SDA 1 vs. SDA 2B

nspindel

Saw this on ebay (not affiliated obviously...)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250273179166

I live pretty close, probably under an hour, so I could pick them up easily. I'm wondering if they'd be a big improvement over my 2B's that I recently did all the upgrades to.

Can these speakers get the TL upgrade so I could use RD-0198's? How much more involved are the XO's if I wanted to re-do them? A lot more parts than my 2B XO's?

Just wondering if I were to buy these and invest in a slew of upgrades, would I end up with something that blows away my 2B's, or just sounds marginally better? Or maybe not better at all?

Thanks....

heiney9

There are a couple members that have upgraded 2B's and regular 1C's. If you can get the 1C's for a decent price I'd say they are a step up especially if you plan on upgrading them.

They scale the music a little better (larger) and they have better bass and can have a better . If they get too pricey then perhaps it's not as good a deal since you already have 2B's. Once upgraded they are a phenomenal speaker. My 1C's with RD0's and Sonicaps are superb sounding SDA's.

I would certainly do it. As good as my 1C's are if a pair of 2.3 or 2.3TL's became available locally I'd consider them over my 1C's. Comparing the 2B to the 1C is similar to comparing the 1C to the 2.3, there are incremental differences that will be noticeable.

No 4.1TL can be done on the 1C's, but I assure you Sonicaps and RD0's are simply sublime

They are a little more complicated to work on. Earlier 1C's had a split x-over board (2) pieces. Later had everything on (1) board. Larger caps can be used just have to plan it out ahead of time. Modded 1C's will not "blow" the 2Bs away, but IMO, there will be enough noticeable and subtle differences you'll appreciate and well worth it.

H9

nspindel

heiney9 wrote: »

No 4.1TL can be done on the 1C's, but I assure you Sonicaps and RD0's are simply sublime

H9

So I cannot use the 198's? I'd need to use 194's? Didn't I read that Polk is no longer stocking the 194's?

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

So I cannot use the 198's? I'd need to use 194's? Didn't I read that Polk is no longer stocking the 194's?

Yes, 194's. Call Polk. I wasn't aware they were not stocking them anymore. I thought they were just out of stock laterly. If that's the case I need to stock up on some spares.

198's could be adapted in a pinch (like if the 194's are no longer avail) but even if you could figure out how to use the 198's they wouldn't be 100% ideal. Better than the sl2000 though if one had no other choice.

H9

nspindel

Maybe I should put a cap on the tweeter? :eek::eek::eek:

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

Maybe I should put a cap on the tweeter? :eek::eek::eek:

Keep that kind of talk up and I'll have to put you on ignore ;):D:):eek:.

H9

nspindel

He he he

ben62670

1B's would be easy to upgrade to 198's. 1C's would not. They have a more complicated XO that would require a bit more modding to get correct. I am pretty sure that Polk is restocking the 194's again. They were out for a while, but I think they are back in stock.
Ben

ben62670

nspindel wrote: »

Maybe I should put a cap on the tweeter? :eek::eek::eek:

Its kinda funny, but yes an additional cap is how you convert to 198's. It is a 5.8 cap that is paroled with a 2.7 ohm input resistor on the highs;)

heiney9

If you get the 1C's are you selling the 1B's? One thing to keep in mind is cost. In your situation you already have the "ultimate" 2B's. Purchasing used 1C's and them (4) tweeters and Sonicaps for x-over can get expensive real quick.

Let's say you get the 1C's for $450 (a decent price if in very good condition)

$200 for RD0's
approx $250 for caps/resistors etc.

Total $900 out of pocket. Is the money worth the xtra performance over the 2B's. That's a tough call. If you plan on selling the 2B's say for $350 then it's a good purchase.

Just another thing to think about.

H9

heiney9

ben62670 wrote: »

Its kinda funny, but yes an additional cap is how you convert to 198's. It is a 5.8 cap that is paroled with a 2.7 ohm input resistor on the highs;)

I wasn't going to say that.............because CL35M will be all over it. But yes, most sl2500/sl3000 x-over circuits have an additional cap. Most of the peerless tweeter models had the same thing in the x-over.

As I understand it, CL35M has his caps in series and Polk adds them in parallel (don't have a schematic in front of me maybe I have it backwards). Plus, Polk knows what they are doing, CL35M hasn't a clue.

H9

strider

As heiney9 said, the 1c's do sound a bit larger then the 2b. Comparing a pair of 1c's with 194's (but no crossover work done) to a pair of TL'ed 2b's, I preferred the 2b's. If it were me, I wouldn't be happy going from the 2b with the TL upgrade to a set of stock 1c's, I'd need to do the crossovers and the tweeters, just something to consider.

nspindel

Oh, I'd be buying them to mod them, that much is a given. Once you get used to Sonicaps, ain't no going back to stock XO's...

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

Oh, I'd be buying them to mod them, that much is a given. Once you get used to Sonicaps, ain't no going back to stock XO's...

But are you keeping the 2B's? Perhaps cost isn't a concern. Or maybe you have a solid use for both pairs.

nspindel

I'd probably pick up the 1C's and mod them, then do a compare between the 1C's and the 2B's, and probably then sell one of the two. I definitely do not need two pairs.

heiney9

Do IT!!!

zingo

Do it...

nspindel

Let's see how the bidding goes...

TroyD

You know, I haven't heard the 1C's enough to make a REALLY meaningful comparison....BUT, at Chez Abernathy, he had a pair of 1C's and a pair of 2B's. We both agreed that, in his room, the 2B's sounded better.

Again, not making a hard and fast judgement, but that's what we heard.

BDT

nspindel

Interesting. You know, I should also note that I have these in a pretty small room. It's only 12x12, with a 7' ceiling. Not ideal listening conditions, I know, but it's MY ROOM! No wife and son to compete with, nobody complaining that speakers are too big....

nspindel

So here's a question... How can you tell by looking at the speakers that they're SDA 1C's vs. any other SDA 1 model? What are the distinguishing characteristics?

ben62670

I would need the serial, or a pic of the back. Others may have a keener eye.
Ben

ben62670

The B's are BB verses the PB IC cable.

nspindel

Was there much difference between the different 1's? I know my 2B's have little in common with the original SDA 2's...

Boywonder

nspindel wrote: »

So here's a question... How can you tell by looking at the speakers that they're SDA 1C's vs. any other SDA 1 model? What are the distinguishing characteristics?

Based on the pics in the auction, these are 1C's, since the 1B's were never offered with oak end caps/side fabric (unless there were some transitional versions with 1B drivers in 1C cabinets)

jon s

Polk was out of stock of the RDO194s... they are not discontinued... they were backordered with a late delivery from their supplier...

nspindel

Ah well that's good news!

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

So here's a question... How can you tell by looking at the speakers that they're SDA 1C's vs. any other SDA 1 model? What are the distinguishing characteristics?

Serial #'s. Blade/blade vs. pin/blade. End caps, drivers will the best indicator. The 1C's had the newest type of driver at the time which used the same technology as the big boys. All the other models used the same driver for all (4) midwoofs.

I don't have my compendium here at work, but I can answer your questions this evening if you still don't have the info.

Room size is a very logical question to ask yourself. I feel that having large SDA's in a smallish room diminishes the overall experience. As much as I want a pair of 1.2TL's they would be overkill in my medium sized room and I'd never get the full potential out of them. I could see how Troy came to his conclusion in that instance.

I still say if you can get the 1C's local for a good price, go for it and see what you think in the end.

H9

heiney9

nspindel wrote: »

Was there much difference between the different 1's? I know my 2B's have little in common with the original SDA 2's...

Yes, the final generation of 1C's was a much better speaker than early non-dimensional tweeter versions. Dimensional tweeter 1's are the least desirable.

Better cabinets, better drivers, simpler x-over and the ability to accept the AI-1 interphase for use with non-common ground amps.

H9

Face

IMO, my 2B TL's have no problem filling a 15x16 room.

heiney9

Face wrote: »

IMO, my 2B TL's have no problem filling a 15x16 room.

It's not so much about smaller SDA's filling larger rooms as it is about larger SDA's filling (overloading) smaller rooms. The bigger the room, the better (relatively speaking) the SDA's seem to shine. It's just the nature of the technology. They need to "breathe" for lack of a better word. This is achieved by using a larger listening area.

So there can be a bit of detriment going with a large SDA into a small, not ideal listening area vs. A smaller SDA going into a large listening area and the trade offs involved.

H9

P.s. I would much rather have a pair of 2B's in a larger room than a pair 1.2's in a small room. Some may not agree and I guess we really need to define small, medium and large listening area's.