Question on rt3000p

mva5580

So I have 1 rt3000p that I use as my subwoofer. I love the sub, I guess in part because it just looks unique and is different from other subwoofers. I also think it sounds great, but recently I've been noticing something and I guess I'm not sure if something is already wrong, about to get worse, etc.

What happens is whenever I go to the sub and adjust the volume knob on the front, it briefly starts putting out bass at differing levels of volume. It'll just bump away for 5 seconds or less, and then it's done. Goes back to normal functioning. And also last night I noticed while watching a movie at 2 of the really big bass-centric portions of the movie, it seemed like it got a lot louder than what I was expecting it, and I don't know....it just didn't sound 100% right. Every other part of the movie was fine, I mean the scenes with less noticeable bass seemed to play normally without issue.

Any suggestions/guidance? Thank you.

Mystery

Is the volume pad loose when you touch it?
Bass vibrations may be changing volume.
Also, Lpad may need cleaning.
Those are easy things to check. After that... crossovers, drivers etc...

dpowell

DSkip wrote: »

had the plate amp serviced yet? The power caps are notorious for going bad. You can pull the plate and give it a one-over. If you se any bulging caps, time for some servicing for sure.

+1 Probably your main power caps going bad. If you can troubleshoot it yourself, Polk CS can send you replacement parts and give you a discount if you let them know you're a member of CP. You can also send it to Polk for service but shipping the amp can get pricey and you need to protect it well when you pack it up. I had one repaired by Polk a few years back for <$70. Not sure what it costs these days.

mva5580

I'm going to assume all of that brown gunk isn't optimal:

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/3403/20121228230754.jpg

Phasewolf

Take and post a pic of the large filter caps. They would be the ones I would be worried about most. The brown stuff I have seen before it could be old flex glue or a cap that has leaked.

mva5580

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6365/img20130101115334.jpg

The one on the left seems damaged to me.

I guess my question is, is this all worth servicing, or do you think I should just go out and get a new subwoofer? The Klipsch rw-12d is on sale at newegg today for $350, and I'm tempted to just buy that and sell this to someone who is willing to maybe put more effort into it than I am. But if the rt3000p is DEFINITELY a much better subwoofer after the servicing than the rw-12d is, then maybe I'll look into that ebay guy who services the plate. What do you think?

cincycat13

Ebay guy who services the plate? Just call polk direct. I had 3 rt3000p amps repaired just this fall.

mva5580

Oh Polk will still do it themselves on a product this old? Well I guess that's on option then. Is there a rough estimate on what they charge?

I just want to be sure that if I pay $100, $200, whatever it would cost to service this thing, that it's worth it in the long haul. I keep going back and forth between paying the cost to repair this one and just paying ~$350-$400 (what I'm willing to spend) on a new subwoofer like the one I listed above. But if this sub is most definitely of higher quality after repair than those, I will have to consider it.

Phasewolf

What you are talking is there was some Chinese that got inside info about making those caps but did not get the complete formula and thinking all was good mass made them and they were installed in all kinds of stuff.

Not sure if that ever got worked out but replacing caps is a easy job and if I could not do it myself I would send it out.

civilian

mva5580 wrote: »

The Klipsch rw-12d is on sale at newegg today for $350, and I'm tempted to just buy that and sell this to someone who is willing to maybe put more effort into it than I am. What do you think?

If your only using the one sub ( which it sounds like) there are better options than one RT3000 sub. I don't know about the one you mentioned though.

dpowell

Polk repaired the first one for me for $69 labor/parts (2 new main power caps). I am local so I was able to take the amp in for repair vs. shipping. That was 4 or 5 years ago so I'm not sure what the cost would be for you but at least you have a ball park.