Polk Soundbar AM180721077 Suddenly Muffled
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Elllzee
Posts: 9
I've had the Polk AM180721077 soundbar mounted beneath my HD TV for at least 8 to 10 years and it has been fine, no problems at all. The other day my entire neighborhood lost power for 24 hours. The TV and soundbar were both off when we lost power and also when the power was restored. Today I turned on the TV and the sound coming from the soundbar is muffled and crackly. I tried a reset (pressing the Mute and Down Arrow buttons for 10 seconds, as I saw suggested online) but it did nothing. I've turned the soundbar off and on several times. I took the soundbar off the wall to see whether something came loose or a wire etc looked "bad," but it all looks fine. I don't know whether the power loss and restoration had anything to do with the problems in the soundbar. We've lost power before and this hasn't happened. The soundbar wasn't acting up before this, it seems to have happened out of the blue!
Can a soundbar suddenly go bad? I have temporarily switched my TV audio to use its own speakers instead of the sound bar so that I can watch TV! Is this something I can troubleshoot and fix, or do I need to get a new soundbar?
Can a soundbar suddenly go bad? I have temporarily switched my TV audio to use its own speakers instead of the sound bar so that I can watch TV! Is this something I can troubleshoot and fix, or do I need to get a new soundbar?
Post edited by Elllzee on
Comments
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Hello,
Does your soundbar directly plug into the AC or is there a power supply that goes from a wall outlet to the soundbar? -
Everything is through the wall behind the TV. The sound bar is either connected to an outlet behind the TV, or it's plugged into the TV as a source of power.
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Thanks for the additional information. What prompted me to ask the question is that if your soundbar had an external wall power supply (sometimes called a "wall wart") it is possible it is damaged and that's why it's not sounding correct. But your unit has a power cord that plugs into the back of the soundbar, correct?
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Thank you for trying to help! Even though the power plug to the soundbar goes through the wall, I did see the Polk external power supply beneath the piece of furniture that is under the TV. The green light to it is on. There are a lot of power plugs down there plugged into a couple of surge-protected power strips!
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In that case it might be that the external power supply is defective. The first place to try for a replacement is with Polk, call 1-800-377-7655 and follow the prompts to the parts department. If they don't have any let me know and I'll try to find one for you.
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I called Polk Support and they insisted that the problem was that the audio cables that had gone bad (the red and white cables). I doubt that. When the sound bar is on, it sounds like a pulsar with garbled sound (bzzzt....bzzzt....bzzzt) -- even when the audio cables are unplugged.
Polk does not have a replacement power supply for my soundbar in stock right now. I looked on Amazon but can't seem to find exactly the right thing (correct voltage, amperage, etc). Can you please help me find it? I believe that you are probably correct -- that it's the power brick that has gone bad. Maybe something in its electronics got fried when the power came back on after that blackout in my neighborhood. -
What are the wall-wart specs?
Welcome to Club Polk, BTW.
Tom~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
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I found this after searching some more online. Should I trust this???
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0S1RG5/ref=sw_img_1?smid=AXZD0AJNQX5UZ&psc=1
I also found something on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/123890031125?hash=item1cd86bda15:g:uOkAAOSwxR1dZr6C
I'm just hesitant of shoddy sellers. I would rather have an OEM product if possible!
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The Amazon power supply looks to be a good choice. The only unknown is if the connector that plugs into the soundbar is the correct diameter. Since they indicate that it is intended to fit Polk products in all likelihood it will work fine. I've never had a problem buying from Amazon or eBay for that matter.
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OK I bought the Amazon one. I won't receive it for about 10 days, but I'll report back after I try it out. Thank you so much, everyone, for your help! In the mean time, I'll just watch the TV with its built-in speakers (better than nothing)
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I got the Amazon replacement power supply and its cords. It made absolutely no difference. So I bought new speaker wires and tried those as well. Also no difference. The only thing I haven't done is have the TV taken off the wall (which my husband would need help to do -- I can't help with this because of my back problems). We're wondering whether the soundbar itself is shot and needs to be totally replaced. We're wondering whether it's worth it to get a neighbor to help us take the TV off the wall to check it out before buying a new sound bar. Uugh!
Do soundbars just spontaneously go bad like this?? (Like -- maybe a transformer or something blew in the soundbar itself??) -
Electronics can and do fail at any given time. The power outage appears to have contributed to the failure, which is not uncommon. Those basic power strip surge protection devices are worthless. They use MOV devices, which once tripped are no longer any good.
Time to buy a new soundbar and I'd suggest investing in a high grade surge protector. SurgeX would be a good choice as they do not use MOV devices.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Thank you very much for your help!
