New Arivals...

Steamer

I've got a SX-950 in my bedroom along with the SX-980 with my computer. I don't own two SX's because they sound bad. They sound quite good. I don't own them just because they have that vintage look.

cfrizz

Excellent Point!!!!

There is something out there for everyone. Audiophile like everything else is a very subjective term.

Kkowal has already stated that he has no intentions of getting rid of his Pioneer. Therefore, this debate isn't really relevant. He realizes he needs better amplification and is planning on getting a separate amp to add to it. He has asked for recommendations of amps.

kkowal, Noel has given you one good choice of Parasound. You can also look at Rotel, Outlaw, the list is almost endless. You would be doing just fine with 200 watts per channel.

Enjoy what you have Kkowal & let us know your impressions of the SDA's as you increase your listening time!

nadams wrote:

after all... look at how old the SDA technology is, and how much we all love it...

TroyD

danger boy wrote:

TroyD wrote:

yeah but Bose sounds terrible. I don't think you can say all Pioneer sounds bad. there is a difference. you can twist the facts any which way you want to crunch the numbers in your favor.
I'm not defending Pioneer.. they had their hey day in the 70's... like Marantz and Sansui did.. their time may have passed. I'm not sure.

Troy stating something like that does no good. IN here an many other audio forums you'll find people that like every flavor of gear out there under the sun. and if you ask each and every person. their **** is the best.

I happen to like vintage Pioneer gear. all of it? Nope of course not.. but the higher end stuff was good in it's day.. and by todays standards is outdated.. some of it still sounds good to me. Can you campare it to todays gear? Of course not... it's technology is way outdated... twenty or thirty years old. But you can't say a blanket statement that it all is bad.

I like some Marantz gear.. is all of it good, nope. Is all Marantz gear bad? yeah a lot of it is.. esp most of their stuff from the past 20 yrs. But at one time... Marantz was the gear to have if you were a true audiophile.

See, I DON'T think Bose sounds terrible. I think that they are EXPENSIVE for what you get. I have a couple of friends who think that thier 901's that they bought back in the day are just fantastic. You know what? Who am I to argue with them?

I'm not saying all Pioneer is bad. I AM saying it's midfi gear. There is nothing wrong with midfi gear. However, I think the SRS's are hifi and deserve an equitable front end.

I also think that there is gear older than I am that is better than what is currently produced so I don't buy the newer is better argument.

I like Marantz too. I don't think that any of thier receivers are worthy of pushing a pair of SRS's either.

Again, I'm not knocking brands, I'm just making a suggestion based on what he's got for speakers.

BDT

kkowal

I Have Had them running for 2weeks and have found the weak spot is the pioneer hands down.. It Works fine without the interconnect cable Volume knob goes to 3'oclock but as soon as i plug it in the amp clips out at about 9oclock can any one explain this cables function in detail.. I Got Out The VOM And measured 3.5 ohms (Holy low batman)

TroyD

The cable is what makes SDA work....now as to why the amp is acting that way, I dunno, it really shouldn't under normal circumstances.

BDT

F1nut

Hmmmm.......3 o'clock? Should be clipping like crazy at that level. In fact, I'm surprised you haven't cooked the thing. Where did you measure 3.5 ohms?

The cable sends a signal between the speakers that cancels interaural crosstalk. Without the cable connected you are only driving half the mid drivers in each cabinet. Perhaps the full driver load is too much for the receiver, but even I doubt that's the case. Measure ohms across the negative outputs.

TroyD

I'd say the Pioneer has issues. Sounds like F1 was right all along

BDT

Tour2ma

Sounds like a non-common ground issue, but surely your uncle did not put up with that issue... I take it he did run the SDA's on the Pioneer... Yes?

As for all the preceding discussions... I've never liked Pioneer. I have an irrational bias against that brand and am sticking with it...

As for Bose, used Series I and II 901's in the $200 to $250 area are the only ones I'd own... and I do...

heiney9

Sounds like a Pioneer issue. The rec is old and is probably in need of a "fresehening up". The bypass caps, coupling caps and probably many other parts are getting old and perhaps dried up or way out of tolerence, it's very common for that older gear to have these issues. If you are really set on keeping it take it to a reputable repair shop and ask them to spec it out and then refresh it. It's not going to be cheap, but maybe the sentimental value means something to you. It should drive the SDA's to normal listening levels without trouble, normally. Although 3:00 position is pretty high.

My first rec was a Pioneer SX-780 (I think thats the model number) I was 15 and didn't really know anything about stereos. At the time I had 2 pairs of speakers hooked up to it and at moderate volumes the display light would dim to the beat of the music. That's one of memories that led to believe Pionner receivers of tha era are just very mediocre.

H9

kkowal

The Receveiver was gone threw 1 year ago the spec sheet reports 175/175 at 1000HZ @1%THD And at 120/120 at 1000Hz @.007 THD Receiver works very well with the pair of pioneer hpm 900 no amp clip at all (6ohm Load)

I measered the ohms of of the two terminals on the back of the speaker.
both report 3.5 with the cable or without it?? It is a 2 wire blade plug if That helps.

nadams

hmm... perhaps your issues are with the speakers then? You should not have to turn the volume up that high to get any appreciable amount of sound. On my 20wpc Marantz receiver I'm using right now on my SDA2's, I only have it to 9 o'clock or so at a normal listening volume, and 11 o'clock for loud

heiney9

kkowal wrote:

The Receveiver was gone threw 1 year ago the spec sheet reports 175/175 at 1000HZ @1%THD And at 120/120 at 1000Hz @.007 THD Receiver works very well with the pair of pioneer hpm 900 no amp clip at all (6ohm Load)

I measered the ohms of of the two terminals on the back of the speaker.
both report 3.5 with the cable or without it?? It is a 2 wire blade plug if That helps.

Ahh, so it's having trouble even after being serviced. Well the HPM's aren't even on the same planet as the SDA's.....perhaps even in a different galaxy. What you have now is the best that Pioneer is going to do for the SDA's.

H9

kkowal

I Have Also Done a test on the blades on the cable and it works as it should. Curenntly running test on indivdual speakers in the cabinet so far so good.
All speakers are working with or with out the cable I thought it only used half the drivers without it??

Ricardo

kkowal wrote:

I Have Also Done a test on the blades on the cable and it works as it should. Curenntly running test on indivdual speakers in the cabinet so far so good.
All speakers are working with or with out the cable I thought it only used half the drivers without it??

Are you sure they are all working? They will all "move" together, but does not necessarily mean they are working...just a thought. If you take the passive radiator out you will be able to see better which are working...

kkowal

Yup removed passive and all are moving on there own

nadams

Hmm... that's not how it should be. Only half of the drivers will work with the SDA cable removed. (usually the inside drivers on each cabinet are the stereo drivers, which should operate with the cable removed)

Ricardo

Seems like something in the internal wiring has been modified then......could explain the amp isue..

kkowal

Am curently lookin at the crossover and looks to be modified no small caps just large 500v Black 55uF & 34uf cant get nubers off the rest they are glue covered need original pics to know for shure..

nadams

Sounds like maybe someone attempted the crossover upgrade, but crossed a wire somewheres.

kkowal

The 2 drivers on the right side are low freq and the 2 on the left are mid drivers (Left Cabinet) ---The 2 drivers on the left are low freq and the 2 on the right are mid drivers (Right Cabinet)

nadams

what do you mean by low freq and mid drivers? On the SDA SRS, all four drivers should be the same- MW6503's.

nadams

oops

Ricardo

yeah....agree with nadams and his brother...

kkowal

They all Have the same Number 6503 But the point at which the wires come out of the crossover is different the freq cut off is lower for the outer drivers
and the inner is cut off at about 400hz or higher

kkowal

Test yours and see

kkowal

Even a untrained ear such as mine can tell the difference

Ricardo

I am not an expert and even if I tried I would not be able to get to crossover cuts by driver....the point here is that for SDA speakers half of the drivers work as stereo, and the other half work as SDA or cancelation; the SDA drivers (the two drivers located to the outside of the speaker) will not work if the interconnect between the two speakers is not plugged. If you have all four drivers working without the interconnect, something was wired wrong. You can call Customer Service and ask for a schematic for your speaker model; they will mail it to you at no charge and you will be able to see what's wrong.

nadams

And, try not to post three times for something that can be put in one post . Mine was an accidental double-post, as my browser stopped going halfway through and I didn't think it made it . But what HTrookie says is truth!

The wires for the drivers come from different places on the crossover because of the SDA effect. The SDA drivers will sound quieter, but there should be no frequency differences. The SDA drivers get the same signal as the stereo drivers.

kkowal

As I Have tested each speaker individualy and have found the drivers are all the same. Tweets Also. The frequences That come out of them due to the crossovers is different Top tweet Has A Higher freq output than the bottom one. As i said Before The Drivers The 2 drivers on the right side are low freq and the 2 on the left are mid drivers (Left Cabinet) ---The 2 drivers on the left are low freq and the 2 on the right are mid drivers (Right Cabinet) I Can Hear The Difference!

nadams

Alright... never mind. Not going to argue.