POLK DSW 550/660 remotes not working

greg100o

Hi folks I have a real problem with my remotes. I bought a Polk DSW 550 and right out of the box I noted the odd thing that the remote would not work at first but after turning the sub on for about 5 to 10 minutes it would work fine. Polk shipped me a new remote, and I changed batteries etc same thing. So I returned the sub as defective because the remote worked only intemittently.

I exchanged up to a DSW 660. Just unpacked it today and guess what the neither the new remote that came with the unit or replacement remote work at all. The sub otherwise works fine. I have exchanged batteries, the plastic tab is out of both. The replacment remote worked intermittently with the 550 after it would "warm up". That was very consistent. But not now.
Tech support is at a loss and is going to replace the 660 now. Even holding the remote a few inches from the IR receiver does not work.
The box was damaged a bit but there were no marks on the sub. The IR port is not blocked at all. I am using the sub speaker down as default.

I really like this sub and want it to work but cannot figure this out. All my other remotes work of course for my other electronics.

Any other polkie have this same problem? Could there be a run of defective IR receivers?

Thanks

Greg

jbooker82

I have noticed my 550 doing that some times. Dont hold the remote to close, and slightly off to the side. It isnt to big of a deal for me because I just set my sub and then put the remote in the drawer. I am not constantly turning it up and down.

slk55amg

I have the Micropro 4000, love the sub, not real satified with the remote, I,m not sure what my particular issue might be, however what you outline its at the very least, similar to your description.

greg100o

Thanks. I want to keep this open awhile to see if there might be a bigger problem. Without the remote working at all many of the upend features of these subs like setting phas, adjusting for location, mute, late night effects are unavaible of course. Some of these will be set once only, I agree but then maybe these one time things should not have been placed on the remote if one part failure can disarm the sub function. Knobs and switches seem more reliable. I spent a lot of money on this for my budget and want to be able to use these features in addition to enjoy the great sound. It honestly also makes me worry about the quality of these subs despite how great they sound given two with defective IR sensors.

Greg

Karl217

The same problem is still happening with my remote as well. I purchased the DSW 440 from Crutchfield and the wireless adapter. The first remote and sub worked on and off. I returned that one back to Crutchfield and they sent out a replacement that had the same issues. I contacted Polk and recieved a return authorization and sent that one out for testing. After a few days the gentleman called me and told me that he could not find anything wrong with the remote or ir setting. I asked him which setting to have it on to be able to use the remote, he indicated all three settings worked for him. On the user manual. it indicates when using the wireless adapter to put the power on standby. The remote still does not connect with the IR adapter. I am thinking about returning both the sound bar and the sub to Crutchfield and go to another brand, if I cannot get the remote to work with the sub.

greg100o

I received information from Polk that "We have discovered that there have been some bad IR sensors within the cabinet and we are working with the vendor to resolve this."
So that is good news that they have recognized and identified the problem and are working to solve it.

Hopefully the replacement will be just fine.

Greg

slk55amg

good work thanks so much for your effort.............................

martyjay75

I have a DSW Pro 400 Subwoofer that I purchased last summer (2010). I had been leaving the unit plugged in and with the power switch on using the "Auto" setting switch on the back of the unit. In the past, the unit would turn on when I turned on my TV and AV tuner and it would automatically shut off a few minutes after powering down my TV and tuner.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that the subwoofer had stopped the automatic powering down. When I tried to use the remote to turn it off/on manually, it didn't respond. Then I tried just leaving it on the "stand-by" setting and using the remote to turn it off or on as needed. That worked for about a week and now the unit doesn't respond at all to the remote. Since I rarely used the remote until I started having the problems, I doubt that this is a battery issue. I have read online about similar issues and I wondered if there is anything I might try to fix the problem?

greg100o

I would try a new battery as the easiest trouble shooting option. I am not sure what the life of the battery is even unused.

i did get a replacement POLK DSW 660 and the remote seems to be working OK so I will keep my fingers crossed.

Greg

martyjay75

greg100o wrote: »

I would try a new battery as the easiest trouble shooting option. I am not sure what the life of the battery is even unused.

i did get a replacement POLK DSW 660 and the remote seems to be working OK so I will keep my fingers crossed.

Greg

Tech support said they're sending me a new "electronics board" to install in my subwoofer. We'll see if that does anything. It's not so much the remote that bothers me. It's the fact that the auto on/off feature stopped working. In the mean time I'm just turning the whole thing on/off manually.

greg100o

Do they give detailed instructions on how to replace the circuit board? I have never taken apart a subwoofer.

Greg

martyjay75

greg100o wrote: »

Do they give detailed instructions on how to replace the circuit board? I have never taken apart a subwoofer.

Greg

Funny you should ask....

No, they didn't. Tech support made it sound like all I needed was "a little bit of time and a phillips head screwdriver." I popped open the back of my subwoofer and, needless to say it looked like a daunting task having never replaced a circuit board myself. Having no instructions or schematics to look at, I just put everything back together until I hear from tech support again. Given some time and a little bit of help, I'm hoping I can get the new board on there eventually. The only bummer now is, when I put the old board back into place, the blue LED light around the Polk logo won't turn on. But at least the subwoofer appears to be working.

I must have pulled something loose when I was poking around trying to map out which plugs/wires to pull and where to hook them back up.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cannikin

This happened to me, just got my 660wi this morning. Called customer support and talked to Paul. He told me that if I'm handy I can take off the back panel and re-seat the little plug that goes to the IR sensor at the front of the sub. I did and the remote started working!

Roxnatwist

I have the same problem with a DSW 550 I bought yesterday. Will be calling customer service this morning to see what the latest "fix" is. Even though $500 is not a ton of money for a sub, I would have expected a better out-of-the-box product from Polk. All my other Polk products have performed flawlessly so this is a little disappointing. I hope they are able to help me.

Conradicles

I have the same problem. The remote does not always work. I wonder if my Harmony remote can control the sub? I will try it and see...

Roxnatwist

I have a guy coming out to program my UR MX-3000 and am hoping he can set mine up so I can do away with the sub remote...once I get it working. I am really hoping he can program the sub into the macros so it will power on automatically when I fire up my system. I would think it would work with the Harmony as well.

Glowrdr

If the IR sensor is working, then you are able to program any remote for the sub. The issue that people seem to be having is a flaky receiver - in which case no remote would work.