Passive PSW-1000?

badfireguy

Could anyone tell me if Polk ever made a passive PSW-1000? I don't they ever offered one. Found a guy trying to sell one as refurbished, but no amp? Any help would be appreciated!

bsoko2

They show up on ebay all the time.

Bill

heiney9

IIRC, the PSW1000 had some issues with the amp and they were recalled and actually discontinued. Perhaps (and this is just a guess) he is selling it sans amp because of the recall or a damaged amp. I don't think there was ever a solution to the problem and might be why the PSW1000 was eventually discontinued.

This is all from memory so take it FWIW. Maybe some one else will chime in and clear things up.

Give Polk CS a call they are always willing to help and are straight shooters.

H9

Kex

heiney9 wrote: »

IIRC, the PSW1000 had some issues with the amp and they were recalled and actually discontinued. ...

This was still being sold by authorized dealers, and in the Polk eBay store, earlier this year.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/psw1000/

I've seen those eBay deals describing them as "passive" and wondered if it was a scam.

heiney9

Kex wrote: »

This was still being sold by authorized dealers, and in the Polk eBay store, earlier this year.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/psw1000/

Perhaps the issues were rectified. I do know that shortly after the issue was discovered there was a long delay for "new" product and then the PSW1000 was discontinued.

H9

megasat16

Before PSW1000, there is another type of subwoofer called LSiW which looks identical to PSW1000 in appearance. They were sold in BB and Frys; etc. in the early 2000s but later recalled due to sub plate amp problems with heat and possible fire hazards.

Polk had dismantled all the recalled sub and destroyed the plate amps. There is a guy in San Diego area who still has LSiW enclosures with dual sub drivers selling on eBay.

PSW1000 is the later revision of the LSiW with two very totally different parts (different driver and different plate amp) so you can't and shouldn't use PSW1000 sub plate amp in the LSiW.

PSW1000 still carries resemblances to LSiW by appearance but the PSW1000 sub plate shouldn't be used in the LSiW due to the impedance differences.

Polk does not recommend you use (or sell) PSW1000 plate amp to use with LSiW sub coz the difference in the sub driver impedance and configuration (series or parallel).

If you have LSiW, you need to use the aftermarket plate amp such as the ones from Parts Express but you need to modify the enclosure a little bit. Or you can seal the back of the plate amp area with MDF and put a couple of binding posts to run with external amplifier which is cheaper and better than the plate amp.

As far as I know, Polk never sold the passive PSW1000. What you've seen is the LSiW that Polk no longer sold them for a very long time. I don't know PSW1000 is discontinued right now but you can still order PSW1000 from many online retailers and buy one from Polk Direct on eBay while they still have it.

heiney9

Mega, that's the one I was thinking of............see I told you someone would chime in and correct me if I was mistaken

H9

dpowell

I always wondered if the LSiW was made specifically to be timbre matched with the LSi series speakers? I understand the the amp problem was a driving factor for the recall but why the change of drivers in the PSW1000? Just curious.

megasat16

I believe the term "timbre matching" has more to do between speakers. The subs are more like adding the flavor to the speakers and timbre matching does not apply for it. Therefore, you can use any good sub with LSi speakers and vice versa (any speaker with LSi speakers).

Having said that, PSW1000 and the LSiW subs are meant complement the LSi speakers and I think they do well at that.

bknauss

dpowell wrote: »

I always wondered if the LSiW was made specifically to be timbre matched with the LSi series speakers? I understand the the amp problem was a driving factor for the recall but why the change of drivers in the PSW1000? Just curious.

The biggest change was the impedance capabilities of the amp. If I remember correctly, the PSW1000 amp was able to drive higher impedances at the same power levels compared to the LSiW.

dorokusai

megasat16 wrote: »

Before PSW1000, there is another type of subwoofer called LSiW which looks identical to PSW1000 in appearance. They were sold in BB and Frys; etc. in the early 2000s but later recalled due to sub plate amp problems with heat and possible fire hazards.

Polk had dismantled all the recalled sub and destroyed the plate amps. There is a guy in San Diego area who still has LSiW enclosures with dual sub drivers selling on eBay.

PSW1000 is the later revision of the LSiW with two very totally different parts (different driver and different plate amp) so you can't and shouldn't use PSW1000 sub plate amp in the LSiW.

PSW1000 still carries resemblances to LSiW by appearance but the PSW1000 sub plate shouldn't be used in the LSiW due to the impedance differences.

Polk does not recommend you use (or sell) PSW1000 plate amp to use with LSiW sub coz the difference in the sub driver impedance and configuration (series or parallel).

If you have LSiW, you need to use the aftermarket plate amp such as the ones from Parts Express but you need to modify the enclosure a little bit. Or you can seal the back of the plate amp area with MDF and put a couple of binding posts to run with external amplifier which is cheaper and better than the plate amp.

As far as I know, Polk never sold the passive PSW1000. What you've seen is the LSiW that Polk no longer sold them for a very long time. I don't know PSW1000 is discontinued right now but you can still order PSW1000 from many online retailers and buy one from Polk Direct on eBay while they still have it.

Great post.

JohnLocke88

So anyone see that these enclosures are for sale for $50 a pop. Anyone got a reason why I shouldn't buy two, seal them up and run them as passive subwoofers off my ADCOM 5500?

kcoc321

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

So anyone see that these enclosures are for sale for $50 a pop. Anyone got a reason why I shouldn't buy two, seal them up and run them as passive subwoofers off my ADCOM 5500?

Where did you see them for $50 each!!! Link please

everpress

kcoc321 wrote: »

Where did you see them for $50 each!!! Link please

+1, ****...

JohnLocke88

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ele/1410509659.html

Just a heads up, almost all of the ones I saw had some scuffing, so don't expect a perfect cabinet...

megasat16

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

So anyone see that these enclosures are for sale for $50 a pop. Anyone got a reason why I shouldn't buy two, seal them up and run them as passive subwoofers off my ADCOM 5500?

I think LSiW uses subs with DC Resistance of 2 ohms. If you run them in series, you would have 4 ohms for each LSiW. They will sucks serious power and your Adcom 5500 may not have enough current to run them at 4 ohms.

Forget HT sub and think Car Subwoofer boxes!

JohnLocke88

megasat16 wrote: »

I think LSiW uses subs with DC Resistance of 2 ohms. If you run them in series, you would have 4 ohms for each LSiW. They will sucks serious power and your Adcom 5500 may not have enough current to run them at 4 ohms.

Forget HT sub and think Car Subwoofer boxes!

Was thinking that too; we'll try HT first, if no worky, then car subs...

ViperZ

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

So anyone see that these enclosures are for sale for $50 a pop. Anyone got a reason why I shouldn't buy two, seal them up and run them as passive subwoofers off my ADCOM 5500?

As long as you will drive your 5500 with sub output of the receiver or use the passive sub crossover, you should be just fine.

JohnLocke88

ViperZ wrote: »

As long as you will drive your 5500 with sub output of the receiver or use the passive sub crossover, you should be just fine.

Yah, subwoofer pre out on the Onkyo receiver, into a Y splitter, into the in jacks on the amp
and then the speaker cables into the back of the subs....

Only "draw back" i see is that all sub control will be on board on the receiver...

kcoc321

Shoot ...how about a group buy????
they have them by the pallet (16) for $500..that's $31 each plus shipping of course...

Aside, How many wpc is the 5500?

mmadden28

I bought one of them last year as a project---if I recall from eBay. I think it was about $100.
I also bought a Dayton 1000w Plate amp from parts Express (I think eBay as well??), but I never got around to routing it out the box to fit the new amp-I've just been using it as a PJ stand recently.

One day....:o

megasat16

GFA-5500 puts out 200WPC @ 8ohms and 350WPC @ 4ohms. It's a good amp but it is not made to drive subwoofers all day long and everyday. If you don't crank up LFE too much, it may works well for you. But who don't need a louder and deeper bass from a sub?

If I were you, I will just buy higher power subwoofer pro-amps which can do around 500-600wpc into 4 ohms or subwoofer amps. They will be cheaper and more reliable for subwoofer operation too. I am not just saying. I've been there, done that, and I don't like too much using 400WPC @ 4 ohms amp. But YMMV.

jblincow

Hi, I bought one of those LSiw inclosures and put a PSW1000 amp in it.
the guys at Polk support told me to give it a try and it works fine so far for three months now.