My Polk SDA-1C's are finally home with ME!

avguytx

I picked them up this morning and got them lugged into the house (yes, just me) after moving the Monitor 10B's and EV Interface C's. They weigh as much as the Altecs I sold...just not as awkward to move. I have attached a couple of "pre-cleaning" pictures of them and will do more as time allows. I am at home "working" today, of course! lol. The cabinets are in great shape, grills have no tears, cabinets are all together, etc.

If you notice, for some reason these have 4) SL-3000's in them instead of the SL-2000's. I completely forgot to ask the original owner if they were ever changed. I'll email or call him later today. He and his wife were in Dallas today for their anniversary so I'm not going to call just yet. I pulled one from each cabinet out to see what was up and each tweeter has a 5ohm 5% 5W resistor on each one...soldered in. So maybe they were replaced and this helped to match them up to the crossover? Hmmm... I emailed Ken at Polk to get his thoughts. I'll eventually put the RD0 tweeters in them.

Initial first reaction to the (about) 10 CD's I've played? I like 'em! My Carver M-1.0t does a good job on them at 200wpc even though I know they can take more. It's good to go for now. It was nice to get the cable with them, etc. He's going to mail me the original owners manual and purchase receipt as he forgot to bring them. No biggie. I have a downloaded copy from the site.

Well, over time, the fun begins. It's great to have a pair again. Man, I forgot how good the bass response is on these! It almost seems to not balance with the highs but I think that's because of mis-matched tweeters. I know my Monitor 10B's with the SL-2000's in them seemed "brighter" especially in that 13kHz range. These seem more subdued....for lack of a better term.

Oh...what's recommended to clean the rubber surrounds with? I tried to serch for it and I know something has recently been said so I apologize for asking again! Was it Windex?

heiney9

Those are SDA-1C-TL's. Very rare model. Just Kidding. They look nice. Enjoy!!! Those might be the new RD0's, but the bronze(ish) color gives them away as being sl3000's. Who knows perhaps a 1 off mod. :cool:

H9

davidk0512

Congratulations on finally getting your speakers, it seems you've been on the mission for a long time. I too, remember someone recommending windex and I remember a caution NOT TO USE Armorall or anything else petroleum based. Crank 'em up!

candyliquor35m

Beautiful!

george daniel

congrats,, have fun and enjoy,,the 1C's were my favorite polk,,I should have my 4th and final pair next week.

davidk0512

Kip, try this thread

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47840&highlight=cleaning

MillerLiteScott

Those are nice. I hope to get a pair myself one day.

BrettT1

Awesome speakers. Congrats!

avguytx

Here's a couple of pictures of the SL3000 tweeters in one cabinet. You can see that each have a resistor on them. It looks like the resistor was just soldered onto the tweeters terminal plus the connection itself. They can't be factory I wouldn't think since the tweeters say "1989" and the mids say "1987". But, who knows.

I would assume that if the resistor is taken off, they will play louder since it's a 2.2ohm resistor. They definitely aren't as bright as an SL2000. I think I'll take them off for the time being and see what happens. I hope I still have some butane in my soldering iron! lol.

Oh...are the blue and green the positive side I suppose? I only ask because in other speakers, I read they use black as positive and white as negative. At least that's how they are in my 10B's.

george daniel

I don't think that I've seen that before, are you planning to replace them with the rdo **** ?

Ron Temple

They look very nice...interesting about the tweets. I wouldn't call the SL2000s bright with my Carver, maybe with an Adcom . Enjoy.

avguytx

Ron Temple wrote: »

They look very nice...interesting about the tweets. I wouldn't call the SL2000s bright with my Carver, maybe with an Adcom . Enjoy.

Don't take that wrong...I actually like the brightness of the SL2000 in a way. Maybe it's because of 27 years of car audio...and home A/V...lol. Maybe that 5dB peak at 13kHz helps me! haha. And I do run mine on a Carver amp, too. Nice combo and that's the way I first heard them 20+ years ago.

I'll probably do the RD0's at some point soon. I'm going to get the passive crossovers, etc ordered so I have them here when the time comes. (between travelling, etc).

Ricardo

Congrats (at last!!!!).

Are they in their position in those pictures? They look toed in at the corners....SDA's should not be toed in...just a thought.

avguytx

They are only toed in in the pictures because from where I'm sitting, it helps. My desk is actually between the speakers so in my office, it's not optimum per se. When I sit on the couch in here to listen to them, I level them back to the wall and away from it some.

I'm gonna take those resistors off the SL3000's and see if the highs get a little brighter. We are supposed to be getting hit with a big storm here in a bit so we'll see what happens! lol

F1nut

Yes, Windex applied to a cloth, not directly on the drivers, wiped in a circular motion works very well.

Black or blue is positive, white or green is negative. I'd leave the resistors in place otherwise the tweeters are going to scream.

madmax

I don't know if I like the idea of using the different tweeter with a resistor in series. Doesn't seem right somehow.
madmax

Auraka

The bigger concern is changing the crossover point as the impedance changes. I'd swap them for the correct RD0's, remove the resisters and call it a day. At least you only have four to deal with.

I don't know if I like the idea of using the different tweeter with a resistor in series. Doesn't seem right somehow.
madmax

It's not, a portion of the signal gets burned up as heat.

heiney9

Getting ready to head out for the evening but I have another 2 hours on the RD0's on the 5b's and they are really settling in. They are far superior to the sl2000 especially at moderate to higher levels. No ramping up at all, of course I have a sinus infection so perhaps that's why they sound so good.

Get the RD0's and be done with it!!!

Rivrrat

Maybe that 5dB peak at 13kHz helps me!

After 7 yrs of driving trucks, and 15 yrs of listening to phone line problems popping in my ears, I'm somewhat convinced that the 5db peak might be a good thing for my high frequency deficient eardrums.

BTW, there was a guy selling a pair of those in a surround package deal in Phoenix that wasn't getting bites on CL recently. I kept waiting for him to bust them out, but he never did. I wanted those speaks.

I'll get a pair of SDA's eventually.

avguytx

I'm with you Rivrrat. I have a mild constant ringing in my ears that seems to have gotten worse this year. I'm having to turn the treble up on these speakers where before, I had it flat on my C-1. A little more up on the left channel than the right.

Jesse...I may have to remove the resistors just to see what the difference. If it's for the worse, then I'll get the tweeters ordered soon. Or still, I may do the crossovers first and see if that opens them up a bit.

ben62670

Yeah!!! you will love them:)

avguytx

F1nut wrote: »

Black or blue is positive, white or green is negative. I'd leave the resistors in place otherwise the tweeters are going to scream.

On the right speaker, the top tweeter had the black as (-) and the green as (+) with the resistor on it. The bottom tweeter was correct with the blue being (+) with the resistor on it and the white as (-). So, I switched the top to be in correct phase per your guidance. But that got me to thinking of the other side....

So I remember that I have my "SDA Compendium" and it has the wiring schematics for the SDA's. Sooo...in looking at the tweeter wiring on them, the right channel on mine is a little different than the book. Were there running changes along the way? It says my top tweeter should be Black (+), White (-). Mine was wrong on the top with it being Green (+) and Black (-)! The bottom tweeter in the book says it should be Blue (+) and White (-) which mine are. So it's half good.

Now, on the left speaker...book says same wiring code as Right channel. (Black/White..top) & (Blue/White...bottom). Ok. Mine are Black (+) and Green (-) for top tweeter and Blue (+) and Green (-) on bottom tweeter. So, basically it's the same as the book BUT they used "Green" for (-) instead of White wire (apparently a shortage that day). Wouldn't you think so?

So what do I do on the right channel? "Assume" that the Black is (+) on top and the Green is (+) on the bottom one? Maybe they just ran out of White wire. I do know which terminal is (+) on the SL3000's as the (+) is a larger terminal (.250) than the negative (.125 or so).

Kind of funny in a way. Hope I didn't make that out to more than it actually was.

heiney9

Rivrrat wrote: »

After 7 yrs of driving trucks, and 15 yrs of listening to phone line problems popping in my ears, I'm somewhat convinced that the 5db peak might be a good thing for my high frequency deficient eardrums.

BTW, there was a guy selling a pair of those in a surround package deal in Phoenix that wasn't getting bites on CL recently. I kept waiting for him to bust them out, but he never did. I wanted those speaks.

I'll get a pair of SDA's eventually.

Whatever works for you guys. The RD0's have all the detail they just aren't so forward and of course the spike is gone. Many others are happy with the sl2000's. My main rig speaks are LSi's and those are so laid back and detailed so the RD0's are more to my liking and what I'm used to.

H9

engtaz

Congrats on the speakers. I don't know how different going from the 3000 to RDO198 and how it will sound, anyone with info. The difference between 2000 to RDO194 was very noticeable; the RDO is definitely more smooth.

george daniel

he should be able to move the 3000's and offset the cost of the rdo's if he chooses--they are much more pleasing to my old ears.:)

F1nut

avguytx wrote: »

On the right speaker, the top tweeter had the black as (-) and the green as (+) with the resistor on it. The bottom tweeter was correct with the blue being (+) with the resistor on it and the white as (-). So, I switched the top to be in correct phase per your guidance. But that got me to thinking of the other side....

So I remember that I have my "SDA Compendium" and it has the wiring schematics for the SDA's. Sooo...in looking at the tweeter wiring on them, the right channel on mine is a little different than the book. Were there running changes along the way? It says my top tweeter should be Black (+), White (-). Mine was wrong on the top with it being Green (+) and Black (-)! The bottom tweeter in the book says it should be Blue (+) and White (-) which mine are. So it's half good.

Now, on the left speaker...book says same wiring code as Right channel. (Black/White..top) & (Blue/White...bottom). Ok. Mine are Black (+) and Green (-) for top tweeter and Blue (+) and Green (-) on bottom tweeter. So, basically it's the same as the book BUT they used "Green" for (-) instead of White wire (apparently a shortage that day). Wouldn't you think so?

So what do I do on the right channel? "Assume" that the Black is (+) on top and the Green is (+) on the bottom one? Maybe they just ran out of White wire. I do know which terminal is (+) on the SL3000's as the (+) is a larger terminal (.250) than the negative (.125 or so).

Kind of funny in a way. Hope I didn't make that out to more than it actually was.

Hmmmmm.....maybe Mary Jane was in the house that day. I would trace all of your wiring from the crossover board to the tweeters and mids to be 100% positive that they are wired correctly. The +/- will be clearly marked on the crossover boards.

avguytx

F1nut wrote: »

Hmmmmm.....maybe Mary Jane was in the house that day. I would trace all of your wiring from the crossover board to the tweeters and mids to be 100% positive that they are wired correctly. The +/- will be clearly marked on the crossover boards.

So I took the left speaker's passive out just to take a look inside. I had noticed a sort of "rattling" noise so I wanted to investigate. Man, there is a rats nest of wires in there just dangling around! So I tried to put them up some to keep them from hitting the passive. I notice the noise when I was bringing them in the house, too. I was hoping it wasn't a loose magnet or disconnected wires.

I'm looking at the Compendium versus what the crossover is on the inside. The pictures make it look like some sort of "crossover board" with terminals on it. If that's what they are supposed to be, mine aren't like that. The book shows the IC cable on the terminal cups and says it's a "pin/blade" connection. Mine looks more like a "blade/blade" connector and is a few inches below the terminal cup. There are 2 parts to my crossover. One is on the terminal cup itself and the other is right above it. I would post a picture but my 14 year old daughter decided to take it with her to the movies for some odd reason. And she had just seen ma taking pictures with it and said nothing and took it! (kind of irritates me).

Also, ,my left channel tweeters are both working but they are noticeably quieter than the right channel. MAybe 3bd less or so. Weird. Always something I have to check out. I know it's not the amp because I took another pair of speakers and sat them on top for comparison.

Oh well. Did that make sense?

F1nut

You have 1B's, not 1C's.

If I were you, I'd get the RD0194-1 tweeters, get rid of the resistors and double check that both speakers are wired per the 1B schematic before playing them anymore. Of note, because they are 1B's you can not use mono blocks, dual mono or non-common ground amps, nor will the AI-1 work with those speakers. However, some mono block amps can have their negative outputs strapped together, but check with the manufacturer first.

george daniel

Now thats interesting, I've got a pair of SDA 1C's arriving next week, or at least I think that they are 1C's,they look like the ones that I,ve owned before,and the ones pictured in this post, I guess the type of interconnect pin/blade vs blabe/blade will be the determining factor? By all accounts they appear to be in great condition. Paid 250.00 for the pair. Interesting,,, very interesting,,,sorry for the derail.

avguytx

F1nut wrote: »

You have 1B's, not 1C's.

If I were you, I'd get the RD0194-1 tweeters, get rid of the resistors and double check that both speakers are wired per the 1B schematic before playing them anymore. Of note, because they are 1B's you can not use mono blocks, dual mono or non-common ground amps, nor will the AI-1 work with those speakers. However, some mono block amps can have their negative outputs strapped together, but check with the manufacturer first.

Sooo....does that mean someone "added" the tops and bottoms to the speakers? Were there ever "in betweeners"? Like a hybrid of sorts between models? I know being a rep for various lines, I've seen that happen before during a transition.

Edit: On page 28 of the SDA Compendium is says..."Some of the first SDA 1C speakers used the same cabinet style as the 1B (using up old parts again?). Some of the first SDA 1C's also used a blade/blade interconnect cable than a pin/blade cable." Ok. That makes sense. WHat about the crossovers? Were 1C's a "board style" like some of the larger ones or were they more the terminal cup style?

The mid/woofers in mine are the MW6510's and MW6511's, too. (I pilled them all out to check) So that jives with the book. The SDA 1B's show to have 4) MW6509's in them with the SL-2000 tweeters. Interesting.

F1nut

Hmmmm.....in that case it would seem you have a transition pair. The split crossovers and blade/blade say 1B, while the cabinet and mids say 1C resulting in a pair of 1BC's.