psw125 extremely low volume

tjontherox

Little background: I have had a polk surrounded setup that I bought from Circuit City about 10 years ago. It has a psw202 and small satellite speakers. It sounded good for a lot of years until the sub seemingly went south. It would power up but no sound would come out. I figured it had a lot of use and could in fact have gone bad, so about 2yrs ago I bought a psw125 and it worked fine for a bit but then gave me some problems. It would do the same as the 202. It would intermittently go in and out.

This past Christmas my fiance bought be a denon avr 1613 receiver. The 125 worked again and I was happy. I watch very little TV on the TV that the system is set up on since I don't have a high def TV there and its a pain to navigate the menu since the receiver needs to be hooked to a TV to fully use it. Tonight while listening to the radio (low volume) the sub would lose all volume. Its hooked via rca cable and with the volume on the sub cranked all the way up and the other speakers unhooked, you can barely hear it. I happened to hook the 202 up and that works still. I pulled the panel off and checked the fuse and it appears to be fine.

I am extremely frustrated with the whole sub problem. It worked for 2 songs and part of a commercial break and then the volume basically quit. Unfortunately the sub is out of warranty which sucks because in the 2 yes I've owned it, it probably only has 50-75 hours use on it.

amgala

Was the sub volume set to max when you ran Audyssey? If so, that may be the reason for your problems. Because your sub volume was set to max, the AVR is sending as little a signal as possible to not blow out the sub. Perhaps the signal is too low to even activate the sub some times. Set the volume knob to 50% and re-run Audyssey. The gain value in the AVR should be between -3 and +3. If it is higher, turn the volume knob down a bit more and try again. Keep doing this until you get a gain between -3 and +3. Then, if you want some more bass, increase the gain in the receiver. Don't change the knob position.

amgala

Also, in case the sub has a low pass filter knob also, set that to max (150 hz). You can set the low pass filter in the AVR to 120 hz.

Tornado Red

As you've moved AVRs in and out, subs in and out....you haven't mentioned if you've tried a different cable for your sub(s)? Maybe try a new sub cable, if you haven't already, and see if that makes a difference.

tjontherox

amgala wrote: »

Was the sub volume set to max when you ran Audyssey? If so, that may be the reason for your problems. Because your sub volume was set to max, the AVR is sending as little a signal as possible to not blow out the sub. Perhaps the signal is too low to even activate the sub some times. Set the volume knob to 50% and re-run Audyssey. The gain value in the AVR should be between -3 and +3. If it is higher, turn the volume knob down a bit more and try again. Keep doing this until you get a gain between -3 and +3. Then, if you want some more bass, increase the gain in the receiver. Don't change the knob position.

I had the volume set to mid 50% ish and the crossover maxed out

Tornado Red wrote: »

As you've moved AVRs in and out, subs in and out....you haven't mentioned if you've tried a different cable for your sub(s)? Maybe try a new sub cable, if you haven't already, and see if that makes a difference.

I have tried 3 different RCA cords and nothing changes. Like I said, my 10" did this a couple years ago and after trying a bunch of stuff and it not working, I went out and bought the 12". I figured the 10 had seen its day and a lot of use, so it was justifiable to get a new one. I bought the 12 and it worked for a while. Around Christmas the 12" started getting flaky. My fiance bought me a new receiver and that seemed to cure it. I know I said earlier that I had 50-75 hours over the course of 2 is years but I know it under 50 hours of use, mostly movies. I hooked the 10 back up for haha's and it works perfectly no matter which rca I use.

Its just baffling that it was working yesterday and after a couple songs and a commercial on the radio, it quit.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Sorry you're having a problem. As a first test let's see if the sub is working properly. To do this you would turn the sub's volume control all of the way down and remove any sub-cable you have connected to it. Next, disconnect your DVD player from the system and bring it to where the sub is. Take a good quality RCA cable and connect from either right or left audio output to the LFE input on the sub. Then begin playing a CD in the player and turn the sub's volume up slightly, there should be plenty of bass at around the 8:00 o'clock position of the volume control.
Regards, Ken

tjontherox

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

Hello,
Sorry you're having a problem. As a first test let's see if the sub is working properly. To do this you would turn the sub's volume control all of the way down and remove any sub-cable you have connected to it. Next, disconnect your DVD player from the system and bring it to where the sub is. Take a good quality RCA cable and connect from either right or left audio output to the LFE input on the sub. Then begin playing a CD in the player and turn the sub's volume up slightly, there should be plenty of bass at around the 8:00 o'clock position of the volume control.
Regards, Ken

I forgot to mention, I tried that last night after I posted this. I read during a search somewhere else on the forum where you had suggested that and when I try it with the volume all the way down obviously there is no sound. When you turn it all the way up gradually, it becomes very faint at full volume. I tried this trick on my older 10" also just to verify the cord and it works fine.

[Deleted User]

In that case there's a problem with the sub, either the bass amplifier or the woofer itself. Give Polk's CS department a call at 1-800-377-7655, on Monday, or send them an email to: polkcs@polkaudio.com and they'll be able to help solve the problem. It will be helpful if you can provide them the date and place of purchase.
Regards, Ken

tjontherox

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

In that case there's a problem with the sub, either the bass amplifier or the woofer itself. Give Polk's CS department a call at 1-800-377-7655, on Monday, or send them an email to: polkcs@polkaudio.com and they'll be able to help solve the problem. It will be helpful if you can provide them the date and place of purchase.
Regards, Ken

After letting it sit over night unplugged I tried the cd player directly to it again. Started at minimum volume and started to turn it up, got to about 40% and it quit again, back to its old routine. I'll have to go back to the store I bought it from to see if I can get a copy of the receipt. The date of manufacture says 08/10. If I had to guess on when I bought it, it would be the first 1/4 of 2011, because my old one went out and I wanted the new one for a small get together when I graduated college.

tjontherox

Just got back from the store. I bought it ABC Warehouse, local Detroit chain store, on 4/16/2011. I'll call on Monday. It would be nice to just exchange it with them if there was still a warranty instead of shipping parts back and forth.

tjontherox

Kenneth Swauger wrote: »

In that case there's a problem with the sub, either the bass amplifier or the woofer itself. Give Polk's CS department a call at 1-800-377-7655, on Monday, or send them an email to: polkcs@polkaudio.com and they'll be able to help solve the problem. It will be helpful if you can provide them the date and place of purchase.
Regards, Ken

Good news and bad news. I am happy that Polk has a standup reputation for problems with their products, however, I am disappointed with the cs rep that I dealt with. It was determined that the amp was bad in my powered subwoofer and that a new one would be sent out. I understand it may take a while to ship across country, but it took 2 weeks and countless calls/emails to even find out where the amp was. I emailed my cs rep multiple times to get tracking info that he said he would give my only to not receive it. When I called to find out a delivery date it was said it should be here on the 24th or 25th.

When I got home today I was excited to see a package that contained my amp! This is where it turns further south, it's the wrong amp and it is not a direct replacement and will not fit the sub cabinet. I emailed my cs rep with a model and serial number to ensure this wouldn't happen, but it did. Now I have to call/email/wait another 2+ weeks for me to send this one back and another 2+ weeks for another amp to show up, hoping its the right one this time and also hoping that the amp really is the problem. This is exactly why I would rather have been told to take the sub back to where I bought it so things could have been taken care of in a timely manner instead of getting ignored by the cs rep after the first call. I am extremely frustrated and at whits end on the whole ordeal now.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
It goes without saying that I'm certainly sorry that happened, when things go wrong they tend to snowball and really go wrong. I'll send a copy of this thread to Kim Jasper, Polk's CS manager and I'm sure he'll straighten things out. Unfortunately it is the start of a three day weekend, but I know he checks his email frequently. Hang in there, keep the faith, we'll get you a working sub.
Regards, Ken

tjontherox

Thanks for your help Ken! To add insult to injury, the sub is currently available for less than half what I bought it for at the store I bought it at

tjontherox

I sent another email to Dan yesterday, I'll have to check the response when I get to my home computer.