Polk Audio PSW505 12" Powered Subwoofer - Deep Bass Impact & Distortion-Free Sound, Up to 460 Watts, Easy Integration with Home Theater Systems, Black

I've always had the stereo bug and I still have it even thnough I'm getting up in years. I recently re-carpeted the living room in my home and, since the room was completely empty, I decided to re-furnish it. Whenever I take on a project like that, I always start with the most important item: the stereo system. I dug out a steel stereo rack manufactured by Target (NOT the store!) back in the '80s. To get the party started, I purchased a new Yamaha RX-797 (100 watts per channel). Even though some people take exception to the variable loudness control found on Yamaha receivers and pre-amps, I've always been a fan. You'll note also that the RX-797 is a STEREO receiver: TWO channels only. I've never gotten into the home theater thing. This new setup was definitely going to be STEREO only! To the new Yamaha, I connected two playback devices: a Marantz CD5400 single-disc CD player and...drum roll please...a Dual CS-5000 turntable, one of the last of the German company's products from the mid '80s. Yes, I've been wanting to get back into vinyl for a while now and setting up this new system gave me the opportunity to do so. For speakers, I dug out a beautiful pair of JBL 4312 studio monitors. These are three-way speakers anchored by a 12-inch woofer. I'm not a cable nut but I've been using Monster Cable products ever since they came on to the scene back in the '80s and that's what I used to connect every thing together. Finally the moment arrived and I turned every thing on and gave my new system a workout. For a CD, I picked Tom Petty's Greatest Hits and for an LP, I picked the White Album by the Beatles. The good news was that everything worked. The bad news was I couldn't quite get the bass I wanted. JBL has engineered some fantastic speakers over the years. But one of the main things JBL speakers have been known for is their great midrange sound, a wonderful presence in any system. And I was getting an absolutely fantastic midrange. Many reviewers, however, have found the Yamaha RX-797 to be somewhat "sterile" or "cold" sounding. And I have to admit, the combination of the Yamaha and the JBLs was somewhat lacking in warmth. No matter what kind of adjustments I made, I couldn't get the sound I was looking for...you know the one: it's the one that gives you goosebumps. I definitely had the midrange and the treble but I needed more bass. The best I could do via the controls on my equipment gave me a muddy bottom, not the tight bass I was after. So...I decided to take a chance on a Polk PSW505 subwoofer. The price was right and the 138 reviews on Amazon (and believe me, I read every one of them!) gave me a feeling of confidence and I placed my order. The Polk arrived safely (thank you UPS) and I found it to be a fine looking piece of equipment. Hooking it up to the RX-797 could not have been simpler: one subwoofer cable from the "Sub Out" jack on the back of the receiver to the left "Line In" jack on the back of the subwoofer. I set both the sub volume and the sub crossover at their middle settings and turned everything on, starting once again with the Tom Petty Greatest Hits CD. I can't tell you how much the sound blew me away! Goosebumps? HUGE freaking goosebumps. The Polk gave me the bottom punch and the warmth I had been seeking and the sub blended absolutely perfectly with the JBLs. I have not made a single adjustment since the inital hookup. No more "cold" sound from the Yamaha, and no more worries about the JBLs lacking the bottom I had been seeking. I have probably purchased at least 100 pieces of stereo equipment (not including cables) over the years: receivers, speakers, CD players, SACD players, preamps, amps, turntables, cartridges, headphones etc. etc. Absolutely NONE of them have made anywhere near as big a difference in my system as this Polk subwoofer. As I am writing this review, The Polk PSW505 is selling for $199 on Amazon. My advice, especially in view of the fact that Polk is no longer manufacturing this particular item, is order one right now. Don't screw around doing a lot of research. This is the one, baby! This will do it for you and at a price that's so ridiculously low, that you literally can't go wrong. In fact, I myself ordered a second PSW505 yesterday!

UPDATE **06-24-2013** So far so good. I have had a chance to listen to more music, and I must say that this speaker is really pretty solid for music. I've listened to some orchestral, hip hop, rock and a variety of other music. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the bass response I got from this speaker. Its HT use is still solid. It's had more of a chance to break in now, and so far, it sounds really good. I also noticed that the link I tried to provide did not show up. The review I was referring to was written by Ed Mullen. Just Google "Ed Mullen PSW505." Skip down to his in-room frequency response test. You will see that he found this subwoofer to be flat down to 25 Hz as well. I also want to clarify how I am using the subwoofer. I have it positioned several inches away from the wall. I have the volume set to a little above 1/4 as it is far too powerful for the smaller room I have it in. I also have the AVR set to -3db for the subwoofers (I am using 2, but one of them is an older Klipsch I've had for years). I also rarely find occasion to crank my receiver to reference level (0db). Normally, the highest I go is about -10db with certain music. Movies are usually in the -25 to -20db region for me when I watch movies on this setup. I won't bother going into EQ settings, etc, since all of these values including the ones I've listed will change based on the room someone places their speakers in. All in all, I highly recommend it for someone placing it in a smaller to medium sized room. A larger room might be questionable since single ported or slotted subs may struggle the harder you have to push them. However, it sounds great so far, and I am very pleased considering how little I paid for this thing. **ORIGINAL REVIEW** A LITTLE BACKGROUND: I believe these are discontinued as Polk no longer lists a price for them on their website. That may also be a large reason for the price you can get this thing at (along with other factors I'd imagine such as the competition). This sub can't really compete in the $500 and up category any longer as it may once have been able to do. However, that does not mean it's a bad sub. In fact, for the price it can be had at now (at the time of purchase), you'd be hard pressed to find anything better. It appears the sub retailed originally for close to $600. It can now be had for as little as $170-$180 from what I've seen. I wasn't really in the market for a new subwoofer, but when I saw the price this thing was at ($179.99), I was tempted and decided to do a bit of research. The specs on this sub looked pretty amazing compared to the normal subs that you find in this price range. Subs that are manufactured to actually sit in the $100-$250 price range are much lower in overall power as well as craftsmanship. Their frequency response and extension are usually much worse as well. Aesthetically speaking, this is definitely not the "prettiest" sub around, but it's not the ugliest either. Aesthetics matter to some people more than others depending on where the speaker will be placed, and who will be able to see it. I would have preferred the entire speaker be black rather than the silver front where the actual driver is located. The grill covers this, but the silver outline you can see is distracting imo, especially since the rest of my set up is black. However, for $180, I can't complain that much. The sub definitely feels sturdy enough. As far as specs go, this is a sub with $600 specs being sold for less than $200. Even though it is an older model, you will not beat it for the price with any sub normally marketed in this price range. The subs that will compete with it are the ones you find on sale such as the BIC F12 which is also a sub that once carried a higher MSRP ($499). It also currently carries a price tag below $200 (at least at the time that I received this sub which is early June 2013). Of course, these prices are always subject to change. I found others that might be comparable specs wise within the $150-$250 price range as well. I read a lot of reviews ranging from before ordering to after I pulled the trigger on this one. You will find a mix of opinions regarding this sub especially compared to other subs within the same price range. I also read a few comments from people that claimed this sub did not go very low on the bass spectrum and has a severe roll off below 30-35 Hz. One of the reasons I saw that some people recommended the BIC F12 over this sub was because of its extension down to 25 Hz (at least its rated extension). Some people were basing this off of what they read while others had listened to the sub and drawn their own conclusions. I also read a review that claimed there is a lot of port noise or "chuffing" when this sub tries to extend below about 35 Hz. Anyway, this was a concern for me, so I decided to do some frequency response testing to verify the in-room extension of this sub after I received it. While 35 Hz is actually pretty low, it's terrible for a subwoofer intended for HT use. It might be ok for music if the sub is responsive enough, but even this depends on the type of music you listen to and the extension you expect. You often have to sacrifice clarity, "tightness," and responsiveness for deeper extension especially with ported subwoofers. Anyway, as I stated, these kinds of statements had me second guessing whether or not the Polk PSW505 was the right subwoofer for me even at the price since it would be used for a mix of movies as well as music, so I decided to do some experimentation of my own. The first thing people must remember is that many subs will extend lower than their rated frequency response. The problem is that the rated "lowest" response is typically where you begin to see (and hear) dramatic roll off which means the bass frequencies below that point will have less and less energy until the speaker essentially cannot produce the sounds anymore. Another thing to consider is the size of the room you are installing the subwoofer in, and you must take care where you place the sub and how you calibrate it using whatever tools you have at your disposal: AVR (Audyssey ), parametric EQ, etc. I find that it is often better to keep ported or slotted subs at least several inches away from the wall if not more. It reduces "boominess", improves overall bass response across the spectrum relative to the selected listening position (essentially keeps the sub from sounding like a "one-note" wonder), and keeps the bass clean sounding. Contrary to what many people may think, walls and windows rattling is not the sign of a "good" subwoofer as it usually serves to distort the sound of the bass you can hear if anything. It's also very distracting. Moving the sub away from the wall typically remedies this along with the sense that the sub is only good at producing a certain frequency and nothing else. In other words, it improves the "musical" aspect of the subwoofer. /end rant Ok, back to business. This sub is definitely "overpowered" for a small room. It should do just fine in a medium sized room. It may be enough for some larger rooms as well, but once you start to get to very large rooms, you should be looking at speakers/amplifiers/etc that are in a completely different league (and price range) if you want proper in-room response and sufficient SPL. I purchased this subwoofer for a smaller room for which it is more than powerful enough. It's paired with Polk Monitor 40's used for front L/R, CS1 Center, OWM3 surrounds, and an Onkyo TX-NR709 receiver. It's a respectable budget system for a smaller listening room, and I've had most of this gear for a little while. I also have an older Klipsch KSW 12 set up with this system which is a far more capable sub than many seem to give it credit for if positioned and calibrated properly. Essentially, I saw the price of the PSW505 as an opportunity to add a second subwoofer to this lower budget arrangement for my small listening room which would allow me to even out bass response in the room. 2 subs are better than one not because of higher perceived loudness per se even though you can probably achieve this if that is your goal, but because they can better even out the in-room bass response and fill the room with bass while creating cleaner, more responsive bass in the process. They tend to eliminate the peaks and valleys of in-room response you often get with only one subwoofer (the "if I sit/stand in this corner the bass sounds best, but if I sit/stand in that corner or over there, the bass seems to disappear" effect). They also broaden the listening area allowing for a larger "sweet spot." SO HOW DID IT DO? That's really the question isn't it? First, I discovered that the in-room response of this subwoofer is quite good. It can get down to 20 Hz, but the roll off is quite apparent; you can audibly tell it's losing energy especially as it drops below 25 Hz. This sub is by no means limited to 30-35 Hz. It does not produce loud port noise and chuffing below 35 Hz as I read in one review (at least I haven't had that problem). The stated total frequency response of this sub from Polk is 23-160 Hz. The lower -3dB limit is stated to be 28 Hz (which is where it should start to roll off). This seems to be pretty consistent with my testing with it being difficult to audibly hear the difference between 25-35 Hz in a sweep of that frequency range (meaning that you probably won't be able to hear the loss of energy down to the 25 Hz region). This is a good thing since it means that the sub maintains a relatively flat response down to 25 Hz. The bass is clean and powerful. Some equalization may be necessary to achieve optimum performance and flatten out the response up to between 50-120 Hz depending on where you choose to cross the frequency out, but this sub definitely handles the lower frequency spectrum quite respectably. It is much more powerful than the Klipsch sub I have it paired with. I had to drop the volume on this sub quite a bit so it would sit nicely and evenly with the Klipsch and not overpower the rest of the system. The KSW 12 has similar frequency response, but it doesn't match up with the power this PSW505 is capable of producing. I expected this since the Klipsch sub's RMS output is 105 watts whereas the RMS rating for this PSW505 is 300 watts. The Klipsch is definitely suited to smaller rooms (possibly medium sized rooms). It's great for the smaller room I have it in. The PSW505 is really overkill for the room I have it in and should easily work in a larger room. I noticed an audible dip in energy as I passed 120 Hz up to about 140 Hz which again is consistent with the rated upper -3dB limit of 125 Hz for this speaker and the crossover setting I used on the AVR low pass filter which I set to 120 Hz. This tells me that the bookshelfs I'm using aren't handling the upper mid bass as nicely as I'd like. However, I plan to get some floor standers eventually which should make it easy to even out that part of the spectrum. At that point, I will probably lower the crossover to between 60-80 Hz for the subs since any good floor standers should be able to produce that bass range respectably enough. This in no way reflects badly on this sub as it shouldn't be responsible for that part of the spectrum anyway. I tested things out with a few scenes from movies such as Fellowship of the Ring which has some great bass in the opening battle scene as well as about midway through the movie when they are in the caves and the skeleton is pushed down the well. This sub handled those scenes quite nicely and got some nice extension on them. I also checked out some scenes in Kingdom of Heaven. There are a few battle scenes with some really nice bass and rumble. I sampled a variety of music and found the sub to be adequate. I personally think having a set of higher range woofers to handle the upper end of the bass spectrum (60-200 hz or so, maybe 80-120 at least) is preferable to tasking ported subwoofers with this task (or even wide slotted subs such as this PSW505). I often find ported subs lack the articulation and responsiveness that upper mid bass requires. This is just a personal preference. I prefer subs such as this one to stay in the lower bass regions from 80 Hz and down (maybe 100 Hz and down in some applications). Unfortunately, I cannot do that while using bookshelf speakers since the Polk Monitor 40s really don't handle the mid bass as well as I'd like. They are great speakers. I love the way they sound, but to get the response I want, I'm left with either getting some floor standers with built in 6.5 to 10 inch woofers that can handle that upper bass region better or investing in two more sealed subwoofers which are more likely to handle that upper bass region better than the ported (or slotted) subs I am currently using. Again, this is just a personal preference. I listen to a variety of music, so "boom" is not the only thing I care about. However, I do listen to music that has "boom" and bass that extends quite low. This sub reproduces that bass very well and is more than adequate for bass 80 Hz and below, even possibly 100 Hz and below. If anyone is interested, here is a nice review that seems to be spot on with my experience as well: [...] Read the section on in-room frequency response and you will see that the reviewer also found this sub to be flat to 25 Hz (which is about what you can expect from almost any 10-12" sub below the $500 price point). FINAL VERDICT: This subwoofer is simply a steal at the price I got it at: $179.99. You probably won't do significantly better until you hit roughly above the $500 price point. It simply blows away any subwoofer that was actually manufactured to sit in the MSRP range of $99-$250. This is essentially a "$600" sub priced at around $200. I'm guessing these prices are due to the subwoofer being end of life. It still sounds much better than its current price tag would suggest. If you can get this subwoofer below $200, grab it and don't look back. Once you start hitting $250 and higher, I would recommend maybe stretching your budget a bit and looking at other subs. You could take a look at the Hsu STF-2 although I don't know how significant a step-up this would be. You may also want to check out the VTK-1 MK2, but again, I'm not sure how much of a performance gain you will get for the difference in price. I would suggest looking at the VTK-2 MK4. The price is higher, but it should be worth it. You could also look at the SVS PB-1000. These are more expensive subs, but they should provide a sufficiently superior experience as well. Beyond that, you are getting into some serious money and into a class of subwoofer that this sub is not really intended to compete with. At less than $200, you can't really beat the PSW505 from what I've seen (and heard). As you push closer to $250 and especially higher than that, I think it's worth it to add a bit more to the budget and step up to something a bit better.

I purchased this Polk sub woofer (psw505) 3 years ago - it was on sale around Black Friday (or around that time) for $179.00.. I had it hooked up to a Yamaha amplifier. I rarely used it - maybe 20 times in a year for an hour or so at a time. So last night I powered it up and within a minute or so I notice the bass was out. After troubleshooting the obvious, I notice there was no green light power indicator - no led - I switched the switch to auto and the led turns red, So i begin researching thinking this was an easy fix - no such luck. The symptoms are the same others have reported - the back panel (which is the amplifier) failed. This is a very common failure on Polk sub woofers. If you do decide to buy, don't purchase with the expectation of it lasting long. Funny enough, I bought the Polk psw 505 to replace a cheap (but sounded decent) KLH sub woofer - that KLH sub woofer was used more and I had it for over 10 years without any problems. I sold it. So to sum this review up - Polk's sub woofers amplifiers (Chinese) can expect to fail after a couple of years. The warranty for the amp is 3 years. The replacement AMP part will cost you the same price of a new sub woofer. So with consideration to this, You'd be wise to find a different brand or if you do buy, don't pay full price. If you do like i did - it will cost you $60.00 a year to use then discard to the land fill. I won't be considering any Polk Sub woofers in the future. Once bitten, twice shy. When Black Friday rolls around again in about 4 months I'll keep my Amazon eye out for a different brand on sale. Well friend I'll close with - that's my "Sound Advice" to you, spend your money wisely.

One of the hard things to do in my business is find a sub that does both well in music and home theater applications. That's why you hear audiophiles say they don't use a sub when they play their music but have full range speakers that cost way more than the average person could afford. You could use a smaller 8" or 10" sub that is usually more musical but really doesn't delve deep or have that impact that a larger sub has. Or you can have two different subs, one for music and one for movies. Then you can switch them back and forth for the application you are running. For my findings with customers, they want things simple and easy but with great sound and picture. I'll leave the rest I mentioned to those hardcore listeners. The PSW505 sub has the musical finesse that most listeners will like and hits hard and clean for home theater applications. Like with all speakers and subs, you must play with the set up of where it sounds the best. You can have the best speakers and sub in the world but if you don't take the time to set it up properly, it will sound terrible. All subs should blend in with your main front speakers so it is not localized but sounds like the bass is coming from the main speakers. I never corner load the sub because this tends to give it the boomy sound that you hear with the cars that play their hip hop music really loud. I usually keep the sub out about two feet from both walls. Once dialed in, this sub will give you that musical sound that is clean and not boomy. The PSW505 distinctly hits bass notes which is separate from each other not sounding the same. I could not tell where the bass is coming from when listening to two channel music. For home theater, this sub really shines. Remember, that there is a lot of music in movies, so usually a good musical sub will do well in home theater. Three movies you must try with the PSW505 are Peter Jackson's King Kong, U571, and Tom Cruise's War of the World. In U571, the dept charge scene really hit deep but each charge was distinct. One of the reason why this scene is demanding on subs is the ability to make most subs lose steam or what professionals call dynamic output. Dynamic output is the ability to handle action sounds one after the other with out losing its power. The PSW505 had no signs of strain and plenty of dynamic output. In War of the Worlds, one of my favorite scene is the electrical storm scene. This scene has wind, lightning,and thunder sounds. It really lets your speaker system shine with multiple sound coming from all directions. The PSW505 really helped in making the storm real in the room with clean bass output from the deep wind to the thunder. King Kong's fight with the T-Rex scene has music, yelling, deep roars and stomps of the big prehistoric creatures. The PSW505 did a wonderful job of blending in the deep bass with the rest of the sounds. It felt like the creatures were right there stomping in the house. If you want a sub that does both music and movies well, this sub should be at the top of your list for the price it is being sold for at Amazon. You have to remember, this sub sold for $600 when it first came out and at that price it still would have been a great deal. At $200, it's a steal and I'm surprised they're still around. I know there are a lot of negative reviews but you also have to realize the speakers are subjective. One person may like the sound of speaker while another doesn't for the same speaker. It's all on what you like. There are many good speaker companies out there with great products. The Polk PSW505 happens to be one of them. Once dialed in, it will give you the reward in bass you might like.

Let me clarify the title I gave for this review. The Polk Audio PSW505 subwoofer is awesome! It is everything you would expect from a Polk Audio 12 inch, 300 watt continuous sub. Amazing power, depth, and tight bass sound. Will abolutely blow you away when set up properly in a surround sound setup. I would love to give this product a 5-star rating, but I can't. This is the third one I had sent to me. The first two were damaged pretty badly. Possibly in shipping, possibly by the handling prior to shipping, possibly poor quality control by Polk Audio. This third one I received was not perfect either. The grill was busted, just like in the previous two, but the cabinet didn't appear to have any damage, unlike the other two. The first two were very badly damaged. The cabinet was coming apart at the seams and the metal plate on the back with all the buttons, knobs and inputs was loose and rattled when playing. This type of damage is unacceptable! I really don't think it's fair to blame it all on UPS. This is definitely the result of poor quality control by Amazon or Polk Audio. The good part is that the returns were handled quickly and the price I paid was very, very good. In fact, if Amazon had advertised this product as a scratch and dent sale I would have been happy to pay the price I paid for this amazing subwoofer. It wasn't though. It was sold as a brand new, perfect product. When I opened the third one and saw that the grill was busted again I was beyond angry. I really wanted this sub, but I wanted one that looked and sounded the way it was supposed to. There was no way I was going to send this one back and try a fourth one. I checked it out thoroughly and didn't see any other damage so I called Polk Audio and told them my story. They apologized and said they would ship me a new grill as soon as they have it back in stock. This has been quite an ordeal and I hope I don't ever have to go through anything like this again, but in the end I got an incredible subwoofer at an incredible price and I will be very happy once I get the new grill from Polk Audio. I'm just begging to Amazon to please try and do a little better when handling big, expensive electronics. The customer service you provide is the best around, but I would much rather have something done right the first time. There's no way Amazon made a profit off of this purchase after shipping me three different, very heavy products and selling it at such a low price. Don't raise the prices, just watch the merchandise a little more closely. Somebody in the warehouse is not as good at their job as the folks in customer service.

** boy does time fly ....3 Jan 2013 update....my two PSW505's still amaze me.......that is all..... **Update, 28 Dec 2011, still flexin' my windows in my basement and taking names....just ordered another one because was running this and a 6.5 klipsch sub in each corner, will go 2 PSW505's. Tip...you can catch them onsale late at night like one day a month for $170. Oh also 2 weeks ago the pizza man said "last week what were you watching?? When I came to the door I could fell the bass in my chest." That would be dark night with a PSW505 and an Okyno 809 reciever....thanks Purchased this sub at the same time I purchased a BIC F12. Will update with more info but basically ran them the same hours before testing (about 15 on music and movies), watch same 20-30min of exact movie scenes(Inception, Star wars, Matrix reloaded, Dark Knight, did testing "slow, C weight, blabla with meter from my friends father who is "Carver, Paradigm" Audophile type. Design: The PSW505 is built a little better and the grill doesn't vibrate when bass is loud like the F12. The F12 is a little higher but the PSW505 seems about 15lbs heavier. Bottom line, this PSW505 produced a way higher SPL with the same settings than the F12, much higher. My basement theater room is 25 wide by 40' deep. Placed both subs in same location, 1 foot from intersection of north and west walls. Sony 820 receiver connected subwoofer out, receiver on -3db SW setting volume 32, 40 and 42. This Sub is powerful enough to overpower my BIC LRC (Left right center) Formula speakers. The F12 couldn't do that without going to 3/4 volume and shaking the grill and sounding like it was working 2 hard. The PSW505 at about 5/8 volume shakes my entire north wall, the window, the ceiling and the south wall about 35 feet away from the sub. F12 did sound a bit better for punch deep bass songs like "murder gram" by LL Cool J, and "eat em up L". On movies F12 sounds nice, but PSW505 sounds like IMAX. It's like comparing a 50 cal. to a cannon (PSW505). Both will do damage but the PSW505 does the most. Also with the PSW the bass is "thick enough" to where the M16 shots in Inception kinda scares me, with the F12 no. F12 is good tho' but the Polk, you can play that thing and your walls will submit before the sub. So anyway the F12 is going back to Amazon tomorrow. FYI most people who review subs are upgrading from a HTIB (home theater in a box) so they will like the sound of anything, I have a 8" Klipch, sub12 Klipsch, 6.5" klipsch from my 300 HD surround system, some 8" off brand, 2 subs in my living room, 2 fosgate punch classics in my car, etc, etc, so I know what Im talking about when it comes to bass. Like someone said, this Polk isn't something for apartment dwellers or people who share walls with neighbors! It actually shakes my ceiling. No picture falling off the wall and all that other crazy stuff but once again, my theater room is 25x40. I will edit with db meter readings I did over the last 2 days. One more thing, you can run 2 subs from 2 dif manufactures at the same time, did it with the Polk and F12 and the Polk and one of my Klipsch subs. Just place them in a room perpendicular to each other and also one will have to have phase set to 0 and one to 180. 5 starts because for a $200 and something sub this thing scares me. Not 5 stars compared to $900 600watt RMS subs. Polk Audio PSW505 12-Inch Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black) BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer edit: When I first connecting this sub, I got little bass and port noise, took about 5 days of playing it about 1-2h a day before it started to really "do work" but every day it got better and better with thicker bass at a lower volume. 26 Oct 2011 edit: Ok so here are the SPL readings I took: with Sony 820 receiver vol at 32 the F12 produced 91.5db the PSW505 94db SPL....SPL w/o a sub on my system at vol. 32 is 65dba. That's with the subs hooked up exactly the same way but polk just under 1/2 volume crossed over at 90 and F12 just over 1/2 gain crossed over at 90. Location was each sub 2ft from Northwest corner of theater room (25x40) with polk at 1/2 volume, and vol. 40 on sony receiver Polk hit 101.5 SPL, little over 1/2 (like one dash) hit 105 SPL. F12 same Vol hit 95 SPL both crossed over at 90 htz. just as a comp, my HD300 6.5 sub at 40 hits 82db SPL. at vol. 20. the Polk hit 92db SPL, the F12 86 db at vol 30. the Polk hit 103 db and F12 98 db (sitting slightly to the left of test done at vol 32 above). Songs to test: "respect" by Notorious BIG (should here a low to high rumble on each bass hit) "Murdergram" LL cool J "Eat-em Up L" LL cool J "phone numbers" Whiz Khalifa - this song has some fast low bass hits that the F12 got each one clearer than the Polk. "get em girls" Cam'ron "booming system" LL cool J - particularly the part where he spell "C O O L I N" a bunch of random top 40 songs and a few limp biskit songs and the movies above. So anyway I got this to feel the bass in my chest while watching movies and provide some low end for music. If you're only listening to music get the F12, if you want to feel gun shots in movies get the PSW505. I couldn't even imagine using 2 PSW505's! **Update 28 Oct 2011** Switch my output on my bluray to bitstream HD versus PCM to let my sony 810 reciever decode the sound and the LFE signal came on the reciever when watching movies and the bass just got real!!! Now run it at little over 1/4 sounds nice. Gets better by the week. Prob had it 2 weeks now listing at about 1.5h/day av.

I bet your just like I was when I first looked at the Polk PSW505, Tired of your crappy 8 inch joke of a sub. You need something more powerful, something that will put the fear of God into the heart of anybody that dares walk into your theatre while the Dark Knight is playing. Rather than that dull thud your crappy 8 inch gives you. So what did I do like many others? Searched Amazon for the highest rated subwoofer and wow! Up pops the Polk PSW505 with 5 star reviews by the hundreds. The stats and specs on this bad boy make it sound like an angry beast out of hell! Does it actually sound like an angry beast? Absolutely....... A dying one Phase 1 (maybe I just got a bad unit?) On July 1st I buy they beautiful Polk PSW505 the box is HUGE take the sub out and wow! Its looks like a monster EXACTLY what I wanted, I go and plug the bad boy in. Not being a stranger to good home audio (actually I'm completely obsessed with it) I turn the sub on and play music at a low level to break it in for about 50 hours. Heck yea! My sub was sounding awesome! Its family movie time my sub is a killer, time to show off! I throw in dark Knight on blu ray. Not being a complete idiot I turn my sub just past ½ volume. A scene hits a low frequency as batman always does, and my sub craps its pants. Worst sound I have EVER heard from a subwoofer! Port Noise/ muddy/port turbulence it was like the sub died on that note. It did it again and again and again. Now I'm pissed! I thought this sub was a heavy hitter! What is this nonsense! Later I found that sounds below 30 hertz this sub simply cannot reproduce, which is average for this price range. The issue here is the sound that the sub DOES make while failing to make this frequency will wake the dead, and those zombies will tell you go get a better sub! However all those Amazon reviews can't be wrong can they? So I use my Amazon Prime and request an exchange and before I even put my subwoofer in its box amazon has already sent out a replacement subwoofer to me for free and it would arrive the next morning (Love you Amazon!) Phase 2 ( 2nd sub is the charm?) On July 15th my second Polk PSW505 sub arrives at home, now it's time to see how this sub is really supposed to sound. I spend about 100 hours breaking it in at low to medium volumes, but I'm working everyday over the summer and I just don't have time to really listen. On day I come home and my brother is playing Battlefield 3 on ps3 (dolby digital) and I hear the port noise every time a grenade goes off or a tank fires ugghhh not again! Sounds terrible!! I even tried tightening the screws on the amplifier to make sure nothing was loose. However my summer job was over and I didn't have money or time to replace it again and I figure maybe this is just how subs sound in this price range and I give it a rest and just settle for the muddy terrible air filled lows that rear port produces. Phase 3 (How is a $130 no name sub destroying my Polk PSW505?) My home theatre system is complete Polk Audio CS10 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Black) (Love it) Denon AVR-2113CI Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay and Powered Zone 2 (epic) Polk Audio Monitor 70 AM7025-B 3-Way Floorstanding Speaker (Single, Black) (awesome) Bic America Bic Venturi Dv 84 8" Tower Speaker (great) Subwoofer Polk PSW505 (expensive disappointment) Now it's time for a theater for the common space ( my A tier speakers are not to be shared) I go online and buy a Dayton Audio 12 inch sub woofer with 5 satellite speakers for $190 from parts express and hook it up to my old Onkyo tsd494 reciever. Sounds awesome! I make the ill fate of putting my #1 ranked Polk PSW505 up against my Dayton 12 inch powered sub included in the set. The Dayton (downward firing port) destroys the Polk (rear firing port)! The Polk sub begins to distort at half volume on my receiver. I turned my receiver all the way up with the Dayton ( which I have never dreamed of doing before) and it handled it like a champ. I was in a state of complete shock and denial.This sub kicks and for $130 please send Dayton an a letter apologizing for robbing them because its just wrong how good this sub sounds for that price! Phase 4 (overcoming denial) To make a long story short I called Polk and began replacing all the parts on my sub to fix the port noise issue. First I replaced the cabinet, with a new one Polk shipped to me, and it fixed nothing. Then I replaced the driver with a new one Polk sent to me, still sounds like complete crap. Then Polk told me to try to seal the port with insulation, and then it sounded like a muffled distorted P.O.S. Polk got so frustrated they told me to send my sub in to their warehouse so they could take a look. Phase 5 (Finding a new true love called the F12) While being depressed that my Polk sub was gone, (being looked at by Polk specialist) I decide to buy a new one. I look at the BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer which is the runner up in reviews. What do I have to lose? If it sucks I can just send it back to amazon for free and settle for my PSW505 for the rest of my miserable existence. The F12 comes in and man does this sub bang! Sounds sooo amazing right out of the box no break in period this subwoofer obliterates the Polk I had broken in for 6 months! This sub came out the box a killer! Handled Dark Knights lows like it was a happy hearted children's special, no struggles! Music has a clean punch! As soon as my Polk sub comes back in I'm going to put it on amazon and sell it to one of those suckers that skipped over my review, take that money and buy another F12!! Moral of the story if you want a good 12 inch sub for $130 buy the Dayton 12 inch on parts express (free shipping) if you want more power and also have clean lows go get the Bic F12 $198 If you are an slobbering 16 year old idiot and all you want your sub to do is make a loud bang-like sound go get the Polk PSW505 Possible questions "You just hate Polk"- false, my Polk monitors 70's are amazing as is my Polk center "Maybe it's your receiver"- False, I tried the PSW505 on 3 different receivers Onkyo, Pioneer, and Denon. "You just set it up wrong on your receiver" False I have audyssey Multi EQ on my 2013 receiver and also set it to THX standards "Placement is crucial" of course it is that's why I did the sub crawl "Could be the shape of your room" False, used the sub in the basement, bedroom, commonspace, even kitchen, sounded terrible everywhere " You work for BIC America" Then why do I promote a Dayton sub? " You work for Dayton audio" Then why do I promote a BIC America sub? " you just are hearing it wrong" false, my mom, dad, brother, sister and girlfriend all agreed that the Dayton sounded better than the Polk, they don't have special technical skills, they just have common sense and ears. " You have a bad sub LFE cable" Nope use the #1 ranked sub cable on Amazon [[ASIN:B003FW0WIK Mediabridge Ultra Series Subwoofer Cable - ( 8 Feet ) - Dual Shielded with RCA to RCA Gold Plated Pro Grade Connectors] Another note- notice how Polk has discontinued this product? go look on Polk.com and count how many 12 inch subs they are producing with rear ports? Not one, Polk saw that the rear ported sub design they have had terrible port noise and completely discontinued this sub and all others with rear ports and turned from its wicked ways. And for that, we say thank you

BEAST. MODE. I had a JBL Power Bass PB12. It was a 12", down firing, 250W earthquake machine. After that thing prematurely fried, and Best Buy screwed me on the warranty, I was sub-less for a while. I went back to the old school "wall of sound" routine with old amps, EQ's, and stacks of very large speakers. Sounded great, but took up a lot of space. But what do I care - Im a bachelor! Fast forward a few years and now there is a kid crawling around, and an ol' lady who wants the speakers out. Time to do this right. I buy new Denon head unit, a ceiling mounted Harmon/Kardon satellite speaker set-up, and its time to put some bass in the place. I think back, fondly, of my PB12, and the places it literally shook apart. I know it has to be those specs or better, but I don't want to spend a fortune. Along in the reviews of my poor old PB12 (Which was actually a POS prone to blowing the amp) comes this Polk Audio (Trusted name), 12" (good, good), 350W (NICE, NICE), front firing (booo), budget friendly sub. I read some more reviews and make my mind up. I put my order in for the Polk Audio PSW505 and it arrives a few days later. It must weigh 40lbs+. Thats always a good sign. I get it hooked up, and I can tell I won't be disappointed. I have the gain at about 1.5 and I can feel the floor shake. I have the crossover set to the highest setting as I am using small satellite speakers that don't reproduce any real bass. So far movies sound great and the little music I have played (Rock to rap to classical) sound like everything is where it should be. I do have some more tweaking and tuning, and a full break-in cycle to go, but I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful relationship..... I will update this once it is fully tuned, broken in, and given a good workout. ****UPDATE**** 4/25/16 So after some tuning and tweaking I've discovered a few things.... Pros: This thing SHAKES. I mean wall cracking, stuff falling off tables, cabinets rattling, BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM box. It definitely has enough power to drive the speaker. Speaking of the speaker, the surround on it is YUGE. It pretty much resembles a car audio sub, which is nice. There is more than enough room for some serious cone excursion, and enough power to push it. Cons: The "Volume" control works like this: Off and on. Seriously, 0-3 will adjust the volume, but its a very fine trim. 3-8 is exactly the same volume (Might as well be 8), and 8-10 is pretty much 10. So basically all of your tuning comes in about 1/4" of knob turn. The crossover does not work. At all. Not even slightly. Ive gone through a bunch of tuning with bass tones and the crossover does absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Its pretty much factory set at the middle, which is fine, but I would have liked a bit more control. Given these developments I have revised my rating from 5 stars to 4. Final judgement? I really dont think there is another home audio sub on the market at this price range that could possibly even attempt to compete with this sub. Im very happy with it so far, and Im sure you will be too. ***UPDATE #2*** 4/3/17 - So after a few serious workouts (Tropkillaz - "Hideho", DJ Billie E "Beats For My Van" and the like, and a few Metallica concerts) I have started to notice the performance to drop off. It seems to clip at lower volumes now. I'm not worried about popping the speaker though, 12" replacements are easy to find :) *UPDATE#2* I bought this almost 4 years ago and have beat it mercilessly since I bought it. It’s used daily, and on for hours at a time. It needed a re-tune after a good break-in, but it still shakes the house. In fact I’m buying a second one just to see if I can crack the foundation. Back to 5 stars for longevity.

I recently bought the Denon AVR-X2300W and am building my home theatre. The PSW 505 is the first of the components I have bought to hook up with the Denon. I had some small satellite speakers from my old combo home theatre system from Sony. The small speakers are powerful enough to work with the Denon for the time being. The problem was the passive subwoofer. Polk audio components have always satisfied my auditory senses. I have used the Polk Audio car speakers for a very long time. It took about two and a half weeks for the 505 to arrive. The first impression of the 505 when it arrived, "Damn, it's so big! Where do I fit this in my tiny Mumbai apartment bedroom?" Lol! It has to be! It's a 12" subwoofer. Then there was the voltage issue! This damn thing runs on 110V. (Though I was informed by the seller before confirming the order). Ordered a heavy duty step down voltage transformer from Amazon again as my local market shops did not have any step down transformer that had a 500kVA output rating or higher. Another week went by, by the time I received the step down transformer. Then after unboxing it and hooking it up to the AVR, I had to spend some time tweaking around with the freq filter and the volume knobs behind the 505. It took few days and testing out on various kinds of media to arrive at a setting that sounds best for my room. If you do not set up the 505 as per your room acoustics and likings, it can become extremely boomy or can become too dry. But once the optimisation is done, it is now performing better than my expectations. The bass response is deep and distinct clear, attacks at right places and does not cloud rest of the frequencies from the small speakers. Music sounding good while movie watching is a different experience now altogether. All in all an awesome investment. Am very happy with the output of the 505. Window panes and my cupboard doors now need some padding to get rid of the vibrations! ____________________________ Long term review (July 2018): Finally, I am done with setting up the home theatre. I have paired this subwoofer with Polk Audio RTi A7s & one CSi A4. Now movie viewing is an experience. But there has been a small mishap. I shifted my house recently and this subwoofer stopped working all of a sudden few days back. I reached out to the seller here for a copy of the invoice & to inquire on the warranty terms. Seller sent across the invoice promptly but happily ignored the warranty inquiry. Polk audio products come with a 3 years company warranty. On reaching out to Polk audio in USA, they connected me to the Mumbai distributor who in turn connected me to the service centre. Now I am declined warranty service because this product was imported from the USA and international warranty is not recognised in India. So guys, if you are ordering the same, please make it sure that it is the official Indian distributed model. Please refrain from getting this imported or else the warranty is going to be an issue.

Subwoofer de excelente potencia con muy buena calidad de sonido siempre y cuando lo sepas ajustar mediante un buen amplificador de teatro en casa. Lleva tiempo y paciencia hacerlo, pero una vez ajustado todos los niveles del amplificador y el subwoofer, con tus demás bocinas, escucharas las fuertes notas graves que esté subwoofer es capaz de dar y las cuales debés modular escuchando muchos DVD'S y Blu-ray, tanto de películas cómo de conciertos de música y ajustar niveles hasta lograr lo óptimo. Sólo así disfrutarás de un excelente subwoofer por el mejor precio.

I'm impressed. As someone who has only ever owned cheaper 8", and 10" subwoofers... I'm surprised at the quality of the bass that this 12" delivers. The build quality is solid. The bass is tight and accurate. This is an upgrade from a Polk PSW10. Which was serviceable, but there was a ton of port noise that became distracting to the point that I had to make a change. Overall, I'm very impressed with this Sub. Hopefully it lasts.

La verdad el sonido es muy malo, o se satura o no se escucha, tenia un Infinity TS1100 antes de este y aunque era de 300 W sonaba mil veces mejor, no vale la pena pero en fin ya lo compre ni modo.

First one failed in 1 month, got replaced by amazon, failed in 5th month, now on the 3rd amp replacement. Don't buy this, next time it fails I'll just upgrade to a Paradigm or BIC or if I have more money a SVS SB1000. Big disappointment from somone who like Polk and own 6 Polk Speakers (RTIA9/7) which are great. UPDATE Aug 22: Now my woofer is out of order. They are now shipping me a replacement woofer but said it will take 2 to 3 weeks. I can't believe Polk actually produced such a low quality product.