Polk SDA-1 upgrade to SDA-1A

[Compwaco]

I have a pair of original SDA-1's and was wondering what improvements can be expected from doing the SDA-1A mod to them. (I have the instructions from the old Club Polk) I have already upgraded to the RDO-194 tweeters. Is the SDA-1A upgrade really an improvement?

 

[Lavane]

What's the difference between them to begin with? Different midbass drivers, crossovers?

 

[Compwaco]

The differences are mostly inner cabinet and a couple crossover changes.

 

[Jeff449]

I can't answer your question directly, but I noticed a significant improvement when I upgraded my SDA 2As: better bass response, better imaging, and more clarity and detail. I replaced the tweeters and most of the crossover components (except the inductors).
I also added dampening material to the driver cages and glued the midbass driver magnets in place. I recommend doing those things too.

 

[Compwaco]

There are quite a few upgrades I plan on making but I haven't received any feedback on this particular factory mod. Because it requires removing internal parts of the cabinet it wouldn't be easy to reverse if I didn't like it.

 

[Compwaco]

I'm still looking for feedback from anyone who has heard before and after the SDA-1 to SDA-1a factory mod.

 

[F1nut]

I have no personal experience with either of those models, but I can say that every new model was an improvement over the previous.

That said, the models with the SDA tweeters such as yours are not desirable due to the phasy effect of that SDA tweeter. Polk realized that and did away with it in the 3rd, 4th and final 5th generation.

Some folks simply disconnect the SDA tweeter while others reconfigure the bezel placing the regular tweeter in the center and patching over the original tweeter cut outs.