Best SDA for Rock??

geppy1

What is the best SDA for rock?? I have had early SDA1s early SDA2 and now SDA1cs. The 1Cs are the best of the group but come off as alittle slow, alittle tuby in the bass, somewhat distant just not to good with rock to my ears. (yes i have tried different placement, tweeters ect) Someone in the Audio Review ratings said they are a "mature speaker for the mature listener"' I must not be to mature. No surprise there.
I am repairing a pair of 2As a friend just bought and I find them to be punchier , more open in the midrange, quicker. Seem to get up and go with rock more then the 1Cs. Does this make any sense or has anyone else experienced this? keith

concealer404

I was honestly more enamoured with the 1.2TLs when they were playing rock vs. anything else. I'm not sure if that's really the question you were asking, though, so i apologize if that tells you nothing.

heiney9

I find the 1C's to be the opposite of what you describe, but they certainly aren't the "fastest" speaker around........in fact none of the SDA's have the absolute fastest "leading edge" type of response, but they make up for it in other ways like all SDA's have some of the lowest bass distortion characteristics ever measured.

I'll take very low bass distortion over absolute quickness anyday. In my experience it comes down to placement, amplifiers and then the source whether the source is the actual cdp or how the music is recorded. I've found a high percentage of rock to be poorly recorded.

What specific type of rock are you talking about? Metallica, Ozzy, White Snake, Kiss, etc. There are very few of these bands that are recorded well, IMO.

H9

OldmanSRS

I would call the SDA SRS1.2 a layed back speaker that sounds huge and tactil, and plays most types of music very well. Good recordings sound amazing and bad recordings sound really bad. I listen to all kinds of music on mine except orchestra and it all impresses.

geppy1

1.2 2.3 and 3.1s are not in my future.
I guess my point is the 1cs sound more laidback and less punchy then the 2As to me. Even in the review of the 1Cs in SR Hirsch even points out the 1Cs have a slightly laidback and soft sound.
Here is somethibng interesting. The 1cs at very high volume never got my Exposure to shut down. The 2As do it in about 5 minutes. The amp is not hot just shuts down. My RTA 12s will make it run very hot but it keeps going. Strange

Fongolio

Make sure your 1C's are sealed well. If any air is escaping they will loose a bit of quickness and a bit of punch. Actually this applies to all SDA's. Mine are sealed with mortite around all flanges including tweeters passive and speaker terminal bracket thingy. I can't think of the name of that thing.

Anyway I was playing White Stripes Elephant on LP last night and the bass response was astonishing even at low levels. Actually the whole album sounded fantastic. The very sparse production really shows the rawness of their sound and I've never heard it sound as good as it did on the 1C's

nooshinjohn

I like the 2.3TL's for everything but the heaviest of metal. They are very good with everything, including groups like RUSH and Aerosmith, but anything heavier than that and they start showing some weakness at louder volumes.

heiney9

geppy1 wrote: »

Here is somethibng interesting. The 1cs at very high volume never got my Exposure to shut down. The 2As do it in about 5 minutes. The amp is not hot just shuts down. My RTA 12s will make it run very hot but it keeps going. Strange

What does that have to do with anything? Later SDA's used different drivers, a slightly less complex cross-over and one of the goals was to make them a little easier to drive so they would appeal to a larger audience. It has nothing to do with why you feel one sounds better than the other.

IMHO, I'd take 1C's everyday and twice on Sunday over 2A's, not even a hesitiation, but that's just my preference.

H9

bluecomet

For hard rock, I like my SRS 1.2's the best. They hit hard in the bass and drums. You can really feel it. There not as refined as the 1.2tl's but for that kind of music I really don't want a refined feel. SRS 2's fit the bill pretty well for rock also. Your neighbors will hate you.:D

geppy1

H9
I do not recall saying or implying in any way it has anything to do with one sounding better or worse. It simply an observation of how an amp handles them Not sure how you read that into what I said.
I could be wrong here but it has been my observation over the last 7 +years watching this site (someone else mentioned this the other day also and it is the vibe I am getting ) that if anyone does not like an SDA people rise in mass and
1) There must be some thing wrong with the speaker or your gear
2) Wrong placement
3) There is something wrong with the person or their ears
Even when I worked in CE biz I would never had implied that to someone.
The question should have been, has anyone had a 1C and 2A or 2B in their home right next each other at the same time and ran them head to head? MY ONLY POINT WAS THE 2A SOUNDS PUNCHIER VOCALS MORE OPEN ECT TO ME (AND OTHERS PRESENT IN MY ROOM WITH MY GEAR I do not recall saying the 1C sucked or any such thing.
I will quote Julian Hirsch in his review of the SDA1C " it is certainly an acuired taste and not everyone will prefer it"

heiney9

geppy1 wrote: »

H9
I do not recall saying or implying in any way it has anything to do with one sounding better or worse. It simply an observation of how an amp handles them Not sure how you read that into what I said.
I could be wrong here but it has been my observation over the last 7 +years watching this site (someone else mentioned this the other day also and it is the vibe I am getting ) that if anyone does not like an SDA people rise in mass and
1) There must be some thing wrong with the speaker or your gear
2) Wrong placement
3) There is something wrong with the person or their ears
Even when I worked in CE biz I would never had implied that to someone.
The question should have been, has anyone had a 1C and 2A or 2B in their home right next each other at the same time and ran them head to head? MY ONLY POINT WAS THE 2A SOUNDS PUNCHIER VOCALS MORE OPEN ECT TO ME (AND OTHERS PRESENT IN MY ROOM WITH MY GEAR I do not recall saying the 1C sucked or any such thing.
I will quote Julian Hirsch in his review of the SDA1C " it is certainly an acuired taste and not everyone will prefer it"

Sorry if you took my post(s) as being terse. Just trying to have an open dialog and also give my opinion on the matter. Wasn't meant to be confrontational.

I simply suggested the first 2 (in your list) as many times this *could* be an issue since there really are no other speakers like SDA's, sometimes the traditional methods of placement don't work the best for SDA's.

If you can't have an open dialog without feeling like your being attacked then I'll just bow out of the discussion.

H9

geppy1

H9, Its cool. No worries. Your opinions always have some insight so that is good. keith

Toolfan66

+++1000 But White Zombie rocks the SDA's big time...

comfortablycurt

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

But White Zombie rocks the SDA's big time...

+1000!!



I love my 2A's for rock. I don't really listen to much "heavier" stuff these days though. Alice in Chains or Tool is about as heavy as I'll get anymore. I have listened to some death/black metal through the 2A's before though, and I thought they did a great job.

nooshinjohn

geppy1 wrote: »

I will quote Julian Hirsch in his review of the SDA1C " it is certainly an acuired taste and not everyone will prefer it"

Julian Hirsch must have had hearing troubles when he reviewed them.;)

halo71

TOOLFORLIFEFAN wrote: »

+++1000 But White Zombie rocks the SDA's big time...

Damn....I wanna here some "More Human Than Human" on some SDAs now! Hummm, Ken or Ben are probably the closest owners to me. :cool:


EDIT: Well actually, I just wanna hear anything on some SDAs! One day I will acquire a set!

comfortablycurt

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Julian Hirsch must have had hearing troubles when he reviewed them.;)

Well, believe it or not, some people don't like the SDA effect. Something about it not being "true stereo".

I love the SDA effect, but it isn't everyones cup of tea.


But, I would have to go along with your assumption that he had some hearing problems at the time of the review.;)

heiney9

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Julian Hirsch must have had hearing troubles when he reviewed them.;)

Yeah, well you do have to remember that was 23 years ago, and there really was no such thing as multi-channel, HT, etc and SDA's were a lot different than what was being offered before. Some still don;t accept them as being anything but a huge gimmick.............their loss, IMO.

Just remember "true stereo" is a fabrication and doesn;t exist in reality when relating to "real" sounds we encounter everyday. Ironically, SDA's are probably closer to the "real" thing than stereo.

Toolfan66

I love my SDA's "there I said it" the only thing that would make them any better is a set of tata's.

geppy1

JH actually likes SDAs and the SDA effect. He mentions that in almost every review. He was just pointing out that it is not for everybodyand takes getting used to.

heiney9

geppy1 wrote: »

JH actually likes SDAs and the SDA effect. He mentions that in almost every review. He was just pointing out that it is not for everybodyand takes getting used to.

He was one of the few professional reviewers of the day that enjoyed them and didn't mind saying so. And I would agree that they may not be everyone's cup of tea.

F1nut

nooshinjohn wrote: »

I like the 2.3TL's for everything but the heaviest of metal. They are very good with everything, including groups like RUSH and Aerosmith, but anything heavier than that and they start showing some weakness at louder volumes.

It's not the speakers, I assure you. I've blasted rock with heavy bass at 115dB on my 2.3TL's and they were begging for more.

cnh

I have to agree. I can't imagine ROCK even Hard Rock not sounding great on SDAs! They seem to be built for that kind of intense pounding blasting sound....and other sounds as well! I've always been surprised by how much bass they can put out and their sound pressure levels, as F1nut notes above, are almost off the charts.

cnh

F1nut

their sound pressure levels............are almost off the charts.

Indeed. Polk use to list the maximum SPL levels on some models. At the low end, the CRS+ are rated at 117dB and at the high end, the SDA SRS are rated at 125dB!

Paden501

Geppy,

I've never heard the 2As or the early 1s, but I do have 1Cs and I can say from my experience that when I first bought the 1Cs I thought they were a little tuby in the bass as well. What it ended up being was a bad seal around the Passive Radiator. I applied a single layer of Mortite around the seal of the PR and of each of my drivers and I can honestly say that the difference was HUGE.

The bass frequencies that come out of these speakers now are very fast, sharp and VERY tight. That bloated 'tuby' feeling as you described it is completely gone. I recommend you use Mortite around the drivers of the 2As that you're rebuilding and I think you'll be very pleasantly suprised, as I was.