SDA-SRS crossover rebuilt, new results.

zorro

Thanks for your help on this.

F1nut

You definitely have 1.2's as the SRS ceased production in 1987. I strongly disagree with the mixed use of poly's and electrolytics and that upgraded caps will not improve the sound of the mids and bass. Did they upgrade the resistors?

IMO, they didn't do you any favors.

zorro

Thanks

F1nut

They agreed that some mods are like $2000 speaker cables or $1500 power cords and that puting big bucks into that crossover can only get so much out of the quality of the components such as the $48 tweeters.

If I was rebuilding my crossovers in my new Paradigm S8 I got last fall, then the process might have been different.

That logic is seriously flawed, especially since I doubt they have listened to the Polk speakers in question. There is nothing wrong with the quality of the components. In fact, many believe doped paper cones and silk dome tweeters are still the best. Also, consider that your S8's cost $5400-$6000 in 2004 money, depending on finish, and the 1.2's cost $3000 in 1988 money, which in 2004 money would easily be $10,000. Then factor in your reported, "sound better than new, especially the tweeters." comment when others have reported vast improvements from top to bottom (bass improvement commonly reported as dramatic) when upgrading the entire crossover with high quality caps/resistors and I stand by my comment that they didn't do you any favors. I'm not saying any of this as a put down to you, rather I'm saying the company that did the upgrades leaves alot to be desired in my book and I want the others here to be aware of that.

I hope you enjoy them for years to come.

jakelm

I am doing an upgrade to my 7b's with peerless. Should I use Sonicaps instead of Solen for my tweets? Or is the defference in Solen compared to Sonicap too small to notice in a speaker like the 7's? The resistors are being replaced with Mills as well. But after reading many forums, the difference between Solen and Sonicap is questionable with the price difference.

Also, my understanding ( I could be wrong in this) is that the caps have little to nothing to do with the tweets. The resistors make the biggest difference in the tweets. Correct?

F1nut

I would recommend the Sonicaps for the high pass as they definitely sound better than the Solens.

No, the caps have alot to do with how the tweeters sound.

zorro

Thanks

F1nut

You see, the problem is that myself and others here have full time jobs and enjoy tweaking their own gear as a hobby, not to make money. I make a helluva lot more money running my business than I could upgrading crossovers.

Those 20 year old drivers are still making great sound and doped paper drivers are still used by many high end speaker manufacturers. What's your point? The new tweeters you bought are at an accommodation price, they are sold to CP members basically at cost.

A better analogy would be to put a Ferrari engine in the Lexus. It's still a Lexus, but with much improved performance, much like high grade caps/resistors in your Polk's.

You seem to think that just because a piece of gear is older that it can't be as good or better than something that's new. Sometimes that's true, sometimes it isn't. Have you seen the prices for older Tannoy speakers (paper drivers, some with foam surrounds others with cloth) or Marantz and Mac tube amps? In fact, some Polk SDA speakers can sell today for the same or not much less than what they sold for new. Perhaps your speakers are better than you've been led to believe, eh?

zorro

Thanks

schwarcw

Welcome to Club Polk! Congrats on your upgraded crossovers Zorro! I wish I had more time to play with my toys!;) Enjoy those big, bad speaks for years to come.

snow

Intresting read. zorro spoke of paradigm S8 speakers. I wonder how they compare to the sda srs 1.2 set up properly?

I have a set of paradigm reference 100s V2 also myself and they are very nice speakers but they are not far as I am concerned in the same leauge soundwise as the sda srs 1.2tls.

And I have to agree with f1nut on at least some of the older speakers sound as good or better than a lot of the newer speakers in the same price range.

I do think that that single biggest leap in speaker technology has came about due to crossover advancements and materials versus driver technology.

And it seems to me to achieve as good or better sound than a lot of the older speakers the costs quickly get out of reach of most people, and I see the value of older speakers go up every year I believe in large part due to this.

Sure I think you can get great sounding new speakers but its going to cost you compared to the older gear. I have a pair of JBL- L-100 centurys that im going to sell on ebay someday soon, and will probally sell them for 350- 400 maybe. What kind of new speaker can i get to replace them that will sound as good for the same money? Im not sure I can to be honest. And zorro welcome to CP. REGARDS SNOW

hearingimpared

My way of thinking is this. I was out of this hobby for almost 20 friggin years, I sold off my SRSs and most of my other gear. . .the very first thing I did when I found that this hobby of ours was still alive and kicking was to go out and purchase the SDA/SRSs again. I however lucked out because I found that there was newer versions and I purchased the last version of the SRS which are the 1.2 TLs. I plan on keeping these speakers and maybe using one of them as my coffin when I go. . . so why in the name of all that is good would I want to go on the cheap when I upgrade my crossovers???

I plan on buying the best of everything that I can get when the time comes that I grow a pair and do the crossover upgrade. The only way I am going to know what the best is, is to ask the folks here and Polk customer service.

I don't want my rig to sound nice or better, I want it to sound the best it can possibly sound.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?

F1nut

Amen!