SVS SBS-01 Owners thread

I got mine today at 6:30. I didn't get to really do much with them yet because I had to go back in to work till now. I only hooked up the two fronts and center. I recently moved the room around so I need to run wire for the rears. I also hooked up the PB10. Now I have two of them. I popped in WOTW and played a few scenes. Nothing is calibrated yet, but twin PB10's make a huge difference in my room. One shook the room a little. Two of them shakes the room alot, along with the closet doors in the hallway and foyer! If the neighbors didn't hear me before, they will now! I can't comment on the speakers themselves yet, because I didn't really sit down and listen to them. I'll do that this weekend.

come on you owners...provide some feedback

I don't think many of us have received our shipments yet.

According to my "Friends at Brown" mine will be here on monday.
God I hope my idiot of a driver does not screw up this delivery.
Would bet I get 3 of 4 boxes and then a couple days later get the missing box.
I wish SVS used BAX or a real freight company and not "Brown".

Will be at CES when they show on Monday. Will set them up and run
my AVR4806 on them and will report back my opinion by Wed-Thur next week. I bought the 7.1 setup. My neighbors are going to enjoy this upgrade as well.

I am sure this thread will be large in a few days as we report our findings and opinions. Its always fun to have new toys to play with.

bltserv

good match.

I picked mine up at UPS last night. I'm sure glad I drove a truck the boxes are BIG and HEAVY.

The boxes are all opened and speakers all over the living room floor waiting to be hooked up.

Craig

Lucky dog! I'm sitting here at work listening to XM streaming through my dinky pc speakers & you're getting ready to hook up some new SVS equipment!

Enjoy & let us know all of your first impressions!

Looking forward to hear what you guys think. Please write your impressions in this thread to keep them centralized.

My order is still being processed, but nonetheless I'm technically an owner now!

I went with the 5.1 system because that's what I have room for in my family room. Would anyone recommend going with the 7.1 system to get 2 extra bookshelves for $100 and use them on their own in another part of the house? Basically, would the bookshelves sound well on their own without a subwoofer for listening to the radio, CDs, or even mp3s off of the computer?

Thanks

-Lee

I have a 5.1 HT and I ordered the 7.1 because I plan on using the extra 2 speakers in a 2.1 setup in my office. I think I'm going to get the 8" hsu sub (lot smaller then another pb10) and a 2 channel stereo like the Outlaw rr2150. For $100 more preorder you can't go wrong. I'f I don't like them I could sell them off for more then $100 since the 2 speakers will retail for $225.

Ed

Would they be worth using just as a 2.0 system? The price is definitely tempting, I'm just not sure how much I'll miss out on the lows, since I don't plan on putting a sub in the office anytime soon.

Thanks for the replies.

-Lee

Well my thought was I was going to get the svs 5.1 regardless so then I thought about speakers for my office and noticed that it was only $100 more for the 7.1. So for $100 for 2 speakers is pretty darn good deal I think. As for the lows you will miss out unless you get a sub.

Ed

Bastards! UPS was supposed to deliver my SVS speakers tomorrow, but all of a sudden there is some "error" in the shipment and it is now "rescheduled" to be delivered on Monday/Tuesday. ARGH! I was all ready to get them tomorrow and install them and test them.

WTF is wrong with UPS? Of the two packages sent, one is now in Orlando (acceptable, so it should be here by Monday, though that is still 2 days later than it should be) but the other package (these both left the same place at the same time, right?) is in . . . . .

CALIFORNIA? How the hell did THAT happen?

Hmm, let's see - FL is SO close geographically and in "look" on paper to CA - duh?

I was expecting delivery on Thursday. Sub came. The other pkg. ended up in Dallas and is just sitting there as of today. Pkgs. left SVS at the same time. I'm in the Boston area.

Wow - sounds like SVS needs to take this up with whoever accepts the packages from UPS locally, because they are obviously NOT doing their job correctly.

I ordered my set which came UPS but took 3 days. When I ordered my new sub (PB12-Plus/2) they sent it by BAX. It got here in 2 days! UPS smells more and more like the post office everyday!
Yesterday I got my final 2 speakers and set them in the rear surround position. I toed in my front 2 speakers a little then ran the YPAO on my Yammie HTR-5990. The sound is simply amazing and sooooo fun to listen to! When sounds sweep around the room it is truly wonderful. Hope the rest of you enjoy your system as much as I. Dennis

Gah, I hate UPS and am sure when my speakers are shipped they will screw something up.

UPS is the worst courier company out there from my experience. I wish I could ahve my speakers sent via Purolator but I think Purolator might be a CDN only company. Too bad because they are solid.

FedEx is good to from my past experiences.

Guys/gals... I am really curious of these speakers.
As you receive them/set them up and spend some time with them, I would be interested to hear some comparisons in your reviews.
Like, what speakers you had/have and how the SVS's compare.
What receiver/amp(s) you had/have and how the SVS system pairs with your gear.
How big your room is.
What did you do to calibrate. Even if you did no calibration what so ever, please post your findings. I am sure we are all interested in what you have to say.

I feel telling us your gear will give us the best idea as to how these speakers sound.

Happy listening.

Craig

I hope to take delivery of a set next week sometime unless they go on an excursion and have a question regarding placement, as I read elsewhere that the SBS have a more "specific" sound field. I have read other threads on surround placement and I'm still confused as to what I should do.

My family room is 12x24, with the TV centered on one of the 12ft walls and the viewing position (sofa) being about 10ft back from the screen. The front and center speakers are easily placed. Currently, my aging floorstanding speakers provide the surround (I'm only going for 5.1) and are either side of the sofa. This isn't ideal for many reasons, and I want to properly wall (or ceiling) mount the SBS-01s and finally get rid of the floorstanding speakers.

My problem is that level with the viewing area on the right hand side is a small, glass-enclosed fireplace. I figure that it would not be good for the speaker to be directly above the fireplace, or would it really matter? Alternatively, it would be neat to mount them where the wall and ceiling join, but to avoid the fireplace I'd need to place them about 2ft behind the seating area. Will this destroy the surround affect? (even if I point the speakers at the sofa)

What is the right thing to do? Any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated!

You don't want speakers in corners, as it can really distort the sound. If you're going to mount them on the wall, they should be about 2' above where your head is at your listening position. So if the room is 12' wide and 24' deep, try about 5-6' up off the ground, facing each other along the long walls, a few feet behind the couch.

Did you get the 5.1 setup? Can your receiver do 6.1 or 7.1? If so, you might keep your floorstanding speakers and put them behind the couch for the rear surrounds.

I am very interested in the new SVS speakers and have done a little reading up here on the forums. I have been saving money for quite some time preparing to get 4 Ascend 170's with a 340 center. I have also planned a SVS sub. Not sure yet which one.
Considering the price difference I am looking more at the SVS package now, but I did read somewhere that these speakers are not expected to be on the level of the 170's. My question to that is in what regard? My room is ~21x14.5 with 8-10 ft ceilings("tray ceilings"). Will the Ascends do better in filling this room considering the size? Although I would love to save a few $$, I certainly don't want any buyer's remorse. I will primarily be using the setup for 90/10 movies to music. I also expect that I will have some 'acoustic issues' with the room, as I also have hardwoods with no rugs at the moment. Any thoughts, comments?

My previous SS setup was simply the Logitech z-680's - that's right - quite an upgrade to the SBS package. Room is roughly 11x11, w/Denon 1904. Also using DEQ2496 for sub eq.

First impressions:

Finally got everything hooked up and roughly calibrated. My main demo so far was The Corrs - Live in London DVD concert (5.1 DTS)......absolutely amazing! I just kept turning it louder and louder, although I couldn't tell if that was because of the speakers - or because of Andrea Corr Far superior to the Logitechs.

Now, back to testing....hmm...maybe Minority Report next...muahahahahhaa

surprise?

Was the huge difference mainly because of the speakers or the sub?

The sub almost goes without saying. Having the upgraded center speaker, however, was also the other big change.

Generally speaking, the surrounds are...well...just surrounds. Since most audio on any given movie is from the center, that's where I noticed the most difference. I had listened to the same Corrs performance the night before with the logitechs. If I had to give it a number, I'd say the voice and instrumentation were at least 75% better sounding.

cyberbri - awesome, thanks for your advice! I got the 5.1 setup, the area behind the viewing area is quite active (it is my family room after all), so the old floor standing speakers might just survive there. Wouldn't they pollute the quality of the existing 5? At the moment, it's all speculation as my receiver is 5.1 only, but I am planning to upgrade at some point this year (waiting for the new hddvd/bd audio formats to be supported)