Reviews (32)

• madsoldier

  1 year ago at Best Buy

  1.0 / 5.0

  After only 2 days of owning this, it has been in the shop over 5 weeks...glad I paid for the warrenty....what a waste, doubt best buy will make it up to me

• OrangeDog2010

  2 years, 5 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I have a Pioneer 7.1 receiver with nice speakers, but wanted a small subwoofer to complete the setup. I went on line and to Best Buy and checked out the selection. I was looking for something small, but packed allot of power. I saw this Polk Subwoofer and was blown away by looks and sound. As advertised, the Klippel optimized Dynamic Balance composite woofer produces smooth, low-distortion bass tone. The hook up was a breeze with one subwoofer cable. I played Black Hawk Down DVD on my system and was very satisfied. If you have the money, I would get this Polk Audio 8" 300W Powered Subwoofer. It is small but packs allot of punch!

• Keyan

  4 years, 6 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  This is a great sub for the price and size. Physically it is rather small and easy to tuck away in the corner of a room. It tonally matches perfectly to the "RM" series of Polk Audio speakers, I personally own the RM85 5 speaker set and picks up where those speakers start to drop off seamlessly. The sound is well driven and despite it's small driver size it is quite capable of creating tight and punchy bass. Listening to music is exceptionally good as the sub has a great tonal response and is never "muddy" or muffled sounding, while still giving drums an appropriate amount of punch. This is probably not the sub for people who like loose and overblown "boomy" bass or for people who have a very large room to fill with sound. My great room is a medium size (20x15 or so), but it does not have a huge size or a tall vaulted ceiling. I could see it being underpowered for a very large area, but then again, my RM85 speaker set would probably be small for a huge open room as well. If you are looking for a sub that puts out plenty of tight and tonal bass then this is a great choice.

• Sesante2000

  4 years, 5 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  I primarily got this sub to complement some Klipsch Reference satellite speakers (RSX-3 for mains and surrounds, a RCX-4 for the center and powered by a Denon AVR-787). I bought this speaker knowing 2 things: 1. It would complement the smaller satellite speakers easily. 2. It wouldn't provide too much bass and over power the main speakers. To elaborate on number 1. I tested this in a mid size living room (approx 20*15) and I was surprised with the results. This puppy easily cracked out some bass when a lesser sub would have given up. I watched a couple movies and sampled a few albums. The first movie i watched was Prince of Egypt. I watched this as i wanted to hear the music and the clarity of the sound effects in various scenes. The "chariot race" in the beginning actually rattled the frames on my walls without crackling or popping while sounding as if i was right there. Music in the film came across nicely without ever sound too boomy or distorted. First test, Passed. Second film was Black Hawk Down. This movie won an Academy Award for best sound in 2001. So I used this film as a benchmark. I cranked the movie way up and set the sub gain up about just half way. Wow! I'm impressed that this little sub kept up. No distortion and no crackling. It made up big time what the smaller speakers could only dream of putting out. The sub without a doubt did it's part in recreating the battle scenes and putting you in the center of the explosions. And now onto number 2. My direct comparison is a Klipsch Sub-10. While this klipsch does sound nice, it can at times sound a bit much with the smaller speakers. Trying to find a good balance can sometimes be tricky. I didn't have that problem at all with this sub. Seems like this was made for smaller speakers. I set the crossovers to the highest setting (using the LFE connection bypasses that anyways, but better safe then not) and had the receiver pump the bass out at 120hz and down to the sub. Beautiful!! I'm still amazed that for the price and size this sub managed to impress me so. For music I had Abbey Road playing with the sub a little over half way. I loved it. The sound the Klipsch makes with this backing it up sounded excellent. I'm sure it'll sound great with anything that will push this little guy. Again, for smaller rooms with satellites this will not disappoint. Larger speakers can over power even the highest setting. just don't match it with something that has 2-3 woofers 5" or larger and you should be fine. Would I recommend? Yes, given you have certain exceptions in mind.

• Anonymous

  8 months, 2 weeks ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  Good sound for the size, nice appearance ,and ruggedly built!

• hendrix05

  4 years, 1 month ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I bought this subwoofer about a month ago and very satisfied with the look, the sound, and the performance. If you're looking for a sub with good looks, and also trying to save space in a small room this is the perfect sub for you.

• r0bdawg11

  6 months, 1 week ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I bought this to upgrade the sub that came with my surround sound system. After much discussion I went with this sub over a cheaper 10" sub that was offered and have been blown away. I did now know that an 8' sub could hit this hard, but 4 noise complaints later, we are still going strong. From play rap, dubstep, country, to movies and video games, this sub has gotten it all covered. Love it! Would definitely recommend

• JPC24

  1 year, 1 month ago at Best Buy

  1.0 / 5.0

  Still waiting to find out how well this unit performs. Bought it new and started having problems 7-10 days after purchase. My issue is the same as was described by a previous post. Turning the volume knob causes loud static and distortion. My mistake was not returning it within 30 days. I was about a week late so I had to send it to Polk for repair. (prepaid) The nice part was Polk asked me to remove the back panel and send in only that part which made the shipment only 3 lbs instead of 20 which saved $$ in shipping. I have a fairly small room for this unit so I'm hoping it performs well.

• Ericson35

  6 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I can't believe I went without a subwoofer for so long... What a mistake. The first time I heard this through my system I was blown away, Can rattle every window in the house if I want.

• edwm

  3 months, 3 weeks ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  compact, great for tight spaces, but first one we bought had to be returned

• jazzjms

  6 months, 3 weeks ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I purchased this Polk sub to replace a 25 year old Yamaha sub with twin woofers. The intended room was somewhat small and as a new sub had to meet the WAF (wife acceptance factor) I was looking for a small sub. The reviews on the Polk were generally quite favorable and it met the requirements for size and appearance. At first I thought the sub was rather week but I had been used to a large, twin speaker box that could really thump. I am positive that the Polk (and my ears) required a break-in period as I noticed the bass gradually becoming stronger and more defined. This sub does not thump. Instead it produces pleasingly abundant and very musical bass. I now much prefer this kind of sound over the thumps that would rattle pictures on the walls. Maybe in my mid 50's I have finally matured. The Polk is behind a chair two feet from the wall and five feet to the left of the entertainment center. It is crossed over at 110 hz to a five piece small satellite system. The sub visually and audibly disappears in the room. Blockbuster movies have great impact with no signs of distress from this sub. The system will get LOUD. I recommend this sub for a smaller room unless you are a complete bass junkie.

• Jimcn

  6 months, 2 weeks ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  Great sound...love it.Compliments my sound system for both tv surround sound and stereo.

• Enjoydabass

  1 year, 8 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I'm extremely pleased with the 8" cube. Great sound from a small box.

• RoskoRockso

  1 year, 7 months ago at Best Buy

  2.0 / 5.0

  This sub is pretty darned good but I think it best used in a smaller environment. Kind of seemed underpowered, considering the rating, but I was using it to add only lower end to a 2-channel system in a big room. For the price I think it would make most people happy but remember - smaller sub speaker cannot move enough air to address lower frequencies. I think it must have been designed for use as a mid-frequency range fill and NOT exclusively at the lower point of the crossover.

• Danz

  3 years, 3 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  Bought with Polk package + Polk Audio 8" 300W Powered Subwoofer for free. Very nice sound deal for the price. Sub is great for home use. Do not need anything bigger than this.

• Anonymous

  3 years, 6 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  Worked out great for me so far. Has great sounding bass for the size. I had a small space next to my entertainment center where this sub fit in just perfect. If you want the room to shake then buy a 12" but I was more than satisfied with the power of this woofer.

• Blorphus

  3 years, 6 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  I recently bought the PSW111 + Polk RM75 satellites + Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K receiver, to give a complete 5.1 sound system for my living room, plus a 2nd kitchen zone and future expandibility to 7.1. I use it for watching TV and movies, and listening to radio and music. My musical tastes are eclectic....sometimes I listen to pop, MP3s or internet radio where the sound quality of the source is limited and thus I don't need a nice system to fully appreciate it. At other times, though, I listen to hi-fi classical or acoustic recordings, such that any weaknesses of a poor sound system will be exposed. I don't consider myself to be an audio snob in the sense that I have to have only high-end ultra-expensive components to be happy. However I have 10+ years experience designing audio consumer electronics chips like DACs and power amplifiers, and on occasion have tested them in premium listening environments. So I feel I know some things about good vs. bad sound quality. I am very happy with my system overall. Sound quality is very good, with good balance between the PSW111 and RM75 provided by the automatic room equalization of the Pioneer receiver. I'm connecting the PSW111 to the receiver's LFE output, using a single RCA cable as shown in the manual. I find the PSW111's bass to be accurate and without noticeable distortion up to high volumes. I don't like to listen at truly ear-splitting levels like some people....I value my hearing! But within reason I like to crank it up for certain kinds of music, and the PSW111 can handle it. I usually leave its volume control knob at 50%, though occasionally adjust the level by either changing the knob, or changing the subwoofer gain at the receiver. I tried replacing the PSW111 with the cheaper PSW10 in my system, but found the PSW111 to be noticeably better. The PSW10 response is sloppier and boomier, and distorts at power levels at which the PSW111 still sounds good. I listened to both PSW10 and PSW111 during the classical music piece "Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg. My recording has a deep bass drum beat that I find helpful for testing subs. The PSW10 rattles when playing this (which I did not like), while the PSW111 does not and seems much better at reproducing the true sound. Perhaps these differences are not surprising: the PSW10 has a lower power rating and costs about $100 less. However I found it nice to know the extra $100 gets you a noticeable performance improvement. The PSW111 has a pretty small footprint relative to other subs....it's an 8" driver with a fairly compact enclosure. For me the size is a plus, because my room has a weird configuration such that I have to fit a lot of gear into a somewhat small corner, even though the room overall is pretty big. However, PSW111 response at the lowest bass frequencies below 30 Hz is limited, perhaps related to the smaller size. For me the size/sound quality tradeoff is favorable, but PSW111 may not be the sub for you if you listen to hours of whale song or generally want to reproduce sound down to 20 Hz or below. Overall, I think PSW111 is a great value for the price, and works well with the other components of my system. If you have a very tight budget so that the PSW111 price is too much, I'd recommend the PSW10. I know I mentioned how I didn't think it compared well to the PSW111, and indeed in a relative comparison the PSW111 is better. However, having the PSW10 is much better than having no sub at all. And it sounds perfectly fine for many kinds of material.

• Unhappyzzz

  2 years, 8 months ago at Best Buy

  2.0 / 5.0

  I checked the specs on this Polk Audio product with the manufacturers web site and they don't even come close to matching up. The Polk site shows the frequency response at 30-125 hertz - not the 250 hz that Best Buy claims. This product will never come close to those measurements. If your looking for a small sub-woofer that you can match with some small bookshelf or computer speakers - this IS NOT it!

• Cynderella

  9 months, 2 weeks ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  Overall, this is a kick-butt subwoofer. It works so well our neighbors asked us to turn in down. They couldn't hear the music from our stereo system, but they said the bass was rattling their windows!

• dukunter

  2 years, 3 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  Wow! Good things from small packages. Refreshing. Enough to rumble the house, but not "boomy". Tried a Klipsch, but it didn't pan out well. The Polk compliments my Energy bookshelf speakers beautifully. Movies, music and games sound fantastic. You can't beat this sub for price and size. Believe me, I tried. Absolutely satisfied.

• Yeaaaaa

  2 years, 3 months ago at Best Buy

  1.0 / 5.0

  Learned my lesson when buying this sub: don't buy open items. Not sure if it was the actual product itself or some hidden mishap but I had so many issues with this sub. I spent the $50 to get the appropriate cords and yet nothing and yes, I am sure it was hooked up 100%. Problem was that I couldn't adjust the volume at all. If I touched the volume knob, it would make this awful sound like it's been blown. Again, not sure if it's just because it is an open item or whether the sub itself.

• MrW

  3 years, 5 months ago at Best Buy

  3.0 / 5.0

  I knew that I was not getting Magnolia grade equipment when I bought the Polk speakers, but they were for use in a very small room. I have always owned high-end, studio-grade speakers and was concerned that the Polks would not satisfy my ear. Happily, I learned that I was able to tune my surround system so it sounded impressively good. The bass in the sub-woofer was fairly clean as long as I kept the volume and frequency knobs turned counter-clockwise at about 11 O'clock. My family and I enjoyed the heart poundning bass until a short in the volume knob created a house shaking crackle, and then it would only work intermitantly. We owned it for just 2 and a half weeks. I was willing to replace the SWP111 with the same model, but after questioning the quality of the components I decided to upgrade.

• YSLIM

  3 years, 4 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  Small sub with some decent bass, size wasnt a real issue but for the deal i got it for i couldnt pass it up. It is a forward firing driver but i would have prefered a down firing driver. But again for the price i got it for im not complaining. Overall it is a good sub for entry level audio enthusiasts, however if you want real deep good sounding bass look into the klipsch subs, there are better subs but the klipsch subs are pretty good for the buck. Such as the sub-10 or 12.

• 92comancheblack

  1 year, 3 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  An excellent subwoofer, it is powerful, yet small enough to not be obtrusive. I paid $299 in the store, and when I later saw it online at a different vendor (the exact same product) for $179, back to the store it went.

• stlenthusiast

  1 year, 2 months ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  This was the last component needed to complete my A/V system and have been very happy with the sound, size, and appearance of the product.

• Tim9teen70

  3 years, 3 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I just perchased this sub a few days ago and I couldn't be more pleased. It adds a lot of drama and excitement to movies yet still plays music beautifly (a feat some subwoofers struggle with). Set up was a snap and it intigrated well with my main speakers (Monitor Audio Silver series). One note: The Best Buy website indicates that the sub's variable crossover range is from 80-200hz. The crossover actually goes down to 60hz.

• BPM2348

  3 years, 1 month ago at Best Buy

  4.0 / 5.0

  So many factors can affect whether a sub sounds good in a particular application- other speakers in system, receiver used, room size, acoustics, sub placement, furniture placement blah blah. I needed a sub that would compliment some rm75s nicely, and it was a toss up between this and the psw110. I was indifferent between the two, but now that i've chose the 111, I am happy that I did. I think they killed a whole tree when they made this thing. I listen to music on my blu ray player via mp3 discs, with my receiver set to stereo. This sub, although small, does a good job with hitting the specific notes and doesn't just boom out of control like some subs. It also does good with movies. The sub looks good, and looks especially good sitting next to my plasma with the rm75s and the rest of my system. In all, if you have anything bigger than a satellite system, I would consider a 10 or even a 12(Polk psw 505 is a beast). This sub just happened to fit what I was looking for when I built my system. I do recommend this sub, on the assumption that you don't expect it to blow your windows out of your house.

• papajones97

  5 months, 1 week ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  I bought this sub as a replacement to my Polk PSW10, and it has been a HUGE improvement. I have noticed that this sub is much more accurate in its bass than my previous unit. It does not just thump uncontrollably, but rather accurately hits the tones as it should. Not the best sub around for heavy bass such as rap, or dubstep, but still a very good option in it's price point. It is very compact, which is nice because I live in a smaller apartment and did not want something that would take up half the room. Very sleek looking sub. Also nice that it comes with another set of feet if you are putting it on hardwood. Overall, I have been very impressed with this sub so far. I watch a lot of movies and do a lot of gaming, and I couldn't imagine a better sub for it.

• holiday

  2 years, 7 months ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  This thing is a little monster. I've got it in a room that measures15'x15' with an 8' ceiling and it hits every inch of it plus the bass just sounds better than the one it replaced. It's smooth and rolling when it's suppose to be and hard hitting when it's suppose to be whether you're watching TV or listening to a CD.

• ShoppingBag

  9 months, 3 weeks ago at Best Buy

  5.0 / 5.0

  Bought this and some matching Polk Audio 5 1/4" bookshelf speakers to use as the fronts and sub for my home theater set-up. The room these speakers are in is about 290 square feet with tall, 16' vaulted ceilings. The sub was a breeze to set up and can be placed just about anywhere in the room while still delivering great bass. I chose to put my close to one of the corners of the room. Combined with the tiny Poly front speakers, my movies and music sound crystal clear with just the right amount of bass. I have not spent much time messing with the settings on the sub because it simply sounded so good right out of the box. Highly recommend!