PSW 125 - Amp Replacement

TShand

Hey Polk Crew...

I just received a new amp for my PSW 125 (see my posting "Authorized Polk Repairs in Calgary" for the whole story)... And replacing it was a cinch. But I have one minor question...

The new amp came with a set of the red and black connector wires for inside the sub. I just left the ones in my sub where they were, and hooked up the new amp.

Should I swap out the old wires for the new ones - or does it really matter? If it makes a difference - the wires currently in the sub look a little thicker/better quality than the ones sent with the replacement amp.

Thoughts?
Travis

ViperZ

Travis, leave the original wires there You should be fine. Congrats!

cnh

Thicker wire is almost always the best choice..

cnh

dtvhen

At least it is good to see that someone was able to get a replacement, maybe this is due to the fact that this was in 2009 when they had them in stock. I have been waiting for 6-8 weeks for them to have them manufactured. BUMMER! I thought that when I replaced MY HT I would be going with Polk but with the experience I've had trying to get my subwoofer fixed, I doubt that I will be looking their way.

TShand wrote: »

Hey Polk Crew...

I just received a new amp for my PSW 125 (see my posting "Authorized Polk Repairs in Calgary" for the whole story)... And replacing it was a cinch. But I have one minor question...

The new amp came with a set of the red and black connector wires for inside the sub. I just left the ones in my sub where they were, and hooked up the new amp.

Should I swap out the old wires for the new ones - or does it really matter? If it makes a difference - the wires currently in the sub look a little thicker/better quality than the ones sent with the replacement amp.

Thoughts?
Travis

claude2704

its possible to have repacement amp on my PSW125 under waranty in Montreal QC

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Welcome to Polk's forum. Send an email to Walter.Moser@soundunited.com and give him your name, address, telephone number and the serial number and date of purchase of your subwoofer.
Regards, Ken

fmw

If there is no warranty option for your sub then yes you can replace a dead plate amp with a new one. Which plate amp you choose is mostly a matter of cost. In my experience the name brand units like yours will face pretty hefty replacement parts costs. If so you can buy a plate amp at Parts Express.

If you choose a third party amp you would likely have to make some alterations to the opening for the amp in the cabinet. I've done it successfully a couple of times. If you don't want to mess with that then you can simply decide between using a replacement amp from the manufacturer or replacing the sub entirely.

DevoNorm

I realize the posts here are several years old so it's doubtful anyone will see my comment. In any case, after scouring the internet on and off from weeks, I've come to the conclusion that my decision to purchase of a Polk Audio PSW125 sub-woofer was a poor one. Why? Because I seem to be one of probably thousands of owners sitting here with a dead, useless sub.

It wasn't even a year and a half after lightly using the sub that I noticed severe distortion coming from the sub. My immediate solution at the time was to simply turn it off and use another sub that I already had connected to my system.

Being someone who is always in poor health, I never got around to investigating the warranty and getting the problem addressed. Yes, that was partly my downfall but my illnesses grew progressively worse and had little time to look into the warranty aspect of things.

Then about a year later, I plugged the PSW125 back in for a lark, and much to my surprise the sub was working fine. Fast forward another six month or so and I soon learned my delight would turn to despair. The sub-woofer was totally dead. Just great. Back to using just one sub again (BTW, a much less expensive model that had ten times more use than the Polk one, and the sound quality is significantly better too. Manufactured in Quebec.)

The fact that so many owners are complaining about the same issues (dead, or distorted sound) leads me to believe this model is a total lemon. Since Polk doesn't even want to hand out the power supply schematic tells me all I need to know about this company. (I ran into the same runaround a decade ago with a computer monitor made by Dell. They couldn't give me the print sets and the company told me they were under a non-disclosure agreement not to reveal who the real manufacturer was. Talk about market collusion.)

We consumers sure do get a raw deal, all in the name of corporate greed. Apple pulls the same stunt, and the list goes on and on.

I sure don't think it'll be worth my time and effort trying to get a replacement power supply since I bought the sub on sale from my local electronics distributor.

The odds are the engineers and customer service department at Polk Audio already know there's a design flaw with that model. The right thing to do was to inform customers of this issue and at least meet the customer half way. Instead, I'm stuck with what only can be called an expensive and heavy side table.

I'd be willing to cough up $100 for a replacement module but I honestly doubt they'll be happy with that... if I'm going to spend $200 or more, I may as well put it towards a sub-woofer manufacturer that makes their products last beyond warranty.

Hermitism

At some point during the history of the PSW125, the rear panel/plate (amp/power supply) was replaced with a different one. I owned the original and it failed a couple months out of warranty. I order a new one from Polk for around $100 and when it arrived I noticed that the amp they were using was different. The screw holes were even in different locations. Without opening yours up to see which one you have, if I remember correctly the original rear panel used a C-7 IEC connection for the power cord, and the new one used a standard iec (I think it's called a C13). After replacing the rear plate, I used it for a couple more years without issue, then replaced the sub with a higher end sub, so I can't speak to the life span of the replacement rear plate. If you do decide to replace the rear plate, let them know you are a forum member, I think they still give forum member a small discount for parts. Polk speakers and Polk subs are two completely different fruit.

denny_crane

I must admit, these PSW125 subwoofers are garbage!! I bought two and both amp / power supplies buzz. This began a little over a year after owning. This is a few years ago - they have both been turned into end tables long ago. Ever since then, I lost total faith in Polk products and would never buy another amp'd / powered device because they appear to use cheap electrical components.

kbarnes89

My PSW125 has the removable power cord but I don’t see an extra fuse?

DenisDucharme

Hello,
I am another unfortunate owner of a PSW125. I even tried to replace the capacitors which seemed to be faulty, but without success.
I'm sure the speaker is still good, is there a solution to replace the board?

Ghoulshine

Wow! I had no idea that many other have shared my experience with the PSW125. I just thought I was having bad luck. I purchased 2 of them in 2014. At almost the same time both amps failed in about 3 years. Both were still under warranty luckily and I had them both replaced. I was really not sure what the problem was at the time, so I had both 12 inch drivers replaced as well. Turns out it was the amplifiers, of course, but I didn't mind picking up 2 new drivers while they were still free to me under warranty. If it's okay, I'll put in some praise for Crutchfield as they replaced all 4 items for me quickly and without complaint. They virtually guaranteed me that my problem was the amps but replaced the drivers just the same. So, I was off and cruising with virtually 2 new subs. Both amps have failed me once again. I've since purchased a SVS Subwoofer, turns out they sound much better anyway. Meantime I'm stuck with 2 useless sub boxes. I'm certain the drivers are still good, but I will not replace the amps with any Polk product. Any suggestions of what I can do with them other than sticking them where the Sun don't shine? The furniture is still perfect.

pitdogg2

Feed them to the fire gods....

skipshot12

Had similar problems with my Infinity Prelude MTS speakers.
Absolutely top of the line sound…… when they worked.

They’re now boat anchors!

Zero support from Harmon Audio that purchased Infinity.
These were $10,000 for the pair.
I have 6 pairs of these speakers along with two center channel speakers that are bleep!

Buyer’s beware.
Listen to actual owner’s experience with the product.

Fabio_rm

Ghoulshine wrote: »

Any suggestions of what I can do with them other than sticking them where the Sun don't shine? The furniture is still perfect.

resell them on ebay at a modest price, at least you take them away from where the sun doesn't shine, often the defect is solved by replacing the original Chinese capacitors with better ones, there are many people who are able to repair them and you should find the buyer, if if you were in my city I would take them... at a bargain price. I bought a defective psw110 for 50 euros and with less than 10 euros I repaired it.