Sealed cabinets?

hearingimpared wrote: »

Wow, I learn something new every day. Thanks Bob!

Hmmm . . . just another thought from this doubting Thomas, is there a sealed barrier between the tweeters and the MW/PR section of the cabinet?

Sealed? I'm not 100% sure if they're as sealed as the rest of the cabinets. The cables to the top MW's & tweeters went through a small hole with a plastic cover (iirc; I've not looked inside in almost a year). I didn't check if that bit is fully sealed, but yes they are quite separated. It's probably as good a seal as possible without making repairs impractical. I don't remember their "recoil" from depressing the passive radiator, though the two bottom BW's did extrude. I seem to remember them actually taking longer to return to original position than the M5's (>5s from ~1/2" depression of PR & extrusion of BW's to return to "resting" position).

There's also a second barrier between the stereo and dimensional drivers, which is why both chambers are ported.

If you look at the SDA-1A Signature conversion mod, here's what it says in short... iirc that is.

1) Remove all drivers
2) Saw/whatever through the barrier between the T&MW's and the PR&BW's, removed to <1" remaining around. The barrier between the T&MW's section can remain
3) Open the holes for the tweeters; the SL1000's have the same dimensions as the original Peerless tweeters and are smaller than the SL2000's and later tweeters.
4) Modify the crossover and change a few components with those of a different values
5) Remove the BW section of the crossover and wire the BW's to their respective channels; the inner BW to the stereo and the outer to the dimensional woofer.
6) Plug the ports between the MWs & Tweeters. The original kit also included a small plate to cover the plugs and declared them as SDA-1A Signature's

The original kit was not meant for my loudspeakers; according to that little instruction manual booklet, they're MW7501's and MW7502's (iirc). As you can see in the rear picture, the SDA cable as well is different from later versions; that's actually based on a 3-pin plug and socket with only 2 physical pins and the biwire as shown.

When I purchased the SDA-1's, the tweeter fuses were actually blown. In addition, one of the tweeters also bit the dust, and was replaced about a week or two later. I'm willing to trade that Peerless tweeter for another pair of SL1000's.

I've heard the SDA-CRS+'s, SRS 1.2TL's, and my own SDA-1's. Of the three, I preferred the SDA-1's as they were the correct size for the room and very balanced overall. The CRS+'s were a bit shier on the bass (probably since I had them setup too far from the wall) and the 1.2TL's were overpowering in the room. The latter 1.2TL's were listened to in a similar room though aligned differently, and the CRS+'s were heard in both.

@F1nut:
The Signature edition's brass plate was to hide the wooden plugs. The speakers sounded the same either way, but the brass plate was nice decoration. Too bad they don't have any more; I wouldn't mind a pair if I ever do convert these beauties. I don't think I will, though. Other than being a bit less smooth than other tweeters and not ear as bright as the SL2000's, I haven't noticed the "it's behind you!" effect from the tweeters. I did have the HT setup, temporarily, with the SDA-1's as front L/R, a cheap Sony center channel (I wonder if there's a way to map the center channel to the SDA's...), and the M5's as L/R surrounds. Sounded pretty good and I liked that bass came from all directions, even though explosions were from the front (and shook the china cabinets).