What do you power your sda's with?

ND13

00p225 wrote:

Currently running my SDA-1C's with a 35wpc Eico HF-87 tube amp with EL34's. Previously a Soundcraftsmen PM-840, 200 wpc @ 8 ohms

DING DING DING!!!!! We have a winner, by a whole 5 less watts

djf

I got the original SDA's in 86.

At first, I had an AKAI 35 wpc receiver which worked ok, nut I knew nothing really about what the SDA's could do then.

My next aquisition was a Kenwood KA-900 Audio Purist amp. Interesting amp, if I put bread on it, I could make my breakfast toast. This was an item I got from DAK elaectronics back in the late 80's, I blew it out once with the SDA's. The heat sink on this puppy could seat a few folks at a football game! Rated thd .003%.

But with the high end fading in the 69% range, I got more power. A Kenwood KA-900 straight amp. Rated power 100 WPC into 8 ohms, rated thd .09. My source goes into a BSR-3000 equalizer, then gets split, and I bi-amp the low end with the KM, and the high end with the KA. I have, in the last few days, rewired things, and don't get the hiigh end cutoff as much as I used to. I have ordered the polyswitches, and am considering oredering the upgrade to the SL-2000's.

I do not understand the emphasis on tube amps here, but I remember the old turntables and preamps, is there really an opinion that SS electronics can't do the job?

Also, if anyone has replaced the grill cloth, if they know what glues/apparatus to do it, please let me know.

Currently listening to: Phantom of the Opera

Recommended:
Elvis Costello: My Aim is True. Lots of weird guitar and organ chords
Thompson Twins: Into the Gap This is an extrordinarily powerful sonic experience, I would compare it to "Tubular Bells"
Yes: Close to the Edge A rock opera!
anything by Pink Floyd, but I agree Welcome to the Machine is probably best

If you have a digital copy of "Grease", the title track will make you almost wreck your car!

ND13

djf wrote:

I do not understand the emphasis on tube amps here, but I remember the old turntables and preamps, is there really an opinion that SS electronics can't do the job?

By no means is anyone saying that. Some just prefer the tube sound to SS sound. I'm using tube pre/ss amp combo at this time, but will be going to an all tube amp as soon as I can, but out of preference not necessity.

djf

My personal preference is low THD and dynamic range. I remember the first CD player I ever heard (A Sony CDP-200) and I was astounded by the dynamic range.(It was a Billy Joel cd).

Interesting that if I record a CD onto my 7.5 ips AKAI r2r, the playback sounds better on the r2r.

The SDA's are the best home sound I've ever heard. Some may sound better at low volumes, or at certain frequencies, but these are overall the best investment I ever made.

I don't wanna blow out any more amps, so I'm diggin for suggestions.

So, so you think you can tell...

nadams

djf- if you like Yes, try Fragile as well. Specifically, the beginning of track 4, tracks 6, 8, and 9. Hell, listen to the whole CD. So far, this is the best CD I have that I've found for listening to my SDA's....

djf

Saw Yes in concert in 73 at Geneseo college, right before Fragile came out, sat on the gym floor and wondered what all those people were smokin!

Still tryin to find Topographic Oceans locally.


Listenin right now to "Blood on the Tracks".

bert26

SDA SRS 2 - ADCOM GFA-555
200 watts at 8 ohms
Using HK DPR1005 as pre

SDA 1B's - Nakamichi PA-5
100 watts at 8 ohms
Using Nakamichi CA-5 as pre

djf

I have an Ipod for sale with funky little ear thingies. Anybody interested?

,ooo4 WPC!!

Damn, I remember the KLH;s(excellent for classical). the JBL's, the Carvers and McIntosh's, one of the first components I owned was a Lafayette amp from Radio Shack.

00p225

I think tube vs solid state on the sda series of speakers is just a matter of taste. Mainly, I feel a good quality tube amplifier just helps my sda-1c's in midrange tone/timbre, an area where they allready excel. The combo produces low fatigue listening for long periods.

djf

There are some sounds you can only hear when it's night.

Current: ABC, the Lexicon of love.

Heard a story that Martin Frye got so bent he flushed his gold lame jackect down a toilet in Strassbourg, but don;t know how reliable it is....

mr2spyder

Adcom- GFA 555.

I-SIG

Larry Chanin wrote:

Hi Keith,

I'm using a Parasound HCA-2200II to power my SDA-1Cs.
220 watts RMS x 2, 20Hz-20kHz, 8 ohms
385 watts RMS x 2, 20Hz-20kHz, 4 ohms

I'm using a Parasound HCA-2003 to power my SDA-CRS+s.
200 watts RMS x 3, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 8 ohms
300 watts RMS x 3, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 4 ohms

Larry

That 2200 is beast, ain't she

Works great on my SRS's. At 5ohms nominal, I figure I'm getting around 350 per side.

Wes

Larry Chanin

I-SIG wrote:

That 2200 is beast, ain't she

Works great on my SRS's. At 5ohms nominal, I figure I'm getting around 350 per side.

Wes

Hi Wes,

Yes, I'm very happy with it, but I've occassionaly thought it would nice to go bigger. I've tinkered with the idea of getting an HCA-3500:

Continuous Power Output
350 watts RMS per channel from 20 Hz-20 kHz into 8 W, both channels driven
500 watts RMS per channel from 20 Hz-20 kHz into 4 W, both channels driven

Remember our old thread on the subject?

Parasound HCA2200II or HCA3500 safe with SDAs?

Regards,

Larry

Shizelbs

SRS 2s being driven by a Sunfire Reference Stereo amp. 250 @ 8 and 500 @ 4. Cold as ice.

schwarcw

djf,

I heard YES twice in Pittsburgh during the '73 - '75 period. Unbelievable sound! Rick Wakeman was tremendous! Where did you see them?
Carl

I-SIG

Larry Chanin wrote:

Hi Wes,

Yes, I'm very happy with it, but I've occassionaly thought it would nice to go bigger. I've tinkered with the idea of getting an HCA-3500:

Continuous Power Output
350 watts RMS per channel from 20 Hz-20 kHz into 8 W, both channels driven
500 watts RMS per channel from 20 Hz-20 kHz into 4 W, both channels driven

Remember our old thread on the subject?

Parasound HCA2200II or HCA3500 safe with SDAs?

Regards,

Larry

I had forgotten about that one. I figure if there was really a problem, the blade-blade SRS's would've really shown it.

Wonder what the verdict is on the 3500? I'd love some more juice for the SRS's myself. I figure right now that $$$ is better spent on tweeters, binding posts, and crossover upgrades.

Wes

BobMcG

Welcome to the forums.

djf wrote:

I got the original SDA's in 86.

Which model SDAs do you have?

djf wrote:

I do not understand the emphasis on tube amps here

If you read around more you may find that there is actually a bit more of an emphasis on the use of tube preamps...

djf

They are the original SDA-SRS's, as previewed in SR Nov, 85. w/ the SL2000 tweeters, I am unsure of a part number on the midranges, but they are stamped with a manufacture date of Nov 18, 1985.

twochannel

I have an original pair of SDA-SRS's that I puchased in 1986. I used two Adcom GFA-555's biwired in stereo for high and low freq's. You could warm your coffie on them. I upgraded to 565 mono blocks in the early 90's, and until a recent failure, they worked great. I just purchased a pristine and seldom used Adcom GFA-555MKII, until my mono amp is checked out. I think that I'm going to sell the mono-blocks because the upgraded 555MKII has better bass handling.

BobMcG

djf wrote:

They are the original SDA-SRS's, as previewed in SR Nov, 85. w/ the SL2000 tweeters, I am unsure of a part number on the midranges, but they are stamped with a manufacture date of Nov 18, 1985.

Nice!

BobMcG

twochannel wrote:

I upgraded to 565 mono blocks in the early 90's, and until a recent failure, they worked great. I just purchased a pristine and seldom used Adcom GFA-555MKII, until my mono amp is checked out. I think that I'm going to sell the mono-blocks because the upgraded 555MKII has better bass handling.

That failure was likely due to the fact that the SDA-SRSs weren't made to be powered by mono blocks, bridged to mono or (other) non-common ground stereo amps.

nadams

Bob- how would it have lasted nearly 10 years, then? Just curious...

rskarvan

SRS 3.1TL's powered by Krell KAV250A (250wpc).

twochannel

Adcom GFA-565 mono blocks can be used with most SDA speakers that cannot use the A-1 speaker interface cable by connecting both amps negative speaker output together by using a jumper wire. This makes them common ground on the output side. If you don't make the Adcom amps common ground, you will damage the speakers crossover network before you damage the amp. Care must also be taken on the 120 volt input power to eliminate a possible ground loop, by connecting them on the same grounded circuit.

BobMcG

nadams wrote:

Bob- how would it have lasted nearly 10 years, then? Just curious...

I can't give you a definitive answer to that but I believe it was in the luck of the draw.

Years ago my brother had a pair of amps damaged in the same manor but it happend slowly over a long period of time. (Can't remember exactly but say around a year or more.) One amp was obviously badly damaged at that point and the other one was only just showing that it too was starting down the same road. Why not both at the same time and rate??? This was even after talking to the amp manufacturer about joining the two chassis together to create a common ground setup so we thought we had that covered.

On the other hand there are some who have had bad problems sooner rather than later so go figure.

george daniel

Sda 1c's powered by Belles 350A

W WALDECKER

george daniel wrote:

Sda 1c's powered by Belles 350A

Hey George, i thought that deal was dead in the water. you lucky dog!there is a guy on the audiocircles who just bought the Belles 350 A and gave it a first impression mini review and some of the other heavy hitters over there also listened to it and were saying that it compares very favorably to the McCormack DNA 500. you must be in audio Nirvana right about now!thanks....WCW III

george daniel

Long story short; agon,agree to buy,send mo. priority tracking(when I left the post office, I had a strange feeling that something was not right),3 days later No receipt,seems that the clerk had flipped the last two digits of the zip, seller gets a little concerned, puts it back up for sale,two weeks pass and "presto" the mail arrives, seller e-mails me, still has it, ships, got it last wednesday,meantime I'm rebuilding x-overs,so it sounds pretty darn good through 5 jrs and the uld-15 velo,I'll post pic's, part #'s and prices when my order of sonicaps arrive.I'm going to pull the trigger on the mono's with Klaus for the other set of 1c's that I have to pick up from another club member,got another tube pre in the makings,wife is happy since I've sold most of my other gear,,all I do is endorse checks for her deposits,,but she does not get ALL of it. Two things that I've always lived by,but never always act on them
#1-Trust your gut feeling (should have @ the post office)
#2- Careful what you ask/wish for, you just might get it.
Thanks for turning me on to Klaus,did he say that he has a 380 lb. amp :eek:

W WALDECKER

george daniel wrote:

Long story short; agon,agree to buy,send mo. priority tracking(when I left the post office, I had a strange feeling that something was not right),3 days later No receipt,seems that the clerk had flipped the last two digits of the zip, seller gets a little concerned, puts it back up for sale,two weeks pass and "presto" the mail arrives, seller e-mails me, still has it, ships, got it last wednesday,meantime I'm rebuilding x-overs,so it sounds pretty darn good through 5 jrs and the uld-15 velo,I'll post pic's, part #'s and prices when my order of sonicaps arrive.I'm going to pull the trigger on the mono's with Klaus for the other set of 1c's that I have to pick up from another club member,got another tube pre in the makings,wife is happy since I've sold most of my other gear,,all I do is endorse checks for her deposits,,but she does not get ALL of it. Two things that I've always lived by,but never always act on them
#1-Trust your gut feeling (should have @ the post office)
#2- Careful what you ask/wish for, you just might get it.
Thanks for turning me on to Klaus,did he say that he has a 380 lb. amp :eek:

yeah George,he has a 380 lb power amplifier. its a Symphonic Line Kraft 400 stereo unit. 450 wpc class A with banks of capacitors larger than 12 oz beer cans and you can fry an egg on it when it is cranked up! built in the 1990s and now available only by special order it retailed for $36,000 bucks and is still to this day considered one of the best sounding solid state amplifiers in existance.i also know a guy named Marbles over at the audio circles that owns a pair of Kraft 400 Monos! how cool is that ? thanks....WCW III

george daniel

Any pic's of this monster :eek: