polk psw 505 port turbulence!

tonyw

Hi my name is tony, I purchased the polk psw 505 off of amazon last week, after scouring the customer reviews, all 373 of 4 star of better I decided to return the polk psw10 I scored out of best buy 2 days before so I could get the psw 505 instead. After getting the 5050 and hooking it up sounds good, but to me its lacking in the 25 to 40hz range, I listen to A LOT of bass heavy material, and anytime anything I listen to goes down the low 30hz range the sub sounds like there's a hurricane in the box! All I hear is port turbulence and its so loud that I cannot actually tell if the sub is actually maing bass! I've designed and constructed MANY vented enclosures myself for both the home and mobile scenes, and I do not usually "buy" speakers, I build my own, but the deal was just too good and I couldn't beat it! So to anyone who has the polk psw 505, please let me know if this is how this sub is supposed to sound or that it sounds to as if the unit may be defective, please feel free to respond however you wish, email, messege int matter! Thanks in advance!

ambiophonics

I think that sub is down 3db around 30hz so I expect you're approaching the limits of the sub to reproduce those frequencies at the volume you require. I tend to prefer sealed subs that don't let loose in their lower register.

tonyw

Its f3 is claimed to be 28hz, I guess I assumed it should be able to reproduce those frequencys within its passband without the super loud turbulence!

cnh

Welcome to Club Polk!

While it is true that Polk stats have that sub at 28hz +/- 3 db. The question is just how "loud" does it play a 28hz tone? That I don't know so I suspect that it probably starts to bottom out when overdriven somewhere in the low 30s.

In other words if you're expecting that sub to put out SPLs of over 105 db at 28hz with just 300 watts and a 12 inch, good luck with that. On the other hand. No one, I know, has claimed that a working PSW 505 produces "unacceptable" turbulence at lower frequencies--that's what that slotted port is for...to reduce and control for that.

But almost "any" sub can be overdriven. So either the sub is not performing properly and needs repairs. Or you're pushing it and should back the volume off? For example, do NOT push the volume control past the 12 o'clock position. And do not boost the bass on the AVR too many dbs. Perhaps break out an SPL meter and calibrate the sub for normal listening levels.

cnh

tonyw

That's the thing, I don't even have to have it cranked to have it sound like, man! Is just nuts! If that's normal its frequency resp is horribly exaggereated!

cnh

If it's not cranked up that much then something IS wrong with it. It should not be exaggerated in the way you describe. Can you return it?

cnh

tonyw

I should be able to, just got it a couple of days ago, the only thing is, thts the ONLY issue I have with it, sounds real good, and stupid loud with everything else, just anything at relative loudness below 40 hz is absolutely horrible. And before I go and return it I was hoping to find someone on here with the same sub so I can have their input, from first hand experience

Remo

I have psw 505 , zero port noise and plenty of bass.

Is your sub in the best spot in the room for your listening position?

tonyw

As far as I know position in the room has nothing to do with port turbulence, because port turbulence is port design dependant and not room dependant, if you would please, if you have any test tones, say about 38hz, because this is withing its passband, and claimed freq resp play that and get back to me of how the sub sounds, I would expect a little port turbulence, but not overwhelming as such that it makes me wana launch it thru the window! Hell, my infinity bu-80 doesn't have this much air noise! Please and thankyou