I finally found/bought a local pair of SDA1B

candyliquor35m
candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
edited April 2008 in Vintage Speakers
So I may have to finally retire or sell my 2b's after about 15 years of faithful service.

The 1b's sound very much like the 2b's but a little bigger sound stage. They didn't sound a bit harsh especially since the right 2 tweeters didn't work :D

Instead of swapping tweeters from the left speaker, I pulled a used sl2000 off the shelf that I thought worked even though it had a loose terminal. No go so plan b to bypass the polyswitch.

Done, still no tweeters. Pull another sl2000 off the shelf, one of doro's surplus :). Magic silk heavenly sl2000 emulsion at last and still not a drop of harshness. How can this be. Oh well for kicks I cup my hands around each tweeter and sure enough the top one sounds a little harsh. The bottom is not harsh due to its different crossover point.

So here comes the caps. The 2.2 was too dramatic and lost too much of the sound stage. The 1.0 was just right :p

Left (cap) vs right (no cap), the right still sounded better but I figure I better tame the harshness a tad in case any polkies with their hearing aids turned up too loud stop by so I put a 1.0 in both top tweeters for now. Still sounds great.

The seller claimed all the drivers and tweeters were working but he had nothing to demo them with. I'm not going to hassle him since he's a mp in the military ;) and I got them for < $300.

The vinyl is not in as good condition as my 2b's but these don't have any dented dust caps.
Post edited by candyliquor35m on
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  • candyliquor35m
    candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
    edited April 2008
    Lasareath wrote: »
    Congrats on the 1B's, Don't those MW6509's sound Great?

    Did you get them in GA?

    Is that what it is. I thought it was the 2000's ;) What ever it is, it does sound good. I wish I didn't have any neighbors.

    No I found them right here in houston about 10-15 miles away.
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  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited April 2008
    Nice grab, and a close pair to boot!
    Jake
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited April 2008
    Lasareath wrote: »
    Congrats on the 1B's, Don't those MW6509's sound Great?

    Did you get them in GA?



    In Georgia,,it's a mandatory 6 month jail term for placing caps on tweeters. :D;)

    Congrats on the aquisition. :)
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2008
    are those studio version 1B's?


    you have vinyl 2B's? WTF? never seen vinyl 2b's. or did you mod them too? ha ha ha.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited April 2008
    They look like the studio version,,I believe that the crossovers/drivers are the same as the 1C's IIRC.
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,204
    edited April 2008
    george daniel wrote: »
    They look like the studio version,,I believe that the crossovers/drivers are the same as the 1C's IIRC.

    They didn't offer a "studio" 1B it's just that the normal cabinet looks like the studio version of the 1C. The 1B and 1C have different mid woofers. However it uses the same x-over except the 1C's can be used with the AI-1 cable and the same progressive point source tweeter array.

    1B's should all have MW6509 for all drivers

    1C's should all have MW6510 for dimensional drivers and MW6511 for stereo drivers. The main difference in the 1C drivers is they use the same edge wound voice coils as the drivers in the SRS's. Which were a newer design of the MW drivers at the time.
    "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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  • george daniel
    george daniel Posts: 12,096
    edited April 2008
    Now that was some good information,,thanks for the education,,I vaguely remember it now,, thanks Brock.:)
    JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,204
    edited April 2008
    george daniel wrote: »
    Now that was some good information,,thanks for the education,,I vaguely remember it now,, thanks Brock.:)

    It's easy when you have the review from 1987 and the Compendium sitting in front of you :):):).

    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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  • shadowofnight
    shadowofnight Posts: 2,735
    edited April 2008
    Are these the ones you grabbed ? They were advertised in Phoenix not Houston though :confused: Same black color...model...etc Even almost exact asking price. ( He was asking just 350 for the speakers alone )

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=834011&postcount=737

    attachment.php?attachmentid=32541&d=1207498714
    The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,664
    edited April 2008
    Nice grab. Sweet SDA.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • candyliquor35m
    candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
    edited April 2008
    shadowofnight wrote: »
    Are these the ones you grabbed ? They were advertised in Phoenix not Houston though :confused: Same black color...model...etc Even almost exact asking price. ( He was asking just 350 for the speakers alone )

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=834011&postcount=737

    It's possible but I don't know.

    Mine: http://houston.craigslist.org/ele/631656369.html

    So could mine be 1c's since they are the studio version in black vinyl with p/b IC?
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited April 2008
    They are not SDA1C.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • candyliquor35m
    candyliquor35m Posts: 2,267
    edited April 2008
    The seller didn't tell me the right tweeters weren't working in fact he claimed everything was working but he kind of slipped up I think when he said something about that he had called polk and tried to order 2 more speakers just like these. Polk told him that they don't make them anymore.

    When I asked why he wanted 2 more he pointed to the other side of the room and said he was going to put 2 more over there. That didn't make any sense since I didn't see any evidence of any ht gear. I think he meant he had tried to order 2 sl2000's from polk and when they told him they don't make them anymore, he decided to sell the speakers rather than spending $200 to replace all 4 tweeters. Smart choice for him and me :D
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