Oh my, something magical has happened to my SDA's

1246

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  • DarqueKnight
    DarqueKnight Posts: 6,765
    edited January 2008
    nspindel wrote: »
    I'm curious about that one - I went back and looked at the guy's posts. What'd he say that got him banned?
    nms wrote: »
    I'm wondering the exact same thing, but it's kinda like asking how somebody died - awkward :)

    I too went back and looked at his posts and couldn't find anything ban-worthy (at least in my mind)

    Sometimes the "quick ban" or "instant ban" phenomenon will be initiated against a previously banned member who tries to sneak back in using another name. Hence, my statement here:
    DarqueKnight wrote: »
    My spider sense is tingling again.
    Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
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  • nms
    nms Posts: 671
    edited January 2008
    Ah, thanks. I was thinking that might have been for IP reasons.

    How do pick up on these things? Writing style, or do you have a secret application that lets you see IP numbers or something? :)
    My system

    "The world is an ever evolving clusterf*ck." --treitz3
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  • DarqueKnight
    DarqueKnight Posts: 6,765
    edited January 2008
    I told you...my spider sense picks up on these sorts of things.:)

    Just like in post 72 of this thread: My Spider sense is tingling...

    Such good sport.
    Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
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  • MillerLiteScott
    MillerLiteScott Posts: 2,561
    edited January 2008
    I was going to say I could hear a lot of pink noise through my computer. But I listened to a couple of more songs and I am late to the party.

    Oh well good for me.
    I like speakers that are bigger than a small refrigerator but smaller than a big refrigerator:D
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  • nms
    nms Posts: 671
    edited January 2008
    DarqueKnight wrote: »
    I told you...my spider sense picks up on these sorts of things.:)

    Just like in post 72 of this thread: My Spider sense is tingling...

    Such good sport.

    Very well, keep your secrets, Spiderman! All hail the king of the SDAs!
    My system

    "The world is an ever evolving clusterf*ck." --treitz3
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,217
    edited January 2008
    DarqueKnight wrote: »
    I told you...my spider sense picks up on these sorts of things.:)

    Just like in post 72 of this thread: My Spider sense is tingling...

    Such good sport.

    HOLY bat crap you were right. The name dropping and post structure surely gave him away (Special K).
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • read-alot
    read-alot Posts: 812
    edited January 2008
    heiney9 wrote: »
    HOLY bat crap you were right. The name dropping and post structure surely gave him away (Special K).


    Dang, it was as easy as shooting rabbits in the bed.

    The Kapacitor label flipped the flags.
    polkaudio SRS (rdo194 x 8)
    Dodd ELP (separate power supply)
    JC 1 blocks ( strapped )
    Rega Apollo
    MIT (speaker cables) Outlaw (ICs)

    polkaudio SDA2(rdo194x4) (front) polkaudio CRS (rdo194x4)(rear) polkaudio 400i (center)
    B&K 505
    Samsung LCD
    VIP 622
    HSU STF-2
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,217
    edited January 2008
    read-alot wrote: »
    Dang, it was as easy as shooting rabbits in the bed.

    You have a lot of rabbits jumping in bed with you out in the Brushy Mtns.?? :p:D
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • read-alot
    read-alot Posts: 812
    edited January 2008
    heiney9 wrote: »
    You have a lot of rabbits jumping in bed with you out in the Brushy Mtns.?? :p:D


    It's an old saying down here in the South, I didn't take for granted people from other parts of the country would get it.

    I was right.
    polkaudio SRS (rdo194 x 8)
    Dodd ELP (separate power supply)
    JC 1 blocks ( strapped )
    Rega Apollo
    MIT (speaker cables) Outlaw (ICs)

    polkaudio SDA2(rdo194x4) (front) polkaudio CRS (rdo194x4)(rear) polkaudio 400i (center)
    B&K 505
    Samsung LCD
    VIP 622
    HSU STF-2
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,217
    edited January 2008
    read-alot wrote: »
    It's an old saying down here in the South, I didn't take for granted people from other parts of the country would get it.

    I was right.

    LOL :D
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited March 2008
    Quick shot of how the terminated cables came out. I also put some colored electrical tape on the Cardas binding posts. The gold plating is pretty, but I'm terrified of something shorting. If the spade on the sda cable ever came loose, it could swing around and hit one of the other bind posts. Wouldn't be pretty. A bit of electrical tape makes me sleep better at night, and the red/black helps a lot...

    IMG_6901.JPG
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,758
    edited March 2008
    Use banana's.
    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

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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited March 2008
    I'm using banana's on the amp side of the cable. But the amp sits quite low to the ground, and the cable sort of rests on it's own weight. On the speaker side, I'm not thrilled with the idea of the joint being stressed by the weight of the cable sticking straight out the way the banana's do. With the spades, the wire hangs down instead of sticking straight out, and it seems be less stressful on the termination. That's especially true with the custom sda cable, because it's only a single termination.

    Also, the spades I used for the main speaker cable were somehow mispriced at ratshack. Somehow the spades rang up $4.99, when they should have been $19.99 like the banana's :cool:
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,758
    edited March 2008
    You worry too much.
    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

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,758
    edited March 2008
    We can talk.
    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

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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited March 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    You worry too much.


    Heh. It generally has to do with not wanting to have to tell my wife that I need to spend more money :eek:
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited May 2008
    Wondering if anyone's got any experience with building custom cabinets for the sda's? I've seen several threads about people re-doing the veneer with something exotic, and they come out beautiful indeed. But I'm curious if there'd be any benefit to building a cabinet out of solid wood, type to be determined, rather than an mdf cabinet with a veneer over it. Could a solid wood offer any sonic improvements?
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited May 2008
    MDF is the only way to go.

    Did you mean something like this:D

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=656106&postcount=167
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited May 2008
    Those are out of control man. So why is MDF better than real wood?
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited May 2008
    Real wood radiates sound from the speaker walls. The glue used in the MDF manufacturing process absorbs vibrations better than wood. MDF has no grain therefore it is environmentally stable, and easy to work with. Wood is very prone to cracking.

    BTW any time you are in the Atlanta area look me up if you want to give a listen to those.
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,217
    edited May 2008
    nspindel wrote: »
    Those are out of control man. So why is MDF better than real wood?

    Different wood types have different resonating frequencies. Not a good thing for a speaker cabinet, but a great thing for a Violin or Oboe or Guitar. Plus regular wood expands and contracts based on environment, etc. MDF is the best substance to make speaker cabinets out of unless you are an esoteric speaker company who has R & D'd the use of certain woods in the construction of your cabinets and have made the appropriate adjustments/tuning to get the sound you want.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • nspindel
    nspindel Posts: 5,343
    edited May 2008
    Ah, sure. Makes sense. Ok, cool, thanks, you guys just saved me some money...
    Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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  • mkerhuel
    mkerhuel Posts: 7
    edited February 2010
    I need help troubleshooting one of my SDA 2B 1989 speakers: the tweeter stopped making any sound recently, only the drivers seem to work, although it feels like there is little power coming out of them.

    I swapped the tweeters between the 2 speakers to see if it was a problem with the tweeter or the connections, but no, the "silent" tweeter seems to work just fine with the other speaker, so I suspect the crossover: one or more component must be dead. I took the crossover out, made a couple of basic checks with an ohmmeter :
    -I can mesure a very little resistance on each coil, no broken wire here
    -I get a 3.6 ohm measurement on the rectangular 4.7 ohm resistance (which does not look fried btw) Given a + or - 1 ohm uncertainty from the

    ohmmeter, it looks about righ as well.
    I am left with:
    -2 blue capacitors: a 20 UF and a 40 UF, no idea how to test these
    -one big yellow cylinder thing that says T1 E-0012-1 12J100V (is it a thermistor? no idea how to test those neither)
    -2 little components: an orange one (the board says "S1" under it) and a brown one "C4"

    What do you recommend? Can I go further in troubleshouting? Otherwise I was thinking of buying a set of components for the crossover and make some experiments with a soldering iron... something similar to what is described on that thread except that I would not do any upgrade:
    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62106


    Note: I don't want to spend too much money on all this to the extend possible, just want to fix the broken speaker

    Disclaimer: I know close to nothing about all that hifi / speaker / electronics stuff, I am even wondering whether I have the right ampli (Carver CT3 preamplifier + Carver TFM 35x amplifier) for the speakers. Call me crazy-ignorant, I also put a Polk PSW100 subwoofer before the speakers (it happened to come with the ampli I bought, so I plugged it in with the rest...) I won't reveal what I use for cables... could give you a heart attack.
    Set up suggestions are welcome

    Thank you in advance for your help!

    Regards,
    Matthieu
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  • Disc Jockey
    Disc Jockey Posts: 1,013
    edited February 2010
    The one in the S1 spot is a polyswitch, a tweeter protection device much like a circuit breaker. They can go bad over time and fail, and they will fail open so no current goes to your tweeter. You can test it by putting a jumper across the leads and see if that fixes your problem. You can also measure its resistance to test, should be about .5 ohm.

    If that's the problem you can order replacement polyswitches from Polk. You can put a jumper in its place but this will boost your highs somewhat. Or you can replace the polyswitch with a .5 ohm resistor. The third option is the best if you are not going to overdrive your speakers as it takes a noisy component out of the signal path yet retains the tonal balance of the speaker.

    Welcome to Club Polk!
    "The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,758
    edited February 2010
    Disc Jockey nailed your problem.
    except that I would not do any upgrade

    You really should upgrade the crossovers to "TL" status with all new caps, resistors and change the tweeters to RD0198-1's. The improvement is anything but subtle. Besides, the 21 year old caps have reached the end of their life span.
    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

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  • mkerhuel
    mkerhuel Posts: 7
    edited February 2010
    Thanks a lot Disc Jokey and F1nut! I'll try what you suggested over the weekend and let you know how it goes.
    Re the upgrade, as soon as I have money available!
    Best,
    Matthieu
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited February 2010
    I'll second F1's recommendation on the TL upgrade.

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87121
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • Big Dawg
    Big Dawg Posts: 2,005
    edited February 2010
    As the current owner of the speakers that are the subject of this thread, I too agree - TL mod with 198s is the way to go. Your speakers will be transformed to a level well beyond what could be bought new for twice the investment.
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  • mkerhuel
    mkerhuel Posts: 7
    edited February 2010
    I measured S1, found 1,5 ohm. I tried with the music on just to see and got 2.3 ohm. Then I bypassed it with a metal paper clip... nothing happened, still no sound from the tweeter.
    I swapped the tweeters again to make sure: the silent tweeter does make sound when plugged into the other speaker. I also measured the resistance between the board output and the tweeter input, found about 2.2 ohm on each cable -which looks about right, no broken connexion here-
    Any idea?

    Best
    Matthieu
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  • jonicont
    jonicont Posts: 281
    edited February 2010
    Hi--First post. Original owner of a pair of lovingly cared for 2B's. In my living room for 23 years. I can't send PM's. I live on Long Island. If anyone could possibly contact forum member "Face" (see above post), I'd like to know if he could do a TL upgrade for me. Thank you
    John
    DynaudIo Evoke 30, VPI Prime, Soundsmith Zephyr MKIII, PS audio Stellar phono pre, McCormack DNA 0.5 Gold, ARC LS-17se, Eversolo dmp A8, MIT AVT MA ic’s and speaker cables, ps audio stellar power plant 3
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