A little system update!

[paden501]

I made a lot of changes to my system in the last month or so.  Notably, I traded the Carver C-1 for a B&K Reference 20 preamp/processor and replaced my SDA 1Cs for Definitive BP10Bs






All in all, I haven't decided if it was an upgrade, downgrade or lateral move yet.  There are definately tradeoffs between all the gear combinations.  More thoughts to come!

[Falcon]

All in all, I haven't decided if it was an upgrade, downgrade or lateral move yet.  There are definately tradeoffs between all the gear combinations.  More thoughts to come!

That is why I only change 1 item at a time.   It is the only way to tell if it is an upgrade or not.

That system looks great!!

[OldiesButGoodies]

I would be interested to know what the tradeoffs were - were the sdas superior to the BP-0s,  for example?   

[Reverend]

Yeah, let us know how they compare to your Polk's.  Nice setup!

[paden501]

To Falcon's point.   I did make the changes in 2 stages, and listen to all 4 combinations, although not for more than a few hours each way.

To OBG, here are my thoughts:

The SDAs and the BP10s are two completely different animals.  The sda's were great in a lot of ways, but on some media I didn't "love" the SDA affect (primarily HT applications).  I also felt like for such a large speaker, they were a little light on bass.  The bass that they did have was tight and very good (thanks in large part to the crossover mods that I did), and the very high notes were a little hard on the ears sometimes.  I know that tweeter changes were available to help that problem on the SDAs.... sadly I never did try that.

As for the BP10s.  They bring a LOT of bass to the table... but it's a little sloppy at times.  I'm hoping that a crossover upgrade (planned for the future) will help that.  The mids aren't as forward as the SDA's, and the highs are very warm (all most too laid back).   

There are two big advantages to the BP10s over the SDA's.  For one, the bipole speaker in my room gives a HUGE sweet spot.  They sound good from just about any listening position, which is great because I can never sit still.

The second is that they're a little more exciting to listen to, especially for movies.  For music I find them easier to turn the volume up.  I listened to my SDA's low often because I couldn't stand the SL2000 tweeter's high end loud.  Now the highs get lost a little behind the lows at low volumes though, which bothers me sometimes.

On the other-hand.  The SDA's.... when sitting in the right spot in the room, listening to the right track at the right volume...... were magical to say the least.  I haven't had that 'WOW' moment with the BP-10s yet.



As for the B&K vs the carver.... I like the B&K for a lot of reasons.  It handles my HT needs and music needs in a single, remote controlled package.  When set to direct it imparts very little of its own characteristic on the sound.... Letting my Jolida CD player do all of the work with all its tube goodness.  It doesn't have the phono section of the Carver (or any phono section for that matter) but I'm going to fix that in a big way soon.

I don't miss the 'sonic holography' on the carver either.  I found that to be great in near-field listening with my monitor 4 bookshelves, but not as good in the big room with the BP10s.... and definitely not with the SDAs.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Really appreciate that summary - I can connect with all you said.  I have never owned SDAs but I am familiar with the SL2000's irritating treble response at high volumes from my time with the Polk Monitor 5s and Monitor 5 Plus.  You should have tried the RDO194s on them!   And based on what I read, the SDAs are very picky about position in room and sweet spot - but when they are good, they are really really good.  The BP10s are famous for decent bass,  so not surprised by your comments.  I have owned the BK and can only remember good things about it; no experience with the Carver,  however. Your comment about sonic holography working well in near field will probably result in me obsessively wanting to test that. Thanks for the report!

OBG

[SunnyDaze]

Regardless of which variables are replaced in what order, it looks awesome.

Are those 2-way speakers?

[paden501]

Thanks for the comments all.

SD - They are 'kind-of' 2-way speakers.  They're "bipole" 2-way speakers, meaning they have a tweeter and a woofer on the front, and one of each on the back as well.  The idea is that the sounds from the back reflects off the back wall and then at you, widening the sound stage along the way.  It's much like the way that open baffle woofers or open baffle ribbons work.

They're also somewhat of a 'transmission line' design, with a big port on the bottom of the back, which explains the bass response.

All in all I like the BP10s.  I do miss some of the treble that the SDA's gave (funny that the very thing I hated the most about the SDA's is what I miss the most with the BP10s)

[icravcarver]

I don't know.  I have SDA 1C's and I don't seem to have a problem on the low end.  I do need to look at trading the SL2000's for RDO194's.  They are a little harsh, but not unbearable for me.  As far as position, I have mine at least 3' off the closest wall and they are measured exactly out to be apart 1/2 the distance that I am away from them.  (i.e. 3' apart and I am at least 6' away in my chair).

As far as one tweak I did to them that I thought improved them slightly was to remove my deteriorating bottom platform/risers with spikes.  I like the difference.  I have to break them open to check out the crossovers to see if any of the previous owners did anything to them.  (I know the last owner didn't, but not sure about the one before him!)  He wasn't aware of any when I asked, but I didn't get into too many specifics when I bought them.  They were priced right (and negotiable at that), within 7 minutes from my house so I could audition them (and the SDA SRS's he was replacing them with), and he delivered them to my door.  Can't ask for much more than that.

Neil

[Kingman]

Need some pics of that rig!!!! 

[treitz3]

Just a quick suggestion for you, Paden. Take a silver based IC cable and install them from your pre to your amplifier. What this will/should do is take a bit of the low end out and clean it up a little [less sloppiness, if you will] and it will/should also bring the mids out more, as well as brighten up the top end a bit for you on your new speakers.

They do not need to be expensive, just silver based.

[paden501]

Thanks Treitz,

I'll have to give that a shot.   I'm also looking to re-do the xovers in the BP10s soon, since I had such good luck with that last time with the polks (using clarity caps really cleaned up the low end on the SDA's)