For Sale: Polk SDA SRS 2.3 TLs plus Carver TFM-35

waxman
waxman Posts: 124
edited October 2004 in For Sale (FS) Classifieds
I’m selling my Polk SDA SRS 2.3 TL’s and the accompanying Carver TFM-35 amp that’s powering them. I don’t have to sell but they aren’t getting used anymore and my significant other is getting tired of looking at them so to appease the powers that be I’m posting them to the group. No bites here and up on ebay they’ll go to see if someone wants a pair of 2.3TL’s, and if not I get to keep them.

Package deal, $1400.

I want to find a local buyer in/around Austin, Texas- crating and shipping these is just too much effort. I can drive an hour or so towards Houston/Dallas/San Antonio with them in the pickup but then it will be impossible for me to demo the speakers so I strongly suggest you come to my house in Austin.

History:

I bought the 2.3 TL’s a little over a year ago from the original owner here in Austin who bought them on January 30th of 1990 for $2155.00. They had been powered by a proton amp their entire life which I replaced with the higher powered carver courtesy of a trade with Wardsweb from the group. The prior 2.3 TL owner was/is extremely anal and the speakers are in great shape. He only sold the speakers to me because he bought an RV and sold his house and didn’t have room in his land-yacht. The only blemishes on the speakers are on the bottom of the oak coverings on the bottom surface of the speakers- they got there because of the dolly being used to move them, and the blemishes are very small but in the interest of full disclosure I’ve tried to take a picture of them. It’s also dusty underneath too so that’s some of what you see in some of the pics. I’ve also got two cats (de-clawed!) so there are a few stray cat hairs in the grille fabric. Other than that, I believe the speakers are in excellent shape. No known speaker issues to my admittedly unrefined ears, although again in the interest of full disclosure I think the former owner replaced a SL3000 very early on.


References:

Besides wardsweb my references whom I've done business with on the forum are durokusai (Mark) and TheGrayGhost. On ebay my alias is Waxman, feedback of 137 at 99% positive.


Reference Materials Included:

I’ve got 6 accompanying Polk Audio documents- the 17 page instruction manual, the 12 page SDA speaker placement guidelines, a catalog discussing Matthew Polk’s dedication to quality (21 pages) that covers the product lines of that time, Technical Information Issue 1 November 1998 from Matt Polk and the Design/Engineering team for the SDA SRS 2.3s (3 pages), a doc called Polks SDA Speakers- Designed in Stereo written by Matthew Polk for Audio in June of 1984 which is 9 pages of trigonometry and differential equations used to calculate the SDA effect, and lastly a doc called ‘the polk speaker’ SL 3000 dome tweeter, Issue 2 September of 1989 which is 4 pages of technical info on the SL3000.

I’ve got 4 magazine reviews/ads from the times, a Nov 1989 Stereo Review 4 page add of the SDA SRS’s, a special test report for Stereo Review November 1985 for the Polk SDA-SRS(4 pages), A review of the 2.3 speaker system in Stereo Review November 1988 (6 pages), and finally a 6 page review from High Performance Review in December of 1988 on the SDA SRS 2.3 system that looks like it may have been distributed by Polk with the actual speakers. Did I tell you the prior owner was anal? ;)

I’ve got the Carver TFM-35 service manual as well- it’s 16 pages not counting the many blueprints/electrical traces.

Pics in the link below.

If interested use polks messenger and we'll go from there. Thanks!
Waxman

lots of pictures of the speakers and amp here
Post edited by waxman on
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Comments

  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,551
    edited October 2004
    Too bad we aren't closer.

    BTW, the end caps are walnut.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • trubluluc
    trubluluc Posts: 2,067
    edited October 2004
    ...like.... a Polk audio nut, looking upon his dream set of speakers.
    Damn, Tejas is a long ways away.

    Just wondering if there is anyway you would sell just the speakers?
    As I'm pretty well amped at this point.

    Were there both oak and walnut versions of this speaker?

    thanks,

    -Luc
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,551
    edited October 2004
    Luc,

    Yep, light oak, medium oak and walnut.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • trubluluc
    trubluluc Posts: 2,067
    edited October 2004
    I may hold out for a set of the Oak, as everything else I have is oak.

    -Luc
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  • waxman
    waxman Posts: 124
    edited October 2004
    I'll take some more pictures- are you sure they aren't oak? I'm not too familiar with walnut but I've always thought these were oak (as did the former owner). Pics will follow tomorrow after work.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,551
    edited October 2004
    Yep, the TV frame is oak, the end caps are walnut, which is IMO a real man's wood!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited October 2004
    Walnut, I agree with F1....and that SOB knows wood. It's a little scary how much he knows wood....and this is sounding more and more dirty by the second. Walnut.

    I agree, wish you were closer, I would be interested. I would have to move some SDA's outta the way....ugh
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,077
    edited October 2004
    Man, where is Tour??

    If figgered he'd be all over this like Wendi on Brett's ****.......I mean, Mark's ****....whoops, I mean......Russ's ****...

    Hey, what's with my wife and asses??

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • amulford
    amulford Posts: 5,020
    edited October 2004
    The reason may be your SORRY ****...:D
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited October 2004
    Originally posted by TroyD
    Man, where is Tour??

    If figgered he'd be all over this

    Hmmmm...... maybe I could convince him to snag these and change his handle to Tour2MD
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited October 2004
    BTW - beautiful setup waxman! If I could, I definitely would. Shipping is out of the question?

    Come on Tour - it's only 24 hours, 52 minutes, 1548.73 miles one way. You could pick-up the other 3 CD-R's I owe you. ;)
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited October 2004
    *bumpity bump bump*

    Tour's honeymooning.
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  • waxman
    waxman Posts: 124
    edited October 2004
    Thanks Blue. Right now shipping just isn't an option. I don't trust myself to do a bomb-proof packing job on these and certainly do not want to fight with a shipper should they screw up. I had to deal with UPS who dropped a pioneer receiver I was selling and it took me months to get the money for their screwup and they fought it the whole way, all over a measly $250. I'm not doing that again. There have been a few nibbles so we'll see how those play out before posting to ebay since I don't have to move these now, just appear like I'm trying to move these :)

    I want to be clear that if you live in the triangle of Houston/Dallas/San Antonio we could certainly meet half way but then I wouldn't be able to demo them.
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  • waxman
    waxman Posts: 124
    edited October 2004
    I had to 'downgrade' back to my RT800i's because I needed room on the wall after replacing my 50" pioneer with my 'new-to-me' 80" mitsubishi 4x3 1080i HDTV. High Def baseball and football is amazing, and watched return of the jedi and had tears in my eyes. Absolutely amazing. Anyway just had to brag a bit :)
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,551
    edited October 2004
    We all have our priorities, congrats on the "new" TV.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • waxman
    waxman Posts: 124
    edited October 2004
    bump.... going on a local for sale newsgroup, craigslist, and the paper this weekend if no one expresses interest
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  • jcaut
    jcaut Posts: 1,849
    edited October 2004
    This strikes me as a pretty nice deal. And, considering their seemingly excellent condition, it'd be nice to see these stay in the hands of a forum member. I'd love to have them, but simply can't come up with that much cash. Very tempting..
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited October 2004
    Did someone mention my name???

    FAK... I just rolled in from Austin last night with 3.5 pairs of speakers in tow...

    BMDP,
    You would probably need to dump those Mon 11's to make room... right?

    If you want the tl's, I'll fetch, crate and ship 'em... Probably via BAK. (Isn't that who you use, Jesse?)

    I'm headin' to San Anton, 2nd weekend in November, if speed is not of the essence. Austin's only a couple stones throws away... Would save a chunk o' gas money (the old P/U doesn't get the mileage my Honda does).

    Will say that $1400 is a little bit high, IMO...

    I've only seen a couple pairs of 2.3tl's go on the 'Bay, and they were both between $900 and $1000...

    TFM prices on the bay have gone the way of most Carvers in 2004... down. What was a sure-fire $400+ sale a year ago is now $300 +/-$25...

    The literature collection is a nice "extra" (probably about right to cover my time and trouble.. :D )...

    Lemme know...
    More later,
    Tour...
    Vox Copuli
    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb

    "Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
    "It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
    "There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited October 2004
    Mike just bagged SDA SRS 1.2's.....wtf would he need 2.3's for?

    I would buy them, but shipping is the kicker for me....I guess I'll have to wait on Matt Polk to sell me his personal ones....or at least the ones I see through his window.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited October 2004
    Originally posted by dorokusai
    Mike just bagged SDA SRS 1.2's.....wtf would he need 2.3's for?

    I was going to give them to Troy as a present? :D

    Actually, I was **** with Bruce about his screen name and penchant for road trips.
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited October 2004
    In answer to doro's question...
    Stacking?

    (walks away muttering... 1.2's? I dun member mike gettin 1.2's... i tink deez guys r messin' wid me agin...)

    Nevermind...
    More later,
    Tour...
    Vox Copuli
    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb

    "Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
    "It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
    "There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD
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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,489
    edited October 2004
    A $300 amplifier along with $1100 for SDA 2.3 TLs seems like a good deal to me.

    I paid $1350 (delivered from a highly regarded forum member) for my 2.3 TLs and wouldn't hesitate to do so again if these were local and I didn't already have a set. The speakers are "worth" far more to me than the price I paid.

    A lot of SDAs that come up on Ebay often turn out to have blown tweeters, water mark rings, torn grille covers, or have suffered generalized abuse, but that isn't the case here, so the price seems to be well in line to me.

    I would recommend splitting the package up though.
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