DIY A1-I questions

You will need it. Get it and I'll help you go through the steps in my previous post. Follow that and you will know exactly what is going on. There is an easy answer depending on which of the two scenarios you find.
madmax

No problem, I'll be happy to check back. I probably wont be around until tomorrow afternoon though. Just set your ohm meter up on ohms so you see it reads 0 when you touch the leads together and flashes or whatever when open (leads not touching). Set it at 200 ohms or 500 ohms, it varies on different meters and some of them just automatically set the correct range for you anyway. Get a little training session from whoever you borrow it from if possible. You can't hurt anything so play around a little.
madmax

Hey, I am around this evening! Cool, that is what I was expecting, it sounds like you constructed the isolator properly! (unless you have to change polarity of one side of the cable only, which we will discuss later).

Your problem is the transformer cannot function without a ground attached. Think of it this way just to understand. Lets say you have two coils of wire sitting next to each other. You hook up the plus and minus of one coil to an amp. The coil next to it you hook up to the plus and minus of a speaker. Keep in mind there is no physical connection between the two coils. When you power up the first coil a magnetic field is created around it. Since the second coil is within this field, a voltage is created in the second coil and powers the speaker.

So, how to fix your problem is simple. Inside the speaker run a wire from the negative black speaker wire post to the unconnected blade recepticle in both speakers. I had you check the cable wiring first because you could have damaged things had it been wired a particular way, which it is not.

Once you modify the connectors as stated above, give it a try. The only other possible problem would be polarity of one pair of the transformer connections. If this is a problem you will not hear any SDA effect which means the sound will be between the two speakers and will not reach outside of them. If wired correctly you should be able to hear stuff way to the left and right outside of the speakers. To fix the problem (if there is one) you would take the two wires from one side (lets say the left side) where they hook to the transformer and swap them.

Let me know how it turns out.
madmax

Yea, they sound fairly impressive even without the cable. I wired mine in the wrong polarity once and they still sounded good, just not the way they were supposed to.

Just wondering, do you have the speakers and your listening position in an equal triangle? For example each speaker 6 to 8 feet apart from each other and from your ears? This is the best way to hear the SDA.

madmax

1.5 feet from the side walls will cause you problems. If you could soften the walls next to the speakers with curtains, foam, egg crates (whatever depending upon your decor level) you will notice a huge improvement. The SDA's really need about 3' at the sides but soft walls will do it too.
madmax

2 feet out is too far, I find 5 to 6 inches works best.

Maybe her polarity is wrong or she has a wire loose somewhere?
madmax