SDA SRS 2.3TL work

hytekrednek

Who, or where can I get my 2.3TL boards rebuilt/upgraded? What is the price range for this work? Thanks for the help. I emailed someone offering this service on ebay, but I got no response.

JayCee

@westmassguy is your man.

Schurkey

If you can solder, you can do it yourself. I did. (SDA 1Bs, SDA SRS 2)

pitdogg2

Price range will depend on what brand caps and resistors you use. I'd recommend splurging on them as they're worth it.

In other words don't go as cheap as you can. You'll be disappointed in the outcome in cheap film caps.

dpowell

Get a pair of Gimpods custom xo boards if available. Makes the work a lot easier. I went with sonicaps and mills resistors on my 2.3TLs. Figure you're going to have a few hundred bucks into them by the time youre done.

xschop

Send them to WMG, request Gimpod Boards, be happy.

hytekrednek

about what does the higher end upgrade cost? or, what did you pay for your upgrade, or upgrade parts?
I hoped I could have it done for around $500. I can add some to that if really necessary. I was told the Gimp boards were nice to have but not required. I forget who told me that. What are your thoughts.
Thanks for the help.

pitdogg2

Sure the boards are not "required" but why make it so much harder on yourself or the person doing the recap? They are larger for the larger caps and laid out beautifully. As far as cost reach out to @westmassguy I'm sure he has several tiers or price points. Mine cost well over 600.00 for my 2.3tl's

audioluvr

$500 would probably cover labor. You're probably looking at $1,000 to $2,000 depending on how good you want them to sound. I say don't go cheap but that's just me. We love helping people spend money!

Schurkey

hytekrednek wrote: »

I hoped I could have it done for around $500. I can add some to that if really necessary.

ANY film caps are going to be better than the ancient electrolytic caps that are in there now. Even fresh electrolytics will be better than the originals that are now long beyond their service live expectancy. Yes, you can pay a LOT more for "better" parts. I'm just saying that even the inexpensive stuff is going to be an improvement compared to what you have now.

My 1Bs got PartsExpress "Dayton" film caps except for the big SDA circuit; I used ERSE film caps there. Neither brand is well-loved on this board, but they're so much better than the OEM caps that it's astounding. Mills resistors, original circuit boards, original inductors except for the two in the SDA circuit. I haven't thought about price in years, and I did this a long time ago. I suppose I've got ~$150 in the whole works, with me doing all the work.

My SRS 2 pin/blade speakers are partly-finished, and have been since 2016. Parts have been bought: capacitors, inductors, resistors, and Gimpod circuit boards. I suppose $350, with me--someday--doing the actual work. Add another $150-ish for the parts to build a Dreadnought.

Mind you, I've been soldering wires since high school. I started with vehicle wiring--trailer harnesses, car audio, basic wire repairs. I'm not specially-trained in electronics; and I don't do much electronics work--just my own crap, when it breaks or needs to be upgraded.

invalid

Just buy the gimpod boards and practice soldering on the old board.

drumminman

I rebuilt the X-overs on my 2.3tl’s on the original Polk boards using all sonicaps & mills resistors. Later I bought Gimpod’s boards and moved it all there, and upgraded the oem inductors to jantzen. The original boards work, but G’s appear to be higher quality.
FYI other mods that raise these to another level are replacing the tweeters with RD-0198’s, and building a Dreadnought.

dpowell

hytekrednek wrote: »

about what does the higher end upgrade cost? or, what did you pay for your upgrade, or upgrade parts?
I hoped I could have it done for around $500. I can add some to that if really necessary. I was told the Gimp boards were nice to have but not required. I forget who told me that. What are your thoughts.
Thanks for the help.

The $ you put into upgrading the XOs will get you a set of speakers that sound far superior than any pair of speakers you could buy for that same $ (actually a lot more). If its a stretch to do the XOs with upgraded caps right now, i would wait until its doable, do it once and be done with it rather than go cheap on them and then have to do them again.

When I did my first pair of SDA XO's I had no concept of what my return on investment would be and that definitely caused hesitation on my part investing in them. I was so beyond blown away by the XO upgrades on my first SDAs (1C's) that I immediately dropped the coin on XO upgrades as soon as i got my 2.3TLs.

Its been several years since doing the upgrades so i dont recall exact cost. Id say estimate between upgraded tweeters, XO's, Dynamatted driver baskets, upgraded binding posts and the dreadnaught, i easily have $1,300 in upgrades into them. At some point i will upgrade the SDA inductors and call them done.

hytekrednek

Thanks for the help and info guys. I will upgrade them as much as I can afford. I hope the Mills and sonic caps will be doable for me. I have the tweets upgraded already. I am still waiting for an estimate to see what I can do. I do want them to be better than new for sure.