Polk Audio PSW10 10-Inch Monitor Series Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black)
by Polk Audio
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List Price: Our Price: $99.99 You Save: $139.96 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $89.99 (click here) Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Polk Audio PSW10 10-Inch Monitor Series Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black)
Customer Review: Great home theatre sub-woofer
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't find a single thing wrong with this sub other than the only available finish was black and I would have rather had the woodgrain. The unit still is nice looking and does not draw too much attention due to the color. I connected the sub with a single double male RCA cord from the "Sub-Out" on the receiver to the "Left" input on the sub and turned the Low-Pass (on the sub) setting all the way up. I have not tried running a "Y" adapter on the back of the receiver and a L-R RCA cord to the sub yet because it seems to be working fine as-is.
The unit works exactly as advertised and I had a very easy time setting my receiver to power it correctly (reading the instructions helps!). The auto-power works great and I have yet to notice the lag that is mentioned in some of the other reviews.
Some background, I have 10-15 year old equipment, nice but old. Pioneer VSX-D710S, Bose 601's (front), Bose 301's (rear), Sony CN5000 (center). I was using a small no-name sub that just was not getting the job done. I have noticed much clearer music from the 601's since I set the cross-over frequency to 150 Hz.
If you want the big boom that cracks the plaster joints and makes your dog run and hide this may not be the unit for you but you better be ready to drop 2-3 times (at least) the amount of cash Amazon is asking. I just have to say for $104 delivered , I don't think the average user who is looking for some good bottom end for their music and home-theatre can go wrong here.
Customer Review: Poor sound quality but is inexpensive
Summary: 3 Stars
I couldn't resist the price (~100 shipped). I'm now sorry I paid that much for it.
The cherry "finish" is nothing more than cherry-wood printed contact paper. Not even a wood veneer to account for the price difference from the black model. It looks cheap and nicks easily to reveal the MDF underneath.
FYI, I'm not an audiophile thankfully (would go broke). I can hear differences between my nicer and less nice equipment though.
The sound from the PSW10 is very rattly and muddy. Reminiscent of the high-powered poor quality car audio systems found in high-school parking lots. I suspect a lot of the problem is the lack of power; I have a PSW111 which has an 8" speaker in a much smaller enclosure that delivers much tighter and louder bass. I made the mistake of matching this to a 100w/channel amp; matching the volume of the sub to the mains results in a lot of distortion. Part of the problem is the enclosure: the bass was much tighter after I stuck a dishtowel in the reflex port underneath the grill. Part of the problem may be rattling in the flimsy plastic grill, but the sub looks stupid with the grill off and the dishtowel occluding the port.
Power and sound quality-wise, this may be a good match for that 25w/channel mini-system that you just can't part with. I may also try it as a 2nd sub for my HT system with the crossover set really low. This may limit it to explosions and other muddy, rattly sounds.
Customer Review: Replaced $600 sub and no difference
Summary: 5 Stars
I wanted to reduce the clutter my speakers imposed in our living room. I have a very excellent subwoofer that I paid about $600 for but I wanted to hide the subwoofer in the wall where I had the depth. Unfortunately, the sub I had used a downward firing woofer with a rear port - not gonna work. For $100 I thought I would take a chance after seeing the strong ratings and seeing that some reviewers were serious audio lovers and not just using it for TV. This unit was used in exactly the same setup as my older sub and I could not tell any difference. Very tight and fast which is what I look for, not "boom-boom". Because the Polk is 1) small and 2) both the woofer and the port are on the face, it met my criteria. Last night I cut the hole in my wall (after much anxiety) and also took the opportunity to run my speaker wires in the wall (about 2 ft of space in this wall due to a built in fireplace). I spray painted the front black to make it less intrusive (I hate silver - hence the 4-stars for appearance). I will need to make a custom grill cover but acoustically it sounds the same. WAF just went up a couple points for sure. Buy this and a pair of Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 SE's and you will have a phenomenal system for under $500.
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You will here guitar and piano to make you cry. I don't know how Polk can make any money on these unless it is on volume. I am sure they must sell a bunch 'cuz it's that good.
Customer Review: An Amazing Powerhouse
Summary: 5 Stars
When purchasing this subwoofer, I thought that it would be a stepping stone subwoofer, that I eventually would replace with a 12 inch Polk Audio woofer. After using it for a few months I am here to tell you it is NOT that by any means. I bought this subwoofer in June, so that I could use it at home for a few months at lower volumes to break it in and then once I moved to college it would be ready to rock and roll. Right now in my large sized college dorm room, I have this subwoofer, two polk audio monitor 60 series floor standing speakers, a polk audio CS2 center channel speaker and two Bose bookshelf rear speakers. Let me tell you it bumps, way beyond what I was expecting. This woofer hits the lowest lows I've heard from any subwoofer, including my 2 Pioneer car subwoofers. On songs such as "Red Nose" by Tech N9ne there is a very low, repetitive base in between the bigger pounding beats that you can only hear with this woofer. The song just isnt the same with headphones on or any other smaller stereo system. This sub puts out so much power that when I'm sitting at my desk and I have it on at a decent volume, I can feel my hairs on my head vibrating and my jeans vibrating from all the bass. THIS THING IS A POWERHOUSE... bottom line, there is nothing that it cant keep up with. I actually blew out my tweeter on one of the Monitor 60's it was so loud and this woofer just continued to bump out notes. Very happy with my purchaseCustomer Review: Very Disappointing Purchase
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchased this sub mainly because of it's cheap price and the fact that it matches my Monitor 50's and 20's and figured it would make the system blend together nicely. As soon as I removed this sub from the box I was very disappointed. I hooked it up using a mid-priced RCA and tweaked the volume and low pass and got it to what seemed like an ok volume. However, the sub lacks any sort of ability to produce deep sound like it should. This woofer is very weak and doesn't pick up the sounds it should. Though I don't need anything to destroy my foundation, this sub couldn't even fill the room with enough bass for casual music listening. After about a month of frustration and terribly distorted bass during movies, I tried the other hookup methods including running speaker wire from the receiver to the sub and then back to the speakers. This didn't change anything. For the easy hookup, I sucked it up and went back to the RCA and continued to shake my head at a terrible sub with yet somehow strong reviews here on Amazon as well as other sites. The only reason this is a 2 star sub is because it does sound better than some woofers from in the box systems, and that it doesn't look bad. Don't be like me and get sucked in by the low price, save a little longer and get something worthwhile. My new Klipsch Synergy Sub-12 couldn't make me happier... hit up a circuit city closing sale and find one like I did.