What to replace SDA's with???

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  • rskarvan
    rskarvan Posts: 2,374
    edited November 2005
    The 3.1TL's are sweet sounding. But, the CRS+ is more interesting and fun (more imaging). The monitor 10's are quite nice too. I agree though... if I had to choose one speaker for life, I think I'd take my CRS+'s.
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited November 2005
    I also would like to find a pair of minty CRS+`s..

    Definately keepers...
    I think I would actually sell the beloved set(s) of RTxxi`s to get a pair..!!
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited November 2005
    I'm not searching, I'm just having fun with the hobby.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited November 2005
    It's like monkeying with your privates. If you do it the same way all the time....it lessens the experience.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • DAGLJAM6
    DAGLJAM6 Posts: 635
    edited November 2005
    RuSsMaN wrote:
    I'm not searching, I'm just having fun with the hobby.
    Exactly , the point that most don't get. Since joining this "Motley bunch"
    it's been my pleasure to listen to some of Polk's best speakers. Along the way
    i've also listened to non-Polk speakers that I have thoroughly enjoyed and in the future will surely rotate into and maybe out of my main rig.
    Having a couple of setups certainly doesn't hurt. Two rigs for me only increases my listening binges due to the fact that sometimes I don't necessarily want to go to the large setup and can fall back on something completely different sounding( subtley or not so ) within the "Polk" family or from a different manufacturer alltogether. Mark's demo of the Maggies at Polkfest has that brand firmly rooted in my brain and I know that sometime, down the road i'll grab something from that manufacturer. Like Antony says
    "I want to feel it"....well that doesn't always mean like a freight train......
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited November 2005
    +1 on what Russ said, and I'll keep my privates out of the discussion at least for the moment!

    I have always liked the SDA's. To my ears the SDA effect is part of what I want in my system, the wide open soundstage and depth that encompasses the room. I heard and bought my SDA2a's in 1986, and they were my main speaker, at least the one I always went back to, until July of this year. I always thought the SDA2 series was more balanced than the SDA1 series, however I have never had a large area to fill with sound. I picked up several sets of SDA SRS from insurance claims right after the flood of '93 wiped out much of Des Moines IA. The big SDA's are amazing, with the right equipment.

    Then came last July, when I made a change back to the speaker that was my first love, Magnepan's! I had a very early set of the Tympani's, which I foolishly traded for a new set of Dahlquist DQ10's and a pair of Phase Linear 400B amps. The DQ10's were neat, but soon lost my attention. Over the years every time I heard a set of Magnepan's I realized how much I liked their sound and presence in the room. After several threads worth of discussion with members of CP, I auditioned several other brands just to make sure. Then I brought home the 1.6QR's and haven't looked back since. I do miss my SDA's and when I have the new place they will be set up in the office/den. I now use Polk Monitor 10b's as my crank it up hard rock speakers, and the Monitor series is still one of the great sounding lines of speakers out there.

    Audio is a hobby, don't be afraid to experiment and change things around. I know I do my part to keep the used audio equipment market alive and well!
    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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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited November 2005
    Dave,

    Do your feeling in you own home. I catch you doing that **** in my stereo room and, in the words of Chris Rock, it's ON F@#KER! :D

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,776
    edited November 2005
    When I say boring... I mean their SDA sound gets very old and "cliche" after a while.

    While I love the extremely wide soundstage the SDAs provide - after a while everything sounds wide and extended... and that to me is not always a desired effect. Its like a LIVE sound that after a month or two started to really annoy me.

    To me, I like to have a sound like this...

    I like a very strong center image, to me the SDA lacked. I like to have the vocals very close to me... like I can reach out and touch the singer... and I want the drums seperated from that singer and stretched across the frontstage between the left and right speaker...

    From there I expect back up singers and the like to be slightly behind and beside the lead singer - with the other instruments filling in at different depths and widths across the side stages.

    I like to have a wide soundstage, but I also like it to be vibrant and extremely clear - and I like alot of depth. But I will say this, that bipolar speakers have a sound of their own, a sound that SDA fans run to SDAs with and bipolar fans run to bipolar speakers with.

    SDA has that wide soundstage... and Bipolar speakers have that extremely deep... extremely airy sound. No speaker I have heard can re-create THAT sound. I love it - incredibly involving...

    SDA just isnt for me...

    Am I denying they are a GREAT speaker? Nope... Just arnt for me...
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited November 2005
    I've found that in terms of soundstage depth and so forth....a lot of that is gear depends on your gear.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,776
    edited November 2005
    Well let me put it like this...

    I'm not going to sit here and tell you my speakers are better than any SDA speaker. They're not. They are not as accurate in soundstaging - or close to being as accurate. They probally are alot better in alot of ways... (SDAs are)

    But I stopped looking for those things a while ago. I enjoy my current system... and while the SDAs provide something very unique to the table - so do my speakers. Something no other speaker can re-create except other Bipolar speakers. And that sound I do like...

    I am however proud to say I can provide one of the better Def Tech demos you will hear... even in my small POS room.

    Id love to hear a set of properly setup SDAs... may change my mind... maybe not - Im sure Ill get a chance one of these days. Great set of speakers... but it wont be everyones cup of tea...

    Enjoyment Vs. Accuracy... I'll take enjoyment.
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • Normanality
    Normanality Posts: 297
    edited November 2005
    RuSsMaN wrote:
    I'm not searching, I'm just having fun with the hobby.

    That's what it is all about!! Amen! Now that I've moved some Carver AL III's into my little listening room, I'm having a blast!
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,085
    edited November 2005
    I wasn't hackin' on ya Sid.....

    See, I don't find the SDA's to be what I would consider a completely accurate speaker. When I think of accuracy, I think DQ-10...something with flat FR response. AR's come to mind as well.

    Damn, I miss those DQ-10's

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,776
    edited November 2005
    Well I find my speakers very accurate in a tone and detail form...

    Their soundstaging could be better in certain ways - but they hold the certain basis for what I want in a speaker to stage like. Alot of the problem is my room and its size. I believe in a larger room the staging would be better where the guitars, pianos and any other instruments are taking place.

    I find recordings vary this trait - as sometimes I get everything very clearly and evenly laid out... with great width - other times its not so...

    When I hear Flat response I think of neutral.. which dosnt really appeal to me either - things that arnt "involing" - I like a brighter top end, but not painfully bright - dont appeal to me.

    When the lights go out and the music is playing... there should be nothing left. :)
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • dkg999
    dkg999 Posts: 5,647
    edited November 2005
    TroyD - when I finally get back to where the DQ-10's are in the storage area, I'll send you a message. They should be in good shape, used them for about 6 mos. and then put them back in the boxes. They've been setting in the original packing since about 1982. They have the upgraded cross-overs. I remember them being absolutely riviting when playing Allan Parson's Tales of Mystery and Imagination and I Robot.
    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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  • polksda
    polksda Posts: 716
    edited November 2005
    Whaaa???? SDAs aren't the be-all, end-all of speakers? Why I oughtta... ;)

    I do love my SDAs... all of 'em. My favorite is the 1C. Not quite as muscular as the SRS 1.2s, but somehow more musical.

    There are other speakers I'd love to try out... but they're all so damned expensive. The SDAs may not be the holy grail, but at their respective price points, it is almost impossible to find anything that surpasses SDAs or Monitors.

    The fact that you can get speakers with the quality of Monitor 7s or 10s for $100-150, or SDA 2Bs for $250, is incredible. The unenlightened masses simply don't know what they're missing.

    I want to try out a pair of Von Schweikert VR4s, simply because I demoed them years ago and was simply in love... but I can't justify the $3K+ they would cost even now, used. That's more than any Polk setup would cost... you can even get a full SRT system in that range.

    The one pair of speakers that I will definitely pick up if I can ever find an inexpensive pair semilocally are Vandersteen 2Cs. I owned a pair back in the late 1980s, and those were fun. Demanding, but fun. I've never heard the 2c Signatures, which I would love to demo.

    So yes, there will be others I might "mess around with", but I'm married to my Polks...
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,735
    edited November 2005
    I like a very strong center image, to me the SDA lacked. I like to have the vocals very close to me... like I can reach out and touch the singer... and I want the drums seperated from that singer and stretched across the frontstage between the left and right speaker...

    From there I expect back up singers and the like to be slightly behind and beside the lead singer - with the other instruments filling in at different depths and widths across the side stages.

    I like to have a wide soundstage, but I also like it to be vibrant and extremely clear - and I like alot of depth.

    I get all that from mine.
    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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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,776
    edited November 2005
    Id sure hope so...

    I could buy like 3 or 4 of my systems with the price of yours...
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,605
    edited November 2005
    I know some of us got our first listen to SDA's over at Russ's place. He always was willing to spend a few minutes to show guys like me some of the
    better gear that was available. It helped me make better choices on how to build my own system. I hope he enjoys his new speakers, and I'm sure someone will be thrilled to get his old ones. Now will one of you guys hurry up and buy these before I succumb to temptation!!!!
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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