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Polk Audio

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

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Style: PSW505


Features

  • HEART-THUMPING MUSIC WITH DEEP, POWERFUL BASS Polk's 12-inch Dynamic Balance Woofer sounds better because it is built better. Make your movies, music & sports experience thrilling
  • ACCURATE SOUND REPRODUCTIONS Be it delicate, melodious string music or solid blasts and booms from bombs and bullets, this subwoofer picks the subtleties between different kinds of sound correctly and reproduces them with absolute perfection
  • DRIVEN BY IMMENSE 460-WATT POWER, the PSW505 gives HIGH PERFORMANCE IMPACTFUL SOUND WITHOUT ANY DISTORTION. While it blends with any speaker, it works best with Polk's Signature Series Speakers. Highly recommended for your home theater
  • VERSATILE & FULLY LOADED The front grille is detachable, and the back has a magnetically shielded LFE-input for noisy signal aversion, line- & speaker-level inputs and outputs, and a Phase Toggle Switch designed for running multiple subwoofers
  • EASY TO INTEGRATE WITH EXISTING SYSTEMS Hook up this sub to the receiver and upgrade your music sound instantly. Features continuously variable 60-120 Hz crossover and 25-125 Hz frequency response

Description

PSW505 features a sturdy Slot Load Vent that minimizes distortion, and a 300-Watt amplifier that powers a high-quality 12" long-throw woofer to deliver accurate, room-filling deep bass you crave for home theatre. A rotary volume control adjusts the volume of the subwoofer relative to the other speakers in the system and the unit offers a continuously variable low- pass filter, adjustable from 60-120 Hz. Accessible, professional-grade line- and speaker-level inputs, and speaker level outputs allow easy connection to any system for an instant sound upgrade. The subwoofer’s cool styling, with silver details and a real wood veneer adds a classic touch & blends in seamlessly with your room decor. From the Manufacturer Have a big room? Have the need for BIG, life-like bass impact? Then the PSW505 is the subwoofer for you. More than a mere brute, the PSW505 is equally at home reproducing all the subtle nuance of a plucked string bass as it is belting out a rocket's roar. Full-featured and over-powered, the PSW505 will rock your world.Key FeaturesSlot Load Venting improves bass response. The wide, long slotted vent dramatically lessens turbulence, noise and distortion, creating precise, thunderous bass!Polk subs sound better because they're built better. Rock- solid MDF construction (including a 1 inch thick front baffle) suppresses enclosure panel resonance for distortion-free, accurate response.Big 12-inch Long Throw Driver for longer excursion and better linearity.Adjustable low pass crossover, phase switch and volume control allows perfect blending with any main speaker. Why you should consider this productBig subwoofer performance pure and simple. If you’re ready for room filling, chest-thumping high impact high performance bass, the PSW505 is the perfect choice. Take a look inside this productHuge Hi-Roll Surrounds that support a true long throw driver. Most powered subwoofers are good for just gut-rumble and boom. Polk understands that you listen to music too so our subs are tight, precise and accurate. High current 300 Watt Continuous (460 Watt Dynamic) power amplifier. Adjustable low pass crossover, phase switch and volume control allows perfect blending with any main speaker. Auto on/off circuit that automatically turns your subwoofer on when it senses a program signal. When no signal is present, the amplifier turns off within 15 minutes.Unfiltered LFE input for use with low pass filtered subwoofer output jacks.Pro-grade 5-way binding posts speaker inputs and outputs.Magnetically shielded for safe, flexible placement next to a TV or video monitor. TechnologyDynamic Balance® Woofer Design Polk perfected the method of analyzing a speaker's microscopic behavior with laser Interferometry. With that information in hand, Polk engineers select the ideal combination of materials, geometry and construction techniques to literally “tune out” unwanted resonance. The result is a subwoofer that delivers pure, distortion free deep bass.Klippel Optimized Long Throw Woofer Using a state- of-the-art Klippel Distortion Analyzer, Polk engineers optimized the woofer's motor structure, voice coil alignment and suspension for longer excursion and greater linearity bringing you the best possible performance even at the most extreme listening levels. Slot Load Venting improves bass response. The wide, long slotted vent dramatically lessens turbulence, noise and distortion, pouring out a tidal wave of precise, thunderous bass! Rock-solid MDF construction (including a 1 inch thick front baffle) suppresses enclosure panel resonance for distortion-free, accurate response. Polk subs sound better because they're built better. In the BoxPSW505 subwooferOwner's ManualOnline Registration CardUse with these productsPolk Audio RTi A Series of freestanding loudspeakersPolk Audio TSi Series of freestanding loudspeakersDownloadsDownload the Manual Technical Specifications Driver Complements Subwoofer 1 - 12" Diameter (30.48cm) High excursion polymer composite cone with hi roll surround, shielded Electrical Overall Frequency Response 23Hz - 160Hz Lower -3dB Limit 28Hz Upper -3dB Limit 125Hz Crossover Variable low pass 60 - 125Hz, 4th order Inputs Speaker level 5-way binding posts, line level (filtered) and LFE (unfiltered) Outputs Speaker level Dimensions Cabinet Size 16-1/8" H x 15-1/8" W x 18-3/16" D (40.96cm H x 38.42cm W x 46.20cm D) Enclosure Type Vented via slot loaded port Subwoofer Amplifier Specs Power Output 300 watts Continuous Average Output Dynamic Power Output 460 watts Shipping/Other Shipping Unit Each Shipping Weight 48.00 lbs. (21.77kgs) Speaker Warranty1 5 years parts and labor Subwoofer Amplifier Warranty1 3 years parts and labor 1To ensure a valid warranty, Polk loudspeakers must be purchased at an Authorized Polk Audio home or car loudspeaker Dealer (such as ). (If you're not sure a dealer is "authorized," call Polk Audio at , and ask us.) The warranty is not transferrable, that means it applies only to the original purchaser. If you purchase your speakers from a private individual, that product is considered "used" and has NO factory warranty, no matter what the seller implies. The warranty is VOID if the serial number of the speaker has been removed or defaced. If you have any questions about your warranty coverage, or you think you need service, call Polk Customer Service at . We're here to help you get the most from your new speakers!


Product Dimensions: 18.2 x 15.2 x 16.2 inches


Item Weight: 43 pounds


Manufacturer: Polk Audio


Country of Origin: China


Item model number: AM8505-A


Is Discontinued By Manufacturer: No


Date First Available: March 28, 2005


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Similar Products

Top Amazon Reviews

    • 11 years and still kicking out the bass
Style: PSW505
trying to search for a new sub for my desktop set up when i got the itch to check when i got this for my 5.1 living room set up. found out that i purchased this over 11 years ago for less than $200, id say it's regular use has paid off it's cost over 3x over, at least. still fills my living room with enough bass that can be felt and heard both for music listening and chest thumping home theater use ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023 by el cheapo
    • Very Good Subwoofer
Style: PSW505
I think this subwoofer is a very good unit. I have a 10" Velodyne sub that I use in my home theater set-up and wanted a 12" sub to use for music listening in a different room. I settled on this sub based on all the positive reviews I had read, the price at the time, and the fact that this sub allows you to connect it to a receiver or amp that does not have a subwoofer output. This was very important to me as I have a small collection of vintage 2-channel stereo receivers from the 1970s that I wanted to be able to use with a sub. I am currently using this sub to accent the lower end of a pair of Energy Veritas v 6.2 tower speakers. The sub has good clean, tight sounding bass but it can be a challenge to set the crossover with different receivers. Some receivers have stronger bass output than others and this subwoofer can get boomey quickly if your not cognizant of this fact. This sub has its crossover and volume knobs located on the back panel and requires a little time and patience to get things just right. It can also get very loud at times when listening to CDs because, as you probably know, some newer discs are recorded louder than older discs. This is a little bit of a hassle for me because I live on the 2nd floor of a 3 floor condo and the neighbors tend to become upset at anything, so I don't need to give them any ammo ! It is due to this reason that I wish that the controls were on the front of the sub instead of on the rear. Other than these small problems, I really can't think of any reason not to recommend this product. It has more than enough power and is of decent build quality. It also has an automatic shut-off feature and a reverse phase switch. It looks fine but is large, so that could also be an issue if you have a very small room. The sub has been very reliable to this point and hopefully it continues to be. I bought the sub on the spur of the moment because I happened to be researching subs on Amazon late one Friday night and it was on sale for $199.99, so I took a chance and bought it using some saved up Discover card reward bonus points. I am glad that I took the chance thus far. I even used this sub with a BIC Venturi home theater set-up to watch movies one night and it worked extremely well with those speakers. From what I read as I was doing research, most people feel that this sub and a BIC 12" sub are the ones to buy in this price range. I have not heard the BIC, so I can't comment on it. Some say that it is more musical than the Polk and that the Polk is better for home theater use. As I have stated, I have found this Polk to sound quite good when used for either. If you can find this sub for close to $200.00 like I did, then I do not think that you will have any regrets if you decide to buy this product. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2013 by Chunga’s Revenge
    • Amazing sub for the price
Style: PSW505
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2013 by B1gf00t

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