On the SDA Still - Can it, or does it get any better?

puunda

I know this forum is biased toward Polk, and from what I've read, really biased towards the SDA. But I'd still like everyone's honest opinions.

As some of you may know, I recently bought a pair of SDA SRS 1.2TL's. I'm quite happy with it, but it's nowhere near perfect at all. I don't think I could've done better for the money, but I do believe there's a lot of better speakers out there. Althought the imaging is very good, and it does have a huge soundstage, I've heard better from a 'conventional' speaker. So I'm not totally sold on the SDA theory yet. This is ofcourse how I see (hear) it, and I know there's other things I could do like room, source, amp etc.

So my questions are these.

Have you heard anything better than the Polk SDA speakers? If so, please describe.

Thanks

Puunda

RuSsMaN

It's all personal preference, which is part of what makes audio so fun.

Nothing out there, is the be all, end all in every category. I have what I consider to be my 'holy grail', but I'm still saving up for it. On that note, what I like, others may not.

One thing I will always give the SDA series props for is while not doing anything absolutely perfect, they do EVERYTHING very well. The only speakers I've heard, short of my reference, that can even begin to come close to the SDA's in not only in size of the soundstage, but placement within that soundstage (very important) - were the big Maggies, or a pair of mirror-imaged DQ-10's.

Can the SDA's be topped? Absolutely, but you are going to have to spend a LOT to do so.

Cheers,
Russ

Tour2ma

+1...

As I have often posted, my SRS's are the best rock speaker I've heard. But I've another fav for Symphony Orchestra and yet another for acoustic Jazz/ Light Classical and yet another for solo piano.

My personal best all-arounds are around $15k, but since I can own all of the above for one-quarter that amount, I'm not in any hurry to get them.

dorokusai

I don't think I could add much but to agree with the aforementioned statements. I love the SDA's but not for every genre of music. There are simply other speakers that do it better.

They are bar none the most versatile speakers I have owned and are a real used market bargain. There aren't many people aside from Polkies that care about them, so they're never hard to find.

hoosier21

Like those above me said, SDA speakers are some of the funnest speakers out there, on the used market they are the champoins in return on your dollar. Bargin hunting asise, they stand up to many many speakers and match them on many levels. Yes I have heard speakers that are better on some, many or all areas of performance but get your checekbook out.

I am sure it is somewhere, but are you sure they are hooked up correctly, placement as recommended, good amps and source?? What you listening to?

jtgranby

Are you still using the Sony AV receiver or is the MC fixed? Needs Power
Jim

F1nut

puunda wrote:

Have you heard anything better than the Polk SDA speakers? If so, please describe.

The Grateful Dead's "Wall Of Sound" in 1972.



Jim has an excellent point. If you're still using that receiver they aren't getting what they need, not even close.

danger boy

with my limited experience with SDA's and other speakers.. I have to say the SDA SRS's let you experience more out of the music than you can from conventional speakers. I will play music i'm familiar with on the SDA's. then play the same music on other systems in my house with other speakers. it just seems that i'm missing alot out of the music.

I'm not talking about just missing the soundstage and depth.. but real parts of the music is not as pronounced on conventional speakers as they are on the SDA's. The SDA's. just bring out more of the music. and for no othe reason. i like em. of course.. they do more than just that.. that's a given.

They shine best with seperates and a good CD player. and decent interconnects.. mate all that with a good amp.. and it brings them to a whole higher level. underpower them... and they flip flop around and lag their true potential.

TroyD

IMHO, the thing about SDA's is that you can listen to them for hours with zero fatigue and they are just damn FUN to listen to. I've owned a LOT of speakers, some really good ones. Some I think were a little better, some a little worse but the SDA's are not outclassed unless you really want to drop some serious coinage.

BDT

thehaens@cox.net

PUUNDA

I know exactly how you feel, I had and still do have, a set of SDA-1A's that I was using when I stumbled upon some 1.2's. I purchased them and felt like something was missing. They, (1.2's) just didn't have the "sound" I was looking to get on a pound per pound basis from my 1A's.

Here is what I can tell you. Placement and Power, (Brad was right), and lots of power will open them up.

Since I have had them I have continued to add more and more power.

They have evolved from using the Parasound HCA-1500 to drive them, to putting the 1500 on the lows and using my receiver speaker outs for the hi freq's.

Just doing this gave a noticeable improvement to the sound quality of the speakers, but they really needed a lot more.

Which brings me to my current set up.

I am using a Monster MPA 2250 on the low, and the HCA 1500 on the Hi.

Needless to say, the 1.2's are sounding amazing. But, they will no doubt benefit from even more power. The 2250 is conservatively rated at 250 W per ch 8 Ohms and the 1500 is rated at 205 per channel 8 Ohms.

Next stop is to get another 2250, strap the negative terminals and run em' mono at 650 per channel at 8 Ohms and continue to use the 1500 for the Highs.

With that set up, I think I'll be good, but you never know......

Scott

Tour2ma

thehaens@cox.ne wrote:

Next stop is to get another 2250, strap the negative terminals and run em' mono at 650 per channel at 8 Ohms and continue to use the 1500 for the Highs.

I take it your 1.2's serial numbers are both >5001?

thehaens@cox.net

Tour2ma wrote:

I take it your 1.2's serial numbers are both >5001?

Will have to check, but I understood that if you could strap the amps together, sharing the common ground, then it wouldn't matter.

I am a bit of time away from getting the other amp, and when I do I will surely look into hooking them up a lot more before doing it.

Scott

Tour2ma

Scott,
If you can bridge two 2250's to mono and then strap their negatives together, then the model SDA does not matter. But these would be the first stereo amps I've heard of that can do this...

madmax

I have heard the SDA's play real music. Others may do one thing or another better but as a total package the SDA is way up there. I know from personal experience they continue to get better as you throw more money into associated equipment. Yep, the SDA's are NOT the limiting factor.
madmax

thehaens@cox.net

Tour2ma wrote:

Scott,
If you can bridge two 2250's to mono and then strap their negatives together, then the model SDA does not matter. But these would be the first stereo amps I've heard of that can do this...

Tour

You are making me think to much now.. will get back on this one in a bit, have to check out the 2250 manual....

sdh

thehaens@cox.net

Tour2ma wrote:

Scott,
If you can bridge two 2250's to mono and then strap their negatives together, then the model SDA does not matter. But these would be the first stereo amps I've heard of that can do this...

The more I read this the more I am confused.

The 2250 can be bridged mono, and although I haven't made a call to monster I am "assuming" that the amps can be strapped.

I checked the impedance between the negative speaker terminals.....(.02 ohms), checked the impedance between the negative speaker terminal and the ground lug (.02 ohms), and lastly checked the impedance between the negative speaker term. and the common post on the input terminal, (power cable) and once again .02 ohms. All share a common reference to ground.

So with that I assume that since they share common all the way through, strapping the two shouldn't be a problem, as a matter of fact, I assume that I can just strap the negative terminal to the other amps negative terminal, since they have the same reference anyway..

My apologies for the seemingly hi-jacking of the thread puunda.

Back to your topic (add more power, get em' placed right, and continue to enjoy them...)

Scott

puunda

The Mc is still at the shop, still no signs of it being fixed either

I'm no longer using the AV receiver as the amp, just as pre. I'm using an Arcam FMJ P25 power amp. It's rated at 100W with rave reviews, but I really don't think much of this amp at all. I always struggle to hear the difference between solid state amps (if they're not clipping).

It seems from everyone's comments that the SDA 1.2's are
* About the best all round speakers you can get.
* The best speaker you can get for the money (I totally agree with that)
* Even though are very efficient, love power, the more the better
* Is not the limiting factor, but is in fact everything before it.

I will throw my Mc onto these and see how they go. Hope that'll be soon.

Will keep you all updated with how they go.

Thanks for the comments. I'm very happy with this purchase, and sounds like I'll get a whole lot happier once I can get them more juice.