1st generation SDA crossover upgrade

ardvark1

Congrats on upgrading your SDA's!
I'm glad others like yourself are trying this; the rewards are truly worth the time and effort you put into it.
And yes, it does take some time for your new components to burn in, but as you have witnessed, you are rewarded with hearing the full potential of the Polk design.

I hope my notes and pictures helped you with this endeavor.
Have you upgraded your tweeters as well?

Bill

Philpfeif

Your pictures were invaluable. I forgot to label all the wires before I took the boards out and I had to refer to your pictures constantly. I did not update the tweeters other than to replace one that didn't match with one that I bought one eb*y. Someone had replaced it at some point in the past wth a Polk speaker of unknown characteristics and the sound didn't match from left to right. I am planning on upgrading to 2.3s soon and I didin't want to invest any more money in these. Many thanks for the inspiration to tackle this job. I expect I will do the same thing for my next set of speakers whenever I get them.

domesda2b

DarqueKnight wrote: »

It is not "hard", if you know what you are doing, but it is tedious work. If you are not experienced in reading/following electrical schematics and in building/repairing electronic circuits, I would pass. Even with step-by-step instructions, you might run into some unforseen situation that requires some insight to solve. You may want to consider using a repair shop that also does modification work.

Yes.

Hi, new here. I want to upgrade my caps and crossovers on my SDA-2B's. Ordered a couple of replacement RD0194-1 silk dome tweeters today because one had a bad solder joint at the silver coil to wire connection no continuity. After about 2 hours of looking at it with a 8x power magnifying glass and deriving that it could be bad, a touch of solder later I had continuity and a resistance reading of 7.1 ohms:) compared to the working other tweeter at 5.9 ohms. Yes, I took apart my TWEETER! Actually did surgery on it and it came out alive some liquid electrical tape later and some craft glue on the fish eye seal I was back in business. Getting off the subject. I been reading all of this and it really has me wanting to mod/upgrade my crossover with new caps and whatever is recommended. It really sounds like a fun project someday. I've soldered many loose solder joints in my day just as hobby and around house so this sounds like it could be really fun with the right advice. I've already downloaded all the wiring diagrams I could find so just need to review some of the information and let that sink in. Get a parts list together. Actually open up the passive radiator and look inside. I know I have the plastic pin connects because I've had the binding post terminal block off and saw that quick connect to crossover. Shouldn't be too bad of a job really. Just have to get up the gumption . Thanks to Helen at Polk for tolerating all my questions. Glad I asked some and read before making the decision to go with the silk domes. I've read some posts where members stated it transformed their speakers. I'm waiting for that. I can hear that spike though and it does bother me. It's downright annoying and harsh and it's not only me that notices it. I have nothing to lose by trying the silks. Helen says no crossover upgrade needed. That may be true I'm kind of in the school of thought if it's not broke don't fix it. I'd just love to make sweet soldering on my speaker boards just for fun. Ahh the smell of solder and fresh solid state electronic parts when they work and behave right make me all fuzzy and warm. And yes I know the difference from a capacitor and resistor transistor or transformer. Any advice or do people here feel there is enough information already been posted on the subject? Beating a dead horse? Gives me great satisfaction to solder a sweet spot on a silver coil and have it work so why not update the crossovers? Wonder if the cabinets ever wear out or need updating they seem pretty solid. I'm joking... New caps might have more reserve or kick if you would... It's fun reading club polk message board. Wealth of knowledge here. Thanks

ardvark11

Greetings members. Glad my upgrade post was helpful to other forum members. I give thanks to the many members who helped me in the past (you know who you are). I took a long sabbatical and have returned as ardvark11. I had my equipment in storage for almost 10 years and now I am finally in a house worthy of my Polk SDA's!