Absolutely phenomenal sound stage!

Need high current amplification

Absolutely incredible soundstage. I'm powering with a Pioneer SX 1250 and the pairing is so good my that friend from out of town called me today to say he missed my stereo! 160 WPC and these speakers could use even more headroom...they sound fantastic but still yearn for more power. To be honest I would hook them up to a more powerful amp but I love the warm sound of the old Pioneer and what they produce together is magical. There is a layering of sound and definition of instruments beyond anything I've heard before...granted, I'm no audiophile with tens of thousands in equipment but these things are detailed, powerful and so pleasing to turn the knob on! As for the previous negative post I can only imagine that you've either underpowered them, they're busted, or you have such unfathomable audio tastes that we average humans can't comprehend!

Have a back brace handy when moving...175 lbs plus!

A very over-rated speaker, that while a great value and it has very good sound, it is not nearly as good as many describe it to be.
I worked at an audio store for several years in the 80's to early 90's and we stocked most of the Polk speakers, along with several other brands.
They were very good sounding speakers, for sure, had decent deep bass and were able to play fairly loud. The woofers were *8* 6.5" units, that were fairly average, but combined in a huge box, allowed for some impressive bass and output.
But the exaggerations of how impressive they were come from Polk "Fanatics". They essentially were for the most part, the same sound you got from a far smaller Polk, as they used the same drivers, a very similar tweeter, and the same box construction etc.
Not saying they were bad at all, but they were not the smoothest sound, nor highly detailed or resolving.
B+W 801 was easily better, as another reviewer pointed out.
I think the "Idea" of the speaker was great, but in the end, it was still just eight, pedestrian small woofers with very limited excursion, not all that low distortion, nor really great in any way.
They have a very loyal following still, and I think partially the size and sheer complexity of them draw many in.
To sum up, GOOD sound, but really not the last word in anything. A big speaker with big sound, but not all that great really.

3D spacial detail. Full soundstaging. Great low end.

Size

I bought these while stationed in Germany in 1991. They have delivered beautiful soundstaging and wonderful tonality for 13 years. First for music but more recently in my dedicated home theater. These are perfect for someone with a larger room or where 3D sound is a must. Their size and deep base response work very well for home theater. Although I have moved 6 or more times since I bought them and have had the chance to sell them many times I have kept them, dispite their size, purely for their tremendous 3D sound. I have bi-amped these with 2 Adcom 555II amps for a total of 400 watts per chanel. They are rated up to 1000 watts. Magnificent speakers.

Clarity, Sound Stage, Construction quality

ha ha ha, not available anymore.

I have owned these speakers since 1985. These are the best speakers I have ever listened to in the last 18 years bar none. I will not ever part with them. Sound stage is awesome bass 18hz, mids crystal clear, highs perfect. If your are fortunate enough to find a pair don't hesitate; they are worth twice the money.

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega, Infinity, B&W

smooth frequency response, fine detail, huge sound stage, 1000 watt power handling each, 200 watt/ch. rms. quality amp is enough power for most applications since these speakers are very efficient

none at this price

after a 6 month search, i found a pair of POLK AUDIO 1.2 SRS SDA (not 1.2 TL). i am floored with the smooth frequency response, fine detail and huge soundstage. my system consists of; NAD S 100 preamp, NAD S 200 power amp, NAD S 500 cd player (siverline=top of the line) and a pair of INFINITY HPS 1000 subwoofers (1000 watts each). this is a true high end audio & home theater set up at a bagain price. i paid less than $ 6000 for everything!! EBAY.COM and AUDIOGON.COM are the places to shop! if you are lucky enough to find a pair of these great speakers, (1.2 or 1.2TL), jump on it because these are hard to find!!

Similar Products Used:

quad, jbl, b&o, polk audio

Sound wise never been disappointed even my neighbor can sing along from his house no karaoke machine need. Stereo Separation close your eyes and then tell me where they are you can't. Pure clean tight bass. Customer service when first bought gaskets for tweeters were folded over Gave Polk a call no automated system here within a few minutes was talking to some that handled my concern shipped them out me the same day no charge the way it should be

When first purchased found them to be a little lacking in bass found the boxes not so air tight after sealing boxes up at all assembly joints and speaker gaskets you can tell when they are sealed when you push in passive radiator the 6' 1/2's move in very slowly dust caps leak a little but after this talk about Tight Bass. Need a Good recording really show them off but every thing sounds Excellent. Size And after 10 or more years in service they need a little TLC the inside braces come unglued and front plate where the crossover mounts the foam gasket needs replacing if you cant hear it rattle you are deaf. You cannot put a TV any where close to them even if you put Degaussing magnets in 12 a piece but I think 6' is safe but these are only for pure listing pleasure. If you over drive them you will Know the suspension on the 6 1/2 will bottom out before the voice coils does. Last and sadest they don't make them any more

Dreamed of owning a pair of these for a ever when they were first advertised and after owning them never been disappointed. Paired them up with a Luxman MO5 Preamp and 2 Luxman MO5 Amps monoed per side. What words can I use to describe them they are musically impressive as they look more like an entertainmant center than a speaker closest to sound suround as you will get with 2 speakers. When paired up with a good recording you hear base behind you and sounds that seem 8' of to the side of the speaker. You have to own them to know them period.

Similar Products Used:

none

The greatest speakers Polk ever made.

None other than what has happened to the quality of Polk products since 1985.

I purchased a pair of the Polk SDA SRS speakers back in 1995, about a week after they were on the cover of Stereo Review magazine. I was the second person in the state of Arizona to buy a pair! I purchased them new from Hi-Fi Sales in Mesa, Arizona. They are the greatest speakers I have ever heard. The imaging could not be more lifelike. Simply stunning. I drive them with a pair of vintage Yamaha M-80's, bi-amping them. I don't care how much you spend - you will not find a system that delivers a more accurate reproduction of musical instruments - sounding the way they would live! I still own this equipment, and due to working out of town so much, I can estimate that all of it only has about 5 years worth of use. It literally sounds as good as it did new.

Almost Bullet proof

Need massive amounts of power to really wake them UP!

I bought my first set of SDA SRS 1.2tl’s around 1990 liked them very much so I went back and bought a second pair! At the time I was building a new house so made a room just for audio/video 19’wide by 26’deep and 14.5’ceiling. Placed both sets side by side, had to bring in 4X20amp circuits to operate the amps. At first I ran 4 Carver TFM 45’s bridged to 750 watt each (total 3,000w at 8ohm) then clipped one set of amps to 600hz (I think hard to remember now) setup the 1.2tl to bi amp mode (Note: have to use isolation transformers on cross over cables if you are not using common grounded amps) Sounded pretty good but not so happy with the carvers over heating, smoked one and just plan crapped out! So I barrowed some other amps from a friend Macintosh MONSTERS 1000w each at 8ohm (idea ling it seemed) however we had to change the circuits to 30amps each to keep from tripping the circuits. Now with up to 8,000watts or so at 4 ohms (1.2tl’s resistance goes down a lot when loaded) I would say we reached the limits of the 1.2tl’s. With all 4 fired up one day the pressure change was so great in the room a tempered glass window shattered. And on another day one of the tweeters went with 2 foot flames catching the grille on fire! I think I still have that tweeter around here some ware! However to this day I never blew any Mid Bass drivers as Polk calls them. But you know even at that volume it did not hurt your ears it sounded just as smooth as they did at mid volumes, from time to time I would blow a tweeter but Polk just sent me more, the last one’s they sent came from Mexico and you sure could tell the quality was suffering, bad move moving production to Mexico. Well several years ago I sold that house and moved, moving to the new house I did not have the room for that much audio stuff. So I put one set in the paper for 1,500 must have had 50 calls the first guy called I think even before the paper was out, came over 20 minutes latter gave me 1,500 and loaded them up gone in 10 minutes never even hooked them up. I still have the other set and lots of spare drivers 4 manuals and 2 or 3 sets of cross over cables/isolation transformers. Maybe I have heard better out there but I must say these polks SDA 1.2tl’s have been all the pleasure to own. David

Similar Products Used:

B&K, Customs, Carver, and many others!

Imaging,great midrange,clean and crisp high''s,very good bass response that''s tight and not ''muddy''; very well made with a great finish-they look "auesome"

Physical size (these dudes are big & heavy)but fairly easy to ''dog-walk'' accross the room. The bass is a little weak, probably not acceptable for the "rap" crowd, and lastly - no longer manufactured, and thats a shame....

I picked these up at a private sale for a really great price, and not only did I get the Polk 1.2''s, but the seller included two DBX-MPA-150 pwr./sub amps . It truely was a buy of a lifetime.But, what about the spkrs.? What can I say that hasn''t already been said by the previous posts?? These spkrs. are fantastic!!Great musical detail& imaging, ultra smooth midrange and strong,clear, and crisp high''s. The construction and finish is top drawer,a truely great product that I''m sure Polk Audio is proud of! They certainly were a buy when this gentleman originally purchased them in ''91 for $3200 at a local audio dealership.A big ''thank you'' to Paul DiComo at Polk Audio for returning a email I had sent asking for the ''stats'' on these 1.2''s, before I finalized the purchase. I orig. had these hooked up to a Marantz 2270 rcvr. and they sounded great, compared to the JBL L5''s and the BIC Formula 6''s that I was using. I have since upgraded my amp/preamp and processor equip. As they say, "power push''s music" and although the Marantz was conservatively rated at 70wpc, I upgraded to a 300 wpc pwr.amp with higher current and it did make a differance.The equipment being used is: DBX-BX-3 pwr. amp.(300 wpc) DBX-CX-3 preamp DBX-3BX processor ADC-SS-VIII-equalizer Sony-CDP-25 cd player Sherwood-CDC-5010R cd chgr Pioneer-TX-7800 servo tuner Pioneer-PL550 turntable w/ Ortofon cart. My listening room is 18''X30'' and not accoustically perfect by any means, but with this equip. and the Polk''s, I can fill it with plenty of sound.

Similar Products Used:

JBL; BIC; Altec; Pioneer.