So. here goes.
First off, I think I fall into the average listener category. I don't have a dedicated HT (
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/29-wh.../1526916-my-waf-friendly-7-1-living-room.html), and I don't listen at ear splitting levels. When I sit down with the squaw to watch a flick, we listen usually at -25 to -35 on the receiver.
First, how did I end up here -
1) I had a HSU VTF-15. It served my needs just fine. I didn't have any measuring equipement, but subjectively it did what I wanted
2) to see if I could shrink the giant black box, I replaced it with a SVS SB13. Again subjectively, I could tell right away there was something lacking. It would cause the pictures to rattle as the HSU did, but there was a missing viseceral impact on the big bass scenes.
3) Back to the big black box. I got caught up in the frenzy of the moment, and ended up buying a SubMersive HP. Nothing bad I can say about this sub. It was (all things consdiered) "small" and "light", and it brought back that visceral sensation and then some. Taking Mark's advice that if you're getting a sub of this caliber, you should have something to EQ it. So, I bought a Velodyne SMS. (So there are some basix measurements of the SubM in my room:
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/113-s...nd-submersive1-post26244249.html#post26244249)
Subjectively again, the Seaton seemed to have better bass than the HSU. On the scenes where there weren't over the top LFE effects, the seaton seemed to sound, for lack of a beter term less bloated than the HSU. Not that the HSU sounded bloated at all, mind you, but it did seem to call attention to itself more than the seaton. The Seaton just seemed to reinforce the bass as it should.
I was perfectly happy with the Seaton, but then I found myself sitting there with ~$2700K invested in a Subwoofer and Velodyne SMS, whereas I was perfectly happy rpeviously with my HSU VTF and thought "hmm, I may be getting a tad ridiculous here. Especially given my listeing habits again
So I sold the Seaton; packaged up the Velodyne, and went looking for a sub to downsize to. I had settelled on the PSA XS30, since it seemed to be a Seaton light (shoutout to Tom V for being great in terms of putting up with all my questions), but then I had the chance to get a Piano Black Fv15hp - so I jumped at it. I wanted to hear a servo sub, and I liked the paino black finish.
After dealing with a ground loop for a few days (ended up being the cable coax), I've had it going for a week now. Its only seen two flicks (John Wick and Edge of Tommarrow), but I gotta say - I love it.
I'm not going to do a detailed review, because all I'm going to say is that to my ears its indistinguishable to the SubM. At the listening levels I do, I can't notice one differrence between the two. And this is without the SMS in the chin and any EQ it provides - just XT32. (I'll upack the SMS when I get somef ree time and post a pic of the Rythmik's response in my room.) but given the cost difference of $2400 Submersive + $300 SMS versus $1500 for a rythmik......for my situation it was a no brainer.