Polk Audio PSW202 Subwoofers

Polk Audio PSW202 Subwoofers 

DESCRIPTION

  • bass-reflex
  • video-shielded
  • 50-watt RMS amp
  • 10" front-firing driver
  • frequency response 40-180 Hz (-3dB)
  • continuously variable 80-160 Hz crossover
  • phase switch
  • auto on/off
  • speaker-level and line-level inputs; speaker-level outputs
  • black matte finish
  • 13-3/8"W x 14-5/8"H x 14-3/4"D

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 11  
[Jun 19, 2015]
Chris
Audio Enthusiast

First, note that I don't actually know the product model year. There's not very much to find about this model online.

Functionally, this subwoofer is a bit lacking. The speaker pass-through has no high pass circuitry, so it's only a convenience if your amplifier doesn't have more than two speaker outputs. I plugged in one of my speakers through the passthrough (a pair of Klipsch Synergy B-10 monitors) and was able to play a 20hz tone to it no problem, so that's certainly the case.

The low-pass is also a bit high-reaching. It only turns down to 80, and the gradual slope means a lot of higher frequencies still come from the sub. It bottoms out around 40hz or so, so this is probably for the better. The auto power-off is nice, but I only use it as a precaution in case I forget to turn it off. I turn it off myself to save energy, since it waits a bit of a while (maybe 15 minutes or so) to turn off on its own.

Even still, I'm quite happy using this for music and games at my computer. I have it set up in a small, square-shaped room (one wall is slightly longer, but it's almost entirely a square) with the driver pointed in the corner. It's right in the middle of my two speakers, and right in front of my knees when in use. For this application, it has plenty of power and meshes well with my tiny speakers; they bottom around 60hz, so the sub plays in with them nicely. It's definitely bass-you-can-feel in this setting!

It doesn't sound /very/ fast, but I wouldn't call it sloppy, either. It's certainly musical, I've used it for jazz as well as pop and dubstep, and it renders upright bass and drums in a way that is pleasing to me. It's also been good for games; it adds very pleasing low end to the music and sound effects from Super Smash Bros. Buying it immediately enhanced the listening experience with these small speakers, and for the right price, I'd recommend it to someone else for that, too. (I paid $50 at a pawn shop, which was a no-brainer)

It plays loud nicely, but if you play it /absurdly/ loud, it will get boomy. This hasn't been an issue for me in actual listening, only when I purposefully turned the sub up beyond a good mesh for the speakers to see how loud it would go. So while it may do that, it's negligible in all the actual ways I use this sub. (And I do like to listen loud.)

It's also definitely only for bookshelf speakers. My Klipsch floorstanders (Synergy F-20) play lower and stronger into the bass frequencies than this does, so it wouldn't only not play well, it would sound very unnatural.

As mentioned, I got this for $50 at a pawn shop, and for that, I've been very happy with it. The vinyl wrapping on the front baffle is peeling off (came that way), which obviously imposes no functional problems. With mine pointed into the corner, I don't even see it! I don't know how the last owner (or owners) used it, but it's in perfect functional order as I use it now. Overall, very successful budget sub.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 07, 2007]
don hayek
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Nice looking

Weakness:

Started to distort after two weeks, then smelled like burnt electric stuff. Put it out in the garage in fear of a fire.

I hope they discontinued this product which failed after 2 weeks of serice. Placed it in the garage and bought a Velodyne which has been fine.

Customer Service

Would like to have this thing working so I can use it in the garage when working on my car.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne 10", beautiful and has been working for years.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Oct 05, 2005]
Pichistrilli
AudioPhile

Strength:

Very good looking, high quality materials, magnetic shielded, small size.

Weakness:

Poor quality sound, don't reach lower than 40 hz (hasn't deep bass extrange subwoofer) i really called woofer only because the sub frequencyes aren't reproduced. I really don't recomend it.

Well i've reviewed before about this product, and yesterday changed the psw-202 to a Monitor Audio ASW-100. Te reason, is simpe, the psw-202 is good made, good quality materials and looks fine, but the sound is a desaster. I don't like it, because is the only sub that reaches to 40 hz, and doesn't have deep bass. And the upper frequencyes interacts whit the main speakers and make the finaly sound very rare. I don't like polk products so much, are ver well made, but the sound doesn't have sense, doesn't have emotion. I really prefer Monitor Audio products. If you want to listen a decent bass the sub that you buy have to reach 35 to 30 hz allmost, if goes down to 25 or 20 hz is better.

Similar Products Used:

No one, because it is the only active subwoofer that reaches as lower frequencyes 40 hz.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
2
[Sep 15, 2005]
Pichistrilli
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

economic, very good cuality construction, heavy, very complete for the price, good cuality sound, 10 inches woofer.

Weakness:

Doesn't have LFE input, it could be a little louder, but it's ok.

It's an economic but good subwoofer, ideal to use in bedrooms for it's dimensions. Is no very loud, but I have a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze B2, and this sub reproduces the lower octaves very well.I'm very happy with it. Oviously there are a lot of better subs, but their prices are very high, specially in Argentina where the electronics is something very expensive. I set the crossover switch at 9 o'clock, the phase at 0 degres and the volume knob at 12 o'clock, and it sounds deep, powerfull and clear.

Similar Products Used:

monitor audio, paradigm.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 05, 2004]
sowen
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Clarity, purity, and definition are unmatched for under $1500.00. It is NOT heavy handed. Excellent overall construction and good looks. Fast response and no "overhang". Enclosure is acoustically dead and has no audible resonance. A better voice than the PSW404 for much less money. The cleanest 10" sub I demoed. Typical Polk quality.

Weakness:

No binding post. Clips hard at very high volume. Cannot fill-out a large room by itself. Cannot reach lower registers. Amplifier has no heat-sink and has reliability problems at high volume.

I bought this sub to compliment my Velodyne CHT-12. The Velodyne is superb except for the fact it plays very, VERY low. Tonally, the Velodyne plays more like a 15” than a 12”. It doesn't have much to offer until the sound falls below 60hz. Obviously that leaves a little to be desired considering my Polk RTi100 towers are crossed over at 80hz. The Polk, as most 10s do, has the opposite problem. It plays higher but fails to reach the lower registers. The PSW202 has much less power than the PSW404 (also 10") but that is just as well because they share the same driver and the driver will blow in the PSW404 if the volume is turned past 50% (seen 4 do this). I prefer the PSW202 to the PSW404 for one reason; it has a much more pure sound than the PSW404 which sounds a little "heavy handed". The PSW404 tends to belt out the notes rather than play them delicately like the PSW202. This is most likely due to the differing amplifier section. I do not like the spring-clip speaker wire connections at all though it is expected for a sub in it's price range. I would much prefer binding posts but I, as well as most of you, am using the "line in" input so the lack of binding posts is really not an issue. I demoed several models in many different price ranges including Paradigm, Infinity, and even Velodyne's 10 before deciding on the PSW202. All demos were done in my home theater room with the subs in the same location. The PSW202 was definitely not the loudest, that right is reserved for the Velodyne, but it was the cleanest and most accurate. The lack of LOUD didn't matter to me as much as the sound quality. If I want loud, I have the Velodyne 12. As this speaker was only to compliment the Velodyne and to fill the gap (80-60hz) between the Velodyne and the towers, it works wonderfully and I would recommend this arrangement to anyone. I would not, however, recommend this sub to anyone who needs to run it by itself and has a large listening area. My theater room is 20’x20’ and it will not do a sufficient job filling the room by itself. Also, being only a 10” woofer, it just doesn’t go that low. You will not get that “visceral” low-bass rumble with it. It will not go down below the 40hz range before it falls off completely. My db meter shows a -3db (half volume) drop at 57hz. It will not fill the room completely before clipping; this is likely due to the amplifier’s lower power rating. BUT, if you have a 12” or 15” sub and you are looking to fill the gap in your upper bass register, the PSW202 is the only way to go. The sound is not muddy or heavy handed. It is crisp and clean. One thing to keep in mind, there have been several individuals who have had the sub's amplifier fail. That is most likely because they are running this sub by itself (single sub setup) and had the volume turned up. The amplifier has no heat-sinks so it gets hot quick when it’s running hard. I must also stress the importance of quality subwoofer cables. You absolutely must use Monster Cable. You WILL hear a difference especially with a sub that has the clarity of the PSW202. My setup includes 2 Polk RTi100 Towers for the front 2 Polk RTi30 for the center 2 Polk RTi28 for the rear 2 Polk FXi50 for the rear 1 Velodyne CHT-12 1 Polk PSW202 Onkyo TX-SR701 THX receiver

Similar Products Used:

None. It is in a league of its own.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 24, 2003]
manfred111
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good solid little unit, lots of low bass. Nice unit for little money.

Weakness:

Can't find any yet. I'm sure a $600 Velodyne would beat it, though.

Good Sub for the money, used in a small room(20x15). Compliments my other speakers and seems to have enough adjustability to accomodate many systems. Don't know if they would work in a larger room, but for the money spent I can't complain.

Similar Products Used:

Minnesota Audio Labs 6550 power amps, YS Audio Tube Preamp, Sota Sapphire. Linaeum LT1000 main speakers. Musical Fidelity CD player.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Dec 03, 2003]
mikeinaustin
Casual Listener

Strength:

auto-on feature is nice.

Weakness:

because so many have had their amplifier section fail, there must be a fundamental design flaw in the amp.

two units purchased brand new and both have dead amplifier sections after minimal usage. if you go to the polk forum website, you'll see that others have this exact same problem (constant buzz and then no audio). you can (and i have) take the amp section out, mail (at your own expense) amp section to polk and they will fix/replace - but it is not acceptable for both these units to have failed with very minimal audio usage.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
3
[Nov 06, 2003]
jason webb
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

sounds good musicaly

Weakness:

not sure what else I cove gotten for the $ but theres got to be something better than this.

great sound for music, but not at all for bass-heads like myself,although it will soon have the opportuity to redeem itself when I get the chance to turn the volume up and see how it sounds,for its sake I wish it luck.

Similar Products Used:

magnavox,acoustic research

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
2
[Oct 04, 2003]
Valia
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Price. Sounds great. Looks great. Nice build quality.

Weakness:

Crossover and volume knobs on the back - when will manufacturers get a clue it's inconvenient! I have got my previous Yamaha sub just because the knobs are in front. Does not have spikes for the carpet. Front-firing woofer is covered by cloth... And I am afraid of damaging it when vacuuming the room.

The subwoofer was the cheapest one Fry's had at the moment (it was on sale - normally they sell it for $199). I have compared it to PSW-303 they also had in stock, but could not see any tremendous difference that would justify paying $299 for it - even in their huge demo room. Paired with Polk RTi28's and an Onkyo TX-8211 receiver, it makes a perfect combination in my small living room/study (I live in an apartment). I have measured sound spectra with Signalscope/Signalsuite through the internal microphone on my Powerbook, and the response curve of the whole setup looks essentially flat down to about 35Hz. The bass subwoofer outputs is not boomy and is not tiring on my ears. It just supplements the main speakers enough to make them sound just right (of course, I had to fiddle with crossover and volume settings quite a bit). The sub looks nice and solid with a big woofer in front and wood-textured sides. It looks even better with the front cloth cover removed. The particular sub I got is made in China, but the build is of high quality, and has a 5 year warranty (3 years for the amplifier part).

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha YST-SW215, various "multimedia" computer subwoofers (they are not real ones :)

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 21, 2003]
Etham
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good defined low bass sound.

Weakness:

None that is disturbing, except a little distortion at near max volume, which is really not necessary for most listening pleasure !

Just hooked up the PSW202. Sounds great with the Yamaha RX V440. Gives a defined BOOM when needed. However, it sounds a little distorted at high volume. Otherwise, it is good value for money. This thing sure gives more than its size !

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Wharfadale,

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 11  

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