PSW505... at that price, is it the best you can get?

[alibaba128]

Okay, so I bought a PSW505 for 165 US$ shipped (220 canadian $) brand new from a big retail chain here in Canada. It's currently in transit.

I never owned a sub before as I came into HT only very recently. I know the 505 is a discontinued model. I read Dr. Spec's review of it and I understand that, not taking price into account, there are better performers out there.

I want a sub that is musical, as I'm more concerned about music reproduction than HT.
I will appreciate good bass in movies but I don't care much about feeling my guts shaking or earing my windows rattle. What I can't tolerate, however, is sloppy or booming bass in my music.

With that being said, is there a better performer than the 505 at this price? How musical can this sub be?

FYI the 505 will be paired to RTi6 fronts, RTi4 rears and a 3rd RTi4 used as a center.

[Dune]

Hey where did you get it at? I'm looking at one too and that's a great price..can you hook a brutha up?

Here's some reading for you....

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_2/polk-psw-505-subwoofer-4-2005.html

[lordkemo]

yeah. Help us out. I can only find it for 250 not shipped.

[alibaba128]

Hey where did you get it at? I'm looking at one too and that's a great price..can you hook a brutha up?

Here's some reading for you....

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_12_2/polk-psw-505-subwoofer-4-2005.html

I got it online from Future Shop during their Boxing Day / holiday season sale which, I'm sad to say, seems to be closed now.

And yeah that review was the I was refering to.

[Dune]

:(

Man that was a smokin good deal.

[dfranks]

I have been running a Psw505 for about 6 months now. i love the sub I find it great for HT and even better for music.

I run my sub with the Lfe out and the crossover on my yammy receiver at 200hz.
With that I adjust the volume on the sub itself. (as per this forum) I find this makes the sub much more musical and detailed (which is what I like when I am listening to music).

I have never owned a 12" sub before so I really have no comparison, but I am very pleased with it.

As my budget allows maybe somewhere down the distant road of high-fi and endless incomes would I feel the need to upgrade this sub .... just yet

[xcapri79]

The PSW505 is a nice sub. I think you will really like it for music and movies. I know I do. I saw that sale at FS in Canada during Boxing week. It is one of the few times the Canadian price was better than the US price.

As I said, I like the PSW505's especially when they are inexpensive. I actually have 5 of them of them. I have 4 set up in my master bedroom system. Two are stacked in the front connected to the LFE and two are connected to the LSiFX surround s on each side. It sounds great for movies and multichannel music. I'm listening to some jazz right now at low to medium volume and I'm in the next room. I can ear and feel the strings of the bass. The other one is in another room with some Polk Monitor speakers.

[PSOVLSK]

I've never heard the 505, but for that price how can you go wrong? I can't imagine you'd find anything better for >$165.

[alibaba128]

I run my sub with the Lfe out and the crossover on my yammy receiver at 200hz.
With that I adjust the volume on the sub itself. (as per this forum) I find this makes the sub much more musical and detailed (which is what I like when I am listening to music).


dfrank, thanks for the tip!

Thank you all for your comments. I'm looking forward to hearing this sub, can't wait!

[alibaba128]

505 owners out there, please keep the comments coming!

[Willow]

The 505 is still up on FS site but at 299$

[suprafantx]

It is good match for your system. I had one before and it matched very well with RTi10. I sold mine 250 bucks on ebay and it was one and half years old. You have a smoking deal. You will be very happy with it for that price.

[xcapri79]

505 owners out there, please keep the comments coming!

So did you get it?
If so, how does it sound?

[cnh]

That's an amazing price. You can't do better for that.

In general I find almost all Polk PSW series subs better for music than they are for Home Theater. Even the cheaper ones!

The 505 is, I think, the best compromise between the two because it has just enough power and low end extention for Home Theater that is missing in lower PSW subs and is still pretty fast for music, but maybe not as fast as a 10".

You got a fantastic deal there, I wouldn't even bother second guessing myself at the price!

Turn it up and put something on!

cnh

[comfortablycurt]

I've never heard the 505 before myself. That sounds like a good deal though. Have you received it yet? The best way to find out if you'll like it is by listening. Everyone has their own preferences...the 505 seems to get mostly positive reviews though. For that price it's probably just fine.

By the way, welcome to Club Polk! Stick around for a while and you'll be ready to upgrade everything in your whole system...:p That should be a pretty nice setup though, the RTi's are some great speakers.

[undefyned]

505 owners out there, please keep the comments coming!


I just started up my home theater system (thanks to future shop on boxing day) and I have the 505 and the rti 10's to start... It's amazing! The sub is very powerful! It makes my main floor rumble when I have it turned up a bit in the basement... For the price it's well worth it! Very clean bass!
You have very good taste my friend... I hope you enjoy it!

[alibaba128]

So did you get it?
If so, how does it sound?

Yes I finally got it. Had to move some things around in the room. I haven't had the chance to hear it yet. I'm out of interconnects, gonna get some and so will probably test it tonight!

[xcapri79]

Yes I finally got it. Had to move some things around in the room. I haven't had the chance to hear it yet. I'm out of interconnects, gonna get some and so will probably test it tonight!

Let us know your impression.

[alibaba128]

Let us know your impression.

Okay, so I finally tested the 505 out. Since I was more worried by music reproduction, to start I set the 505 up with a pair of RTi6 in 2.1 out of a Nad C320BEE. Since there's no RCA pass-through on the back pannel of the 505 (which disappointed me a little) and I didn't have Y-splitters, I used the speaker level interconnects.

My first impression was that the 505 is deep enough for music. As seen in Dr Spec's review while it could be better in the 20-30Hz range it's not very good below 20Hz, but it's fine with me cause in the end to appreciate bass in music I need to hear what's audible; I don't really need to feel compression in my chest.

I find it's fast enough for a 12". I'm not done tweaking though. Considering the price, I am definitely satisfied.