I just got my PSW202

I bought this based on recommendation. I just started on this hobby so I'm not so sure about some things on speakers especially a subwoofer like this.

I just got it a couple of days ago and from what I understand I need to "break-in" the speakers before I hear it's true sound.

My question is, I've been hearing the PSW202 with some sort of clapping sounds depending on certain levels of sound. As I turn up the volume the clapping sound immediately is gone. It's also the same case with low volumes. Is this normal when it's new?

Do I need to adjust Low Pass (Hz), if I do, when?

What does Phase 0 and 180 do? Do I need to switch them at certain times?

I am a bit keen on audio, but I am not knowledgable about these things. I hope you guys can help me out.

Thank you.
Post edited by Dwin1118 on

Comments

  • Dwin1118
    Dwin1118 Posts: 5
    edited August 2003
    "break-in" is similar to "run-in"

    I just read this earlier. "break-in" is commonly used in my country. I read "run-in" in a website. :)
  • Loud & Clear
    Loud & Clear Posts: 1,538
    edited August 2003
    Can you tell us about the rest of your system, other speakers, receiver, etc., and how you have the system configured? I'm sure we'll get this straightened out one way or another.

    Two Channel Setup:

    Speakers: Wharfedale Opus 2-3
    Integrated Amp: Krell S-300i
    DAC: Arcam irDac
    Source: iMac
    Remote Control: iPad Mini

    3.2 Home Theater Setup:

    Fronts: Klipsch RP-160M
    Center: Klipsch RP-160M
    Subwoofer: SVS PB12NSD (X 2)
    AVR: Yamaha Aventage RX-A2030
    Blu Ray: Sony BDP-S790
    TV Source: DirecTV Genie
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited August 2003
    You'll have fun and learn a lot in here from the people who post in here on a regular basis. What country do you reside in?

    "Break In" is a term that means you "burn in" whereby you feed a low volume audio signal... over a period time a speaker, a receiver, amp, etc... for a good number of hours. this can be accomplished all at one time... or over several days, weeks.. etc.

    A typical break in or (burn in) would be about 30 to 40 hours... some folks say more like 70 hours is appropriate instead. While burning in speakers.. it's suggested that you not drive the speaker to it's limits until after the burn in has taken place. You might do damage to the speaker before it has had time to properly adjust and seat itself.

    good luck and post and ask as many questions as you can think of.

    Al
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • Dwin1118
    Dwin1118 Posts: 5
    edited August 2003
    Originally posted by Loud & Clear
    Can you tell us about the rest of your system, other speakers, receiver, etc., and how you have the system configured? I'm sure we'll get this straightened out one way or another.

    I think I've figured it out now. Though i'm still trying to figure why. I've set the reciever's crossover to 80Hz and set the 202 to 80Hz now and it sounds better than it was earlier. How can I tweak the speakers better?

    My entire setup...

    Onkyo TX-SR600 - A/V Reciever
    Mission m73 - Front L/R floorstanding speakers
    Mission m7c2 - center channel speaker
    Mission m7ds - Rear L/R bipolar speakers
    PolkAudio 202 - subwoofer
    Originally posted by danger boy
    A typical break in or (burn in) would be about 30 to 40 hours... some folks say more like 70 hours is appropriate instead. While burning in speakers.. it's suggested that you not drive the speaker to it's limits until after the burn in has taken place. You might do damage to the speaker before it has had time to properly adjust and seat itself.

    The one who set this up told me about that but he did turn up about 1/2 of the volume of the reciever showing me all the features when I just got it. So I thought it was ok to use that much volume.

    I don't put the volume too high because it's too much for a small room too. I usually set the volume of the recievers to 1/3 the volume, 1/2 on movies with soft volumes. Will I damage the speakers at this rate?
  • Dwin1118
    Dwin1118 Posts: 5
    edited August 2003
    Originally posted by danger boy
    You'll have fun and learn a lot in here from the people who post in here on a regular basis. What country do you reside in?

    I hope I do enjoy here. I do have fun in forums depending on what I currently into, and home theaters is what I'm into right now. It's something I always wanted to get into. This is the first time I bought a set like this.

    I have bought a Sony DAV300 (HTiB) for the living room and a Klipsch ProMedia for my PC before which doesn't tackle anything like these. I really thought I knew alot of stuff about these things but in time I'll get the hang of it.

    I'm in the Philippines. Terms are "break-in" or "burn-in", but "break-in" does sound odd. Sorry about that. :D
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2003
    Hello and welcome to the forum. :)

    If you have set your receiver's crossover(filter) to 80 hz, then crank your subwoofer crossover all the way up. This eliminates double filtering, their is no need to filter at the subwoofer level if you allready have at the receiver.

    Then as your source or media is played, you will have to adjust your "volume" in order to get the right sound. I always have to adjust one way or another for music or movies, this subwoofer just isn't that hard core to be played at the highest volume, all the time. It will distort and become very boomy if you have the volume to high. Find the volume level that offers bass impact but not a boomy sound.

    I have the same sub, Sony ES receiver, so the setting we would use are going to be similar.

    I have a couple tweaks that I have personally done to this subwoofer, that have helped with response and sound. Spikes and a granite slab under the sub, 15" x 15". Both have helped alot with the boomy sound that the 202 is common for.

    Good luck! :D
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • JohnnyCanEHdian
    JohnnyCanEHdian Posts: 15
    edited August 2003
    Congrats on the new purchase... i just bought the 303 myself about a month ago. When i first hooked up my sub, i had a cheap **** RCA wire connected and it sounded like SH.. crap...

    I went out and spent 100 bucks on a good monster cable and the difference is night and day. This cable will filter out all unwanted noise from your receiver.

    Maybe not the answer to your problem, but definately worth looking into. If you don't already have good wiring, spend the extra, you won't regret it.
    Johnny CanEHdian

    It's all fun and games until someone Polks out an ear.
  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 27,968
    edited August 2003
    hmmmmm........a Lighter possibly?

    The only thing that makes that monster cable sound better is the 100 dollars more you put into it. Its a mental thing. IMO
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
  • JohnnyCanEHdian
    JohnnyCanEHdian Posts: 15
    edited August 2003
    Well, to each his own, but i was getting crackling noises and static in my sub before i bought this new cable.

    Maybe you don't need to go out and spend 100 bucks, but i'm sure if you are using cheap cables and compare them to any half ways decent cable, you WILL notice a difference.
    Johnny CanEHdian

    It's all fun and games until someone Polks out an ear.
  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited August 2003
    Exactly my post elsewhere today. The quality sub cable is built better and won't have loose connections or be susceptible to interference and noise. Will it improve the actual sound quality? Probably not majorly, but it can definitely rid you of other problems caused by **** cables.
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
  • Dwin1118
    Dwin1118 Posts: 5
    edited August 2003
    I've had my share of good and bad cables. I've spent alot on them already before I got my HT set.

    My experience was cheap cables are pretty bad. Monster cables are nice (I bought some too) but I realized that the prices were too much. I can just buy a good quality cables without paying THX certification and get the same quality output.

    That's what happened with me.
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2003
    THX is overrated. DTS is not. Buy a better cable and stay with it until it explodes.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • LiquidSound
    LiquidSound Posts: 1,261
    edited August 2003
    dorokusai, I'm sporting a 202 as well. I take it you have the sub spiked onto the granite? Or the granite on top as a weight?
    Two Channel Main
    Receiver - VSX-54TX
    Mains - Csi40's
    Sub - Spiked Velodyne Cht-8 On Spiked Landscaping Stones

    "If you could put speakers in a needle, I'd never see him again..." - My Girlfriend
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2003
    LS - I am using the block as the surface, not the weight. I experimented with granite weight + granite surface, but found nothing extra, as of yet. I am not expecting much else.

    I figure that, I have tweaked as much as possible out of this little sucker. The 202 does allright once tweaked, and how can you beat the price?? Those of us on a budget must do what we have to, to get 100%.

    I picked up my spikes from www.oregondv.com

    They are probably more high speed than my sub. :D
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • goingganzo
    goingganzo Posts: 2,793
    edited August 2003
    thx has its place. the olny thx piece of equipment would be a pre. you actuley get sothingout of the cert. most everything elese is a waste of money. aka they can sell it for a few hundrad less.
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2003
    GG - Yea, I am certainly being silly, but I didn't find THX amazing enough to spend the extra money. I am a simple person, DPL sounds pretty damn good to me you know? :D
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
  • Ceruleance
    Ceruleance Posts: 991
    edited August 2003
    I abhor DPL. It sounds terrible to me, the levels for each channel just dont sound good on my system, DPL2 on the otherhand is awesome, I love the way that sounds
  • Loud & Clear
    Loud & Clear Posts: 1,538
    edited August 2003
    Do you have to drill into your sub to insert these spikes? Isn't there a way to adhere the spikes to the bottom of your sub? I'd like to remove the rubber feet from my CT-120, but I'd rather not drill into the sub to get brass spikes. It's irritating that Velodyne couldn't have provided for this situation with their CT series subs.

    Two Channel Setup:

    Speakers: Wharfedale Opus 2-3
    Integrated Amp: Krell S-300i
    DAC: Arcam irDac
    Source: iMac
    Remote Control: iPad Mini

    3.2 Home Theater Setup:

    Fronts: Klipsch RP-160M
    Center: Klipsch RP-160M
    Subwoofer: SVS PB12NSD (X 2)
    AVR: Yamaha Aventage RX-A2030
    Blu Ray: Sony BDP-S790
    TV Source: DirecTV Genie
  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,573
    edited August 2003
    Cer - I agree, DPL2 is great. I havn't noticed the things you have with DPL. I will listen closer on the next couple movies, and see if I like one over the other. My absolute favorite is of course DTS and DTS-ES.

    LC - Yes, you can glue or attach them with an adhesive if you wish. I drilled mine, they come with inserts that are threaded into the sub box. The spikes then screw into the inserts. It works either way I guess.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.