SDA and Monitor Series subwoofers

TAB

Hi! I am new to Club Polk and I'm sure enjoying learning more about Polk Audio speakers. I have had a pair of Monitor 5B's and a pair of Monitor 10B's for years and have recently purchased a pair of SDA 2's and a pair of SDA 1's. My question concerns a sales brochure I have from the mid-80's. In the specs for the SDA and Monitor Series, it says that each speaker has one (8", 10", 12", or 15" depending on speaker) "planer fluid-coupled subwoofer" (see attachment for example). Is this correct? If so, what is a "planer fluid-coupled subwoofer"? I thought all these speakers had passive radiators. Thanks for your help!

nadams

Yes, the "fluid-coupled subwoofer" is a passive radiator. They can use the term "fluid-coupled" because technically air is a fluid. Therefore the woofer is "coupled" with the mid-bass units via the fluid air.

Welcome to the forum! You should be greeted warmly by the SDA afficianados pretty directly :-)

RuSsMaN

Nice response nadams!

nadams

See? You guys _have_ taught me something

Tour2ma

Originally posted by nadams
... technically air is a fluid. Therefore the woofer is "coupled" with the mid-bass units via the fluid air.

Beautiful, nadams... Brings tears to this old ChemE's eyes...

TAB (as in Hunter?),
Welcome to the Club... always room for another SDA bro...

Please post some pics of your Polk family, if you have the means...

TAB

Thank you for your kind welcome. I do have a question, but I don't want to start a new thread if the question has been answered somewhere else. I have 5 pairs of Polk speakers, but I don't know the exact models on some of them. I have two pairs of Monitor 5's, a pair of Monitor 10's, a pair of SDA 2's and a pair of SDA 1's. My question: How do I determine the ABC's, so to speak. I do know that the very first pair I bought are Monitor 5B's..................the rest I don't know. Can anyone help? Thanks!

dorokusai

The ABC's? The dates of when they were manufactured?

TAB

Actually, I am wanting to know how to figure out if I have SDA 2A's or B's or C's..........SDA 1A's or B's or C's..........etc. Sorry.......I wasn't very clear.

Tour2ma

1st look at the label on back (not trying to be a smart-**** here)... Many Mon's do include a letter after the numeral.... sometimes even the A's (although how they knew they were A's at the time, I have no idea). Planned obsolescence, I guess...

Next option is the tweeters, as these are the easiest external tell. The oldest Mon's have the Black dome tweeter made by Peerless.. they do not say Polk on them...

Polk's SL 1000 tweeter is also an easy tell. Only Polk tweet with a silver mounting plate. These do say Polk...

If it comes down to it, refer to the parts list in the library (here) and pull your tweeters...

OR

Post pics of your Collection and we'll ID them... We'd rather you do this, actually...

TAB

So far I have determined I have two pairs of Monitor 5B's and one pair of Monitor 10B's. The 10's do not have the "B" on the back of them, but I looked up the original ticket and it said they are B's. I still have yet to determine the "ABC's" of the SDA 1's and SDA 2's. Maybe I can get some pics posted sometime. Thanks for your help!

TAB

OK, here is a pic of the SDA 2's. Can anyone determine the "ABC's" of the pair? Thanks!

TAB

Here is the SDA 1. Can anyone determine the "ABC's" of the pair? Thanks!

Tour2ma

Bit different in the determining the SDA line "editions".

You have the SDA 1B and the SDA 2A...

There were "no letter" SDA 1's and 2's...
The 1's had 4 MW's and 2 tweets just as yours do, but the tweets were side-by-side.
The 2's had 3 MW's and 2 side-by-side tweets.

The 1C's and 2B's had the same driver layout as yours, but the cabinet moved from your "monitor-like" styling to the end cap styling of the SRS line.

dorokusai

Yea, what he said.

Tour2ma

Yeah, what doro said...
plus...

Your SDA 1B's are the studio model...

TAB

Thanks so much for the information. What, btw, are studio models?

Tour2ma

Black cabinets instead of wood finish...

Jstas

Just for reference, this is a shot of the SDA 2B's with the end cap styling. The grilles are removable but the side panels are covered in matching grille cloth. The driver compliment is the same as the SDA 2A shown in TAB's post.



Oh and those two are mine!

Tour2ma

Jstas,
Is that tube integrated a HK or other?

TAB

Ok, I have another ignorant question (it's not hard for me to play dumb): Why are the studio models black? Is there any other difference in these models besides the color?



Jstas,

I just bought a pair of SDA 2B's off ebay for a friend at work. They arrived yesterday. They are a beautiful pair of speakers IMO. Thanks for posting the pic!

Jstas

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Jstas,
Is that tube integrated a HK or other?

That's a Heathkit integrated tube amp kit that my dad built when he was like 18 or 19 years old. He's in his 50's now. I was just using it because when they came back from Sean's house with me, I was freaked out on over the size and questioned as to why I needed something so large. So I hooked it up and showed the doubters what SDA was all about. When I get it to my apartment, I have an Adcom GFA-535 MK II that I got off of Russ to power them. I'll take some pictures of the final rig eventually. Still dealing with moving into a new apartment.

Tour2ma

Ahhh... the "other" HK.

Old Heathkits are highly valued in a certain crazy circle as well... Unbuilt, NOS kits command big bucks to friggin' major league cash, depending on the item...

Jstas

Yeah, I've seen them go for some serious change on eBay and audiogon. Especially if they have nice tubes like Mullards in them. That one there is priceless though 'cause that's my dad's amp that he built. Eventually, I'm going to clean it up and replace some of the pots that are wearing out. IOt still works though and it plays strong for an amp pushing only 10-20 watts per channel.It will handle 16, 8 and 4 ohm loads too.

Tour2ma

Going sentimental on us, eh?

As it's a hand-me-down, it would definitely be a keeper in my book as well... Hell, even w/o the h-m-d factor, it's a keeper...

Tour2ma

Originally posted by TAB
Ok, I have another ignorant question (it's not hard for me to play dumb): Why are the studio models black? Is there any other difference in these models besides the color?

No absolute reason I can think of... Most studio mon's I've seen over the decades, have been flat black though... maybe it's semi-traditional....

No, no other differences, excepting maybe original MSRP...