Wiring SDA1s in a conventional manner

geppy1

I have a pair of SDA 1s that are very nice. This is the 2nd pair of SDAs I have tried in 15 years. i just cannot do it. I have late RTA12Bs that to me (and others who have listened) sound more defined and have more depth or a more forward sound. The SDAs sound good but the stage is from the grills back and not as sharply defined and the sound is slightly soft. There is nothing wrong with them and I am hearing the same thing reviewers of the time mentioned in pro reviews.
Here is the question What if i wired the 2 mid drivers together ( i know they are slightly different) and the two tweeters ( they did this on the later ones anyway) and ran them and positioned them as conventional speakers? Has anyone done this? I know people have but never thought to ask what it sounds like. thanks,keith

WilliamM2

The horror.

Tweeters placed side by side usually do not image well. Have you ever tried just disconnecting the SDA cable, and see if you like that better? Or just disconnect the SDA tweeter and see how that sounds. Personally, I never liked the SDA's when they had the SDA tweeter.

I-SIG

geppy1 wrote: »

I have a pair of SDA 1s that are very nice. This is the 2nd pair of SDAs I have tried in 15 years. i just cannot do it. I have late RTA12Bs that to me (and others who have listened) sound more defined and have more depth or a more forward sound. The SDAs sound good but the stage is from the grills back and not as sharply defined and the sound is slightly soft. There is nothing wrong with them and I am hearing the same thing reviewers of the time mentioned in pro reviews.
Here is the question What if i wired the 2 mid drivers together ( i know they are slightly different) and the two tweeters ( they did this on the later ones anyway) and ran them and positioned them as conventional speakers? Has anyone done this? I know people have but never thought to ask what it sounds like. thanks,keith

Why????????????????????????????????

Just run the RTA12's, sell the SDA's, and be done with it. Duh.

Wes

heiney9

geppy1 wrote: »

Here is the question What if i wired the 2 mid drivers together ( i know they are slightly different) and the two tweeters ( they did this on the later ones anyway) and ran them and positioned them as conventional speakers? Has anyone done this? I know people have but never thought to ask what it sounds like. thanks,keith

Nope, just sell them. The side by side tweeters would be awful for imaging, soundstage, etc. if they were wired normally. Same with the drivers. Just sell them and let someone else enjoy them.

Perhaps sometime in the near future you could try one of the last or next to last gen. SDA's. Th earlier gen's with the dimesional tweeter are a little different. I've found the last couple generations to be much better and more forgiving of listening position and give a much "better and defined soundstage"

H9

F1nut

^What he said^

danger boy

I-SIG wrote: »

Why????????????????????????????????

Just run the RTA12's, sell the SDA's, and be done with it. Duh.

Wes

best advice out there.. sell the SDA's, keep the RTA12's. the RTA12's are a beautiful sounding speaker.

geppy1

Thanks all i am afraid to let these go to soon as they have very little time on them are in great shape and came with everything boxes manuals reviews ect. I tried some highly tooted solid core wire last night and the depth increaed with a sharpening of defintion and attack. Are SDAs more sensitive to speaker wire changes? Is there a wire people have found works best with SDAs? Also it is interesting these are very early 1983 and all the 6.5s are MW6600X not MW7600 and MW7500 as the manual says and not 6501s as this site says. Wonder what that means. I have put in a request to DK for his volume on SDAs. Sounds like interesting reading no matter what happens.

heiney9

geppy1 wrote: »

Thanks all i am afraid to let these go to soon as they have very little time on them are in great shape and came with everything boxes manuals reviews ect. I tried some highly tooted solid core wire last night and the depth increaed with a sharpening of defintion and attack. Are SDAs more sensitive to speaker wire changes? Is there a wire people have found works best with SDAs? Also it is interesting these are very early 1983 and all the 6.5s are MW6600X not MW7600 and MW7500 as the manual says and not 6501s as this site says. Wonder what that means. I have put in a request to DK for his volume on SDAs. Sounds like interesting reading no matter what happens.

I've found all speakers (with the right gear) are sensitive to cable changes. By all means make sure you give them a good run to see if you will like them or not. But those are among the first generation of SDA's and I can assure you the later gens. are leaps and bounds better in the areas you seem to be worried about. Don't be afraid to let them go if they don't work for you and look for a pair of 2B's, 1C's, 2.3 or 2.3 TL, SRS 2, etc.

The early SDA's are COOL, but having the dimensional tweeter is not eveyones' cup of tea. The drivers, cabinets, and crossovers all were greatly improved in later gens.

YMMV

H9

HeadphoneAddict

WilliamM2 wrote: »

The horror.

Tweeters placed side by side usually do not image well. Have you ever tried just disconnecting the SDA cable, and see if you like that better? Or just disconnect the SDA tweeter and see how that sounds. Personally, I never liked the SDA's when they had the SDA tweeter.

With the SDA CRS he could wire them conventionally and then just stand the speakers on their sides - Voila! Vertically placed tweeters

danger boy

what would happen if he just disconnect the sda tweeter in each cabinent? leaving only the one tweeter active? may sound ok then. worth a try at least.

heiney9

HeadphoneAddict wrote: »

With the SDA CRS he could wire them conventionally and then just stand the speakers on their sides - Voila! Vertically placed tweeters

Good idea but not as simple as "just wiring them conventionally" 2 tweeters operating at the exact same freq would cause some weird and unatural sounds. Not too mention the fact that setting the CRS vertically would completely defeat the SDA component of the speaker.

H9

HeadphoneAddict

heiney9 wrote: »

Good idea but not as simple as "just wiring them conventionally" 2 tweeters operating at the exact same freq would cause some weird and unatural sounds. Not too mention the fact that setting the CRS vertically would completely defeat the SDA component of the speaker.

H9

So, how does Mark at AV123 do it with their 6 and 9 ribbon tweeter towers, or others with 28 tweeters, etc?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-06.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-10.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-13.html

heiney9

HeadphoneAddict wrote: »

So, how does Mark at AV123 do it with their 6 and 9 ribbon tweeter towers, or others with 28 tweeters, etc?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-06.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-10.html

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/show-report-rmaf-2007-page-13.html

Not sure how Mark at AV123 does it, but Polk uses a "progressive point source". It's hard to get the desired effect if you just wire the dimensional tweeter regularly in the CRS with (2) tweeters. In SDA's (where the other tweeter isn't a dimensional tweeter) the multiple tweeters each cover a different freq and have a different output level; the resulting sum of all the tweeters equals a single point source.

H9

Joe08867

The AV123 speakers are also placed viertically. Not horizontally.

Makes it much easier to deal with.

heiney9

Joe08867 wrote: »

The AV123 speakers are also placed viertically. Not horizontally.

Makes it much easier to deal with.

The SDA's with side by side tweeters use (1) for dimensional freq. Other SDA's w/ two tweets use a progressive point source and are vertically mounted. That's how you can tell, horizontally mounted tweets do not use a progressive point source.

Joe08867

The SDA's with side by side tweeters use (1) for dimensional freq. Other SDA's w/ two tweets use a progressive point source and are vertically mounted. That's how you can tell, horizontally mounted tweets do not use a progressive point source.

Heiney, I was replying more to the idea of wiring them together (Point Source) for normal stereo and not as a dimensional driver. And that it would be hard to get them right as they are placed horizontally and not vertically.

I new polk used one tweeter as dimensional and that they changed this later, probably for alot of the same reasons we have talked about here.

Thanks for the info though. Always good to get the info out.

heiney9

Joe08867 wrote: »

Heiney, I was replying more to the idea of wiring them together (Point Source) for normal stereo and not as a dimensional driver. And that it would be hard to get them right as they are placed horizontally and not vertically.

I new polk used one tweeter as dimensional and that they changed this later, probably for alot of the same reasons we have talked about here.

Thanks for the info though. Always good to get the info out.

No problemo. FWIW, I agree even if they were vertically aligned it would be difficult to get it right and side by side (wired normally) would be all but impossible.

Perhaps the best solution so far is just to disconnect the dimensional tweeter and then see what effect it has on overall sound. Or just keep the 1B's .

H9

HeadphoneAddict

Joe08867 wrote: »

The AV123 speakers are also placed viertically. Not horizontally.

Makes it much easier to deal with.

I was referring to my joking (see smiley) post about

"With the SDA CRS he could wire them conventionally and then just stand the speakers on their sides - Voila! Vertically placed tweeters "

Where someone said that wouldn't work either.

Joe08867

I thought we were talking about SDA1's. I missed something about CRS's somewhere.

It's cool I am just dumb sometimes. Alright most times.:p

ben62670

In my early SDA2's I disconnected the dimensional tweeter, and changed the resistor on the XO board to a 2.7 ohm, and all was good. the original is 4ohms, but using 2 tweeters you need to back them off a bit. With the single tweeter conversion you need to bump the power up just a notch via the resistor change. You could try just disconnecting the dim tweeter, and see how you like it. I think you will feel the mids lacking a bit. The tweeters are crossed over in the mid range frequency (2500hz).