sda 2's

dudeinaroom
dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
edited September 2012 in Vintage Speakers
Last weekend I got a pair of sda 2's from my wife's uncle, He said he no longer had the room for them, and asked me if i wanted them. I said shure, I was looking for a set of speakers for our bed room. I hooked them up in our bedroom to a cheap magnavox all in 1 stereo, and connected the interconect cable. I powered it up set the 3 band eq to 0's and turned it up. The first thing out of my mouth was" no way!!". I then pushed the bass boost button and was tottaly blown away. I imeadiatly told my wife these are going in the living room. After hooking them up in the living room I played around a little with the place ment. I then thought, he has no idea what he just gave me. This is hooked up to a technics 5.1 receiver(no longer using the center channel as there is no need for it now, besides, the center I have totally takes away from the sound stage, and does not even come close to the sound quality) any ways i cannot find power rateings for these jewels I will be upgrading to a better receiver most likely an onkyo any help on specs would be great i'm not shore if they are a's or b's
Post edited by dudeinaroom on
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited October 2004
    Welcome to the forum and congrats on your lucky grab.

    To ID which model you have, pull out one stereo driver and one SDA driver then post the numbers here. Also, pull out one tweeter and post that number. Another idea would be to post a photo.

    If you continue to abuse the speakers with "bass boost" and cranking up underpowered receivers you will damage the speakers.
    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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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2004
    Originally posted by F1nut
    Welcome to the forum and congrats on your lucky grab.

    To ID which model you have, pull out one stereo driver and one SDA driver then post the numbers here. Also, pull out one tweeter and post that number. Another idea would be to post a photo.

    If you continue to abuse the speakers with "bass boost" and cranking up underpowered receivers you will damage the speakers.

    as i said that was in the bed room, the are now hooked up to my receiver, and are listened to at moderate levels. The receiver does not have bass boost, or loudness for that matter, the bass and treble are both set to zero. the recevier is 100 w/ch and they are only seeing about 30 to 60 watts;)
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited October 2004
    So, what are the numbers?
    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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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2004
    here are some pics
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2004
    Originally posted by dudeinaroom
    here are some pics

    I could take them apart, but i really don't want to. If i really have to I will.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited October 2004
    Ok, those are 2A's

    Power Handling: 10-500 wpc
    Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms
    Efficiency: 93dB
    Overall Freq. Response: 15Hz to 26kHz

    Note the 4 ohm rating. You'll need to check if your receiver is rated to drive a 4 ohm load. If it's not, you can damage the receiver. Contact Ken Swauger at Polk to have a owners manual mailed to you. It will explain proper set up, the need to use a common ground receiver/amp and other good stuff. Nice speakers, I hope you enjoy them for a long time. :)
    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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  • BlueMDPicker
    BlueMDPicker Posts: 7,569
    edited October 2004
    Welcome to the forum dude! You'll enjoy your SDA's more with each listening.

    I, too, acquired some SDA-2's not long ago and couldn't quite identify the exact model. As I recall, F1nut asked me to check the interconnect cable to see if it was pin/pin or pin/blade. Mine has a pin/blade IC which identified it as a 2-B.

    Here's a link to my HELP! thread, perhaps it will provide some useful information:
    http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21638
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2004
    My cable has the blade/blade type.

    Thanks guys, this seems to be a pretty cool forum to hang with.:D


    I love these babys, and so does my wife.
    we were both infinity fans, but the polks r in a whole other league.

    The first pair of polks I ever owned were a pair that I got with my first computer. They had oval drivers, with a front panel powerport. And for tiny little plastic enclosed speaker they sounded better than any one would have thought.

    Any way, I gotta get back to my sda's , they are calling me.
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited November 2004
    Originally posted by dudeinaroom
    we were both infinity fans, but the polks r in a whole other league.
    Any way, I gotta get back to my sda's , they are calling me.
    Ahhh... the SDA grin. Be careful as some have had their faces permanently frozen in an ear to ear smile... :D

    Welcome to the forum...

    Don't worry about your SDA's power rating; buy as much amp muscle as you can afford. The only way you would ever hurt your new jewels would be by asking too much of an underpowered amp.

    Be sure to check out our growing SDA Demo playlist in this section...
    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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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited November 2004
    Congratulations on your new SDA's! I have those same exact speakers with the blade/blade interconnect. You're going to have fun with those. Get some good clean power, I drive mine with an integrated amp that's rated at 200 wpc at 4 ohms.

    ** edit **

    By the way, I bought mine in 1986 from Audio Labs in Des Moines IA and although the back of the speakers say SDA 2, my boxes are labeled as SDA 2B, and have the correct serial #'s printed on the boxes.
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    DKG,

    If you have the blade/blade cable you can't have 2B's. They only came with the pin/blade cable and were made starting in 1987. Sounds like you have a Polk mystery there, can you post a pic of them?
    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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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited November 2004
    F1nut - the actual speakers look exactly like those pictured in this thread. I'll have to dig out the boxes from storage and then I can take a picture of the labels that say SDA-2B. I still have my receipt, so if I can dig it out it may also say I bought SDA-2B's. Would the serial #'s give any clue?
    DKG999
    HT System: LSi9, LSiCx2, LSiFX, LSi7, SVS 20-39 PC+, B&K 507.s2 AVR, B&K Ref 125.2, Tripplite LCR-2400, Cambridge 650BD, Signal Cable PC/SC, BJC IC, Samsung 55" LED

    Music System: Magnepan 1.6QR, SVS SB12+, ARC pre, Parasound HCA1500 vertically bi-amped, Jolida CDP, Pro-Ject RM5.1SE TT, Pro-Ject TubeBox SE phono pre, SBT, PS Audio DLIII DAC
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    DKG,

    If they look exactly like the ones pictured and have the blade/blade cable they are not 2B's. I don't know why the boxes would say 2B on them other than Polk was known to do some strange stuff back then. Maybe they ran out of the older boxes at a time when the 2B's were just coming out. All in all very interesting, see what your receipt says. The s/n's might help at Polk HQ, but I've got no way of telling from them.
    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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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited November 2004
    Originally posted by F1nut
    DKG,

    If you have the blade/blade cable you can't have 2B's. They only came with the pin/blade cable and were made starting in 1987. Sounds like you have a Polk mystery there, can you post a pic of them?

    well i do have the manual and I looked a little closer, and they are 2A's
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited November 2004
    Well the wife and the little tike had some shopping to do today so i finally got to turn these babies up. I turned my receiver up to the point of distortion, and turn ed it back down as to not damage the speaker. The receiver is set to low impeadance mode(down to 4 ohms) and any thing higher than -16db and the receiver goes into protect :( and full clean power is about -8 dbs. oh well.

    They sound even more musical at higher volume than I thought they would. Now I need to get new equipment to complment them. Can any one recomend a decent amp/preamp, or intergrated amp for enty level into "hi-fi" as you could say I'm in the mid-fi sector right now, keep it easy on the wallet, I have tike #2 on the way
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    Hehe.......getting that SDA grin for the first time is almost as good as getting that first piece of tail.

    What's your price range? If you're not opposed to buying used gear you'll get a lot more for your money.
    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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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited November 2004
    I'll might be able to go as high as $1000, like i said, I'm just strarting out. So I don't really need any super high end stuff just yet
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    You may want to check into this one,
    http://www.jolida.com/catalogue/jd1501rc.html

    Tubed pre amp stage with SS amp stage. I'm not sure if it's rated the drive 4 ohm speakers, but a call Jolida would answer that. I have not listened to this unit, but their tubed CD player is very nice and this one fits your price range. I should mention that these 100 wpc are going to be better than any receivers 100 wpc.
    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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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    A few more worth looking into,
    http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1104520364

    http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1103463352

    http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1104181732
    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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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited November 2004
    Thanks for the links, i'm actually thinking of building my own system. Your gonna hate me but I think I might go all solid state constrution because of cost and ease of maintence


    sorry about spelling
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,561
    edited November 2004
    Your money, your gear. Don't sell yourself short on sound quality because of perceived cost or ease of use/up keep. There is a reason for those cheap SS amps.....they sound like cheap amps. Just to be clear, there are some very nice SS amps, but they aren't cheap either.
    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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  • dave shepard
    dave shepard Posts: 1,334
    edited November 2004
    Give Greg a call when and if your ready I'm sure he can help you and if there is something that he doesn't carry he will point you to someone that has it. His prices are the best and service is great.

    http://www.soundadvicestereo.com/index3.html

    Dave
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited November 2004
    Thanks alot guys all of you are to helpful, I mean that in a good way. I've seen some plans on the net for quiet a few hifi amps but only a hand full with good specs. I have also tried looking for some amp kits and good ones are very hard to find. Oh yeah, that $1000 I had to spend, no has dropped to nothing, I haven't been working because of problems with my hands so it will be a while before I can cure my sda's of the technics disease
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited December 2011
    It's been 7 years and I still love these speakers. On my second amp and preamp. Sold the technics almost forever ago. Had my denon crap out on me. Still trying to scrape the money together to redo the x-overs. Found a decent amount of music I like that I would not have if I did not join. Thank you polkies for the fun ride and all the fun and help you have given me.
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  • brekekex
    brekekex Posts: 24
    edited December 2011
    How are your hands doing?
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited December 2011
    Depends on the day and what I am doing. As long as I'm not hammering or grinding I do pretty well. Still have dropsies from time to time. Must of done some searching form my screen name?

    Welcome to club polk.
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited December 2011
    nothing to see here
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited September 2012
    D&*N you guys and your tubes. Any one want to trade a tubed pre for a B&K pro 10 mc?
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