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Polk SDA SRS 2.3TL musing

wadeus

wadeus

Fail better now!
Thinking about getting some of these...thinking...I like the idea of sound monoliths in my house. Someone comes in, and they instantly know - wow, he likes audio stuff and music! Wife trembles...but they are quite beautiful in their own way.

So they are power hungry, I understand. Would I be wasting my time with my lowly Kenwood 600 at 150w into 4 ohms? Just looking at these things make my pretty thumping integrated feel a little "I think I can" about the prospect. Would I need to up the power before owning these to get the real goods out of them? Would I be better off with some SDA-2's for now if I was "going for Polk"?

Thanks guys!
 
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Some people say the 2.3TLs are the best-sounding Polk speakers. Usually either those or the SRS 2s. I say buy a set if you can swing it. The intimidation factor is hard to beat for anything with that footprint.

You'll want a real amp. You'll be able to listen to them with your Kenwood, but you'll be right on the edge. For a while I was running 1.2TLs with a very solid 125/8ohms Bryston. OK, but I hit the clip lights a couple times with bass-guitar-heavy tracks. 200+ WPC amps don't give me any trouble. This is in an undersized listening room.
 
I would also recommend getting those 2.3s if you can swing it. Yes they will be a statement piece in your living room and they will sound great as well. Your kenwood is a good start but you'll be looking for more wpc further on down the road. These are fantastic speakers that respond well to a few well placed tweaks.
Hey John; I didn't know or I had forgotten that you were a 1.2 owner. Surely we could've chatted about them last Saturday at Frank's place. Were you able to send your pl400 home with a new owner?
 
motorstereo said:
Hey John; I didn't know or I had forgotten that you were a 1.2 owner. Surely we could've chatted about them last Saturday at Frank's place. Were you able to send your pl400 home with a new owner?
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Had 'em for a couple years now. Keeps the house from blowing away. I'm trying to remember--do you have 2.3s? We may have talked about this at Frank's house in October and now I've forgotten.

PL400 is still in my care. They were able to get some good use out of it at the fest, at least.
 
motorstereo said:
I would also recommend getting those 2.3s if you can swing it. Yes they will be a statement piece in your living room and they will sound great as well. Your kenwood is a good start but you'll be looking for more wpc further on down the road. These are fantastic speakers that respond well to a few well placed tweaks.
Hey John; I didn't know or I had forgotten that you were a 1.2 owner. Surely we could've chatted about them last Saturday at Frank's place. Were you able to send your pl400 home with a new owner?
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Hey motorstereo where are you located in Connecticut? I'm south of Hartford about 15 minutes
 
I would love to have a set of SDA SRS Speakers like these
sdasrs2.jpg


because I love my RTA-12c's but being they are selling for about twice the price of the Klipsch La Scala's I am now waiting to bring home they will have to wait.

but I must say I am sold on the vintage polk sound,
I was listening to some albums from the 70's that I have heard hundreds of times and with the clarity in the highs that come from the tweeters on my RTA-12C's
I heard features in the recordings that were new to me.
these are the best speakers I have ever owned .
 
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For a vote from the other side... I would say give them a listen before you buy them if you get a chance. I had a pair of 2.3TLs and quite honestly they were nowhere near my cup of tea. I really didn't like them at all. I tried them with all kinds of different amplification from Adcom to Crown to Yamaha to Hafler and even bi-amped them and nothing seemed to make them sound good to my ears... And yes... I had the connector cable and all of the drivers were working. I will say they do look cool and definitely make a statement in a room but IMO soundwise to my ears I have had much better speakers that were much smaller and much cheaper in price.

Please don't flame me on this one guys... I'm just stating my opinion in the hopes that the OP doesn't drop that kind of money and then find out he doesn't like them.
 
elgato8905 said:
I have actually had these too and really liked them.:yes:
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I agree. The SDA 1's are wonderful. Some really nice bass extension, plus one can show off their big amps:yes: BTW I almost picked up those you had but traffic to Torrance in the AM would have been murder for me. Too big for my listening spaces.
 
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elgato8905 said:
For a vote from the other side... I would say give them a listen before you buy them if you get a chance. I had a pair of 2.3TLs and quite honestly they were nowhere near my cup of tea. I really didn't like them at all. I tried them with all kinds of different amplification from Adcom to Crown to Yamaha to Hafler and even bi-amped them and nothing seemed to make them sound good to my ears... And yes... I had the connector cable and all of the drivers were working. I will say they do look cool and definitely make a statement in a room but IMO soundwise to my ears I have had much better speakers that were much smaller and much cheaper in price.

Please don't flame me on this one guys... I'm just stating my opinion in the hopes that the OP doesn't drop that kind of money and then find out he doesn't like them.
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To each their own.
Its great we can listen to many different speakers and should take advantage of it as much as possible.
 
tubed said:
I agree. The SDA 1's are wonderful. Some really nice bass extension, plus one can show off their big amps:yes: BTW I almost picked up those you had but traffic to Torrance in the AM would have been murder for me. Too big for my listening spaces.
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Yeah... I was actually the first person to email the guy on everything he was selling at like midnight. Plus I was able to come right when he called me so it ended up being a lock for me. I walked away from that one with a steal of a deal. It would have been a steal with just the speakers but when you added in the Adcom stack and the Nak CD player it was an unbelievable score. I had to lug those 100 pound speakers down an criss crossed flight of stairs and load them in the back of my truck by myself with a major herniated disc in my back.... Now THAT'S dedication.:yes:
 
So...what about SDA-2 v. 1C? I see a pair around here for a decent price. M

My wife would have less of a wig-flip than with the SRS...she told me last night that to women, big speakers are like the "leg lamp" from A Christmas Story. I was like, no way, they are beautiful! Sounded just like the dad...:scratch2:
 
I don't think you can beat a nice pair of SDA2a's or b's. I bought a pair of 2a's for $165here in New Jersey and immediatley bought a pair of RDO-194 replacement tweeters from Polk Audio for a hundred and was all set for a few months. Polk Audio put a lot of research in the RDO tweeters and most people find them to be a major improvement to the SL-2000. For a hundred dollars its a nice affordable upgrade.
Then I just had to update/upgrade the x-overs another huge improvement. So for under $400 you can have a pair of awsome sounding speakers. Set-up is critical so do some research prior to make the purchases.
 
The 2B, 1C, 2.3 and SRS are all highly regarded. I'm lucky enough to have all of them, a pair in every room of my house except the bathrooms :).

The smaller (2B, 1C) ones give you a more personal listening experience. The big boys (2.3, SRS) can play louder and fill a very large room but don't necessarily sound any better as far as SQ, clarity and detail are concerned. In fact I prefer the clarity and detail I get from the 2B, 1C and 2.3 over the SRS. All of my SDAs are stock including the x-overs and tweeters and I have plans of that changing. I can get the most out of them by using solid core IC's such as AQ King Cobras and 12 ga solid core anti-cables. I also use 10 ga romex but the anti-cables are much easier to work with :)
 
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cornhulio said:
The 2B, 1C, 2.3 and SRS are all highly regarded. I'm lucky enough to have all of them, a pair in every room of my house except the bathrooms :).

The smaller (2B, 1C) ones give you a more personal listening experience. The big boys (2.3, SRS) can play louder and fill a very large room but don't necessarily sound any better as far as SQ, clarity and detail are concerned. In fact I prefer the clarity and detail I get from the 2B, 1C and 2.3 over the SRS. All of my SDAs are stock including the x-overs and tweeters and I have plans of that changing. I can get the most out of them by using solid core IC's such as AQ King Cobras and 12 ga solid core anti-cables. I also use 10 ga romex but the anti-cables are much easier to work with :)
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Are you talk about the update when you say "solid core IC's..." The originals have a saline solution in them? And possibly dry out, is this what we are speaking of? Having owned them since college and gradually lost some of my hearing, would I benefit from an capacitor upgrade?
 
We love all SDA's, you need some power and you need a room that plays nice with them. They need to be set straight forward and have air on each side, if you place them 8' apart you'll want 4' of open space on each side. A 16' wall works nice and will give you the room needed to get that 3D sound stage.
 
hionfi said:
We love all SDA's, you need some power and you need a room that plays nice with them. They need to be set straight forward and have air on each side, if you place them 8' apart you'll want 4' of open space on each side. A 16' wall works nice and will give you the room needed to get that 3D sound stage.
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I have a Stellar Labs (an MCM electronics subsidiary) SLP-600 amp, and a Mackie FR-1200 amp and I'm trying to configure a bi-amp set-up. All this talk about old, dried up capacitors has me thinking; how do I get that many to match exactly? Seems like I'd need to several dozen in hope of find 2 that are equal.
 
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