My PolkAudio PSW250?? (1 Viewer)

[ChrisLazarko]

Hey guys, I have a Polk Audio PSW250 subwoofer and I was thinking of building my own. Over in the DIY area of the forum I posted and I was curious here from people who may own Polk subs or perhaps did in the past what they thought of them. with my PSW250 it's awesome for music but with movies it is very rumbly and somewhat muddy. Does anyone else experience this with the Polk subs... If anyone wants to look in the DIY section and see what I proposed on building my first sub please do, thanks for any responces on the Polk sub though.

 

[MichaelDDD]

I have no experience with your sub, but I've built quite a few of my own.

Each successive one you build is better than it's predecessors; you truly learn by doing in this arena.

It's more attention to detail than anything else.

Possibly, you've just outgrown your Polk. I'm sure it's a nice sub, but after awhile, you just want more. To make bass, you need to move air, period. That requires two things; power and cone area.

Assuming you buy the speaker, wood, port(s), glue, etc. You still need an amp. A good plate amp is about $250, IIRC...unless you happen to have a mono bridgeable amp laying around somewhere.

It might be worth it to save up and buy a really good sub. That's what I just did. Just roughly figuring out "how much thump" I wanted, including the amp...it came out marginally cheaper than buying one...NOT including the 100+ hours it would take me to build it right. Ergo, I bought one.

Building a GOOD HT/Music sub is not really a cheap proposition, ESPECIALLY if you don't already own the major tools. (tablesaw, drill, brad nailer, compressor, etc.)

You can get away with shooting screws into the wood, but unless you predrill pilot holes for every single screw, MDF will split. I know this from tons of personal experience.

When building speaker boxes out of MDF, a brad nailer is invaluable. Run a bead of glue along the edge. Let it sit for five minutes. *thack-thack-thack* a few brads in to hold it tight and "voila" a perfect joint! Save for the bead of silicone along the inside, of course!

Sorry...got a little carried away there. It's just that I've seen more than one INEXPERIENCED person say "I can cut the panels for my sub box with this here 13 year old jigsaw...the blade is still good."

When they are done, you can see the sub basket...thru the jagged edges of the box they built, then they complain it sounds like crap. :rolleyes

Not trying to discourage you at all...maybe you build cabinets for a living...I dunno. Just stating the obvious, I guess.

Over time, I've bought all the tools. I can build a box for the cost of the wood and glue, basically. It wasn't so easy 10 years ago when I owned a screwdriver and a Walmart socket set. :b

 

[Dan Hine]

Chris,

How's this for odd...not only have I been the one replying to your thread in the DIY area but I have owned a Polk audio PSW250! It was a good sub for it's cost but the parts I suggested to you in a good alignment will destroy it...they destroyed mine!

- Dan Hine