SDA 2.3 popping?

erniejade

I picked up a set of 2.3 NON TL last week.
I finally got them placed in a decent spot and got a chance to kick them up.

I ran them on a sunfire sig II 625 x 2 and the 1st disk I got to kick up was Fleetwood Mac the Dance CD the chain. Everything was flat. I noticed at high volume a popping sound out of the speakers. It seems like the same speaker on both sides are popping!

I then put on something with more bass to it John Legend Evlover. It was apparent big time. I changed amps because I though ok maybe the sunfire is too much power for the 2.3? So I threw them on my Integra amp ( 165 per) and at about 90-120 watts on the bass peaks, it would pop again.

If I turn it down slightly, it does stop but, I thought they could take a little more.
The top speaker on the side that has 2 on it. Is this speaker crossed over differently then the others to cause it to pop?

I checked the screws and a few of them were loose so I tightened them up and this seemed to help but, I still hear it. I then hooked up my JBL L150 to see if it was something on the CD causing it but, they played it fine at the same power or volume. Same with the Carver Amazing originals. Believe it or not, the SDA 2.3 seem to have more bass then the amazings running 4 12" woofers.... Granted the amazings are a different type of bass though. Hard to describe especially since they are a different sounding speaker.


Anyway, is that speaker crossed over differently? Are replacements available? If I do get a replacement, how do I make sure this does not happen again? Or could it be they were like that but I just never pushed them hard enough testing them?


Question number 2. TL version. I know the donut thing on the non TL is what I have but, i was told the tweeters on the TL are different? When I see pics of the TL, the tweeters looks like same as the one I have. Were they different?


I was also told to grab RD0194-1 tweeters and stick them in there. I was told they would be smoother and not as harsh. ( remember I love ribbons lol)


Thanks for all of the help!!

nooshinjohn

sounds like the drivers in question are bad or going bad, I would replace them and go from there. also try moving the drivers carefully and listen for any kind of scratching noise as they move in and out. you can also do this by moving the passive radiator

erniejade

you can also do this by moving the passive radiator

I did not know you can do this. I did move them individually and i did not hear any scratching but,,,...... I will say they are extended out and they do move quite a bit.
I just thought it was strange it is the same woofer in on each speaker doing it.

george daniel

Have you checked your source and pre,, I had a similar issue once,, turned out to be a tube it the cdp.

erniejade

I am running a jolida cd100 cd. I did not check the source but, i did change speakers and it does not do it on the carver amazing, or jbl l150 speakers. only on the 2.3 and only on the upper speaker on the side that there is only 2 woofers.

george daniel

Have you tried taking out the affected drivers and connecting them to your amp and turning the volume up very slowly? If not, you might want to try that .

erniejade

George, I have not tried that. I will give it a shot this week.

Thanks everyone for the help.

F1nut

You are talking about the top stereo driver. Try swapping it with the bottom stereo driver.

You could have some bad drivers, but I suspect that your power amps can't control the drivers well enough.

erniejade

F1, are they crossed over at a different point?

I will put them on the bottom and see what happens.

I had them on the sunfire sig II and then on the integra, the did sound better on the sunfire. I thought the sunfire did ok with controll but, I will never rule anything like that out that is for sure.

Might be time to sell the integra and look at something else. Emotiva looks interesting for the $

ben62670

F1nut wrote: »

You are talking about the top stereo driver. Try swapping it with the bottom stereo driver.

You could have some bad drivers, but I suspect that your power amps can't control the drivers well enough.

Bingo. Some amps/receivers claim lots o watts, but lack of current sends woofers slapping in the wind. Watch your tweeters. Clipping will fry them. Also closely watch your woofers from the side. If one is not running with the rest a connection may be loose, or driver is bad.
Ben

george daniel

I'm about to show my ignorance,, should'nt the sunfire have enough power/current to handle them?

F1nut

are they crossed over at a different point?

No, the stereo drivers are the same.

ShinAce

I think it's 100 amperes peak to peak per channel.

F1nut

Hmmm...in that case, it should be able to control those drivers.

Maybe the pervious owner did some damage to them.

beemer

ben62670 wrote: »

Bingo. Some amps/receivers claim lots o watts, but lack of current sends woofers slapping in the wind. Watch your tweeters. Clipping will fry them. Also closely watch your woofers from the side. If one is not running with the rest a connection may be loose, or driver is bad.
Ben

Bingo! We have a winner here. Look for amps that double their output rating from 8 ohms to 4 ohms, also pay close attention to damping factor specs. High current plus high damping factor = woofer control.

Best,

Paul

dudeinaroom

pull the drivers out look for anything that could touch the cone(had this problem with my SDA2's) also check and make sure all wire connections inside and out of the speakers is tight.

F1nut

High current plus high damping factor = woofer control.

You know, the high damping factor is an interesting topic. Someone once pointed out to me that too high a damping factor is as bad, if not worse than too little. My experience since has proven that to be true.

beemer

F1nut wrote: »

You know, the high damping factor is an interesting topic. Someone once pointed out to me that too high a damping factor is as bad, if not worse than too little. My experience since has proven that to be true.

Excellent point.........

High damping factor amps can sound a bit "dry". Funny thing audio, it's like making soup, until you add the ingredients, you never know how it's going to taste or in our case, sound.

Best,

Paul

erniejade

Feature and Specs Sunfire Signature II
625 watts rms continuous per channel, into eight ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz with no more than 0.5% T.H.D.
1,300 watts rms per channel into four ohms
4,000 watts one ohm RMS per channel – time-limited basis
Two output options: current source for a warmer, more open tube sound or voltage source for all the tight response this awesome solid state amplifier can deliver
Intrinsic frequency response one Hz to 80 kHz
Balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs
High quality all metal five way binding posts
Hand-signed by Bob Carver

http://www.sunfire.com/pdf/Sunfire%20Series%20II%20Late%20Model%20Stereo%20Power%20Amplifier%20Manual.pdf

Here is the link to the amp I am using .. Well one of the 2 amps. I tried it on the sunfire and the Integra 165 x 2 M504 This is actually a really good sounding amp. Better then people would think. On my JBL L150 i actually prefer the onkyo over the sunfire. On the polk, I am still on the fence and need more listening time on them on what amp I like better on the polks.
On the amazing original, i don't have a choice lol.

heiney9

While the Sunfire isn't my particular "flavor" it should have no issue driving SDA's to stellar levels.

My guess is a blown driver from the previous owner. When I sold SDA's used to see that a lot. The driver won't "pop" at lower levels but at higher levels it "pops" like chewing gum.

Be sure to isolate the correct driver and then find a replacement (the same Model #) Polk still sells some models brand new, others you'll have to scrounge around here or ebay to find one.

Merry Christmas

H9

ben62670

I ran a Sunfire on my SDA's before and it popped. The Adcom's didn't. If you have a blown driver it will act like a PR and be out of phase from the rest of the drivers.

snow

It's been my experience that when drivers pop they are being overdriven possibly because they were abused in the past, As Jesse mentioned try switching drivers to see if that fixes it if the botom drivers now have the same popping issue then you know it's the drivers. Unless there is some problem with the amp itself the Sunfire should be able to produce more power easily than the polks will ever use. I use a Sunfire 300 x 2 amp that is capable of making me wince in pain on 1.2 TL's without it even getting warm for what thats worth



REGARDS SNOW

John in MA

How loud a noise is this? I've had a few different speakers with rubber-surrounded woofers (like Polk uses) that would make a dull clicking or popping noise when driven with low frequencies. As it turned out, in my case the rubber surround was sticking to itself slightly. A little cornstarch dusted on the back with a paintbrush solved that. This is an extreme longshot but it's worth looking at.

The plain 2.3 used SL2000 tweeters. The 2.3TL used SL3000 tweeters, ones which by most accounts are more pleasant to listen to. The 194 dome should be a pretty good upgrade over the SL2000.

BobMcG

snow wrote: »

It's been my experience that when drivers pop they are being overdriven possibly because they were abused in the past,

Agreed.

It sounds as though the drivers have been over driven and now are on their way out.

F1nut

Hey Bob, Happy New Year!

BobMcG

Right back attcha Jes, Happy New Year!

heiney9

Nice to see ya posting again Bob! Haven't seen you around lately.

BobMcG

Hey Brock, I haven't turned a system on in so long I sometimes wonder why I still have them! It's good to see a lot of familiar folks in here though.