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Polk Audio Monitor Series PSW10 10-Inch Powered Subwoofer (Single, Cherry) |
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| Editorial Reviews: | | |  | | bass-reflex (ported) enclosure * 50-watt RMS amplifier * 10" front-firing driver * frequency response 40-160 Hz (-3dB) * warranty: 5 years woofer, 3 years amplifier * | |
| Custom Reviews: | |
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| | The problem with a lot of reviews regarding home audio is that critics compare budget equipment to high dollar equipment (big surprise...high dollar wins).
This sub is a budget line addition to your home theater. If you are low on cash and need a .1 to add to your setup, this is your sub. That being said, this sub is amazing for the price tag. Great bass with no distortion (just don't go nuts with the volume). It suffers at the very low range but what budget sub doesn't. Main problem is the lack of an LFE input.
Here is the solution from Polk: Use the RCA inputs and turn the frequency knob clockwise, this will essentially create and LFE connection.
One unrelated Polk story: I recently moved to Austin, Texas. I had left my Polk audio home theater in Galveston. A prick named Ike came in and flooded my storage, submerging my Polks under sludge. When I got to them I noticed the water line was halfway up the tower speakers.
Hoping beyond hope I brought the smelly mess up to Austin where I took them apart and tried to clean and dry them out. Plugged em in after a few days and they sounded horrible. Sprayed some De-Oxit cleaner on the connections and BAM! They sprung back to life and just played through The Dark Knight with zero distortion. Polk will always be my number one choice in speaker.
Bottom Line: Great sub for the price. If you have a budget-mid range home theater, this is a great addition. If you have a high dollar set up, your probably not looking to purchase this product or reading this review. ;-)
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| Enough sub-woofer; good value | |
| | I'd agree that the PSW10 might be stretched in any but the smallest home theater, but it does a great job on music in all but the largest rooms.
This is my second sub-woofer, the first being a Polk PSW505. The 505 is awesome, but it completely overpowers average size rooms when used to play music. The 505 really shines in a large room or in a home theater, where mine now resides.
In an average living room, mine is 13 x 21, the PSW10 provides plenty of clean bass for all types of music. With the PSW10's volume at 50% and no bass boost from the receiver you'll hear more bass than you would in a classical concert hall or jazz festival. Bump the bass volume up a bit & you'll hear all the bass you'd find in rock / pop venues - at a bargain price.
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| Great bang for your buck! | |
| | I spent a lot of money on my Samsung 46A650 LCD, Polk speaker set, and Onkyo SR706 receiver. I didn't really want to drop a whole lot more on a sub but knew I needed one for the low end. Since I had polk speakers I figured this would be a good compliment. I realized that the price was low compared to a lot of other subs but noticed it had good reviews. Well I'm pleased to say that it looks and sounds great. For only a 50watt RMS powered sub it really puts out some low end. I have no complaints. It is quite big though (once again no complaints). It is very box (square) like, so it does take up a little room. It does look very sleek though. So for a little over a [...] bucks this is well worth it. Maybe down the road I'll waste a few hundred on a unnecessarily powerful sub, but for the time I'm very content!!
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| | Couple of points up front: The PSW10 is NOT an audiophile-grade subwoofer, and shouldn't be graded as such. A true audiophile, if they have a subwoofer at all, will drop 2- to 3 grand on a Velodyne, Rega, Rel, etc. and then complain if they can't hear fingernails plucking the strings of a double bass. Next, the low frequencies produced in a movie are inherently different than those produced in music. Getting a subwoofer to reproduce both equally well can be tricky. My review of the PSW10 is from a 2-speaker, mid-level audio system perspective and not a 7/5.1 surround-sound home theater. I'm NOT saying the -10 won't work well in a HT set-up, but suggest you may need to use 2 different settings (see below).
This subwoofer will give you tight, punchy bass for most music genres. I used jazz, alt country, indie rock, and a little hip-hop to get my settings. The key here is to spend time during burn-in to get your crossover, phase and volume controls all married together. Once I found the right crossover setting, I learned that a little volume goes a long way with the PSW10. As many other reviewers have noted, too much volume will shake your walls with deep, boomy, unintelligible bass. You may want some of that for an action movie, but not so much for music. Next, I used the line-in with RCA's first, then swapped-out those for some heavy-duty Monster 10 gauge at the speaker-level connection. Jury's still out on which sounds better. Finally, if you're placing your sub on anything other than carpet (hardwood floor, ceramic tile, or even a shelf) seriously consider swapping-out the cheapo nailed-in feet. I have hardwood flooring, so I screwed in some nice 2" legs with dampers between the box and risers, and hard rubber pads making contact with the floor. Probably has a small positive sonic effect, and actually looks a lot nicer sitting up like that, too.
Lastly, got mine at [...], with free shipping. For that price, the PSW10 is a no-brainer. And remember, you don't notice a good subwoofer until you turn it off.
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| | I have always had Polk in my car and they defiantly last the test of time. In 10 years I have had the same 2 12" subs and they still sound amazing with little signs of wear. From experience I have learned 1st hand that Polk offers good quality products that deliver what you want when it comes to clean crisp highs and deep lows- worth every cent.
So I decided to invite Polk into my living room since upgrading to blu ray.
Prior to my Polk system that consist of 2 m70s (fronts) and 5 RM8s and of course this nice little sub I had a Bose acoustimass 10 system. This new Polk system I built is so much nicer. Sounds are so real when watching movies and I hear things in music I never heard before.
On to the sub specifically. What does everyone want to know? HOW LOUD IS IT!
Well this little sub packs a lot of sound. A lot more then I expected! It more then holds it own in the 7.1 system I put together. Well crafted and LOUD. I wasn't expecting so much sound from this unit, that I bought a 2nd one. I will not need to hook the 2nd one up. It provides a completely adjustable low pass adjustment of 80HZ-160Hz as well as 2 speaker inputs for a Dolby Pro Logic receiver that does not offer a sub out connection. Simply connect the 2 front speakers from the amp to the sub then connect the fronts from the sub via 16 gage wire and this sub fits into older set ups but allowing you to be ready for an upgrade in the future..
Only down fall is the sub does not support a LFE input. It consist of a Left and Right RCA connection so you need a "Y" splitter to connect the sub to the sub cable to the receiver. If you then turn the "Low Pass" filter fully clockwise this effect will create a LFE input according to the manual.
Over all I am quite happy with this product.
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