YEAH BABY!....SDA 1C'S in da house!

trubluluc

Boys....I was a little skeptical of all the hype heaped on SDA's. I now join the parade of praise.

Of course I now want to know everything that all you experts know.
I'll start with a couple of questions to get started.

1. What is the recommended floor support?
I mean, these came with little plastic caps on the bottom, one of which is missing, what would be the best type of speaker feet for a hardwood floor?

2. The oak tops need refinishing. Is this solid oak or veneer?
Is it easy to remove, or should I try to refinnish while it's on the speaker?

3. The manual says these are 6ohm rated. If I only have a choice between 4ohm and 8ohm which would be better for them?

4. Anyone know what the 1C's orig. price was?


thanks guys,

-Luc

madmax

The manual recommends spikes in carpet and the padded feet on hardwood. The tops can be either solid wood or veneer depending on when they made it. I have no dates. The top and bottom is bolted on from inside the speaker. Should be very easy to remove them.

madmax

DarqueKnight

Luc,

1. When I moved to a house with hardwood floors, I replaced all of my SDA 1C slider caps with thick felt pads that I got from Home Depot. The felt pads were about the same thickness as the original plastic pads.

2. On both pairs of my 1Cs, the end caps are solid oak with edge banding. I was not aware of the oak veneer end caps that madmax mentioned. Polk customer service should be able to tell you the manufacturing dates of the two types of end caps. You can get the manufacturing date of your speakers by looking at the little white stickers on the crossover circuit board, binding post plate, and the backs of the drivers.

I would not advise working on the end caps while they are attached to the speaker. You risk damaging the cabinet and/or the drivers and tweeters.

The bottom oak caps are easy to access: remove the passive radiator and you will see four nuts and bolts that retain the bottom end caps.

The top end caps are a little more difficult to access. The four drivers and tweeters must be removed before you can easily access the four retaining nuts and bolts at the top of the cabinet.

Be sure to label each driver and tweeter with regard to its original position and label all of the wires as you disconnect them.

If your end caps are veneer instead of solid wood, you might achieve a more satisfactory result by having them re-veneered at a cabinet shop rather than refinishing the existing veneer.

3. I assume you mean which amplifier rating is better. The amp rated for 4 ohms would be better. You never want to use a speaker with a lower impedance than the amp is rated for.

4. The retail price of the (oak cabinet version) 1C in 1987 was $1600 per pair. The retail price of the 1C in 1990 was $1800 per pair. The price of the studio version (without oak caps) was $1400 per pair.

Welcome to the addictive world of SDAs.:)

trubluluc

Did they come with these options or did owners have to supply them?
Padded as in the little rubber stickeys that some of the new polks come with?

-Luc

trubluluc

As always....your words say it all,
the voice of wisdom.

Yes I have an amp that can be set to either 4ohm or 8ohm. So if I understand correctly,
set my amp to 4ohm to better drive 6ohm rated speakers?

thanks,

-Luc

DarqueKnight

Originally posted by trubluluc
As always....your words say it all,
the voice of wisdom.

Yes I have an amp that can be set to either 4ohm or 8ohm. So if I understand correctly,
set my amp to 4ohm to better drive 6ohm rated speakers?

thanks,

-Luc

Exactly. By the way, what is the output power of your amp?

trubluluc

..pardon the slow come back, I'm supposed to be out working on the yard...in fact if a lady asks...that's exactly where you last saw me...

Rated 200 wpc set at 8ohm....so I figure twice that at 4ohm.

-Luc

DarqueKnight

Originally posted by trubluluc
Rated 200 wpc set at 8ohm....so I figure twice that at 4ohm.

-Luc

I do not know the brand of amp you are using, but the power into 4 ohms will not necessarily be double that of the 8 ohm value. Most amps limit the amount of current as the impedance drops. The 4 ohm power rating is typically 50% to 75% more than the 8 ohm rating.

200 wpc is good. SDAs perform best with a minimum of 200 watts of clean, high current power.

F1nut

Raife has you covered well, as usual.

About the veneer question, the only veneer used is the banding around the edge of both top and bottom end caps.

Congrats on becoming a believer!