2. amps-preamps
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amp or amps for Polk SDA 1 & SDA 2

I am the orginial owner of SDA1 and SDA 2. I have never been clear on weather they were versions a,b, or c. Anyhow I have always had a Proton AA 1150 or AA1200 amp running them in parallel. This works great till the amp does majoring clipping on one channel. I'm tired of it and am starting to look for a new(er) amp(s) to run my favorite speakers. For thoes unfamiliar with the Proton amps they have 6db of headroom and reted for 2 ohm loads. I have tried a Parasound HCA1000 and a vintage JBL SR6630 running just one pair neither sounded very good nor had anywhere near the headroom.

Any suggestions? Price is an object but right now am looking for a great solutions and from there will wittle down the choices with prices in mind.

As an alternative is there someone out there who could repair my Proton amps?

What do you suggest?
ihammerhands
pops
2,275 posts
 
I have a pair of 2.3tl's and just hooked them back up after a few years in the closet. I have run them with adcom 555, then a classe ca200 and now have them with Mac 501 mono's and they sound spectacular. Thiel 3.6's are my mainstay but right now I'm enjoying the Polks. Even though they are rated as 4 ohm they really open up with the power of 500 watts per side. I think the more quality power the better.
djbnh
39 posts
 
I have a pair of SDA 1Cs that I previously powered with a cap-upgraded Odyssey Audio Stratos. I recently upgraded to Odyssey's Extreme Monos, and while still in the process of burning in the monos, I can say the enhanced sound of this combination is not subtle. I agree with "Pops'" post that more power seemingly suits the SDAs. The Extreme Monos are rated at 300 wpc into 8 ohms, probably at least 450 wpc into 6 ohms.

Happy listening and best of luck with your upgrade quest.
marknewbie325
5 posts
 
There is no doubt that the Polks were made to be feed like hungry bears! At 4 ohms, I am pushing 700 watts per side into them and they love it! If I ever get the nerve to push hard and play something that would dip into the 2 ohm realm, I can't help but wonder what they would do with 1400 watts per side! Djbnh, what cables are you using? Sounds like a really nice set up. You know what they say about speaker cables, they are like tires on a sports car. Bad tires and the car won't handle, good tires and you'll never want to stop driving it. I went ahead with the order for the Ascent i's as the price my dealer gave me for new was better than what I have found on the used market. I also just found out that ML is going to discontinue this model and replace it with something else. Now I know why I got such a great price at least. I am thinking that the SDA 1's would make great rears in a HT setup with the MLs up front. I guess I should start looking for another PL X-350? Oh gawd, help my checkbook...LOL
djbnh
39 posts
 
I'm using Groneberg cables. I use Groneberg TS premium and Quattro Ref ICs with my Odyssey Extreme Monos / Tempest preamp, so I guess there's some type of synergy going there (Odyssey uses Groneberg cable internally). I also note I use Walker SST in my system, which also makes a nice improvement to speaker cables, ICs, PCs, cartridge and tube pins, RCA connections, PC and IEC pins, etc (gotta carefully follow directions when using SST).
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