Can someone provide or point me to a simle explanation of the benefits and drawbacks to servo type subs? No engineering speak, no marketing hype, just a simple explanation of pros/cons.

Thanks.

This link to Rythmik's site give a pretty good servo explanation.

http://www.rythmikaudio.com/DirectServo.html

Thanks. However, this still doesn't seem to be non-technical description of the pros/cons of servo vs. non-servo subs. Plus, given that this company sells servo subs, I assume I'm not getting any of the possible downsides of servo subs?

Appreciate any other thoughts.

There are a lot of papers available through AES (Audio Engineering Society), but it requires a membership to access them, and I suspect they are most technical in nature.
http://www.google.com/search?q=servo%20speaker+site:aes.org

Thanks. However, this still doesn't seem to be non-technical description of the pros/cons of servo vs. non-servo subs. Plus, given that this company sells servo subs, I assume I'm not getting any of the possible downsides of servo subs?

Appreciate any other thoughts.

Well the "downside" is that it will sacrifice output to minimize distortion but I'm not sure that people who want a servo sub would consider that a downside, more like a trade-off.

Well the "downside" is that it will sacrifice output to minimize distortion but I'm not sure that people who want a servo sub would consider that a downside, more like a trade-off.
I think that is design dependent and where the limits are placed on the servo. Of course, if you don't place limits on the servo, you will get that distortion at the extremes.

Depends on the local library and if they have the AES collection. That is where I read several papers on X-overs.

Well the "downside" is that it will sacrifice output to minimize distortion but I'm not sure that people who want a servo sub would consider that a downside, more like a trade-off.

So does that mean the "reverse" is true? That is, less distortion at lower output levels? Are there particular usage scenarios that favor a servo sub over non-servo sub? Feel free to explain this to me as though I'm a Best Buy shopper! :)

So does that mean the "reverse" is true? That is, less distortion at lower output levels? Are there particular usage scenarios that favor a servo sub over non-servo sub? Feel free to explain this to me as though I'm a Best Buy shopper! :)

Yes the lower the output the less chance of distortion. If sound quality is your priority then that is the scenario for a servo sub. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.