Polk Powered Sub PSW303 Scratchy Sounding

metalhead212

First and foremost I just wanted to say this forum is awesome. I haven't been able to find the sollution to my problem, but from all the threads I've read through this seems like a very strong and serious community of helpful people . . which, of course, is why I am now posting my question.

My problem is this. About a year ago, my big screen went out. Being on the budget I am on I didn't have enough cash to buy another one so painfully I had to leave my surround system in cold storage until I could afford another T.V.. That day finally came today. I hooked everything up exactly the same way as it was before, minus the differentiations for the new T.V.. Long story short all my speakers work except for the powered sub. I have a PSW303 110V and I am running it all through an Onkyo TX5 R303 receiver. I ran a test on the speakers and they all chimed in except when it came to the sub it was very weak and sounded more like it was being interfered with somehow.

I killed the power to the sub and and ensured all connections were flush. I moved the sub away from all of the other speakers and the T.V., I also plugged it into its own outlet, and still . . .nothing. When in use it sounds like a scratchy mess when it is supposed to hit. I am getting no sound what so ever out of it. When I touch the cable the plugs into the reciever I get loud feedback, but when I plug it in I get no sound. I checked the power light and it stays steady green for a bit and then it just goes to red like it isn't getting a signal.

Could this be an issue with the speaker or could it be something with the receiver? I am about out of options here. Sadly I don't have anyone I know that could let me use their sub to test the receiver or anyone that has a receiver to let me test my sub so I am screwed on that. I'm pretty sure the fuse isn't blown, but I am not exactly comfy with opening the speaker because I don't want to get screwed with customer support / repair if I have to send it in and they tell me I tampered with it and they won't do anything to fix it because I got into it.

If anyone can help me out or give me a bit of advise to send me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. I'd call customer support for both Polk and Onkyo, but it is a tad late for them to be open. Anyway, thank to everyone in advance and if you need anymore information please feel free to ask.

Thanks!

wutadumsn23

I'm sure this isn't it but did you plug the cable for the subwoofer into the sub pre-out that stands alone on the unit, and not the one that is grouped together with the rest of the pre-outs? I had a friend that did that and it did something similar to what you are describing. If not maybe a bad cable? Or possibly a problem with the sub/receiver. Would be great if you could have them bench checked to isolate the problem, but that doesn't sound like an option for you.

metalhead212

Thank you for your reply.

I did ensure that it was in the correct spot on the receiver. I refrenced the manual for both the sub and the reciever and ensured it was plugged into the correct spot. I also used three different sents of wiring to connect the speaker, and still no luck.

Thank you for the suggestion though.

wutadumsn23

Just a shot in the dark, didn't figure it was going to solve your problem. I remember back in the day somebody bench checking their sub w/ a CD player?? Hopefully someone with more knowledge will see this post and point you in a better direction. Hope you get it fixed.

ViperZ

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Just a shot in the dark, didn't figure it was going to solve your problem. I remember back in the day somebody bench checking their sub w/ a CD player?? Hopefully someone with more knowledge will see this post and point you in a better direction. Hope you get it fixed.

You really need a CD player with the volume control, otherwise, you may blow something in the sub.

I have a portable CD player (discman) with line out and the connector cable (essentially 1/8" headphones jack to L/R RCA) for such testing. Works like a charm.

wutadumsn23

There you go metal, that is what I was talking about. Thanks Viper.