What happened to the Polk SDA SRS and SDA speaker line?

TD_
TD_ Posts: 11
edited May 2020 in Vintage Speakers
This is a great forum. I have always thought Polk speakers are amazing. My first pair of Monitor 10B speakers were fantastic. But my SDA 1B’s are simply the best.

From what I can tell, Polk replaced the SDA 1Bs with the SDA 1Cs in circa 1987/88. While I would guess there were some internal differences, the biggest change I saw was the cabinet.

QUESTION: Was the SDA 1C the last Polk SDA speaker? Was there a significance difference in the SDA 1C and the earlier SDA speakers? Enough that anyone would really upgrade?

If my research is correct, I noticed all the SDA SRS and SDA speakers disappeared from the Polk speaker line circa 1990/91. My question is why? What replaced this great line of speakers?

I apologize if this is old information that has been rehashed many times. If so, just point me to the old thread.

Best Answers

Answers

  • Schurkey
    Schurkey Posts: 2,100
    The triumph of marketing over listening. Tell folks what they WANT to believe, and they start believing it.

    "You can get great sound and you don't have to have those big, ugly speakers!"
  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,305
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


    “Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • TD_
    TD_ Posts: 11
    Thank you for your replies. Great video!

    If I understand fully, all three answers are saying High-End audio, for the most part, died in the USA around 1990/91. I will say that by 1990 I had stopped visiting the high-end audio stores because I was very happy with my system. The earlier thoughts of upgrading the electronics were not something I considered urgent now. Other things in my life, i.e., marriage and kids, were taking precedent. Perhaps many of these high-end stores went out of business and I never noticed.

    Any other answers? This is very interesting.

    I am also interested if there is any "real" difference between the SDA 1B and SDA 1C speakers. Any thoughts on this?
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 27,965
    My first post was in jestx but bose was definitely the catalyst in the movement to smaller speakers.

    Still great audio products to be had to this day
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,706
    High end audio is FAR from dead.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • xschop
    xschop Posts: 4,636
    It was cheaper to ship a coffin in 1990.
    Don't take experimental gene therapies from known eugenicists.
  • TD_
    TD_ Posts: 11
    While I agree with F1nut that High-End audio is far from dead, it appears to have taken a nose dive around 1991. I suspect high end audio is more than a niche market today - but certainly not main stream. I need to get out and find the high end stores and see what is available. This forum has really opened my eyes.

    Thank you for spelling out the differences between the SDA 1B and SDA 1C. My pair of SDA 1B's were on sale when I purchased them. I suspect now the dealer knew about the upcoming release of the SDA 1C's and was clearing out inventory. Not that I really care as the SDA 1B's are great. And easy to look at with the natural wood.

    I do hope the new Legend L800 SDA speakers from Polk Audio are a success. At $3000 apiece, these speakers are certainly high end! I need to take a listen.

    Again, thank you for all the comments. And please post more. I hope I have added a little bit of knowledge to this forum.