Polk Floor Speaker Identification

revjim44

Hi Everyone,
Today I picked up a pair of Polk SDA2's and I don't know anything about them, really. I'm not really sure what version they are, or how well they will work for my intended use. (Front R&L for HT) I haven't purchased a reciever yet, and wanted to find something compatible, but reasonable.
About the speakers, first off, they are HEAVY. They have cloth grates on the front and sides, but the sides are just glued on, and not functional.
There is one silver coil tweeter, two mid's, and a large flat bass speaker.
They are in pretty good shape. The veneer is peeling a bit on the thin bottom strip on one, and one of the side grates needs to be reglued.
Also, where can I find an interconnect cable, or what do I have to do to make one?
What is a good price for these? How much did they originally sell for.
Like I said, I don't know anything about them.



Jim Schramm

Polk65

Welcome Jim,

http://polksda.com maintained by one of our members is good for ogling.

The SDA Compendium published by one of our members has tons of info. http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42248

Several members use SDA's for HT.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19587
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47090
http://mysite.verizon.net/res8ycu4/index.html

There were several SDA 2 models. Carefully (slowly) unscrew the left and right mid-woofers, write down the numbers you see on the back and compare them with message #7 in this thread: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29449

The blade/blade and pin/blade refers to the SDA socket at the rear of your speakers.

This manual will get you started. http://www.polkaudio.com/downloads/manuals/home/sda1c_2b_crs+_manual.pdf Once you figure out which version you have, give Ken at customer service a call. If you ask nicely he may locate a copy of your manual and send it to you.

Most receivers are common ground (read the manual) but you should check with the manufacturer. If you have to get a receiver, choose one with pre-amp out connections so that you can add an extra amplifier later on.

The blade/blade SDA cable I believe can still be purchased from Polk Audio. Mention that you are a Club Polk member when you call. If it's a pin/blade cable you can make your own.

New these cost over $1000/pair. Prices can also be found on polksda's website which I listed earlier. At the end of the day, they will sell for whatever the buyer wants to pay but usually north of $200. Some info here too about the older models. http://www.polkaudio.com/search/older.php

revjim44

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm very eager to give these a listen from what I've read on here so far. They do have the blade/pin connection, so the rca plug solution will will do just fine for me right now.
I picked up these from a building at a private center at one of the local colleges that they are renovating. They had them set aside in a pile of stuff to be thrown away/given away/donated, so I acquired them just by asking for them. A little veneer work, and some new grille cloth and then they'll be absolutely perfect. Just a little cosmetic stuff, but seems on par for their age.

Thanks again! It's great to see a site like this where everyone is passionate about a product, and where obviously I'm the local village idiot.

Cheers!

Jim Schramm

danger boy

Jim,

welcome to Club Polk.. stick around and learn somre more about your vintage Polk Audio speakers and have fun with them. you'll learn alot in here.

congrats on your freebie Polks.

george daniel

Welcome to Club POlk

shoester5

From your description it sounds like you have the SDA 2B’s but without a picture I can’t be sure. I have the same pair for my rear channels in my HT setup.

As for the receiver…make sure it’s a common ground like mentioned before and has plenty of power. The more power the better. These speakers are power hungry. They love the power. They are pretty efficient and will sound good with a modest receiver but sound even better with 200 watts or so. When I first got my 2B’s, I ran them with a Carver receiver rated at 60 wpc until I could afford better and they would fill the room with music. But when I finally got a 250 wpc amp they really let loose.

Congratulations on your find and welcome to the forum!

heiney9

Welcome Jim, SDA's are a treat to listen to when set-up properly. Enjoy and if you have any concerns this is the place for info as I'm sure you've already found out.

Polk65, nice post, way to take care of newbie :cool: . The SDA's are too big a topic to just point him to the search function, especially since he's an SDA virgin .

dcoil

shoester5 wrote:

As for the receiver…make sure it’s a common ground like mentioned before and has plenty of power. The more power the better. These speakers are power hungry. They love the power. They are pretty efficient and will sound good with a modest receiver but sound even better with 200 watts or so....

Jim, first off, I think you will be very surprised at how these speakers sound once you get the interconnect cable. What your hearing now is just like any ordinary speaker. What you will hear with the interconnect may blow you away. I know I was when I auditioned my SDA 2's purchased new in 1991 (for a bit more than you paid:rolleyes: ). You will hear a better sound stage than you've probably ever heard. Even sounds coming from what you will swear are outside the physical speaker boundaries. This is somewhat dependent on how well the music was recorded, so play a variety to get a feel for the potential. As far as a receiver, shoester5 is correct about the power. I originally had a mid-range Sony (50 wpc), and was pleased with the increase in musicality of the speakers when I purchased a mid-range Denon (65 wpc). I then upgraded to a Harmon Kardon (100 wpc), which made an incredible difference in sound. This is also a high current receiver, which I think may be more important the pure wpc, as the SDA speakers I think are a bit under 8 ohm loads. You've gotten some great advice, links, etc. And has already been stated - Have fun!

janmike

Welcome to the forum Jim. Congrats on the speakers.

schwarcw

Welcome to Club Polk Jim! Enjoy the sound on those SDA-2A's. Post some pic's if you like!

Polk65

Jim, In case you're not familiar with the "common ground" issue, it's very important with these speakers. Hooking them up incorrectly can toast your speakers and/or your stereo equipment. Read the SDA speaker manual, and search the forum for info about "common ground". Use the search in the blue line above to search the forums.

Once you get connected, try listening to some of the suggested music.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22736

revjim44

Thanks for all the input! I haven't gotten a chance to listen to these yet. (from everything I looked at, they seem to be 2B's) Right now I'm scrambling to find a good receiver and amp setup. It's probably blasphemy here, but I have like totally NO high end audio equipment. I love music, all genres and eras from the present day to the 60's.
Here at home, I generally listen random tracks from the 10k+ that I have on my harddrive or iPod.

Now for the blasphemy....
I half thought about running my soundcard output-
7.1 surround THX Certified
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) = 100 dB
Crosstalk (Left/Right and vice versa) = -100 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1KHz (A-Weighted) = 0.004%
Frequency Response at -3 dBr = <10Hz to 22KHz

via the RCA jacks into a 2 channel 200 watt (2x100) Yamaha AX-596 stereo amp to drive the Polks...
Try not to think of them as incredibly huge computer speakers.... it makes it seem worse....

I know that you all said that they like a lot of power, but it would be just temporary until I can convince the wife that I need stereo equipment right on the heels of convincing her that I needed my DSLR...

Thanks again for all the help!

RuSsMaN

All those specs mean nothing (real world) - they are so massaged it's almost funny.

THX cert doesn't mean a whole lot, as far as good sound is concerned.

S/N ratio greater than 65db or so, you'll never hear anyway, same with crosstalk.

Unless you are a bat, you'll never notice a difference in anything less than one half of one percent (.5) THD / Noise. (the last octave of bass - good luck discerning <5-10%)

You can't hear 10Hz, althought you CAN feel it. The question is, can your speakers reproduce it, at a useable level. Not many homosapiens can hear out to 22K either. There is an argument for harmonics, but I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to it, being a music fanatic. There simply isn't anything in most music / movies that goes out that high, and even if it did - who are you entertaining? Yourself, or your dog?

Not discounting your sound card, it may very well be decent - just providing a little perspective as to the black and white, in the world of over inflated specs that we live in.

Cheers,
Russ

revjim44

Thanks for your response! I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a thing about THD, Frequency Response, or Xtalk numbers. I was just DYING to hear these polk speakers, and was just trying to dig up a decent source in lieu of a good audiophile Tuner/CD/Preamp/Amp combo... They will ultimately end up being the right and left channels for my HT, but I haven't chosen my surround sound receiver yet. I just have all these SPDIF rca outs and optical outs on my PC setup, and a TON of high sample rate digital music on my drives.
Mebbe I'll just wait to get my new receiver

I still have to replace the grille cloth and clean them up anyway. I'll probably start that project this evening after the kids crash.

Thanks again for all the great advice.

Jim

Eiderlon

Sometimes you can read numbers off of the connector pad.

wallstreet

RuSsMaN wrote:

...
You can't hear 10Hz, althought you CAN feel it. The question is, can your speakers reproduce it, at a useable level. Not many homosapiens can hear out to 22K either. There is an argument for harmonics, but I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to it, being a music fanatic. There simply isn't anything in most music / movies that goes out that high, and even if it did - who are you entertaining? Yourself, or your dog?

Cheers,
Russ

Unfortunately, old age brings that 22K down to about 18.5. And you know what, that 18.5 sounds pretty bad.