SDA-CRS+ in the house!!

BSUfbfan · March 2006

Well after having Monitor 5b's for the last 18 years, I finally got to hook-up my new CRS+ last night and give em' a listen.....HOLY CRAP! I new it would be a step up from the 5's, but these things are on a whole new level. I was really concerned about a lack of bass in my rather large room, but these things put out bass in droves for their size and it is quick and punchy with good low-end extension. I couldn't be happier. I knew the soundstage would be large after reading all of the comments, but what really impresses me is the eveness of the staging from the left to the right, there just aren't any "holes" in the image. Now I can't wait until Friday when I will be upgrading my 60x2 Parasound to a 200x2 Aragon....:D

Thanks to this forum for all of the insight and patience, and to rskarvan (and Hoosier 21) for the great little speakers.

I really wanted these as a stopgap until I got a pair of the larger SDA's, but I will be very content listening to these bad-boys until a pair of 2.3's show up in my back yard (Idaho, ya right).

Mike

schwarcw · March 2006

Congratulations on your new speakers Mike! The CRS's are an amazing speaker for the size. Enjoy listening to them!

capecodder · March 2006

Same reaction I had when I found a pair this past summer at an estate sale. Had never heard them before but recognized a quality made unit and of course the Polk name so I bought them (had to shell out $30 though). I brought them home and they blew me away. Surpassed my Maggie 1.6QRs. I quickly upgraded the tweeters based on info here and couldn't be happier, as is my wife who doesn't have to look at the Maggies anymore.

I have been using a HSU subwoofer with them so I haven't really tested their bass capability. I also have them in a bookshelf setting so bass response would be limited anyway. Soundstage is great.

rskarvan · March 2006

I am glad that you are enjoying them. I hope that you are pleased with their condition. They are pretty close to perfect for a 1987-vintage speaker.

Quite honestly, I never even gave them much of a workout here in Indiana. They have had very little use the last several years and certainly didn't receive any significant "hard playing" at all.

ENJOY ! ! !

Zen Dragon · March 2006

Congrats on the new children.
I can't believe you sat with a pair of 5B's for so long without the desire to test the waters a little deeper. That's patience! I wanderred through several Polk models over the years till I finally met with my SDA's.
You just jumped straight into SDA's you did. Isn't the water nice?
Again congrats and welcome to the SDA famile, cosa nostra (this thing of ours)

heiney9 · March 2006

Congrats on a great speaker purchase. Was it you that we discussed the common ground issue? I did a search and see it was talked about; so I take it you got the issue squared away.

Enjoy you are in for a treat. Did you keep the 5b's?

H9

BSUfbfan · March 2006

Thanks guys for the welcome and encouragement.

Although owning the 5b's the entire time (since high school) I have been a custom A/V installer for the last 12 years and have had plenty of different speakers at the house, just didn't find any worth buying. I was pretty much set on vintage Polk or Klipsch, mainly because growing up my two best friends had Polk SDA-SRS and Klipsch Cornerhorns respectively in their homes (lucky ****). I remember listening to hours and hours of music and just plain loving life. The last speakers I had before changing careers (construction) last year were some Klipsch RF-7 towers and i ended up giving them back rather than buying them, which ended up being a good choice. not a bad speaker, but not SDA by any stretch.

Someday I'll find my gems (large SDA's), but the CRS's aren't going anywhere!

heiney9 wrote:

Congrats on a great speaker purchase. Was it you that we discussed the common ground issue? I did a search and see it was talked about; so I take it you got the issue squared away.

Enjoy you are in for a treat. Did you keep the 5b's?

H9

Yes, it was me with the grounding question. The Aragon I just bought (pickup Friday) is a "dual mono" design, which concerned me, but I called Aragon and they said it is a common ground design. In fact the guy on the phone had vintage SDA's and said it works great with his Aragon. I will test the terminals with a multimeter first, just to be 100% sure.

I kept the 5b's "in the family". Sold them to one of my buddy's dirt cheap with the understanding that when he was ready to upgrade/change his system that they would come back home. Just too much sentimental value to give them up for $100.

Mike

Zen Dragon · March 2006

Mike:
Glad you settled on the Polk SDA's vs the Klispch. Klipsh makes some fine speakers for sure, but the sound is rather dirrerent from Polk to my ears. Klipsh have a very forward, rock and roll sound stage, with the horn tweeters really putting the sound out there in front of you. They are great for turning up some rock and roll and feeling like you are front row at a concert.
The Polks lay back a little more and weave a sound stage in front of you with a little more depth and imaging (especially the SDA's). Many many years ago when I was a teenager I tried to set up a pair of Polk 10B's on the mains with a pair of Klipsh in the rears. The Klipsch being a more efficient speaker, as well as having the forward sound stage completely drowned the imaging of the Polks. I A-B compared them a couple times and ended up returning the Klipsch.
At any rate, and at least with late 80's technology, it was one or the other, but no mixing with those brands.
I also dealt with the common ground issues when I got my SDA's as I had been considering an amp purchase that was set up as dual mono amps in the same case. I went with a common ground amp to make it easy, but if you ever want seperates in a dual mono config there is info on this site on how to build an isolation transformer to put in line with the SDA cable that will prevent any problems. Of course you can also run the SDA's dual mono if you do not connect the SDA interconnect cable, but what fun is that?
Happy listening.
Brian

steveinaz · March 2006

Cool!

BobMcG · March 2006

Congrats on the snag. They are a hard speaker not to love.

SDA-CRS+ in the house!!

Comments