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#1 · (Edited)
This is a thread about the Tom Vodhanel and Jim Farina founded.

Power Sound Audio


This is thread is for discussion about Power Sound Audio. New products, speculation, product recommendation and support of PSA products.


Other Power Sound Audio product threads / forums

Official PSA Triax Thread

Power Sound Audio Speaker Thread

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PSA 01 Series CEA2010 Data (dosen't include S7201)


Please feel free to ask questions, and talk about all things PSA related. If you haven't already you should consider emailing PSA at the provided link, to get the best recommendation for you room.
 
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#17,723 ·
Dude, if you stay here you WILL spend money. Stop reading this thread for a while. Stahp, stahp, stahp! :D


Oh, and I'd add another sub for sure. Smoother response and, well, symmetry! I hate the one black box (XS30se) that I have in my room. It is so... lonely. It needs its sibling.

This is the problem, I cant stop, I need to buy something every 6 months or so to feed addiction. AA has the " Im a friend of Bill W." guess we at AVS need " Im a friend of Tom V":D


I love getting new equipment, keep up with the "Jones'" is a ***** though
 
#17,725 · (Edited)
That's a really good question. I haven't heard if the XV and XS series are actually being replaced by the V and S series or if they will both be around at different performance and price points.
Tom mentioned previously in this thread that the XS and XV subs will remain in production and will have the option to order with a Bash or ICE amplifier. I think this is a good option for those who still favor down firing and radius corners. Of course I suspect the S and V subs are out selling by a large margin because they are new. No different then when you go and buy a new phone. Are you going to get the Note 3 or get the Note 4 for 100.00 more...normally it's the latter even though both are great devices.
 
#17,727 ·
Tom mentioned previously in this thread that the XS and XV subs will remain in production and will have the option to order with a Bash or ICE amplifier. I think this is a good option for those who still favor down firing and radius corners. Of course I suspect the S and V subs are out selling by a large margin because they are new. No different then when you go and buy a new phone. Are you going to get the Note 3 or get the Note 4 for 100.00 more...normally it's the latter even though both are great devices.
I agree. I went for the V1500 for several reasons:
-New model and I knew I wanted to add a second down the road. Didn't want to worry about no longer offering the older model.
-Deeper tuning than the XV15/30se
-Price. Much cheaper than a pair of S3000s, also ported might work better in my room.
 
#17,728 ·
I feel like there would be a HUGE demand for something a tiny bit smaller and less expensive then the S1500. I need a small sub for my bedroom and am eyeing SVS for this reason.

Come on Tom... S1200??? S1000??? Say $750?
I'm sure that it simplifies business for PSA to limit the driver sizes they have at any given time. Right now they've got a 15" and 18" driver. My understanding is that the 15" is the same across the entire line which makes supply chain management a lot easier.

Adding a 12" or 10" driver to the mix would add complexity that I'm not sure these guys want at this point.

That said...

I also have a secondary room that's much smaller and I'm looking at something smaller for that space. :D
 
#17,729 ·
Tom mentioned previously in this thread that the XS and XV subs will remain in production and will have the option to order with a Bash or ICE amplifier. I think this is a good option for those who still favor down firing and radius corners. Of course I suspect the S and V subs are out selling by a large margin because they are new. No different then when you go and buy a new phone. Are you going to get the Note 3 or get the Note 4 for 100.00 more...normally it's the latter even though both are great devices.
Very good points there Bass and I agree with all of them. I would hate to see the XV and XS series disappear and I think it's good to have subs priced below $1000 in the line up.
 
#17,731 ·
I think custom sub orders would do wonders as well. Some people want certain kinds of dimensions and other cosmetic things. Of course would come with a premium price but would be unique

Things like that might be harder too do for PSA because I believe they order cabinets from their supplier in large runs. So it might be a lot harder for them to do custom one offs.
 
#17,732 ·
I feel like there would be a HUGE demand for something a tiny bit smaller and less expensive then the S1500. I need a small sub for my bedroom and am eyeing SVS for this reason.

Come on Tom... S1200??? S1000??? Say $750?
Hmmmm, rather interesting idea? How would one or 2 small sealed subs (10's or 12's) work in conjunction with a non se XS30 for smoothing as they would be easier to place? I now that they would run out of steam way before the XS30, but would they make a good option or be too small and ineffective?
 
#17,733 · (Edited)
I feel like there would be a HUGE demand for something a tiny bit smaller and less expensive then the S1500. I need a small sub for my bedroom and am eyeing SVS for this reason.

Come on Tom... S1200??? S1000??? Say $750?
I think the issues here would be several problems.

1. performance cost ( going from a 15 to a 12 would lose a good amount of performance and with the continued focus on output per dollar this would be a popular item. But people might under buy and then label PSA as under performing.

2. The price needed to make this make sense the S1500 is currently 949 so I would aruge that the a 12 inch version would have to be a lot cheaper 700 range to make sense. And with the competition that price range being mostly chinise made its hard to cut costs when your focusing on American made product.

3. As I said going with smaller drive requires more excursion and more engineering work to get similar performance. Right now the S1500 uses a 15 inch driver and its a very good driver, and its not cheap for PSA.

Now imagine trying to get say 75% of the performance of the S1500 in a smaller driver and box with less power while also trying to keep costs in check.... not an easy job.
 
#17,734 · (Edited)
I think custom sub orders would do wonders as well. Some people want certain kinds of dimensions and other cosmetic things. Of course would come with a premium price but would be unique
I don't know the Triax is pretty freaking insane for 3k. Even more when they where offering veneer for below 4k shipped...

But then again Tom and Jim are pretty used to crazy designs.

Old SVS SS Ultra Cylinder (features the ultra 12 second generation driver) and was sold with a K1 Crown amp (1500W) was sold for something like 5 grand shipped. If I remember correctly it also had solid maple end caps and custom machined mental trim rings.



Old SVS B4/Plus had four of the 12 inch plus drivers I think version 2. Sold with either a K1(1500W) or K2 (2500W) Crown amp.



Another example in someones home



I would guess thought that the Triax out preforms them easily above 50Hz and maybe even down low as well. :)
 
#17,736 ·
I feel like there would be a HUGE demand for something a tiny bit smaller and less expensive then the S1500. I need a small sub for my bedroom and am eyeing SVS for this reason.

Come on Tom... S1200??? S1000??? Say $750?
Never say never but there are a few considerations to think about here.

Inventory cost, space in the warehouse(which is at a premium right now), and target MSRP. Jim and I have gone through this process in the past and it would be impossible to approach the $750 price point while maintaining the same build quality and component quality in our current products. It may seem counter intuitive but a S1200 or even a S1000 with the same component quality would not be much less expensive to manufacturer than the S1500.

Factor in the engineering time involved in a new product(3-6-9 months) that we would need to recoup at some point and I'm not seeing this happen anytime in the near future unfortunately.

A sustainable business model needs to focus on the market(s) where they can provide maximum value(cost/performance ratio). Trying to be everything to everybody...that is something that rarely works out in the long run.

Tom V.
Power Sound Audio
 
#17,737 ·
I agree. I went for the V1500 for several reasons:
-New model and I knew I wanted to add a second down the road. Didn't want to worry about no longer offering the older model.
-Deeper tuning than the XV15/30se
-Price. Much cheaper than a pair of S3000s, also ported might work better in my room.
We have a bunch of data in the CLIO PC I want to share but I need Jim to export it to me and to say he's busy right now is the under statement of the year.

Anyway, the XS15se and S1500 comparison FR as well as the V1500 and XV15se comparison FR show all the changes which are mainly limited to
 
#17,738 ·
I'm sure that it simplifies business for PSA to limit the driver sizes they have at any given time. Right now they've got a 15" and 18" driver. My understanding is that the 15" is the same across the entire line which makes supply chain management a lot easier.

Adding a 12" or 10" driver to the mix would add complexity that I'm not sure these guys want at this point.

That said...

I also have a secondary room that's much smaller and I'm looking at something smaller for that space. :D

We have several different 15" drivers for the various products. There would be no way to use the same one on all products and even be remotely optimized.

Tom V.
Power Sound Audio
 
#17,740 ·
I think custom sub orders would do wonders as well. Some people want certain kinds of dimensions and other cosmetic things. Of course would come with a premium price but would be unique
Everyone would LOVE customization options but very few would embrace the related costs. Look at the pricing for the only ID company I can think of doing quality custom cabinets...Funk Audio.

Custom dimensions would be a problem for us too--- unless they just happened to have the same (effective) internal volume. If that changes, we're back to measuring outside numerous times just to know how to optimize the DSP code for this one order. There is a big difference between bolting a big driver to a big box and spending as much engineering time as necessary to optimize the entire system..;)

Tom V.
Power Sound Audio
 
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