Polk SDA's

[tullymars]

Can anybody tell me about Polk sda's?When were they made,and what would I pay for a good pair these dayz?I understand their very good sounding speakers,Ive never heard them.

[N. Abstentia]

Are you talking about those big arse Polks that were like 6 feet tall and had maybe 8 six inch drivers and 4 tweeters? Those look cool. I worked at a Polk dealer for a while but we never saw a set of those. I think they quit making them in the late 80's. I do know two things..that big woofer at the bottom is not a woofer, it's just a passive. And, the heart of the system was the SDA unit itself. I've still got my SDA mobile unit for the car somewhere, it just added a delay and a bit of echo to the rear. I'm sure the SDA's just outgrew living rooms since they were so large, I'd still love to hear a set.

[Sealed]

Can anybody tell me about Polk sda's?When were they made,and what would I pay for a good pair these dayz?I understand their very good sounding speakers,Ive never heard them.

The SDA were made in the 1980's. Somewhere from about 1985-1989.

The tweeters were peerless litz wire soft domes. The midbass units were the only "active" wofers, as all the sda "Stereo Dimensional Array" used a passive radiator. This was referred to as a "fluid coupled subwoofer" (The fluid being AIR)
The speakers were interconnected with a phase cable that created a wide and deep holographic effect.

The speakers were sweet sounding and very transparent. They did produce an odd, but powerful bass.

The SDA-SRS are the flagship models and they utilized 8 6.5" midbass units, 4 1" tweeters, and a 15" passive radiator per side. they wer about 240lbs each. They were about $2800- $3200 a pair in 1988.

The polk Monitor 5, 7, 10 RTA and SDA 12, 14 and sds SRS are collectors items, and are very musical.

It wasn't until recently with the LS series that polk started making something equal or better since the demise of the sda/rta lines.

The overall sound is smooth and easy, with a good musicality and transparency. They should sound better now with todays superior electronics than in 1986.