SDA2 questions

strider

Hi all,

I've been lurking here recently looking for setup pointers for my system in my new house. I caught the bug bad, just grabbing a pair of SDA 2's on ebay for about $150. Now I've got questions. Rather then bore all with the typical newbie questions, is there an FAQ or other good source of info on these speakers? Looking for suggested upgrades, speaker placements, etc. I also need info on how/where to source the interconnect cable from. Thanks in advance for the help, looks like a great forum with lots of knowledge!

schwarcw

Hi Strider! Welcome to the Club Polk Forums! There is a lot of info available on all the questions you may have using the search function on the tool bar. Do your SDA's have one or two tweeters in each speaker? If you have the blade/blade interconnect cable, Polk can sell one to you. If you have the pin/blade. You can use a single multistrand wire, 16 guage or larger and connect the pin recepticles together using a pin connector. The blade on the pin/blade connector does not carry a signal. It is there to stabilize the connector,

The most impact you could make to these speakers is to buy the silk dome replacements tweeters from Polk. These are the RD-0194 tweeters, they cost about $48 each. The next improvement would be do perform a crossover upgrade. Use the search tool, a lot of people have done this to their SDA-2's with success.

That's the short of it! Glad you joined. Keep asking questions, reading posts, etc.

What kind of electronics do you have for your Polks?

strider

The SDA's have one tweeter; the cabinet is the style with walnut? on the top and bottom only, about an inch thick. I haven't received them yet; been anxiously awaiting them since I won the auction. Right now I have a 2 channel set up going with Carver C-1 preamp, Carver M-500 power amp, Sony 5 disc ES SACD changer, going through RT55ia speakers. I've been using MIT interconnects and Audioquest speaker cables. I was using a Velodyne sub, but I found that one of the RCA inputs is dead when I set my system up after moving, so I need to investigate that further. Not certain of the exact model numbers on the sub and SACD player, but I'll add that info to my signature when I get home.

schwarcw

Hi Strider! You have the makings of a very nice system. The Polk label on the back of the speakers should indicate whether these are 2A's or 2B's. Are you getting the interconnect cable with the speakers?

Make sure your amp is a "common ground" type amp. Damage to your amp or the SDA's will occur with a non-common ground amp. Use the search tool to learn more about non-common ground amps and SDA type speakers.

Carl

Roy Munson

Warning!!! The Carver M500t is a non-common ground amp and can not be used with certain SDA speakers. If you connect a non-common ground amp to SDA's you risk shorting out your amp and possibly damaging you SDA's!! Some SDA's can use AI-1 transformer to get around this, however they are no longer made but, they can be made.

strider

Roy Munson wrote:

Warning!!! The Carver M500t is a non-common ground amp and can not be used with certain SDA speakers. If you connect a non-common ground amp to SDA's you risk shorting out your amp and possibly damaging you SDA's!! Some SDA's can use AI-1 transformer to get around this, however they are no longer made but, they can be made.

Shew. Just had minor anxiety attack, heart rates coming back down, able to breath again....

I'll wait to see the speakers and then determine (with everyone's help:D ) what I need to do to enjoy the sound correctly. My amp says M-500 on it, no "T". Does that make a difference?

From what I've read, I beleive I bought 2B's. They have the interconnect in the same cup as the binding posts. Here's the link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170027203068&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=007

I know the tops are messed up, but I'm not in it for the cosmetics!

jtgranby

Welcome to the club. They are definetly 2B's. Good score.

JT

F1nut

I can't tell for sure because I can't see the sockets, but the label indicates that they are the early 2B's with the blade/blade cable. Once you get them you will be able to tell by looking at the SDA connector socket. Let us know.

jtgranby

F1nut wrote:

I can't tell for sure because I can't see the sockets, but the label indicates that they are the early 2B's with the blade/blade cable. Once you get them you will be able to tell by looking at the SDA connector socket. Let us know.

Hey Jesse
Have you ever seen an sda 2a without the front lip? About time for some more BBQ.

JT

schwarcw

Roy Munson wrote:

Warning!!! The Carver M500t is a non-common ground amp

That what I was worrying about when I posted a warning about the Carver amp. Can the negative terminals on this amp be connected together to form a common ground? Someone here might shed some light on this.

Strider, in any case it don't look like the interconnect cable was included. You'll need that. If the interconnect is a blade/blade style. Polk can sell you one. If you have a pin/blade, you may have to make your own.

Carl

Roy Munson

I don't know if the neg. terminals can be connected or not. About a year or maybe two years ago I called Rita at Carver repair to ask her about this and she didn't seem to know!

strider, the main difference between the M500 and the M500t is that the M500 doesn't have a power switch..I think there might be a couple of other small differences but I don't recall. I believe they are both non-common ground..I'm positive the M500t is.

BTW..the M500t is a sweet sounding amp and imho it was one of the better sounding Carver amps.

F1nut

Jim, no and yes!!!