Help with Sony SAW-MA 500 Subwoofer (1 Viewer)

[MichaelPR]

First let me preface this by saying I owned an SVS and to be honest it just was not my can of warms for the money. I sent it back and decided to keep my little Sony SAW-MA20. Well I was at Sears yesterday and say the Sony SAW-MA500 for $50. So i picked it up and I'm really happy with how it sounds for me. I'm using it with Paradigms and a Yamaha receiver and could not be happier. However I'm hearing things about modgepodge, poly-fill, and driver mods on this sub. To be honest since I paid so little for this thing I'm willing to put a little cash into tweaking it up if need be. I found a good site through someone elses recomendation on how to do the polyfill. It included pictures and was easy to follow. I cant find any information on how to perform the other modifications. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Where how and what driver can I put in this thing? How do I do it? Has anyone done it? And how do I do the modgepodge mod?? I don't understand where it is supposed to be applied? Also I'd really like to hear from people who have done any of this and have felt if it was worth the effort!
Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Alex_P]

Michael,

I tried the polyfil mod method on other sub. It does make the sound a lil filler/thicker. But it's not going to a major improvement like night and day. Just try it out see if you'll like it, after all it's only a few dollars of cost. Stuff the polyfil as seen on the pictures, try not to get it on the driver. So far, I think you're the only one that sent the SV sub back...

Alex,

 

[MichaelPR]

Yeah Alex to be honest the thing worked great but it gave me the worst headache...each time i would watch a movie the thing killed my head. It was just TOOO much for me. I couldnt justify the money on it. I could afford it but the difference wasn't as crazy as some people would have you believe(and yes I calibrated it and all that jazz)

Now I'm reading that I can apply modgepodge to the cone of my subwoofer. I'm an idiot when it comes to this but I prsume the cone is the biggest part of the actual speaker??? Has anyone done this to a sub before?? I read it makes the sound tighter?

 

[MichaelPR]

Looks like the cone is glued down and I cant do the mod?? anyone else have this problem?

 

[Rory Buszka]

Trying to mod a crappy smaller sub is less likely to work than picking up a better small sub like the 8" Athena Technologies that is at Best Buy. It has good low frequency extension and has more power, for $300 or thereabouts.

Did you ever try turning the SVS *down*?

 

[JimIroc]

if the SVS had too much bass, you had it turned up too high. Plain and simple.

Moving on to the sony sub... I have a friend with that sub, and he performed the polyfill mod. I never heard it before the mod, but I have heard it after he did it, and I think that for the money the sub sounds very good. He is not an audiophile by any stretch, but he even said that he was able to hear a rather dramatic difference in sound quality by adding the polyfill. He intended to return the sub until he found the polyfill mod mentioned on the internet, and has been very happy with it since.

 

[Nathan Bjork]

I have the wm500 and I did the polyfil mod and I could tell a differnce, I was going to try to do the modpodge mod but I dont know what modpodge is, but you have to apply it to the whole front side (the part u see when u take the round cover off) but not on the rubber surround part that is at the edge of the cone. (it looks like tubing all around) and on the back side that is the same materiel as the middle part of the front (like cardboard). Hope this helps

BTW: How big of a room was ur SVS in? I was thinkin about getting one for my living room which is pretty big, but would never work in my little room.

 

[MichaelPR]

Hey Nathan I had the SVS Pci31....I was using it in a room about 15' wide by 15' long....it is also in the corner of my basement. The thing rocked but I calibrated it up and to be honest for me the difference between my little sony and that big tube just was not enough for me to justify that money. I know some people around here really enjoy them and hey thats fine with me. I'm just happy with what I have. My question to you would be was it easy to pull the speaker out??? cause mine appears to be glued down??? how did you get your out? Did it just lift out? Did you have to use much effort to get it out? Thanks in advance!

 

[Nathan Bjork]

Well what u have to do is take out all 8 screws and then get a flat bladed screw driver and pry the woofer up just a little bit (have it set on its back so the woofer is facing up) make sure u pry the metal becuz the materieal will tear. So just pry it up just unough to get ur fingers under it and lift the woofer up on case. then just stuff the polyfil in.