Psw10 not working

4Adam12

HI.

I am not sure what is wrong with my psw10 sub. The sub initially worked fine with my front 3 speakers for the first few days I have owned it. I recently hooked up my surround speakers to my receiver and now the sub has no output.

The speakers are hooked to a Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K receiver. All the speakers work except the sub. When I run the auto mcacc setup it no longer detects the subwoofer, setting it to NO. It used to detect it when I ran the three front speakers and the sub. Not sure what the problem is?

I have an rca cable running from the sub out on receiver to the L input on the sub. I have tried multiple cables with no difference. I have the crossover on the sub set to 160hz and the gain set to about 40% of the max. The auto mcacc reports that the volume on the sub is too low and that I should try setting it higher. I have tried many different gain settings and it always says its too low.

I have manually set the sub to YES and crossover to 80hz on the receiver however I do not get any bass output from the sub when watching movies with a 5.1 track. I have manually adjusted the sub output, on the receiver, from +5db to -5db with no difference. It is defaulted at 0db because it isn't detected by the auto mcacc.

Also the red standby light is on all the time regardless of what the switch is set to (off, auto, on). It doesn't change to green anymore even when receiver shows that a lfe signal is present and being output on receiver front panel. The only time it goes out is if I unplug the sub from the outlet.

Does anyone have any ideas before I return it for a replacement?

Thanks.

treitz3

Try hooking the sub up to one of the mains speaker level hookups. If you have no wire to do this separately, just hook it up to what you would normally hook the right speaker up to and be sure to play a low volume level of a known low frequency track.

Listen for the low level playback when the lower frequencies hit. If you don't hear anything then there may be an issue with the sub. Just make sure that whatever track that you play is capable of producing the frequencies necessary.

What kind of source do you have? I.E. CD player, DVD player, MP3.......etc.....?

treitz3

Oh, my manners. Welcome to the forum.

4Adam12

Thanks for the quick response and the welcome.

I am pretty new to home theater sound setups so I want to make sure I understand what you are advising me to do. I have banana plugs going into my receiver into their respective receptacles. And the bare wire hooked to each individual speaker.
So are you saying I can unhook the bare end that is attached to say the right speaker and hook it up to the sub? I can do this even though the end plugged into the receiver is connected to the front right receptacle of the receiver? This won't cause any harm? Last thing I want is to damage anything else.

I have a blu-ray player that supports bitstream output. I have been using the movie Ironman and its truehd track fed to the receiver but no bass. Weird that it worked initially but now nothing.

treitz3

4Adam12 wrote: »

So are you saying I can unhook the bare end that is attached to say the right speaker and hook it up to the sub?

Yes. Please be sure to follow the other recommendations in my previous post and you'll be fine.

[EDIT:]

4Adam12 wrote: »

I can do this even though the end plugged into the receiver is connected to the front right receptacle of the receiver

Before you do anything, please explain this statement.

4Adam12

Ok I will give that a try.

treitz3

treitz3 wrote: »

[EDIT:]Before you do anything, please explain this statement.

Connectivity
HDMI In 3 A/V
Component Video In / Monitor Out 3/1
AV In / Rec.Out 5/2
Audio In / Rec.Out (inc. tuner & front) 2/1
iPod Digital/USB
XM Satelite Radio Yes
Sirius Satelite Radio Yes
Digital Coaxial Input 2
Digital Optical Input / Output 4/1
Analog Multi-ch input 7
Preamp Output 7
Headphone Out Yes
Speaker A/B A+B

treitz3

I apologize, I am having issues with my mouse cutting and pasting. If I am reading you correctly, you can not power your sub through the front of this receiver. DO NOT insert anything into the front of the AVR!!!

Follow post #2 hooking the sub up to what you would normally hook the right speaker up to........changing nothing else. If this doesn't help, then have patience and wait until someone else chimes in or give Polk a call tomorrow. I can not do what I need to on my end without a mouse for the 'pooter.

4Adam12

Maybe some pictures will help?

http://img407.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0506st4.jpg

http://img355.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0507pm3.jpg

So right now I was gonna take the front right speaker wire and plug it to the sub like you can see in the second pic. Is that what you meant?

Also do I need to plug the sub in and leave the settings as they are?

Sorry I am new to this.

treitz3

Turn all equipment off.

Unhook everything to sub except the power cord.

Take the right speaker wire, install into the speaker level input of the sub.

Turn all volume levels down on the receiver and the sub. Power up.

Make sure the balance is equal between speakers [L+R mains] on the receiver.

Play a track with low frequencies at low volume and listen. Listen for the low level playback when the lower frequencies hit. If you don't hear anything then there may be an issue with the sub. Just make sure that whatever track that you play is capable of producing the frequencies necessary.

What kind of source do you have? I.E. CD player, DVD player, MP3.......etc.....?

comfortablycurt

I think what he was asking, is if he could still plug that wire into the sub, even though the wire was plugged into the speaker terminal for the front right speaker. In which case you would be just fine. Unplug that wire from your speaker, and plug it into the right speaker terminal (the little spring clips) on the PSW10. If you're not getting a signal still, there could be a problem with the sub.

4Adam12

Ok I will follow your steps.

What kind of source do you have? I.E. CD player, DVD player, MP3.......etc.....?

I have a blu-ray player that supports bitstream output. I have been using the movie Ironman and its 5.1 truehd track bitstreamed to the receiver.

treitz3

4Adam12 wrote: »

So right now I was gonna take the front right speaker wire and plug it to the sub like you can see in the second pic.Is that what you meant?

Yes. I apologize again. Working without a mouse is not what I call a day in the park, but yes.

treitz3

comfortablycurt wrote: »

I think what he was asking, is if he could still plug that wire into the sub, even though the wire was plugged into the speaker terminal for the front right speaker. In which case you would be just fine. Unplug that wire from your speaker, and plug it into the right speaker terminal (the little spring clips) on the PSW10. If you're not getting a signal still, there could be a problem with the sub.

Bingo!!! My mouse is dead. Good luck with your troubleshooting and Merry Christmas! Thanks Curt.;)

4Adam12

Well bummer for me I guess. No sound output from the sub using the speaker level connection.

Thanks for the help guys. I can always file for a rma with newegg, I suppose.

comfortablycurt

treitz3 wrote: »

Bingo!!! My mouse is dead. Good luck with your troubleshooting and Merry Christmas! Thanks Curt.;)

You're quite welcome. I've had mouses(mice?) die on me before and been forced to go without one for like a week straight...it's not enjoyable.

4Adam12 wrote: »

Well bummer for me I guess. No sound output from the sub using the speaker level connection.

Thanks for the help guys. I can always file for a rma with newegg, I suppose.

You might want to try disconnecting the speaker wire from your left speaker as well, and plugging it into the left speaker terminal on your PSW10. You'd want to leave the right speaker wire plugged into the sub as well. I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not, but it's worth a try.

4Adam12

Yeah I might as well give it a shot. I will see how that fares.

4Adam12

No dice.

Also just because I am curious. How would something like this happen? It worked ok for several days and then when I installed my surround speakers it stopped working. I am sure that was just a coincidence but I was wondering what could have gone wrong? I plugged it and it worked and then I hadn't fiddled with it until it stopped working. Maybe it just went bad?

comfortablycurt

Try turning off the low pass filter in your receiver and hook it up with a Y adapter into the line inputs. I'm not sure if that will work or not...but if you have a Y adapter might be worth a shot.

You might want to check out this thread to...

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40723

4Adam12

When you say disable the low pass filter in the receiver. Would that mean setting the crossover to the highest setting or ? The receiver doesn't recognize the sub currently anyway as it has set it to NO.

Thanks for the link to that thread, I read it before posting my problem.

comfortablycurt

I'm not sure...I think it might automatically disable the receivers low pass filter when you have it hooked up with a Y cable

treitz3

If your mains [Front L+R] are working and you hook either speaker or both up to the same signal via the speaker wires [to the sub] regardless of phase, the sub should be working provided it's powered up.

In other words, if you place the speaker wire that goes into the speaker(s) into the speaker level input(s) of the sub, you should have sound provided there is a low frequency signal (bass or "boom") being broadcast through the soundtrack.

If you do not and the sub is powered, call Polk and see what your options are.

1-800-764-1801 Call 8-10:30 PM EST.

comfortablycurt

treitz3 wrote: »

If your mains [Front L+R] are working and you hook either speaker or both up to the same signal via the speaker wires [to the sub] regardless of phase, the sub should be working provided it's powered up.

In other words, if you place the speaker wire that goes into the speaker(s) into the speaker level input(s) of the sub, you should have sound provided there is a low frequency signal (bass or "boom") being broadcast through the soundtrack.

If you do not and the sub is powered, call Polk and see what your options are.

1-800-764-1801 Call 8-10:30 PM EST.

I think that's what you're gonna have to do...your sub is most likely defective in some way.

4Adam12

Ok maybe that's what I should do. I definitely don't get any sound from the sub via the method you described. I know for certain that I should have gotten lfe output from the sub when I was watching the beginning of Ironman. I also tried Kung fu Panda and no lfe either. Both were 5.1 truehd tracks and I had sound from every speaker but the sub.

Kinda disappointing time to have it crap out. Maybe I should have bought a different sub.

gqllc007

Any chance the sub is not getting any power? You stated the red standby light stays on but no green light no matter where you turn the switch

comfortablycurt

If the red standby light is staying on I rather doubt it would be from not getting any power.

gqllc007

Well I guess I should have said...He does not get a green light even when he turns the switch to on....

4Adam12

Packed the thing up and sent it back to Newegg. Hopefully should get a replacement relatively soon.

4Adam12

Would just like to update the thread and say that I received the replacement today (got delayed because of the holidays and severe weather) and it works fine. Hopefully I just had a lemon and this sub will last me a while.

Thanks again for the troubleshooting help.