PSW110 no output

[bain64]

Light is green on built in amp, but no sound through LFE or speaker level inputs. Sub has been in place and working for over a year but now won't produce any sound. I get speaker noise when I unplug and plug the LFE cable so I know the amp is getting some sort of power. Any ideas what to test next?

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello bain64,
Welcome to Polk's forum, I'm sorry you're having a problem. The sub really has two parts, the woofer and the bass amplifier and, at this point, we don't know which one is the cause. Try removing the sub's grille cover and taking out the screws that hold the 10" woofer onto the cabinet. Then use a putty knife to loosen the woofer and pull it out away from the cabinet. You'll see two wires attached to the woofer's terminals with Faston clips. If you wriggle and pull they will come off of the terminals. Turn the woofer upside down on a piece of carpet or towel and at a very low playing volume touch any one of your speaker wires to the woofer's terminals. The woofer should make sound at any low volume, resist the urge to increase the volume if you don't hear anything. This will tell you if the problem is with the bass amp or the woofer. Then give Polk's CS department a call at 1-800-377-7655 and they'll help straighten things out.
Regards, Ken

[bain64]

I will try that out Kenneth, thanks. While I'm inside is there a fuse I could test on the amp?

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello,
The amp's LED is green, indicating there's not a problem with the AC fuse. The other clue is the noise you get whenever the LED connection is made. I'm assuming you've connected a positive/negative speaker wire to the speaker level inputs as a test?
Cheers, Ken

[bain64]

Yes I tried the speaker level input by borrowing the cable from a front speaker.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Okay, then go ahead and pull the woofer and try playing it by itself.

[bain64]

Sub plays with a standard speaker cable attached. 0 volts from amp. Caps look ok. Mailed amp to Polk this morning via UPS. Thanks for the help Kenneth.

[Kenneth Swauger]

No problem, glad to be of help.
Take care, Ken

[BlackHawk]

Hello bain64,
Welcome to Polk's forum, I'm sorry you're having a problem. The sub really has two parts, the woofer and the bass amplifier and, at this point, we don't know which one is the cause. Try removing the sub's grille cover and taking out the screws that hold the 10" woofer onto the cabinet. Then use a putty knife to loosen the woofer and pull it out away from the cabinet. You'll see two wires attached to the woofer's terminals with Faston clips. If you wriggle and pull they will come off of the terminals. Turn the woofer upside down on a piece of carpet or towel and at a very low playing volume touch any one of your speaker wires to the woofer's terminals. The woofer should make sound at any low volume, resist the urge to increase the volume if you don't hear anything. This will tell you if the problem is with the bass amp or the woofer. Then give Polk's CS department a call at 1-800-377-7655 and they'll help straighten things out.
Regards, Ken

Is it necessary to pull the 10" driver? Couldn't speaker wires be connected to the terminals that run to the amp and then connect the other end of the wires to say the front channel of a AV receiver? Of course the Polk amp would be removed from the back of the sub cabinet. Testing that way would eliminate the need to take the grille off and go through all of that? I noticed mine is playing at a barely audible level and then all of a sudden it kicked back in for about 15 seconds and then nothing again. I highly suspect my issue is also related to the amp. Input on my sub problem is appreciated.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Hello,
As long as you were sure that the connecting wires were firmly attached to the woofer's terminals that method would work.
Regards, Ken

[BlackHawk]

Thanks.