POLK SDA series

A friend of mine has a large pair of SDAs. I'm not sure of the model, either the SDA Signatures or 1As. They have 8 6.5" drivers, 4 1.5" tweeters, and a 15" passive radiator. These speakers can move a serious amount of air without sounding strained in the least. They can sound boomy in the wrong environment however. My friend has them bi-amped with a ML 23.5 on the bottom and a ML 29 on top. He uses a GML parametric studio eq with the ML 23.5 to control the bass peaks in his room. With the GML engaged the Polks sound very clean at high volumes from top to bottom, with a wide and deep soundstage. Bass response is flat to 18hz. That said I do hear some cabinet colorations, and I don't think they're the most nuanced or tonally correct sounding speaker. His front end consists of a Placette RCV and a highly modified Kerns Sony 777ES.

I had a pair of the SDA-1's years ago...I believe they were the very first model. I never could get them sounding right in my room. I had a pair of highly modified McCormack mono's (modded by the ModSquad) driving them, with a McCormack Phoenix preamp. They could play loud, but I could not seem to find a placement that worked. They actually sounded better with the cross connect cord detached. The SDA-1's sound was *heavily* colored. I replaced them with Alon IV's and realized at that point how much the Polks placed their own sound into the music. I have not heard the later models, they probably are a lot better.

I had the SDA CRS model for about 10 years now my friend has been enjoying them for the last 6. The sound was always pleasing and nicely balanced, and loud is one wanted. They were an easy load to drive, and a very easy to live with speaker.

There was some trickyness in the crossover to try to make each speaker produce stereo effects using two drivers a head width apart and feeding some signal from the other channel with appropriate timing processing. The effect for me was a very nice prescence, much like live particularly with small groups in intimate recording settings. Set up corectly and properly driven they could deliver an emotional impact with the the very best.

If you can stand the size, and are looking for the biggest stereo soundstage you've ever heard, providing your room allows you to space them properly.

I still have the 2.3tl's on a second HT rig. They were always a little on the aggressive side - but could play loud. I used tubes in the preamp - that calmed them a little.