SDA-SRS tweeter polarity?

madmax

Jeez, I'm a freakin idiott. I took all the tweeters out of my SDA-SRS speakers. I even marked all the wires. I put a big black mark on each wire. The thing is, was the black mark put on the positive or the negative terminal? If I check continuity I can determine which wire is wired to -. Were the tweeters wired with the - on the tweeter going to the - on the power posts?
madmax

DarqueKnight

The tweeter wires should have color coded tags near the ends of the wires. All of the tweeter - wires should have a white tag. The top tweeter + wire should have a red tag. The second tweeter + wire should have a blue tag. The third tweeter + wire should have a yellow tag. The fourth tweeter + wire should have a green tag.

If the color code tags have fallen off or have been removed, you will have to trace the tweeter wires back to the crossover. The tweeter wires terminate just above a row of four resistors on the crossover circuit board. There are letters on the crossover that designate each particular wire color tag.

madmax

THANKS!!!

madmax

Well now this sucks... I just received my replacement tweets and the + is a small terminal and the - is a large terminal. This is good and all and it is the way I would do it. The thing is the SDA-SRS has two small terminals on the wires. Oh well, I guess I should replace the wires anyway. I was just hoping for a quick plug and play.

madmax

DarqueKnight

Max,

You were sent the wrong tweeters. You have the SL3000 replacements (part number RD0198-1) which has a small + terminal and a large - terminal. The SL2000 replacement (part number RD0194-1) has two small terminals with the + terminal marked in red.

If your invoice has the correct part number, then your tweeters got switched up at the factory. It's easy to mistake one for the other. The SL2000 replacement and the SL3000 replacement look identical except for the wire connection terminals on the back.

The only other observable difference between the replacement tweeters is that their DC resistance is different. The SL3000 replacement will measure approximately 5.6 ohms and the SL2000 replacement will measure approximately 7.5 ohms.

One other thing, and I don't know why Polk does this, but the part number for the SL2000T is different on the invoice and the packing slip. The invoice will have part number BD0194-A. The packing slip will have part number RD0194-1. The part numbers are the same on the packing slip and the invoice for the SL3000 replacement.

madmax

On the box it is marked RDO198-1. I went ahead and cut the neg term off each wire and hooked them up. I must say I am blown away by their sound out of the box. This leads me to the next problem, do I request the correct ones be sent?? I've heard that after break in they sound very different. If the sound I'm hearing right now stays then I'm happy. If it changes after break in then who knows. I am so confused right now. I will measure the resistance in the morning. I never even considered a mistake...
madmax

Zen Dragon

Great info darque! Someones been poking round in their SDA's for a bit I take it

RuSsMaN

You are speaking to Raife, Mr. SDA.

Cheers,
Russ

madmax

yep, found a dvm here at home and they measure 5.6 ohms. Looks like I got the wrong ones. My delimma though is that they sound absolutly awesome! I guess I ask to be sent the SL-2000 replacement and compare? I'm guessing these (the sl3000 replacements) will have a slightly higher output in my system? I sure do hate problems like this because you always wonder if the correct ones will sound as good? The actual reason for me getting back on here toinght was to rave about the sound. So much better than the SL2000's. Ken?
madmax

madmax

OK, I see the problems already. They shut off with the polyfuse right away before you reach a good volume. That all makes sense to me being a lower resistance. I'll contact Ken and see what he can do. Thanks!
madmax

DarqueKnight

I'm sure the lower resistance, coupled with the overall smoother sound of the SL3000 replacement is providing you with an impressive presentation over the stock SL2000's.

If you are really adamant about doing this, I'd get Ken Swauger to ask Polk's engineering department if there is any long term harm in using the SL3000 replacement in place of the SL2000 replacement. If there isn't, get four of the SL2000 replacements, do an A/B comparison to the SL3000 replacement and report back.
Looks like you're on to a good experiment.

DarqueKnight

Well, that experiment didn't last long! I see you were writing a reply at the same time I was. I'm sure Ken will get some replacements expedited out to you.

madmax

I gave a good listen to the SL-3000 replacements in the 1.2 non-TL version speakers. I noticed the following. The bass sounded much stronger and seemed to dig much lower. The midrange is very nice and not as tied to the speakers. The treble is nice as well with a few exceptions. The lower treble seems to be much less emphasized than normal and the super high treble seems too loud. It is my thought that the tweets are effectively being crossed over at a higher point than they were with the correct resistance tweeter. The tweeters seem to be driven harder too although at a higher frequency. The extremely high treble seems to be annoying me even though I cannot hear it well, kind of like when you play with a frequency generator at the real high frequencies. The polyfuse also trips too soon.

BTW,
I called Ken and he took care of the problem with no fuss. Thanks!


A few years ago I played with an outboard crossover and found that the midrange and treble somewhat overlap each other. You can remove the overlap and the upper midrange gets better but on some music it doesn't sound very full. I was hearing this same thing with the '3000 tweets in place. I'm excited with the sound but think the proper resistance tweeters my be a better choice. Back when I was more into bass energy and very hard hitting treble I would have immediatly gone with this change. As for now Ken is sending me the proper replacement. I'll post about that once I get them and give a good listen.



madmax

DarqueKnight

I'm glad you didn't burn them up.;) I'm also glad that they didn't send me the wrong tweeters because I removed the polyswitch in my SDAs!

madmax

I plan on removing mine once I get everything straight. I'll probably use a ceramic fuse set at about the same point as the polyfuse. I hardly ever kick in the polyfuse anyway.
madmax

dorokusai

Max - Now why would you go through all this knowing it was the wrong part number? Do you think I would lead you astray?

madmax

Well I received, installed and listened to them thinking they were for the non-TL version and then found the mistake. Besides, it is good to never go with the time proven methods of others...
madmax

dorokusai

Amen