PSW 250 subwoofer - replacement plate amplifier needed

pneumadeux

Hey everyone,

My trusty lil' PSW 250's plate amp has given up the ghost after many years of faithful service. (Failure at the RCA jacks; they shorted and therefore keep blowing the fuse.)

Called Polk Customer Service, and of course, due to the age of the unit, they no longer have part RF2507-3.

I have left a note with the guys at Parts Express to see if one of their aftermarket plate amps might suffice. Not heard back yet.

Anyway, the cabinet is great and the woofer speaker itself is great. Certainly there's an amp that can be had to drive this guy that can be had for less than the cost of a replacement sub. (It's certainly a cheap sub... used are going for $90+, but the shipping is as much or more.)

Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Thanks lots.

rooftop59

pneumadeux wrote: »

Hey everyone,

My trusty lil' PSW 250's plate amp has given up the ghost after many years of faithful service. (Failure at the RCA jacks; they shorted and therefore keep blowing the fuse.)

Called Polk Customer Service, and of course, due to the age of the unit, they no longer have part RF2507-3.

I have left a note with the guys at Parts Express to see if one of their aftermarket plate amps might suffice. Not heard back yet.

Anyway, the cabinet is great and the woofer speaker itself is great. Certainly there's an amp that can be had to drive this guy that can be had for less than the cost of a replacement sub. (It's certainly a cheap sub... used are going for $90+, but the shipping is as much or more.)

Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Thanks lots.

Not worth it man, sorry. I would say the sub might be worth $50 used if it works. You got your moneys worth and then some…time to move on!

ChrisD06

Admittedly, I have a PSW350 (the model up) and it's not my favorite for home theatre usage, but it's a nice musical sub.

A Dayton Audio SA70 would probably be your best replacement option but I would highly consider a repair attempt yourself. If you can find the problem and know how to do some basic soldering then you could fix it for cheap. Factoring in part cost, shipping, tax, and possible modifications you'd need to make, it might not be worth the repair.

I don't know how you concluded the short was in the RCA jacks, but I would first and foremost attempt to plug the amp in with a new fuse without the EQ (RCA jack) board attached to the main amplifier board. If the fuse still blows then I'd guess that the short has to do with the amplifier circuitry and I'd actually be willing to bet that either the filter capacitors, voltage regulators, or transistors have gone bad, and all 3 of those have brand new compatible replacements available.

Also, while you're in there, check for any burnt components or spots on the board, and even cracked, broken, or bridged solder joints.

When repairing my RT3000p amplifiers, one of the boards which had factory soldering (the other one was fixed by a hack) had broken solder joints on the EQ board power connector and the subwoofer output connector. I could literally pull the connector out. Repaired with leaded solder and hopefully that problem won't occur ever again.

rooftop59

ChrisD06 wrote: »

Admittedly, I have a PSW350 (the model up) and it's not my favorite for home theatre usage, but it's a nice musical sub.

A Dayton Audio SA70 would probably be your best replacement option but I would highly consider a repair attempt yourself. If you can find the problem and know how to do some basic soldering then you could fix it for cheap. Factoring in part cost, shipping, tax, and possible modifications you'd need to make, it might not be worth the repair.

I don't know how you concluded the short was in the RCA jacks, but I would first and foremost attempt to plug the amp in with a new fuse without the EQ (RCA jack) board attached to the main amplifier board. If the fuse still blows then I'd guess that the short has to do with the amplifier circuitry and I'd actually be willing to bet that either the filter capacitors, voltage regulators, or transistors have gone bad, and all 3 of those have brand new compatible replacements available.

Also, while you're in there, check for any burnt components or spots on the board, and even cracked, broken, or bridged solder joints.

When repairing my RT3000p amplifiers, one of the boards which had factory soldering (the other one was fixed by a hack) had broken solder joints on the EQ board power connector and the subwoofer output connector. I could literally pull the connector out. Repaired with leaded solder and hopefully that problem won't occur ever again.

The OP might well go this route, and if so good for him and for you for taking the time to offer the help. However, there is no world in which this sub is worth this amount of work. it's a 20+ year old 8 inch subwoofer that was a budget sub to begin with. If money is really tight, find something local...

xschop

pneumadeux wrote: »

Hey everyone,

My trusty lil' PSW 250's plate amp has given up the ghost after many years of faithful service. (Failure at the RCA jacks; they shorted and therefore keep blowing the fuse.)

Called Polk Customer Service, and of course, due to the age of the unit, they no longer have part RF2507-3.

I have left a note with the guys at Parts Express to see if one of their aftermarket plate amps might suffice. Not heard back yet.

Anyway, the cabinet is great and the woofer speaker itself is great. Certainly there's an amp that can be had to drive this guy that can be had for less than the cost of a replacement sub. (It's certainly a cheap sub... used are going for $90+, but the shipping is as much or more.)

Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Thanks lots.

You could try the Aiyima A3001 sub amp.

rooftop59

xschop wrote: »

pneumadeux wrote: »

Hey everyone,

My trusty lil' PSW 250's plate amp has given up the ghost after many years of faithful service. (Failure at the RCA jacks; they shorted and therefore keep blowing the fuse.)

Called Polk Customer Service, and of course, due to the age of the unit, they no longer have part RF2507-3.

I have left a note with the guys at Parts Express to see if one of their aftermarket plate amps might suffice. Not heard back yet.

Anyway, the cabinet is great and the woofer speaker itself is great. Certainly there's an amp that can be had to drive this guy that can be had for less than the cost of a replacement sub. (It's certainly a cheap sub... used are going for $90+, but the shipping is as much or more.)

Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Thanks lots.

You could try the Aiyima A3001 sub amp.

Walmart has it for $54 shipped…might be worth a short at that price…

ChrisD06

rooftop59 wrote: »

ChrisD06 wrote: »

Admittedly, I have a PSW350 (the model up) and it's not my favorite for home theatre usage, but it's a nice musical sub.

A Dayton Audio SA70 would probably be your best replacement option but I would highly consider a repair attempt yourself. If you can find the problem and know how to do some basic soldering then you could fix it for cheap. Factoring in part cost, shipping, tax, and possible modifications you'd need to make, it might not be worth the repair.

I don't know how you concluded the short was in the RCA jacks, but I would first and foremost attempt to plug the amp in with a new fuse without the EQ (RCA jack) board attached to the main amplifier board. If the fuse still blows then I'd guess that the short has to do with the amplifier circuitry and I'd actually be willing to bet that either the filter capacitors, voltage regulators, or transistors have gone bad, and all 3 of those have brand new compatible replacements available.

Also, while you're in there, check for any burnt components or spots on the board, and even cracked, broken, or bridged solder joints.

When repairing my RT3000p amplifiers, one of the boards which had factory soldering (the other one was fixed by a hack) had broken solder joints on the EQ board power connector and the subwoofer output connector. I could literally pull the connector out. Repaired with leaded solder and hopefully that problem won't occur ever again.

The OP might well go this route, and if so good for him and for you for taking the time to offer the help. However, there is no world in which this sub is worth this amount of work. it's a 20+ year old 8 inch subwoofer that was a budget sub to begin with. If money is really tight, find something local...

Agreed, though depending on the difficulty of the repair it might be a fun project if he REALLY likes the sub and it could be used down the road. Unless he has the soldering gear already and it's a simple fix (such as the filter caps, they're like $5) it's not worth it.

Otherwise, me personally, I'd part it out, sell the parts (or use them for a project), and get a new subwoofer.

xschop

....Or he could open it up and butyl mat the basket, maybe upgrade the wiring.

pneumadeux

Enough said, everyone. Budget sub from a bygone era.

Time to replace...

VR3

Never doubt a psw subwoofers owners drive and ability to keep these subs going. They are a wiry bunch.

ChrisD06

VR3 wrote: »

Never doubt a psw subwoofers owners drive and ability to keep these subs going. They are a wiry bunch.

To my knowledge, Polk only has a few properly good subs. The RT3000p being one of them

VR3

Subs from that era were pretty good actually for sure. Psw1200, srt, etc all very respectable

ChrisD06

VR3 wrote: »

Subs from that era were pretty good actually for sure. Psw1200, srt, etc all very respectable

I wish they'd make subs like that again. The power port IMO would set them apart from the competition but it seems they're not too focused on the subwoofer market which is a shame.

VR3

Honestly every brand is this way now. There are dedicated subwoofer companies and then speaker companies make an aesthetic match for their line

SeleniumFalcon

Then there was the DIY subwoofer designed by Matt Polk.

pitdogg2

VR3 wrote: »

Honestly every brand is this way now. There are dedicated subwoofer companies and then speaker companies make an aesthetic match for their line

It's hard to compete with dedicated subwoofer companies when you're a speaker company with many lines. I do not blame Polk for not making them as good as they did when the dedicated subwoofer companies were not as prevalent as they are today.

VR3

Svs changed everything, for the better, imo

xschop

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

Then there was the DIY subwoofer designed by Matt Polk.

Do expound...😊

ChrisD06

VR3 wrote: »

Svs changed everything, for the better, imo

Need to get my hands on one still. I've heard them. They're nuts.

VR3

They are not what they used to be, imo. Prices are much higher then long ago and they are no longer USA made.

If I were looking for a home theater subwoofer today, I would go for power sound audio which is ran by Tom V, the V in SVS

ChrisD06

VR3 wrote: »

They are not what they used to be, imo. Prices are much higher then long ago and they are no longer USA made.

If I were looking for a home theater subwoofer today, I would go for power sound audio which is ran by Tom V, the V in SVS

I'll check them out. Thanks, Trey.

pneumadeux

So, returning to my dead PS W 250, sure it had a 50 W amplifier on the back, but was the woofer capable of handling more? Was it possibly the same woofer in another product with a larger amplifier? How does one test a speaker for its maximum amperage? Please forgive the newbie language. I work in marketing and was trained as an illustrator :-)

pitdogg2

pneumadeux wrote: »

So, returning to my dead PS W 250, sure it had a 50 W amplifier on the back, but was the woofer capable of handling more? Was it possibly the same woofer in another product with a larger amplifier? How does one test a speaker for its maximum amperage? Please forgive the newbie language. I work in marketing and was trained as an illustrator :-)

It all depends, If you're looking to put a 500 watt amp on it I would be very leery. If you're looking at say a 200 watt amp you may get away with it if you're not trying to wring out that 200 watts all the time.

Honestly your best bet is to move on and look at HSU, SVS or other sub makers. It just (to me ) doesn't make sense to fix a sub as old and bottom of the line. It's never going to get better, you would be better off putting that coin to something more current with better driver.

Clipdat

$629 can't beat it for the price: https://www.rythmikaudio.com/L12.html

SeleniumFalcon

The article that appeared in Audio Magazine started on page 28:

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/90s/Audio-1996-05.pdf

The marketing department, at Polk, put together packets of information (including floppy disc!) giving a person information to build a great sounding subwoofer.

xschop

Thanks for that link/info.

Polk got their RM1000 subwoofer right. Glad I rebuilt it.
I still want to hear an LF-14.

rooftop59

Clipdat wrote: »

$629 can't beat it for the price: https://www.rythmikaudio.com/L12.html

You fellas and your categorical statements, jeez...

it depends on your goals. Home theater or creating a more club-like atmosphere? This is much better for a few bucks more:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=42847&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PMax+|+Marrier+|+ULTRA+HIGH&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&hsa_acc=6614305189&hsa_cam=20629231349&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA5L2tBhBTEiwAdSxJX1Eoi6KbSKZVIEXE0A5sbW6izI_Clc8ldggrYKqCekcJXYfQsx7vvhoC1QwQAvD_BwE

rooftop59

VR3 wrote: »

Subs from that era were pretty good actually for sure. Psw1200, srt, etc all very respectable

Come on, Trey, this is very misleading. Perhaps the PSW1200, the SRT, and the subs in the RT5000 setup were pretty darn good, but basically everything else Polk sold in that era? All the cheap 8, 10, and 12 inch models sold through Best Buy, circuit City, and Tweeter, were pretty terrible. Most of the output was above 40 hz, not particularly tight or musical, underpowered, lightweight and cheap. Yes, that was more the norm until SVS and HSU came to dominate, but they the vast majority just weren't very good...

Clipdat

rooftop59 wrote: »

Clipdat wrote: »

$629 can't beat it for the price: https://www.rythmikaudio.com/L12.html

You fellas and your categorical statements, jeez...

it depends on your goals. Home theater or creating a more club-like atmosphere? This is much better for a few bucks more:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=42847

I will kindly disagree that a ported non-servo sub is "much better" - especially if the intended application is for any kind of music listening whatsoever.

For strictly HT? Mayyyybe, but I'd still rather give my money to Rythmik than Monoprice.

VR3

We can keyboard warrior this out all day.

Almost ALL brands make "entry level" gear to bring in the masses. Most all of this stuff compared to high end stuff is "junk".

Focal makes junk. SVS makes junk. All companies make the categorical junk you speak of. The difference is back in the day, Polk made some junk but as you moved up the line, their stuff became "good". The PSW650, PSW1200 - both decent subs for their intended price point and audience. Polk, to my knowledge, doesnt make anything that remotely can stand toe to toe with a dedicated subwoofer company at this moment.

So I stand by my previous statement, without hesitation. 20 years ago, you potentially could have bought a subwoofer to use in a dedicated HT and music system that said Polk on it and not be laughed out of the room when you brought in a comparable velodyne, svs, hsu, etc.

rooftop59

VR3 wrote: »

without hesitation. 20 years ago, you potentially could have bought a subwoofer to use in a dedicated HT and music system that said Polk on it and not be laughed out of the room when you brought in a comparable velodyne, svs, hsu, etc.

Now with that heavy qualification, sure 😂. That was also true for Mirage, Energy, Boston Acoustics, and a number of other companies. But you did have to purchase the right ones. So, if the larger point is the the internet direct Sub companies made it economically untenable for big speaker companies to try and keep up, I agree that's probably true...