be long before we start seeing head-to-head comparisons of old and new SDA.
Fully modded SDAs are hard to beat, which is a testament to their basic design, which is why mine are still in use after many upgrades of cables, electronics, and source components.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close! -
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Woe to you soup cracker.
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motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
But, as motorstereo's post clearly indicated, he wasn't talking about comparing the L800 to stock vintage SDAs. He (and I) were talking about comparing the L800 to vintage SDAs with significant parts upgrades. Modded SDAs easily SMOKE stock SDAs, therefore the L800 doing so is a given.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
When we first got a pair of Lsi, I expected our SDA SRS to beat them in every way, they did in low end extension and overall sound levels for sure, but for smoothness of sound, clarity, resolving low level treble sounds, and a few other things, the Lsi were the better speaker.
I imagine the new L800's will refine on the Lsi and Lsim sound.
Our older SDA's have a big sound, can get loud and can do fairly deep well, but never found them the epitome in focus, detail, and just resolving small sounds.
I found the vifa tweeters in the Lsi and Lsim to simply be on another level sound wise.
Of course we all listen for different aspects of sound.
Hi KM
Have you completed any mods to your SDA’s and if so which ones? Just curious - your answer will provide context for your listening experience.
Thx"Science is suppose to explain observations not dismiss them as impossible" - Norm on AA; 2.3TL's w/sonicaps/mills/jantzen inductors, Gimpod's boards, Lg Solen SDA inductors, RD-0198's, MW's dynamatted, Armaflex speaker gaskets, H-nuts, brass spikes, Cardas CCGR BP's, upgraded IC Cable, Black Hole Damping Sheet strips, interior of cabinets sealed with Loctite Power Grab, AI-1 interface with 1000VA A-L transformer -
I finally got to experience the vintage SDA (F1NUT what version were Scott's SDA 2's?) for the first time in many years and was completely blown away. The bass is deep and tight and the sound stage is phenomenal. These things have some strange magic to them.
While I don't have any vintage SDA's, I do have similar vintage RTA11TL's (with upgraded XO and RDO-198) and I have the LSi15's (w/ DB804). There are things that I like about the RTA's over the LSi's, namely the bass. The bass is cleaner, tighter and more impacting than the LSi's. Maybe I just like the PR system character over ported systems. I would almost choose the RTA's over the LSi's except when I switch LSi's, the mids and highs just sound much more realistic and the sound stage is much wider (not SDA wide though). I guess new technology and materials count for something in the speaker world. If only I could combine the RTA bass with it's passive radiators with the upper stage of the LSi...
That is what I am hoping for in the L800 (even though it isn't PR). I look forward to hearing vintage (Legacy) SDA technology combined with new tech design capability and drivers. Should be well worth the hype.
It shouldn't be long before we start seeing head-to-head comparisons of old and new SDA.
Pretty much agree with all about the rta versus Lsi
What we did, was run the Lsi with dual subwoofers crossed at about 125 hz. It helped eliminate the boomy mid bass of the lsi and extended the deep bass a good bit, for sure even more than the RTA11 bass.
If you have run your Rta11s really loud with deep bass, you will find their one shortcoming. They run out of excursion fairly easily with some music material.
Most stuff they do really good though. -
motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
The vintage SDA speakers were really good speakers. The huge cabinet with 8 drivers will make it hard to beat deep bass and overall loudness wise for sure.
Not saying it can not be done, but the L800 size wise is a good bit smaller than the largest vintage SDA, so either deep bass or efficiency will be lost. -
drumminman wrote: »
When we first got a pair of Lsi, I expected our SDA SRS to beat them in every way, they did in low end extension and overall sound levels for sure, but for smoothness of sound, clarity, resolving low level treble sounds, and a few other things, the Lsi were the better speaker.
I imagine the new L800's will refine on the Lsi and Lsim sound.
Our older SDA's have a big sound, can get loud and can do fairly deep well, but never found them the epitome in focus, detail, and just resolving small sounds.
I found the vifa tweeters in the Lsi and Lsim to simply be on another level sound wise.
Of course we all listen for different aspects of sound.
Hi KM
Have you completed any mods to your SDA’s and if so which ones? Just curious - your answer will provide context for your listening experience.
Thx
They were modded, but not by us, but as purchased used a few years back.
Have not opened them to see what mods, but know the crossover was updated by the seller and a few other things.
Let me see if I can contact him and find exactly what was done. -
I initially thought it would only be fair to compare stock vintage SDA to the stock L800 but the problem would be that the electrolytic in the vintage SDA are likely dried out by now. It would only make sense that if one were replacing the old caps that they would also upgrade them. So, perhaps it would be more fair to compare modded vintage SDA (which one?) to modded L800. However, not too many folks are going to pull apart their new $6000 speaker and swap components but we can get crazy around here.Stan
Main 2ch:
Polk LSi15 (DB840 upgrade), Parasound: P/LD-1100, HCA-1000A; Denon: DVD-2910, DRM-800A; Benchmark DAC1, Monster HTS3600-MKII, Grado SR-225i; Technics SL-J2, Parasound PPH-100.
HT:
Marantz SR7010, Polk: RTA11TL (RDO198-1, XO and Damping Upgrades), S4, CS250, PSW110 , Marantz UD5005, Pioneer PL-530, Panasonic TC-P42S60
Other stuff:
Denon: DRA-835R, AVR-888, DCD-660, DRM-700A, DRR-780; Polk: S8, Monitor 5A, 5B, TSi100, RM7, PSW10 (DXi104 upgrade); Pioneer: CT-6R; Onkyo CP-1046F; Ortofon OM5E, Marantz: PM5004, CD5004, CDR-615; Parasound C/PT-600, HCA-800ii, Sony CDP-650ESD, Technics SA 5070, B&W DM601 -
I initially thought it would only be fair to compare stock vintage SDA to the stock L800 but the problem would be that the electrolytic in the vintage SDA are likely dried out by now. It would only make sense that if one were replacing the old caps that they would also upgrade them. So, perhaps it would be more fair to compare modded vintage SDA (which one?) to modded L800. However, not too many folks are going to pull apart their new $6000 speaker and swap components but we can get crazy around here.
Agreed about old caps. very doubtful any are still good, about 30 years on. -
I initially thought it would only be fair to compare stock vintage SDA to the stock L800 but the problem would be that the electrolytic in the vintage SDA are likely dried out by now. It would only make sense that if one were replacing the old caps that they would also upgrade them. So, perhaps it would be more fair to compare modded vintage SDA (which one?) to modded L800. However, not too many folks are going to pull apart their new $6000 speaker and swap components but we can get crazy around here.
Agreed about old caps. very doubtful any are still good, about 30 years on.
unless they're vintage oilers...
DSC_7330 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
PCBs, unfortunately, may sound the best of all...
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I bought a pair of original, immaculate SDS SRS3.1TLs last year. got them home, and thought they weren't much better than my original Monitor 10's. Demo'd the L800 at Nebraska Furniture Mart north of Dallas. They have a nice demo room & they sounded fantastic! Blew away my 3.1s on imaging & bass. I have dual HSU subs, so not concerned over a loss of bass. I just bought a Monolith USB DAC & all I can say is WOW! I am now getting the full 'SDA Effect' on many songs. Not bad for a $52 upgrade. Now I'm not saying my $350 set is going to compare favorably to the new L800s, but $6000 for the pair is not really an option for me. Maybe consider updating the Xover, & possibly the Tweeters.
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Updated crossovers and tweeters and you have a phenomenal speaker...The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
I bought a pair of original, immaculate SDS SRS3.1TLs last year. got them home, and thought they weren't much better than my original Monitor 10's. Demo'd the L800 at Nebraska Furniture Mart north of Dallas. They have a nice demo room & they sounded fantastic! Blew away my 3.1s on imaging & bass. I have dual HSU subs, so not concerned over a loss of bass. I just bought a Monolith USB DAC & all I can say is WOW! I am now getting the full 'SDA Effect' on many songs. Not bad for a $52 upgrade. Now I'm not saying my $350 set is going to compare favorably to the new L800s, but $6000 for the pair is not really an option for me. Maybe consider updating the Xover, & possibly the Tweeters.
You will never hear what the 3.1's are capable of until you upgrade the x-overs and the tweeters, along with other small tweaks.
You will have a total investment of around $800-1K in a speaker that will sound more like a 3K speaker or better.
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motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
Speaker design (at least at Polk) came to a total stand still or went backwards in 1990, according to some in the forum.
Shh....do not tell the Polk engineers...
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motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
Speaker design (at least at Polk) came to a total stand still or went backwards in 1990, according to some in the forum.
Shh....do not tell the Polk engineers...
Passive aggressive comments like this earn you that troll status.
FWIW sound and vision just had the review. Quoting the article
" They're re-badging it SDA-Pro. The specific tweaks made for SDA pro include a 15 degree angle to the speaker baffles for both the regular and dimensional driver arrays. This eliminates any need for the speaker to be towed in since it's already built into the design it also reduces cabinet width in comparison to earlier SDA models unlike earlier designs the l800 dimensional array uses a tweeter to cover an extended bandwidth of the cancellation signal though that signal is rolled off above 10 kilohertz. Finally SDA-Pro incorporates a head Shadow filter to account for the physical effects of the listener's head and face while Polk audio still uses a purely acoustic approach for the SDA-Pro with no digital signal processing the dimensional arrays crossover is EQ'd to optimize the cancellation signal with filtering normalized for the head shadow created by a normal listener."
Unquote..
Everywhere they could they have stated this as SDA-Pro in the article.
Earlier SDA didn't need to be toed in and it worked fine. The SDA drivers in the L800 are pointing away from the listener's head. This leads to sound being thrown away from its intended side of the head like the SDA original design of cancellation from my perspective. What I feel it's real good at is throwing sounds out away from the listening position which would work really well in movie theater and atmos designed soundtracks. For the most part that is what I heard with my own ears. Things were way off the stage in say the 10th row of seats and behind you. Alot like soundbars making it seem like you have 6 or 8 speakers in a room when you only have the one soundbar. In my own opinion I still feel this SDA technology they used is basically the analog acoustical design of the digital design in the soundbars with SDA technology.
Still they are trying very hard to differentiate this SDA-Pro from the SDA from the first go. Like the first go-around if they continue with the SDA this time around I'm betting the second and third generations are going to be vastly different from this L800 design.
Polk had many good designs after 1990. -
motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
Speaker design (at least at Polk) came to a total stand still or went backwards in 1990, according to some in the forum.
Shh....do not tell the Polk engineers...
Passive aggressive comments like this earn you that troll status.
Polk had many good designs after 1990.
I call it sarcasm.
Yes I agree they had many good designs after 1990, I think that was what I was saying in sarcasm.
I simply do not see the 80s era polks as the greatest thing ever made, but at the time they were among many really good speakers for sure!
To say they can not be improved on, to me earns some troll status. -
I've got a couple of weeks off coming up for Christmas Vacation. I cannot believe I am contemplating driving 4 hrs each way to hear the L800's. I'd only be able to listen at the moment, but such is life of a Polk enthusiast. Someone who has heard them, PLEASE talk me out of it.
2-channelBelles 22A Pre, Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2, Marantz SA8005, Pro-Ject RPM-10 Turntable, Pro-Ject Phono Box DS3B, Polk Audio Legend L800's, AudioQuest Cable throughout. -
I've got a couple of weeks off coming up for Christmas Vacation. I cannot believe I am contemplating driving 4 hrs each way to hear the L800's. I'd only be able to listen at the moment, but such is life of a Polk enthusiast. Someone who has heard them, PLEASE talk me out of it.
Ahh, nope. I'm planning on at least a three hour one way trip to hear them...just because.
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Mike Reeter wrote: »I've got a couple of weeks off coming up for Christmas Vacation. I cannot believe I am contemplating driving 4 hrs each way to hear the L800's. I'd only be able to listen at the moment, but such is life of a Polk enthusiast. Someone who has heard them, PLEASE talk me out of it.
Ahh, nope. I'm planning on at least a three hour one way trip to hear them...just because.
Man, we are SICK!! LMAO!!2-channelBelles 22A Pre, Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2, Marantz SA8005, Pro-Ject RPM-10 Turntable, Pro-Ject Phono Box DS3B, Polk Audio Legend L800's, AudioQuest Cable throughout. -
Someone who has heard them, PLEASE talk me out of it.
In my best F1nut voice....
”NO!”
2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
motorstereo wrote: »L800's is the topic, lets not tarnish a thread about Polks new flagship speaker please.
I honestly cannot see the L800's besting them in any way but I'm human and I've been wrong before.
If Polk fails to improve upon the vintage SDA in EVERY WAY it would be a sad day for their design team. The Legend should easily SMOKE 30+ year old parts & materials...it shouldn't even be close!
Speaker design (at least at Polk) came to a total stand still or went backwards in 1990, according to some in the forum.
Shh....do not tell the Polk engineers...
Passive aggressive comments like this earn you that troll status.
FWIW sound and vision just had the review. Quoting the article
" They're re-badging it SDA-Pro. The specific tweaks made for SDA pro include a 15 degree angle to the speaker baffles for both the regular and dimensional driver arrays. This eliminates any need for the speaker to be towed in ...
Did "they" (S+V) really say towed in ? Do they not have editors?
Sorry to go all @Viking64 on this... but that's pathetic
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A trivial error, and not caught since it is spelled correctly.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
But it is syntactically incorrect (and laughably so, unfortunately). At least, they weren't toad in, I suppose. Ahh, well... the literacy of the United States, at least, is already pretty much a lost cause.
Back on topic -- I don't know if this thread Elsewhere (which has been going for a while) has been mentioned previously here. It probably has, but it might be of interest to some here, if only academically (so to speak).
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/polks-new-flagship-legend-series-speaker-reintroduces-upgraded-sda-technology.8918/
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Voice texted. I failed at editing my post.
