SV Cylinder Sub vs. HSU Cylinder Sub - Page 2  

I was always of the opinion that these forum should be a place to learn in detail about different designs from different companies instead of degrade, to debate performance and design decision instead of country of origin or customer support, to be celebratory towards all new and interesting products instead of fixating on one or two. Sadly this is often not the case, but I believe most would find much more enrichment and knowledge in such a audio utopian place.

the holidays can be stressful sometimes
you know
with the family and all
let it go
just let it go
peace out

Well after hemming and hawing for a month, I finally got off my butt and ordered a PCi 16-46 last night. Needless to say I'm looking forward to its arrival.

Congrats ShroudedMist, I am sure your going to be a happy camper.. The hardest part is waiting.

In the end it should come down to what product best fits your needs, but customer support is VERY important for an Internet based company. Some may feel this is irrelevant, but that is your only link to the manufacturer, and hence, holds more weight in those types of situations. Welcome to Internet commerce.........

Customer support is subjective, many companies give very good customer support (even some companies that only offer retail). There is no way to define what is good vs great customer support (and simply being the fastest to answer an email is not a good measure either). I have always found Hsu's technical support to be top notch. His knowledge of different setup techniques under varying conditions is impressive. Ultimately you want your new toy to sound as good as possible, and he can give great and insightful advice on how to best do this. Their customer support is very good too (as long as their representative is not on vacation). Having a Hsu-specific forum available is a step in the right direction: customers support customers in a place designed and dedicated for them to do so. If a company can be reached by phone, fax, email, that is also a step in the right direction. Any reasonable and decent company, especially on the internet, will try their best to provide good technical and customer and product support. This should not be the deal-maker or deal-breaker in anything but the most extreme cases.

I don't know, I see nothing wrong with wanting good customer and/or technical support. (I think we can say they are both subjective, and based on a personal experience). That can be a decision maker for some people. There is nothing wrong with that. It can be weighed with everything else one looks at before making a purchase. Most companies offer descent customer and technical support, but not all do. If it is something that is important to you, then you should weigh it like everything else you base your decision on.

I think if a lot of people have the same experiences with support (customer/technical/other) whether it be good or bad, chances are good that is what the support is like.

If a company on the internet had a terrible customer support and service, they would be in big trouble and would probably have trouble doing business. Essentially all the internet company have very good customer service. Most of them do not participate on forum, but their support is still very good for their customers in general (with a few exceptions for every company). More often than not (especially with company who do not have a large forum presence), the few bad experiences are blown up and magnified on the forum, while the much higher percentage of good experiences are never even heard about.

I gaurantee 50% of buying anything is subjective........this is nothing new since we humans have these things called emotions!
Telling people how to weight their priorities is..................god-like?

(Note: out late celebrating, why I felt compelled to keep this going is beyond me)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Absolutely, an internet based company with bad support and service will not do well for very long. I personally can not speak for all of them, I have not dealt with them all, for the ones that I have, it has been good. For the rest I would have to take into consideration other peoples experiences that they share. I would say that I have seen both sides get blown up and magnified on the forums, both the good and the bad. It isn't that hard to tell, most of the time, when a post is getting rather blown up and out of proportion in either direction. Since I have not spoken to everyone who has had dealings with all the different company's support and service I couldn't tell you what percentage of bad or good is reported. I wouldn't even venture to guess. From some of the threads that I have read, some of the good end up looking like an advertisement for the company. I can understand a person wanting to get the word out about the product and company that they like or love or what have you.

I think that if you look through all of the different forums on the internet, chances are good that you will find information regarding a product that you are interested in. Whether it be product info, company info, or support and service info. All of this may or may not be useful information to a buyer, but it is something they can use any way they like.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

tuskenraider-

Performance differences of sub, visual appearance of sub, feature content of sub is much more visible and easy to measure than customer and technical support. Debate about who has better customer and technical support is a circular argument and can never be resolved because it is impossible to measure and varies for individual. Many audio company like Hsu have been around on internet direct from factory for more than 10 years, with countless very satisfied customer, and they could not do this without generally very good customer and tech support.

That does it, I have decided to go with the HSU TN-1220HO with the 500 Watt Amp for my 2400 cubic foot room that opens onto another kitchen, breakfast area which is about 3000 cubic feet. Thanks for the advice and information, no reason for any name calling as alot of this is subjective anyway in the final analysis.

I still don't understand why people are so defensive of the brand they purchased.

Both of the subs in question are GREAT choices. Read the pro's and con's for each sub and make a decision. Its simply a matter of which one is best for YOU.

Markotran does bring up a good point about the amp wattage. Use the car analogy for example:

Honda rates the 2000 V6 Accord at 200hp at the crank. At the wheels my Accord put out a big whopping 155hp. (Hello over rated engine and automatic drivetrain loss)

BMW rates the 2002 330Ci at 225hp at the crank. At the wheels my 5spd 330Ci put down an impressive 200hp! (Hello underated engine and more efficient manual drivetrain)

What is advertised and what you actually get to use aren't always the same.

People like to think they made the best choice. Some people take offense with SVS hawking their products on the forums and like to point out Hsu has been making cylinder subs for a few more years than SVS. Does that make Hsu better? No. SVS may hay have improved on the original idea. I own 2 Hsu TN1220HO and love them but I may have been just as happy with a SVS product. Unfortunately you cannot compare them directly in a showroom. I made my decision based on my previous Hsu purchase and the deal I was able to get on a pair. Take all reviews with a grain of salt and research the forums to get a overview of each product. Also, look at the dimensions. The Hsu fit my needs better because of the smaller diameter. SVS cylinders are wider but shorter which may work better for you.

Rest assured that whichever one you choose will be miles above a Bose woofer in a box:)

Finally something that even Hsu AND SVS owners can agree on! :D

Ain't that the truth. Specmanship seems to be a national pastime and manufacturers know that spec sheet marketing is a way of improving sales. With no standard for the spec sheet measuring of subwoofers, it is all up to a companies honesty in the disclosure of how the numbers where achieved. Unfortunately none of this helps the consumer in directly comparing brand or between companies, because sales are the big driver in the numbers they choose to write on such spec sheets.

Use the best and most honest judge "your own ears". But do the comparison's in the same room using the same equipment. Comparing in different rooms with different systems is total madness and frought with danger.

Ddavidson

Speakers I can agree to try out in your own environment but mail order subs are another story. Do you realize the shipping back costs. That is why so many people come to this place for advice. To get a good product and also in hopes to save a few bucks. Like the above poster I have and SVS sub but I am sure that an HSU one of the same size and power probably would have made me equally happy. This is a subwoofer let's remember. Congrats on your purchase and I am sure you will be very happy. HSU and SVS both are great companies with great support. Again if you can afford it, its better to try them in your own setting but since they are mail order you have to take somewhat of a chance. To me that chance turned out to be more than worth it. I had two other subs already here to compair to when mine arrived and the new SVS won out every time.... I think the dual HSU tubes you are getting would havd done the same thing. Anyway congrats again and let us know how things go.