blown sub?

[cowboybebop]

I have a psw202 purchased about 2 1/2 years ago. I have my 5.1 setup so that the front channels go through the sub and the low pass(or is it high pass) filter sends the high frequencies to my front speakers. this is I'm told the recomended setup for large bookshelf or tower speakers.

anyways today out of the blue, the sub is making a 'clicking' noise. even at low volumes, but it becomes worse as the volume is increased. I'm not sure what a blown speaker sounds like, so I don't know if that is the problem.

I was watching tv yesterday and it sounded fine. I've never even really cranked the volume on this, and I certainly haven't played anything loudly in months(live in apartment).

So how could have this gone bad over night without any kind of abuse? I know it's over 2 years old, but iv'e babied the system and I think it should last longer than that. my front speakers are almost 10 years old and still sound great.

How can I troubleshoot this to determine exactly what is wrong?

[cowboybebop]

Ok I found this post and tried it...

"Hello Dave,
When you've received the driver bac and have it reinstalled, heres's a fool proof way to test to see if the sub-woofer is the cause or not:
1). turn the volume all of the way down on the sub-woofer and remove all of the connecting cables/wires except the AC power cord.
2). find the right and left RCA cables that go from your DVD player to the receiver and remove them at the back of the receiver.
3). bring the DVD player over to the sub-woofer and provide AC power for the DVD player, then connect the right and left RCA cables from the DVD player to the corresponding right and left inputs on the sub-woofer.
4). begin playing any CD (not a DVD, but a CD) and turn the volume up slightly on the sub-woofer. There should be plenty of clean sounding bass with no bad noises. Let the CD play completely through and try stopping and starting the player.
Let me know the results.
Regards, Ken"


after doing this, the sub sounded bad the entire time. Same clicking/popping noise at all volumes. The speaker is obviously blown. The question is, how did this happen to a relatively new(2 years) system that has NEVER been played aggresively and seemingly went bad over night.

One night i watched crouching tiger hidden dragon at modest volume, the next day i noticed the popping. ive played my jbl front speakers alot louder/aggresively for 10 years now and they are still fine. I'm not happy that I may have to ship this huge sub all the way to cali... Do they even pick up the shipping cost which I imagine will be expensive.

[Spawndn72]

Do you have any kids? Or does anyone else have access to this system when you are not around?

[cowboybebop]

nope live alone in apartment, and it's kinda out of the way anyways. it must have blown while watching tv/movie the night before and I only noticed it the next morning.

But, being that i was playing the movie at normal listening volume I just can't understand how it broke. I really have gone out of my way not to abuse my audio system with excessive volume... and yet it still is broken.

frustrating, if they pay for shipping and they either fix it like new or replace it with a BRAND new sub(not refurbished) then I'll be very happy with polk. my jbl's wont last forever, we'll see how polk handles this and that will determine my next speaker purchase.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello Cowboy,
Thanks for posting on the Forum, I'm sorry you're having a problem with the PSW202. You would want to:
1). unplug the AC power cord and remove the 10 Phillips head screws that go around the circumference of the amplifier's input plate.
2). the amplifier will come away from the cabinet and you'll see two wires (one red the other black) that lead to the 10" woofer. These wires easily disconnect from the woofer's terminals using the slip off metal clips.
3). box the amplifier up and send to Polk Audio, 2550 Britannia Blvd., Suite A, San Diego, CA. 92154, please include a short note giving us your name and address and a copy of your sales receipt.
The service department will quickly send a replacement amplifier. I am assuming you are a resident of the US. If not, let me know.
Regards, Ken, Polk

[Whydrive]

My subwoofer PSW202 is making popping noises similar to the ones listed here.

The subwoofer is a little over 2 years old (purchased on 5/2/03).


Should I send it to the adress listed in the forum? Is this under warranty?

[cowboybebop]

well they quickly replaced some caps and IC, and it sounds great now. so it was not the speaker, it was the AMP section.

They will want you to unscrew the amp section, ship it along with proof of purcahse to that address.

PS. I forgot to include my return shipping info or proof of purchase and they still repaired it (it really is under warranty). Anyways I love this company, i'm only going to buy Polk in the future on account of their stirling customer service.

[Whydrive]

Problem solved and I am back in business.

Thanks.