Home > Consumer Reviews > Polk Audio PSW505 12-Inch Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black)

Polk Audio is still making great speakers. I bought my first pair almost 30 years ago in 1978, had them for almost 25 years till I replaced them with smaller ones with a Velodyne sub. When my overpriced Velodyne sub went out on me last month, I decided to give Polk Audio a try since my first experience with Polk was so good. All I can say is that I'm glad I went with the 12" and for the approx $300 price tag, it sounds as good if not better than my high end $800 Velodyne sounded. For the extra $75 or so, get the 12" as opposed to the 10", you'll be glad you did.

Was very iffy on this sub since I was going from a $1,000 Velodyne to this, but let me tell you I am not disapointed.Low tight bass with no distortion or rumble, sounds much better playing music than the Velodyne did,even though I use it mainly for movies.In my opinion you are getting a high end sounding subwoofer for $300, there is no way you can beat that!Tried to see how loud I could take it to see at what level it would start to distort, but could not get there because my windows were about to pop And my nose started to itch from the tremendous vibration, teeth rattled a little too! trust me I am not exagerating! BUY THIS SUB!!!!!

I tried a couple of other subs before I finally broke down and bought this one. Not the least expensive one, but definately the loudest one I've owned! My listening area is 16' X 18' with a large opening into the Dining Room. This sub really hits hard and lets you feel the bass the way it is meant to be. I have it stationed behind my wifes chair, and the first time I had it on with her sitting in place she kept leaning forward and looking behind her chair to see what all the rumbling was. I just laughed when she asked me if I did something to the Surround System. Spend the extra dough, you won't be disappointed.

I know there are huge audio philes out there that might turn a nose up to big brands like Polk Audio. I just got this PSW 505. Good price. Took a little while to ship but I guess these big daddies are in demand.

Simple set up. SOUNDED GREAT!!!!! It really does hit your chest. Sold wood build. I like the auto standby feature that puts the subwoofer to sleep. When it detects a signal it will wake up and run. Subwoofer connects via an RCA cable. Get a nice long one, about 15 feet. I coupled this with an Onkyo 605.

The front grille was cracked. Called Polk Audio and they replaced it no questions asked. Just gave my name, product #, and address. Didn't even ask for the serial #. They'll send it out to me.

All this taken into consideration, I'm gonna buy the CSi5 center channel.

I have been in the process of slowly replacing my speakers, going from an old set of conventional 3-way Altec Lansings (w/Bose surround satellites and a Boston Acoustic center channel) to an all-Polk Audio 5.1 configuration. Over the last few months, I purchased a set of Polk Audio RTI A7s for my fronts, a Polk Audio CSI A6 Center Channel, and a pair of Polk Audio RTI A3s which serve as rears. The new speakers offer great clarity and response across the mid- and high-range (they are all voice matched so it sounds great) but they are a bit lacking in terms of bass as compared with the old Altecs, which featured a 12" woofer and a lower -3db limit of ~30Hz, rendering a subwoofer unnecessary. I needed that little super low-end "thump" I used to have (the A7s, the most responsive speakers I own at the low-end of the sound spectrum, have a lower -3db limit of 35Hz), and after reading the reviews here this sub seemed like the best combination of performance and value. I purchased this item from Amazon and it arrived in 3 days' time. Plugged it in and all I can say is wow. I have a medium-sized room, and this product has no problem providing the low-end bass I need without breaking a sweat. The PSW505 is self-amplified, and I have it set at less than half of max volume. At its current setting it is more than suitable. When I crank it up, it makes the entire room shake, and literally rattles my teeth.

The PSW505 features level control, phase control, adjustable crossover setting (from 60Hz to 125Hz) as well as a standby switch and the ability to manually turn it on or off or set it to auto, which automatically looks for a signal and if it doesn't find one shuts the sub off within 15 minutes. You can hook it up using dual inputs (banana plug capable), unfiltered LFE, or filtered line-level input, which I am using. The item looks sharp too, with a sleek black wood-grain finish, a silver front faceplate, polymer composite cone, and a stylish dark grey molded grill to direct the bass to the listening area. It's also magnetically shielded so it won't affect other nearby A/V components if it's front-placed, like mine is. The quality and craftsmanship are evident even before plugging it in.

Tooth-rattling notwithstanding, the bass is extremely clear, with very distinct bass reproduction for both music (plucked strings, bass notes) and entertainment (booming bass for those Hollywood blockbusters). I have not been able to push it to the point of distortion, even at max volume it easily handles the load (Running on a Yamaha RX-V1800 with a PS3 handling the Bluray/DVD/SACD duty). I am completely satisfied and would recommend this sub to anyone with a high-performance system and the necessary space. At this price you can't go wrong with this item, as you can scale it to any size room you need short of a concert hall. I don't see myself needing to replace this item for a very long time, if ever. Highest recommendation.