New Subwoofer Question

noah

I just bought myself a new PSW10 to replace my old JBL woofer that never seemed to output much volume. Getting a new sub really opened my eyes (or ears in this case) to what a sub is supposed to do. After reading the net for placement guidelines, etc. I'm worried that my bass may be too boomy. How can I tell, and is there any way to fix it without buying another sub?

PS I'm very impressed with the quality from Polk equipment. This is only my second speaker purchase from Polk (bought the OWM3s) and I'm very happy with them. I'll slowly be replacing our theater speakers with polk as our current speakers stop working.

superjunior

Your ears will tell you. have you listened to it yet? Before you start worrying about more subs, experiment with placement. All rooms are different and fine tuning sub location for your room is part of the puzzle. I'm fairly new to this (try to help if I can ) I'm sure others here will have some better advice. welcome to cp
jr

wutadumsn23

Do you have your sub in the corner? Most times when a sub is too boomy it is because it is trapped in a corner somewhere. Like jr said the key to making any subwoofer or speaker sound good most times is a placement issue. Move it around the room and see if it gets any better. Also make sure the volume isn't all the way up, I know it is hard to avoid the itch to turn a sub all the way up, but more often than not it will sound terrible. Welcome to Club Polk.

kawizx9r

I myself STILL have a PSW10 (it's on craigslist now). Not a bad speaker for small-medium sized rooms. Off topic, but I'd say try placing it next to your front speakers, maybe off right or off left. Dial the volume about half way and set your cut off with your mains. It's all a matter of placement, finding the right cut off point/etc. Also don't start playing it out loud off the bat, toss in a cd at a moderate volume for a few hours for it to break in.

Knucklehead

I have both of my PSW10's on each side of my mains. Sounds pretty good to me. As long as you dont crank the crap outta it you should like the results. Welcome aboard!

strife1013

I do must say a good sub makes the world of difference. I think i might go ahead and buy one more PSW505 so that I am running two 12" subs, that would be sweet.

cnh

noah wrote: »

I just bought myself a new PSW10 to replace my old JBL woofer that never seemed to output much volume. Getting a new sub really opened my eyes (or ears in this case) to what a sub is supposed to do. After reading the net for placement guidelines, etc. I'm worried that my bass may be too boomy. How can I tell, and is there any way to fix it without buying another sub?

PS I'm very impressed with the quality from Polk equipment. This is only my second speaker purchase from Polk (bought the OWM3s) and I'm very happy with them. I'll slowly be replacing our theater speakers with polk as our current speakers stop working.

Welcome to Club Polk,

The PSW 10 and 12 were known to have some difficulties with port noise if over-driven. So placement is important.

Set the volume knob on the back of your sub at 11 or 12 0'clock. Then, if you can, put the sub in the location of your listening position.

Walk around the room to see where the base is the tightest and loudest. That is your sub's optimal placement. Do not boost this sub too much because it WILL get boomy!

Also toggle the Phase shift switch on the back from 0 to 180 a couple of times to see what position is best for your sub! Listen carefully!

Of course you will need source material with a lot of bass on it.

Good Luck,

cnh

kawizx9r

+1 cnh

I completely forgot to mention the phase switch in my last post. Once you get your placement down (just as everyone emphasized) and such, make sure your mains+sub are all working in phase. Long story short, have someone with you sitting in your "sweet spot". Put on some bass-rich music, experiment with the phase switch turning it to 0, then 180 to see which provides more bass. Reason I say this is because if it's out of phase, the bass frequencies will come off as being "cancelled out" by each of the towers and subwoofer.

noah

Thank you all for your suggestions. I do have the sub placed in the corner right now, but I'll move it around and see where it sounds best. Though I would hope that most of the time that would be on the wall; if the sub ended up sounding best in the middle of the room, my wife would have a conniption. I've been slowly upgrading my audio equipment and am happy to be achieving some good results. Volume sounds best with the sub volume knob at about 1 O'clock-ish. Again, thanks for your suggestions and warm welcomes. I hope to one day be in your position, helping someone else.

kawizx9r

Anytime, afterall we're all here to help. Btw did you figure out cross-over cut offs/phase switch position as well?