fastfxr wrote:An 8" driver isn't a 'subwoofer'...it's midrange at best.

Your little Logitech 'sub' next to your PC produces more bass than this does.
Steer clear, folks.

Nonsense. The diameter of the woofer is not the only parameter to define the output of a subwoofer. 36 Hz is subwoofer range. Hardly any Logitech sub would go to 36 db and - 3dB level, ever. Don't believe me? Measure it.

If you think that's midrange, you have lost all of your audio knowledge credibility.

Check out Sunfire, Hsu Research etc. Those are high-end subs and see how Sunfire's True Subs can use an 8-inch (high excursion) woofer to produce down to 22 Hz -3dB (and the -3dB value is important, showing where they measured the roll-off).

Regardless, not that this would be a high-end sub at all, but calling that midrange is absurd.

Cwarwick wrote:Don't think that 36hz isn't good. While many movies do indeed have content around 20hz (nearly all music including most popular dubstep is limited to >40hz) in order to reach that low you'd need a MUCH larger sub. 36hz is (if that is to be believed) actually very respectable in a sub that small. If you're interested it's called Hoffman's Iron Law:
http://www.salksound.com/wp/?p=56

Bottom line, this is a sub that will cover the entire frequency range for nearly any music you throw at it, and still handle movies fine. Reaching down to 20hz with any authority is hard for any decent sub, so don't expect it with this little thing.

Exactly. Brilliant post. The source goes to 20 Hz, sure...hardly any sub goes down to 20 Hz. And most people can't even hear 20 Hz, most can only "feel".

My mains do a pretty good job at producing bass with their 8" drivers (but there are 4 of them total). That's to say my guess is this does a good job of providing, as the say, musical bass. But probably not as adept at handling large explosions in action films that rumble the windows and make your chest feel the impact, without sounding overly strained.
As for wireless, as other people have said, the freedom to place it almost anywhere in your room I can see being nice.

Hmmm... where to begin?
I own the Polk SurroundBar IHT 3000 with a wireless 6 1/2" subwoofer. Let me tell you now that bass output is MORE than adequate in our living room of 14'x 16'. The soundbar transmits wireless signal to Subwoofer on one of four selectable 2.4Ghz channels. Selectable channels are a nice feature if you have many wireless devices in your home using the 2.4Ghz frequency via a wireless router. The Sub is about 10 feet away from the soundbar and I haven't experienced any problems. I might add that the Subwoofer output can be controlled using a wireless remote to suit personal taste. This WOOT POLK sub seems to offer some great flexability if interested in just adding a subwoofer to your television, BUT if you have a full blown home theater setup with receiver I suggest a Larger Powered Subwoofer if you want to rattle the walls. otherwise please consider the Polk SurroundBar IHT 3000 because it sounds GREAT. I've have tried Sony, Boston, Visio, and two different Samsung soundbars with Subwoofers and the POLK BEATS The others in sound quality and timbre HANDS DOWN! Just hoping to save others from frustration.

Does anyone have any experience with this (or wireless subs)? I'm wondering if this will pick up interference from my 2.4ghz wireless network.

Not that great of a deal though I was thinking about adding it to my comp. 109 at overstock 115 at amazon etc.

Google Shopping link

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=polk+audio+wireless+subwoofer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=6202168291546188222&sa=X&ei=zh6JT43bN6eaiQLyuoTFCw&ved=0CLABEPMCMAY

Also 100 watt version is 200$ just fyi

yoda888 wrote:Does anyone have any experience with this (or wireless subs)? I'm wondering if this will pick up interference from my 2.4ghz wireless network.

I've got Boston Acoustics soundbar and wireless sub, sub is 10 feet away, 2.4 / 5ghz concurrent router is 10 feet from that, never have had a problem, wireless sub works flawlessly, would expect this to be any different.

hmmm, seems there no more POLL on any of the woot sites... drat, I liked those...

editorkid wrote:Reading the manual, this was originally intended for TVs. That's why it only goes to 36 Hz (below the range of most TV speakers, so you'd notice an improvement), why it uses both RCA jacks (it goes into a TV's auxiliary jacks), and why it has USB (it can be powered by USB ports on some Mitsubishi TVs). It's compatible with A/V receivers, but not specifically designed for them.

That answered my question perfectly. This isn't audiophile gear by any means, it is meant to plug into the back of a tv (or a pre-packaged all-in-one a/v system).

skorpMI wrote:Question for those who may know: I have a Sony 7.1 system but no subwoofer yet. My output for a powered subwoofer is a single rca connector. Why does this have right/left rca inputs? Would I be better off getting something else?

i have an older cerwin vega sub on my current system and it has the same red/white rca that this one has where as my Yamaha receiver has the one rca that you are describing, all you need is a connector such as this: http://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-RY5-Female-Male-Adaptor/dp/B000J3I66S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1334387308&sr=8-6
and it will work just fine

Which isn't to say it couldn't be part of an audiophile setup. The wireless capabilities give it a lot of potential. As a matter of fact, you could mount it on your downstairs neighbor's ceiling if you wanted, without having to route any of those pesky cables.

fastfxr wrote:An 8" driver isn't a 'subwoofer'...it's midrange at best.

Your little Logitech 'sub' next to your PC produces more bass than this does.
Steer clear, folks.

Not true.

I own a Polk Audio DSW MicroPro 1000, and I absolutely love it. I much prefer it over my 12" 500 watt Infinity SW12 for regular music listening. (The Infinity is for my projector setup though.) The Polk's build quality is phenomenal, and feels like an absolute tank.

That said, I'm not sure how this Woot compares to my sub. It's significantly less when comparing MSRP, so I'm sure some sacrifices have been made. I'd probably recommend it for a smaller music system, or basic stereo upgrade over integrated speakers in a TV.

Edit: I also use a pair of 1983 Polk Audio Monitor 4A bookshelf speakers daily. (Paired with the MicroPro 1000 sub.) I love Polk, and I highly recommend them.

Don't get hung up on wattage folks.

For every 3 decibels you have to double the wattage.

80 watts is plenty of power unless you are the sort of person who listens to everything at FULL volume.

There is only a 3 decibel difference between 80 and 160 watts.

I Hope to find some good answer here.
I have Bose companion 3 for my computer can i add this sub too ?
I also have a Sony Home theater system 5.1 can i hook this sub into this system too ?
Thanks

alfievud wrote:I Hope to find some good answer here.
I have Bose companion 3 for my computer can i add this sub too ?
I also have a Sony Home theater system 5.1 can i hook this sub into this system too ?
Thanks

If either of the 2 systems have an RCA out for sub then yes you can use this for those systems as it gets the signal from the rca(s) from the receiver

I'm planning the breakfast conversation already, I think it may take a little convincing my wife that we MUST replace our muffled subwoofer. Thanks woot!

I have a Pioneer bookshelf system (with 25CD changer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!1!1!!! from 1997) which only has 5in woofers.

In my car I have a Sony 12in sub with 300watt amp.

They both go way louder than I need.
Yes the 12in "rumbles" more, but besides the low low bassline in U2's "Elevation", I can't usually tell the difference. And actually the bookshelf sounds more balanced- my car speakers lack some midrange because they're mounted low in the doors..

Also I have a Sony BDV-E770W 5.1 Bluray home theater system. The woofer that came with that is small (5-8in. ?) Can make the house rumble if we turn it way up.

This Polk sounds like it would be a fantastic add-on to a basic system. And versatile, you could use it with different TVs/ setups as time goes on.

glh3o wrote:What I don't understand, and never will, is why people are opposed to wires. Wires are not evil. What's evil is the laziness of people which aides the creation of "wire spaghetti." Take some time, run the wires/cables, and be merry.

What does that picture have to do with anything? This sub is great for somebody who wnats it in a corner on the other side of the room and doesn't want to fish cable. Think middle-floor rooms, apartment dwellers, etc.

I fished the cable in my basement for the very purpose of having a sub in the opposite corner and it wasn't too bad there but this still could have saved me a few hours of labor.

I'm a little confused by the connections. The receiver that I have has a single rca output for a subwoofer. But this one takes both left and right.

Moreover, my receiver does not have an amp for the subwoofer. Which is to say that I need an amplified sub to work w/my receiver. I know that this is powered, but is it also amplified?

Finally, I'm a little concerned with this thing running on 2.4GHz. Will it interfere with WIFI?

cltmhorn wrote:I'm a little confused by the connections. The receiver that I have has a single rca output for a subwoofer. But this one takes both left and right.

Moreover, my receiver does not have an amp for the subwoofer. Which is to say that I need an amplified sub to work w/my receiver. I know that this is powered, but is it also amplified?

Powered = Amplified

In a typical home theater application your receiver will have single output which blends low frequency effects (LFE) and also audio from the other channels as determined by your crossover point.

Many subwoofers have two inputs though in case they are used in an audio-only (music) environment where the receiver/amp in question may not be a home theater receiver with the sub settings. In that case you'd have separate left & right connections and the sub would just sum them. THe crossover could be handled different ways (but you don't care about that).

Typically the subs with two connections will indicate in their instructions as to whether you should use a specific input or if it doesn't matter. If you don't like that plan a Y cable will only set you back a few bucks.

cltmhorn wrote:Finally, I'm a little concerned with this thing running on 2.4GHz. Will it interfere with WIFI?

Possibly? Maybe? YMMV?

Also, it's been said before but for people who think this thing should go to 20Hz... It's $100 people.

My sub in my main home theater goes to 18Hz but it cost 5 times this one (as B-Stock), is three times bigger and is not wireless.

The spec sheet for this one says:

"Polk Digital LogicTM makes setup even easier, because the wireless transmitter’s auto sensing function sends data for LFE or line level connection."

So, yes - it will handle your single-RCA connection (to which the LFE signal is sent) automatically.

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/pdf/Polk_PSWi-8M_Wireless_Subwoofer-Data.pdf

This sub will provide more bass than with the speakers that came with your tv for sure.. But dont expect to get thunderous bass or fast impactful bass for music. It's not going to happen. Most small subs suffer from "chuffing"
a noise that is produced from the long throw of the driver as it tries to move enough air to make low freq bass. Subs in this price range are usually slow and muddy, without definition.
But for its price point and convenience, it will most likely appeal to some who are without a sub or have placement challenges.

editorkid wrote:Why don't you people link your URLs?

I do my wooting with my iPad. I haven't been able to find anything on the net re: how to link URLs, so I don't think I can. If anyone knows different, please let me know!

skorpMI wrote:Which isn't to say it couldn't be part of an audiophile setup. The wireless capabilities give it a lot of potential. As a matter of fact, you could mount it on your downstairs neighbor's ceiling if you wanted, without having to route any of those pesky cables.

Heh, heh. Well, that's sweet, but there are many tradeoffs that haven't been discussed here that any audio freak would NEVER give up for a cheap sub. I'm not knocking this, it seems to be a decent deal for a nice low-end product.

bolligra wrote:I do my wooting with my iPad. I haven't been able to find anything on the net re: how to link URLs, so I don't think I can. If anyone knows different, please let me know!

Hit Reply. Look at the bottom right of the typing window for the "formatting guide". Read it.

fastfxr wrote:An 8" driver isn't a 'subwoofer'...it's midrange at best.

Your little Logitech 'sub' next to your PC produces more bass than this does.
Steer clear, folks.

Your little Logitech "sub" probably has a 6" woofer. So, what does that say?

can someone tell me how to order this subwoofer on this site? This is the first time I've tried this out.

Spiky wrote:Hit Reply. Look at the bottom right of the typing window for the "formatting guide". Read it.

Thanks, Spiky!

The listing might have the specs wrong. From Polk's own site..

30 W continuous, 60 W dynamic (see below)

http://m.polkaudio.com/speakers/products/pswi8m

fastfxr wrote:An 8" driver isn't a 'subwoofer'...it's midrange at best.

Your little Logitech 'sub' next to your PC produces more bass than this does.
Steer clear, folks.

The word subwoofer became a mainstream word when stereo speakers grew smaller and smaller. Agreed that the speaker that is supposed to deliver bass it titled as a woofer, it gan be just about any size. I've actually seen a 2" speaker referred to a "woofer" when it was connected to a 1/2" tweeter.
Anyway, once the typical woofer size shrunk from what was commonly a 10 or 12" speaker to a 5" or below, the "external" speaker was named a subwoofer.

Yes, 8" is puny for any kind of woof speaker, but by the magic of marketing, a 8" speaker may be called a sub. This sub will probably sound better combined with really crappy speakers that roll off at 120 hz or so.

As far as this sub reproducing 38hz, sure it is possible but it can't really move very much air because of it's small size so you would want to be using this in a relatively small room. Also, to those who "think" they can truly hear below 35hz, you are just kidding yourself. 28 hz is just vibration, nothing else. You wont hear anything much below 30hz.

zaqnewman wrote:My mains do a pretty good job at producing bass with their 8" drivers (but there are 4 of them total). That's to say my guess is this does a good job of providing, as the say, musical bass. But probably not as adept at handling large explosions in action films that rumble the windows and make your chest feel the impact, without sounding overly strained.
As for wireless, as other people have said, the
freedom to place it almost anywhere in your room I can see being nice.

I have an amazing sound system on my back yard patio, with a wired 10" sub behind my barbeque. This Polk would be a perfect addon for anyone who has a patio system that is lacking bottom end (and I've heard plenty). The beauty of this is that you can just unplug it from power and bring it back into the house.

cltmhorn wrote:I'm a little confused by the connections. The receiver that I have has a single rca output for a subwoofer. But this one takes both left and right.

Moreover, my receiver does not have an amp for the subwoofer. Which is to say that I need an amplified sub to work w/my receiver. I know that this is powered, but is it also amplified?

Finally, I'm a little concerned with this thing running on 2.4GHz. Will it interfere with WIFI?

To those who are confused with having a single subwoofer output on their equipment, you can use the "Tape Out" red and white RCA connectors on your Receiver as an alternative to using a Y RCA adaptor. This sub has band pass filters built in so it will only amplify bass frequencies.

blue_94_trooper wrote:What does that picture have to do with anything? This sub is great for somebody who wnats it in a corner on the other side of the room and doesn't want to fish cable. Think middle-floor rooms, apartment dwellers, etc.

I fished the cable in my basement for the very purpose of having a sub in the opposite corner and it wasn't too bad there but this still could have saved me a few hours of labor.

Many people don't have basements, or are living on a 4th floor apartment. Think about it. There are usually electrical wall outlets within reach.

davirom wrote:Wireless is a good way to go for a subwoofer. Since bass perception is non-directional, you can place the sub out of the way and not worry about how to make the wire run.

If the sub in nondirectional, why would you pay extra for inevitably poor quality (lag, lost signal) wireless technology?

bolligra wrote:I do my wooting with my iPad. I haven't been able to find anything on the net re: how to link URLs, so I don't think I can. If anyone knows different, please let me know!

Use your browser for Woot on your i-Pad instead of the Woot app. Oh wait. Woot runs on Flash. Apple portable products don't do Flash. Get an Android tablet and just use the browser. ;-)

Just FYI it has a 2.4ghz wireless setup. It will screw up your wifi in your house. 2.4ghz is what your laptops and desktop wifi connect to the router on. You can adversely impact your home wifi network. Be warned.

cltmhorn wrote:I'm a little confused by the connections. The receiver that I have has a single rca output for a subwoofer. But this one takes both left and right.

Moreover, my receiver does not have an amp for the subwoofer. Which is to say that I need an amplified sub to work w/my receiver. I know that this is powered, but is it also amplified?

Finally, I'm a little concerned with this thing running on 2.4GHz. Will it interfere with WIFI?

Yes it will interfere with wifi...

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-004818.htm

Good explanation...

Strongly Recommend! My Samsung 7000d has good volume and decent separation but the fullness wasn't there. Connected the small box transmitter directly to the output from the TV and it filled out the sound extremely well... and no clunky sound bar on the mantle as as bonus

vainpire wrote:I own a 128 track digital recording studio so I can speak on this with experience...first...8" speakers can make great subs if u dont have a large space or if u have sound restrictions like an apartment...second...polk is a very good company...third...no way can a "Logitch" sub compare to this...how do I know...I have both products in my office at my studio...and last...the price is excellent...thanku

Speaking as an audiophile, I agree on Polk. Even their lower end stuff is awesome.
I even have a Polk computer speaker set that sounds better than most home audio sets.