LOUD hum from PSW110

h77nate77

Alright if there is anyone out there who can help me I would greatly appreciate it. I bought a full surround combo on Newegg about a month ago and finally got everything set up. The speakers sound amazing but I cant get the sub to produce anything but a extremely loud hum. I'll give you all the useful facts that seemed to help others online let me know if there is any more I can give that will help.
I emailed Polk and they said probably a bad amp to switch it at the dealer but since I bought it in a combo I would have to take all my speakers down repackage them and the sub and ship it all back to newegg for a replacement which I imagine won't be cheap, so I want to rule everything else out first.

-The hum starts off loud and gets louder as I turn on the volume(like wake up the neighbors loud at 3/4s the way up.)
-I am hooking it up to a onkyo sr508 via subwoofer cable.
-When i plug it in to the wall with no inputs and turn it theres no hum, as soon as i plug the cable into it its there, even when the other end isn't hooked up to my receiver.
-I have tried multiple cables and multiple outlets.
-When it is on and the cable is plugged in, if I touch the other end of the cable with my finger the hum gets louder.
-I don't have cable tv.
-The sub power cord is 2 pronged and non polarized(tried flipping it in outlet, nothing)

Thank you for any help, I am really looking forward to hooking this thing up!

ROHfan

h77nate77 wrote: »

Alright if there is anyone out there who can help me I would greatly appreciate it. I bought a full surround combo on Newegg about a month ago and finally got everything set up. The speakers sound amazing but I cant get the sub to produce anything but a extremely loud hum. I'll give you all the useful facts that seemed to help others online let me know if there is any more I can give that will help.
I emailed Polk and they said probably a bad amp to switch it at the dealer but since I bought it in a combo I would have to take all my speakers down repackage them and the sub and ship it all back to newegg for a replacement which I imagine won't be cheap, so I want to rule everything else out first.

-The hum starts off loud and gets louder as I turn on the volume(like wake up the neighbors loud at 3/4s the way up.)
-I am hooking it up to a onkyo sr508 via subwoofer cable.
-When i plug it in to the wall with no inputs and turn it theres no hum, as soon as i plug the cable into it its there, even when the other end isn't hooked up to my receiver.
-I have tried multiple cables and multiple outlets.
-When it is on and the cable is plugged in, if I touch the other end of the cable with my finger the hum gets louder.
-I don't have cable tv.
-The sub power cord is 2 pronged and non polarized(tried flipping it in outlet, nothing)

Thank you for any help, I am really looking forward to hooking this thing up!

Since nobody else chimed in, I'll tell ya what I'd do after doing all the above. I would take it to a friend's house and plug it into his avr. If it still hums then it's the sub. If not, then you may have a bad sub-out channel on your avr. And I wouldn't go touching the end of the cable when the sub is turned on.

TECHNOKID

Welcome to Club Polk h77nate77

ROHfan wrote: »

Since nobody else chimed in, I'll tell ya what I'd do after doing all the above. I would take it to a friend's house and plug it into his avr. If it still hums then it's the sub. If not, then you may have a bad sub-out channel on your avr. And I wouldn't go touching the end of the cable when the sub is turned on.

Right on! h77nate77, I've seen your post before but didn't reply as I tought Polk CS would chime in but I've just noticed you did not post in the troubleshooting section(which is automatically connected to Polk CS online).

ROHfan is right, the proper way to troubleshoot your sub is to connect it to a different amp however, I am thinking as I type and you could use a known good pre-out (if your receiver has any). Another thing you can do, if you have a CD or DVD player that works properly, you could use it to troubleshoot your PSW110 amp section (even if it doesn't have any pre-amp). ROHfan is also correct about not touching the other end of the cable when it is hooked-up to the subwoofer while on as you are amplifying the static from your hands and could potentially blow something up. Let us know the outcome and we will do as much as we can to help.

If you had posted in the troubleshooting section, I am convinced a Polk rep would have chimed in and helped you resolve the problem. If the problem persist, I would suggest you take the time to call Polk versus email them and explain that you have bought a full package online and don't want to have the burden of returning the package for the defective equipment on warranty. I am convinced Polk will more likely help you in a favourable way.

Cheers!
TK

h77nate77

Thank you both for your suggestions and help, I will have to bring it to a friends house and try it there I will call Polk if I can't figure it out and will post more details on my troubleshooting and Polk's solution if I can't. I can't wait to get it up and running, the polk speakers sound amazing by themselves, Its hard to imagine how much better it will all sound together!

TECHNOKID

Thank you both for your suggestions and help, I will have to bring it to a friends house and try it there I will call Polk if I can't figure it out and will post more details on my troubleshooting and Polk's solution if I can't. I can't wait to get it up and running, the polk speakers sound amazing by themselves, Its hard to imagine how much better it will all sound together!

Good luck and yes, keep us posted!

LouisS

PSW110 humming noise if you mute the sound you can hear a faint clicking noise.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Welcome to Polk's forum. There shouldn't be any sound coming from a subwoofer with the volume all the way off except a faint humming sound coming from the woofer. This humming should not be at all audible from your listening position. If there is a clicking sound something is amiss and you should contact Polk at: 1-800-377-7655 select option 1. This is assuming you live in the U.S.
Regards, Ken