Is my SDA interconnect cable working?

crazyeyes
crazyeyes Posts: 74
edited November 2006 in Vintage Speakers
Hey guys i just got SDA 2B's and i have them hooked up to a marantz 2230B receiver and initially they were only about 4 feet apart and about a foot off the wall. I was sitting about 4 feet away and i didn't hear a difference with or without the cable. How do i tell if the cable is doing anything or not. And if it isn't doing anything what could be wrong? I now moved them to about 5 1/2 feet apart 1 foot off the wall and i am going to sit about 5-6 feet back. We'll see if that makes a difference. But so far i notice no difference with or without the cable connected.
Post edited by crazyeyes on

Comments

  • Ricardo
    Ricardo Posts: 10,636
    edited November 2006
    You should definitely hear a difference with/without the cable; the outside drivers (left side on the left speaker, right side on the right speaker) will not work without the cable; you'd need to take a driver out to be sure if it is working, since they will move even if they are not.

    If they are not working, there are several possibilities, including a bad cable.
    Is that receiver common ground?
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  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    well i tried disconnecting the positive terminal on one of the speakers and the speaker stopped working except for one driver. So i think the Cable is working and yes the receiver is common ground.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,729
    edited November 2006
    Place them at least 6 feet apart and 5 or 6 inches from the back wall. Try different selections of music as not all recordings have a wide soundstage on the SDA's. Do you have the left speaker on the left and the right on the right as you look at the speaker?
    Political Correctness'.........defined

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  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    Yes the Left speaker is on the left and the right on the right i will move them closer to the wall and see if i hear much of a difference. I know the cable is working i just don't hear that much of a difference.
  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited November 2006
    Put on Dire Straights self titled or 'Brothers in Arms'. Put on Pink Floyd 'The Final Cut'. There is a thread with SDA 'friendly' music buried here somewhere.

    Cheers,
    Russ
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    Does it matter that the right speaker is about 8 inches off the right side wall and the left speaker is about 2 1/2-3 feet off the left side wall because that is where my door is and it has to be able open. I mean i if i move the right speaker in i will only be like 3 1/2-4 feet apart right now i am about 5 1/2 feet apart. I am listening to Pink Floyd the wall Live right now and it sounds pretty good. I will mess with them some more tomorrow when i can crank them up a bit louder right now my mom is in bed with a headache and if i want to live to enjoy them i will keep the volume down. They sound good though i think they are just as good if not better than my LSi9's for the type of music i listen to.
  • RuSsMaN
    RuSsMaN Posts: 17,986
    edited November 2006
    4ft apart is more than fine, I ran SRS 2's (larger) in a 11ft wide room spaced just under 4ft apart. Get it away from the wall, it will help more than the middle spacing will.
    Check your lips at the door woman. Shake your hips like battleships. Yeah, all the white girls trip when I sing at Sunday service.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    Even though i am going to be sitting further away from the speakers? I am mainly going to be about 8-10 feet away from them.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    If i have them evenly spaced off the walls about 32 inches from the side walls and 6 inches from the back walls they are only about 3 1/3 feet apart. Is that going to be good enough? I just don't see how that can be enough space for stereo imaging but maybe that is the joy of SDA's.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    So that puts them 3 1/2 feet apart, 6 inches off the wall, and 32 inches from the side walls. I will sit about anywhere from 6-10 feet away depending on where on my bed i sit. I mean it could just be that my room is horribly designed for speakers.
  • schwarcw
    schwarcw Posts: 7,341
    edited November 2006
    Room acoustics could be an issues. I also think you'll need a little bit more power to experience the best of the SDA sound. Higher power will give you more sound across the entire frequency range, resulting in a better "SDA" effect. Sure you can hear the wide sound of your SDA's with a low power amp, but the higher power amp will give you a more pronounced panorama of sound, even at low volumes.
    Carl

  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    Well the amp that will be driving them is going to be a Dynaco ST70 as noted in my other thread "I Just Got SDA 2B's" if you look i posted a link to it. It is being built by a guy who reworks them with all new OEM parts.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    it could also be that these speakers haven't been used in about a year and a half. So i mean they may need to be played a bit before they open up.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,729
    edited November 2006
    Russ seemed to have success with his set up close together, but for me anything less than 6 feet was awful. Your room doesn't seem to be SDA friendly, maybe there's another room you could set them up in?
    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

  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    No my room isn't very SDA friendly at all i don't think but they work just as good as my LSi9's if not better. I am in a 12x11.5 Ft. room there is only one wall that is totally free from windows or doors. But the door swings open on that one wall so i have to put the one speaker far enough in the room to make it work. I don't have anywhere here that i can set them up. My dad has the SDA SRS' downstairs they are nice. He has them about 15 feet apart and we sit back about 15 feet or so. The nice thing about that room is it opens into the kitchen so it is like 50 feet deep. So you really get the effect of the SDA's down there. But like i said right now not much room for them. But i can't complain my uncle gave them to me so i am going to use them. They sound fine i just don't get as much of the SDA effect as i should.
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited November 2006
    call me silly. but I don't think the SDA 2B's are going to give you the same effect as a pair of SRS's.. with their many more drivers. but if you aren't hearing any SDA effect. something might be wrong.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
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  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    well i think you have it right i think i am so used to the SRS's and that i don't hear the effect as much. I know it is there though cause i have tested the cable. you have the positive terminal off the one speaker and you still get one driver playing when the cable is connected. When it is disconnected no speakers play if you have the positive terminal disconnected.
  • hoosier21
    hoosier21 Posts: 4,413
    edited November 2006
    danger boy wrote:
    call me silly. but I don't think the SDA 2B's are going to give you the same effect as a pair of SRS's.. with their many more drivers. but if you aren't hearing any SDA effect.

    CRS+ and SDA 2B do the SDA effect in spades.
    Dodd - Battery Preamp
    Monarchy Audio SE100 Delux - mono power amps
    Sony DVP-NS999ES - SACD player
    ADS 1230 - Polk SDA 2B
    DIY Stereo Subwoofer towers w/(4) 12 drivers each
    Crown K1 - Subwoofer amp
    Outlaw ICBM - crossover
    Beringher BFD - sub eq

    Where is the remote? Where is the $%#$% remote!

    "I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us have...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    What do you mean in spades?
  • hoosier21
    hoosier21 Posts: 4,413
    edited November 2006
    VERY good
    Dodd - Battery Preamp
    Monarchy Audio SE100 Delux - mono power amps
    Sony DVP-NS999ES - SACD player
    ADS 1230 - Polk SDA 2B
    DIY Stereo Subwoofer towers w/(4) 12 drivers each
    Crown K1 - Subwoofer amp
    Outlaw ICBM - crossover
    Beringher BFD - sub eq

    Where is the remote? Where is the $%#$% remote!

    "I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us have...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    that is what i thought. So i think it is my room is the biggest factor.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    I do have to say these things outperform my LSi9's for my vinyl setup and for alot of my cd's too. I am amazed how good these sound. I think my LSi9's will be up for sale on saturday. I think i am going to be putting them on ebay.
  • hoosier21
    hoosier21 Posts: 4,413
    edited November 2006
    crazyeyes wrote:
    So that puts them 3 1/2 feet apart, 6 inches off the wall, and 32 inches from the side walls. I will sit about anywhere from 6-10 feet away depending on where on my bed i sit.
    hoosier21 wrote:
    equal triangle is best, that is what I was trying to say, but 3 feet is really close, I would think 5 foot apart and your head 5 foot in from at a min.
    crazyeyes wrote:
    So i think it is my room is the biggest factor.


    Yes, here is a link to a user manual for your speaker.
    http://www.polksda.com/pdfs/SDA1C.pdf

    On page 4 it starts talking about placement. Read this, look at the diagrams and you will see that you need to be sitting in the sweet spot for the SDA effect to work at it's best. The sweet spot is roughly - The distance between the speakers should equal the distance you are sitting from the speakers "equal triangle"
    Dodd - Battery Preamp
    Monarchy Audio SE100 Delux - mono power amps
    Sony DVP-NS999ES - SACD player
    ADS 1230 - Polk SDA 2B
    DIY Stereo Subwoofer towers w/(4) 12 drivers each
    Crown K1 - Subwoofer amp
    Outlaw ICBM - crossover
    Beringher BFD - sub eq

    Where is the remote? Where is the $%#$% remote!

    "I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us have...very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad..."
  • Ricardo
    Ricardo Posts: 10,636
    edited November 2006
    crazyeyes wrote:
    I think my LSi9's will be up for sale on saturday. I think i am going to be putting them on ebay.

    :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

    I know.....you're joking....right??
    _________________________________________________
    ***\\\\\........................... My Audio Journey ............................./////***

    2008 & 2010 Football Pool WINNER
    SOPA
    Thank God for different opinions. Imagine the world if we all wanted the same woman
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    OK the cable is definitely working. I just got The Postal Service out on Vinyl. I was listening to such great heights and pulled the cable and everything disappeared and when i plugged the cable back in the sound was dimensional again. I think it was a combination of music and the fact that the speakers were played for the first time in 2 years yesterday. So i let them play overnight at a low volume to losen up the drivers again and today they sound great. Like i said The Postal Service- Such Great Heights is an excellent song for the SDA's i think.
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    HTrookie wrote:
    :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

    I know.....you're joking....right??

    Why? Whats wrong with selling my LSi9's. Oh maybe i should put them on here first is that what your saying?
  • crazyeyes
    crazyeyes Posts: 74
    edited November 2006
    hoosier21 wrote:
    Yes, here is a link to a user manual for your speaker.
    http://www.polksda.com/pdfs/SDA1C.pdf

    On page 4 it starts talking about placement. Read this, look at the diagrams and you will see that you need to be sitting in the sweet spot for the SDA effect to work at it's best. The sweet spot is roughly - The distance between the speakers should equal the distance you are sitting from the speakers "equal triangle"

    Thanks!!!!