Official SVS Owners/Support Thread. - Page 326

+1 FWIW, I think the general consensus is if you can do bass management in the receiver, do so. Using speaker level inputs defeats the possibility of using the receiver to do bass management. I'd keep all that stuff digital if I could, and you can . . .

Well hi guys. Guess what, I'm already back from the hospital after a minor one-day surgery. Now I must stay at home for a few days, with the girlfriend working and the girl at the kindergarden. Guess what I just did.

Boosted the crossover to 100 Hz. I have good towers but hey, with dual subs on the front stage, I doubt localization would be a problem and I figured I might get better upper bass with the subs than with the 6.5 in woofers. I boosted the sub level 2 dB above what it was (i.e. probably already a bit hot). Remember I'm using a house curve that brings the 20-30 Hz range about 6 dB above the 80 Hz level.

Then I popped in Battle: LA and watched at -5 dB. It's funny how during the day it seemed much more comfortable / acceptable to listen that loud. I was warned multiple times about that movie and my expectations were low. Yet it delivered exactly what I was looking after. I even appreciated the aesthetics of the movie although I could not care for the characters (the way, for example, one cares for Aliens' marines). I hated the rapidly-changing focus of the camera work and the teary violin. I was told there was lots of bass but it all became a deep rumble all throughout the movie.

With the dual Pluses I must say I was, on the contrary, stunned with the LFEs in that movie. From deep rumbles, to booms, thumps, thuds, and pops, it features a very wide variety of LFEs, and I was amazed how each weapon firing in the movie felt different. Sometimes I felt the thuds in my back (transmitted via the floor to my couch), sometimes in my ears, sometimes in my chest. In a few spots in the movie, deep bass was so intense I had a strange feeling at the base of my hair, like they were standing and vibrating or something similar. Very, very fun afternoon.

Will report back on a few other movies later. Oh and by the way, some interesting bass in Juno Reactor's music. I never noticed the deep bass in "Le Jardin de Cecile" before.

Glad all went well. Sounds like a pretty good Rx for recovery! Did your doctor prescribe that?

Well you know the kind of recovery -- you're feeling well, a bit tired maybe, but I'm not supposed to deploy any strength or wash the area around the bandages. Can't really go to work nor keep the kid around. It's the first time in 2.5 years that I have the house all for myself like this, and the first time I can enjoy 1.5 year of constant HT upgrades at full volume

All I can say is that movies such as Battle: LA must be enjoyed that way to be any fun Next movie down my pile of shame is either... let's see... "The Raid: Redemption", "Cabin in the Woods", "Hot Fuzz", "Clash + Wrath of the Titans", or the 4-hour extended edition of "Red Cliff". I think I have others too. I could also go rent "Underworld: Awakening" -- I'm curious about that super lycan...

I recommend the U:A rent. I watched that and clash back to back. And it blows clash out if the water. Never saw raid. I'm curious so lmk.

CITW is worth it as well

Glad to hear you are back home and that everything is going well with you. Take care of yourself and don't fry your system while you are at home..........

Pretty cool line up you have there........Hot Fuzz is just a beast on the bass dept. and pretty funny movie too.

I bet you are going to be watching and re-watching the super lycan scene more than 5 times.

Cheers!

so what are your thoughts on the xo at 100hz? was 80hz your previous xo?

Not sure if The Raid is supposed to be a huge bass monster but it's supposed to be a damn amazing action movie right out of the Thai school (albeit without Tony Jaa of Ong Bak fame). I'll see if renting U:A is a good idea considering my supposedly diminished position. A walk to the video store could not hurt, although it's supposed to get darn cold tomorrow

I heard no complaint from the system. With a small room I don't think it takes that much power to reach reference level. But considering mantaray's problems with U:A I'll try to notice any bizarre sound.

I'm a big fan of Sean of the Dead and when I realized it's essentially the same team who did HF, and it's a 5-star, well, I clicked buy real quick.

Now I'm not sure how many movies I'll be able to watch before running out of excuses to skip work. So I'll have to prioritize... And, damn, the cleaning lady will be there all morning tomorrow.

Good question -- I should have compared by going back to 80 Hz. But hey, I'm supposed to enjoy the setup, no experiments this week All I can say is that I was surprised at how good the different pops and thuds sounded, and I'm pretty sure there's lot of upper bass in there. However I never listened at that volume before and did not compare.

I just feel the subs are better suited than my mains even at 100 Hz and with their current locations, localization is not an issue, so why not...

Just make extra popcorn and invite her to a crazy movie marathon.....

hi guys, i have a STF-3 HSU Sub for around 5 years and now i got some extra cash and im locking to upgrade my sub, i was locking at SVS PB12-Plus, my question is will this be a big upgrade will i hear a good different? , i have a pioneer SC-37 if this help

thanks in advanced

Well considering the price paid I prefer she cleans the house instead of littering even more popcorn in the living room. She only comes once every two weeks so every minute counts when she's here


I am not really familiar with the STF-3 but I believe the SVS Plus series is, so to speak, at least a step or two up the ladder compared to the STF-3. According to the specs it's got a 300 W RMS amp, 12" driver, it's ported and it has a -2 dB point of 25 Hz (not sure if it's in room though or outside). While it's dangerous to compare subs with the amp's wattage alone, well, the Plus with its 800 W RMS DSP amp and 18 Hz -3 dB point extension in a semi-anechoic (outside) setting will likely crush the STF-3. So yes, it would be a rather big upgrade.

Glad to hear the surgery went well Neutro.

Reporting on The Raid: Redemption.

I was wrong, this is not a Thai movie, it's actually Indonesian! It's a pretty good action flick, non-stop guns / martial arts / machete, knives and what-not, gruesome at moments. Bass was thunderous at times but that was mainly ambiance score, not the result of in-scene explosions or action. Though guns gave satisfying thuds. The movie is low budget but it's refreshing to see how kick-ass movies can be made that way. It was not as satisfying as the bass fest Battle: LA was though and it felt a bit long in the end. Recommended rent

Not sure how many more movies I'll be able to watch before I get back to work but Hot Fuzz and CITW are next in line.

Thanks! It went well -- in fact the worst thing was the whole day without food and the whole night not being able to sleep because of typical hospital activity. Anyway I'm just glad I could enjoy the Pluses for real now Problem is, I'm going so well that I'll have trouble justifying more idle time to myself

thanks for you help, i think im ready for my upgrade

The only caveat is that the PB12-Plus is a tad expensive when considering the competition. If you're in Canada, SVS might still be the best bang for the buck option (that's why I've gone with dual Pluses but I chose the cylinders to save a bit money and floor space). If you're close to the US border and don't mind dealing with warranty issues, there are a few very interesting contenders in the $1200-1500 price range. The Plus *is* a very good choice but you might want to see what else you can get for the money. For me though importing, for example, a Rhytmik FV15-HP, which is a very interesting competitor to the Plus, would be very expensive, so it was not a viable option.

I also wanted to add that I had a moment to listen to more music. In particular, I listened to Leonard Cohen's latest album. It's very soft, very personal, and he's often only accompanied by the bass. Well it sounded astounding with the higher crossover and at higher volumes. I had not listened to that album on the Pluses and was half expecting something a bit bloated, but no, it really was *perfect*, detailed and precise. One day I'll have to compare with sealed mode but right now with the 16 Hz tune, I honestly can't complain at all.

thanks man i live in Mississauga so i think it will be better the SVS i can save some cash and i wont have to deal whit US border, i check the Rhytmik FV15 it come like 1400.00 and i will probably still have to pay more for broke fees and tax, SVS have a Canadian distributor and i can save money that way cause i can just pickup at local store

just for curiosity what other will you recommend around $1200-1500

thanks in advanced

Well there are numerous options but the FV15 was the strongest contender -- more in competition with the Ultra than the Plus in fact. You likely could get a Chase HT SS18.1 + amp around $1000, and for around $1600, a pair of Epik Empire or PowerSoundAudio XS15 or XV15. That is not including shipping, duty, taxes, etc. however. The biggest PSA sub, the XV30 (dual 15") is $1400 in the US. You could also get a pair or Hsu VTF-3 Mk4 or VTF-15H around that price. I think you could also look at the canadian-built FunkAudio 15" subs in that price range.

I'm not saying they're necessarily better buys than the SVS, and living in Canada too, I found that SVS still had the bang-for-buck edge considering the fees and troubles involved with importing subs. So I'm not discouraging you at all, just pointing out alternatives.

having just changed from a pb12-nsd to a PSA xv15 I will say honestly it is more the equivalent of the PB12+ you can actually check the data on how they compare...especially at the 16hz tune the PSA has the edge.

They are 799 shipped but not sure on how much your taxes etc will be. it SHOULD be less than the 1200.00 though. but Nuetro gave very viable options....and being in canada SVS might be your best option. you cant go wrong with their subs imho (I ONLY left them because of an issue I had with a bad production run of grills)

Is the PSA's tuning variable Brian?

no it isnt that could be considered a drawback....what i meant by that was if the pb12+ is tuned at the 16hz mode...the PSA will have the edge at all frequencies.

Wow I didn't realize that. I know the PSA is tuned a bit lower than 20 Hz be default anyway. For the same price as a PB12-NSD delivered, it's sure hard to beat. I wonder how PSA charge for a delivery to Canada. There's always the possibility of getting the sub delivered at a border mail service on the US side and pick it up there -- I've done this with regular speakers before. But considering the weight of the PSA sub, better have two pairs of strong arms and a very spacious trunk I guess.

neutro how is the PC13-ULTRA compared whit the FV15, i may considered for i few hundred more

I haven't heard either so it's hard to comment. Data-bass.com has output data for both though and it seems that they're very close, within about 2 dB of each other. The Ultra only has the advantage in a narrow frequency band between 18 and 25 Hz, whereas the FV15-HP has the advantage over all the rest of the band.

Compared to the Plus, the Ultra is bigger, has a larger driver, a more powerful amp, and some say, a distinctive "sound". Output-wise it's about 3 dB louder than the Plus everywhere according to what I've read. The amp also features an additional parametric EQ filter if you rely on those.

I see you were specifically mentioning the PB12-Plus then the PC13-Ultra. There is about no difference in sound and output between the box (PB) and cylinder (PC) versions of the SVS subs. The main difference is weight / form factor / footprint. The cylinders are made from sturdy sonotube-like cardboard tubes covered with high-quality black velvet. They're about 16.5" in diameter and quite tall (the Ultra is 46"). Due to they cylindrical construction they're much lighter and thus less expensive to ship. I think the PB12-Plus is a special pallet delivery whereas the corresponding PC12-Plus is a standard Purolator delivery in Canada, for example. I don't know about the PC13-Ultra but it might be a special delivery due to the added size and weight.

Thus in the US, the FV15-HP must really be compared to the SVS Ultras, and considering its reduced price, it's very tempting. It lacks some of the warranty terms SVS offers, and other goodies such as the metal grill, or piano black finish at no additional cost -- an FV15-HP with piano black finish, delivered, is closer to the price of an Ultra than a Plus I think. But in Canada where warranty on the SVS is not the same, warranty on the Rhytmik is a bit of an issue, shipping to Canada costs upwards of $300, etc., then SVS becomes more interesting again IMHO. Problem is, it's hard to find many people who heard both and can compare.

One thing is sure: the renowned SVS lines have strong competition at many price points now; SVS still have very interesting offerings but they sure aren't alone now.

i just brought the PB13-ULTRA, it will be delivery Monday cause wont fit on my Honda

I had a PC13-Ultra DSP and now I have a PB12-Plus DSP, measuring the differences between each other and at least given me ami the PB12-Plus DSP has only 2db less production. It really is not much difference, we would have to go to crazy levels to patent that extra power has the Ultra.

As for the PEQ (parametric EQ), is funny because my PB12-Plus DSP has two equalizers parametric (PEQ) as the ultra ...

a hug

Welcome to the family!

And as per the tradition here, you "must" post your initial impressions as soon as possible.........

Cheers!

Which finish did you get?

Doesn't really make a difference..Very handsome sub. Congrats!

i got the black oak, to me the glossy get to much dirt and i am lazy to cleaned up lol, i will post my impression when i get it, i will have to learn how to setup everything

i will appreciated any advice i have pioneer sc-37, 4 axiom M3 v3 Bookshelf Speakers, VP150 v3 Center Channel Speaker, 2 QS8 v3 Surround Speakers

thanks in advanced
Edited by MATA7 - 1/25/13 at 5:44pm