Official SVS Ultra 13 thread - Page 304

got it...I'm sorry for the confusion. I hope I was able to finally relay what my settings are in a fashion that makes sense to those reading.

I believe one thing you are missing is the LPF of the LFE (which I believe is what you were referring to when you mentioned your Onkyo didn't have anything above 120hz). This setting is the low pass filter strictly for the lfe channel encoded on certain discs. Supposedly there could be information in the LFE channel up to 120hz on any given disc, so setting the LPF of the LFE lower than this would limit how much content you are getting in the LFE channel.

I can't think of any reason to set it lower than 120hz, unless for some reason you are getting localization issues (which is doubtful, given I'd imagine there is very little content above 80hz or so in the LFE channel in the first place). I guess you could always try a lower setting to see if it makes a discernable difference.

As for the subsonic filter on the SVS (or "tuning"), I used to also tune my SVS to 15hz as it gave better extension at the expense of some output above 20hz or so but not enough for me to care (currently use it in sealed mode as it blends better with my DIYs).

I'm still not entirely sure how you're crossing your mains in relation to your Yamaha and PB13 Ultra's (or if you are still using the Yamaha in the chain). Are you crossing the mains at 80hz with the AVR low pass, the Yamaha then has a 50hz high pass, and the Ultra's are in 15hz tune and otherwise playing full band up to the 80hz low pass on the AVR (with the crossover on the SVS disabled)?

I suppose I'm still not clearly describing what I've done, but I don't know how to describe it any more clearly. I tried the mains at all levels of crossover throughout these tests -- usually matching them to whatever I had set the AVR's subwoofer crossover to. The mains and surround crossover was definately not static for the multitude of times we ran the tests. Here are my notes in the Yamaha thread. Maybe they make more sense there.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1175641&page=3

Counsil plans to come by sometime reasonably soon. I'll let him fill in with his opions seeing as I seem to have failed to relay my impressions. My remaining plea is for you guys to flip the crossover switch on your SVS ultra subs to on and set the dial to 50hz. Don't change anything else if you want the simplest of tests. Watch the THX Amazing Life clip's mushroom thump and see if the bass doesn't sound cleaner and more tactile on your setup with the 50hz crossover manually engaged on the bash plate amp than it does with whatever higher LFE crossover setting you currently use on your receiver. Forget everything else, forget that you might be missing some frequencies, forget that you might have two crossovers engaged ---- just try the test. It'll take you 5 minutes tops and you'll see or be able to deny what I and two of my friends observed yesterday. This test result has nothing to do with the Yamahas -- we did this testing with and without it. The results were the same. The SVS sounded cleaner and more impressive with the low 50hz plate amp crossover engaged on both the Ironman demo scene and the THX clip.

I guess the question is what are you doing with the cross-over on your AVR when you say "flip the dial to the 50hz setting on the plate amp".

I.e., with my processor set to a 250hz xover (as it is currently), I can tell you that that would cause a huge hole in my system from 50hz to 250hz or thereabouts and things would sound like cr*p (though I'm sure that possibly that particular scene would sound fine if the thump is centered somewhere below 50hz). If my avr is set to 80hz, not as much of a hole, at 50hz, likely no hole but my mains would be in trouble if I ran them down that low at reference volumes.

So what was your processor's/AVRs x-over set at?

There are so many variables that could be at play here. E.g., with my system, before fiddling quite a bit with the distance control and ultimately adding the PB13 in sealed tune back into the mix, I had a big wide dip at about 90hz or so.

The only way I could eliminate that dip was to set the crossover for the mains to 40hz as that brought the mains into play. But I wasn't willing to do that as I know pumping reference volume content at 40hz into my S2's was asking for trouble.

Thankfully the addition of the PB13 (nearfield) fixed that. E.g., see below for the 3 graphs (blue was just the dual AV15H's before playing with the distance control, purple was after optimizing distance, and green was after adding in the third sub being the PB13).

That's a nice in-room FR there pbc. How well does the Ultra in sealed keep up with your AV15's when you crank it?

Just a quick Question guys...Is the PB13 Ultra available in Gloss Black yet?

I've got the PB13 crossed at 120hz or so (hard to tell with the knob on that plate amp) and the AVR at 250hz, so the PB13 doesn't seem to have much issues keeping up, though I haven't had enough time to really have a purposeful listen.

Archaea, didn't know you picked up a PB13 Ultra. What happened to your D7s?

If you're playing with the speaker crossovers in your 1007, then yes going from 40Hz to 50Hz to 60Hz and up can have a very audible difference. This is because you're redirecting those frequencies from the speakers to the sub. In other words if you set the crossover at 80Hz then freq below 80Hz will be played by the sub, not the speakers. No wonder you notice the difference. Majority of users use 80Hz for this crossover. YMMV.

Please note this crossover is different from the LPF of LFE setting (which I think you called as "subwoofer crossover" above). The LPF of LFE setting would not produce as much difference because it only affects the subwoofer channel (which would be non-existent in stereo music). This LPF of LFE should always be at 120Hz.

Yes.

I got schooled on the word choices in the Audyssey thread, and so my original posts here are full of the same terminology confusionl. Now that I can communicate what I was thinking because I know the correct terms I understand they missed my question/point because of my misuse of the terminology. I was simply trying to find out if anyone likes a lower LPF than 80 or 120hz -- try 50hz and see if you like it type recommendation). Without even adjusting the crossovers to the mains,surrounds and center I can tell a big difference (for the positive in my opinion) on the SVS subs in my room with the plate amps' LPF set at 50hz during the mushroom thumps in the THX Amazing Life trailer. When I adjust the crossovers on the mains then the difference is even larger as you point out - but I need not adjust the crossovers on the mains to tell a difference. Three of us demoed these settings extensively in my room with the SVS with the mushroom thumps on a repeat A-B loop and we all prefered the SVS's tactile feel and sound when the plate amps' LPF was on and the dial was set to 50hz. This is on a 15 hz tune, all other dials turned off (subsonic filter set to 15hz, amp gain at about 2/5's, LFE channel at -2.5dB and volume at -7.5dB on my Onkyo TX-NR1007). The receciever's LFE setting we tried in different spots. I prefer it at 80hz (the lowest it goes) over 120hz with the SVS plate amps' LPF off. And I prefer certain scenes like that Jericho missle launch, and the THX trailer with the further reducing 50hz LPF engaged on the SVS.

This preference appears like an artifact of my room, sub placement, or seating position. As you might have read in the Kansas City subwoofer gathering thread, my room is 'difficult.'


I got rid of both Jamo's. They are great subs and I was happy with the pair, but when the one died, I sent it back for a full refund because it was going to be several months and cost of shipping to get it fixed and it was less than 30 days old. I thought I'd be happy with just the one, but the surviving one wasn't putting out the spl levels I wanted in my 3500^3 room by it's lonesome, and I like two subs to eliminate nulls in my room. It just so happened that counsil was willing to part with a couple of his SVS to try a few Seaton Submersives, after he heard the Seaton's preform at the KC meet. I grabbed up a pair of his PB13 Ultras and am happy with the pair in my room. They are the first subs I've ever owned that will occassionally ripple your clothes from my normal front wall placement. I really enjoy that tactile response. My four 15" ottoman enclosure using MA Audio car subs would rustle your pant legs....and your eyeballs, but then it was immediately next to the seating position, and so your legs were literally about a foot away from the sub cones. :P That custom ottoman didn't sound anything near as clean as the PB13's though and I tired of the one note wonder sound of it. The SVS nearly do that same feeling from the other side of the room and sound cleaner and more accurate doing it. My Infinity HPS-1000 pair, and Jamo D7sub pair while sounding great, never flopped my pantlegs from the seating position - that's for sure. May have just been my terrible room more than their lack of ability, but at any rate the SVS are bringing out my smile.

Well after about 3 years my pb13 ultra stopped working... It slowly started by taking longer and longer to power up (more than a few hours) after plugging it in. Once it's on it works fine. Over the weekend when wanting to watch a movie, it made a pop - sounded like it came from the back of the unit. Checked the fuse and no damage done to it. The light is no longer on anymore. This is horrible! I never even pushed this sub ever... Any troubleshooting tips? Would love to hear any! Thanks!

I would send an email to SVS. Doug, Ed, and the boys respond pretty quickly to sub owners in need.

Unfortunately sometimes amps will blow out even though they were never pushed that hard. Fortunately, replacing the amp is not all that hard. Contact SVS immediately. They will probably make arrangements to ship out a new amp to you and you can swap it out. If you e-mail to their service department, they will probably get back to you quickly, even today on Sunday. Depending on whether it is over or under 3 years old, it may or may not still be under warrantee.

Please contact us in Tech Support and we'll handle it. Sounds like you might be close on warranty coverage, so the sooner the better to get the process started.

Well I have had a couple days with my new ultra and so far I'm impressed but I am not sure how much more she has in her. I am at 0db on my amp sub level and -17db on the sub. If she does have more in her then I think I may need to start bolting stuff down

I will definitely send out an email to svs - actually I'm from toronto and dealt with sonicboomaudio up here. I will check with them first. This is a true heartache! I really hope the driver is ok...

It's very, very rare that one of the 13Ultra drivers go bad.

I do not push my pc ultras anywhere near their max. I would guess maybe 20 percent. In fact when I do use them the amps actually cool down from the temperature they are at in stand-by!

heres an odd one - any ideas

decided to re-run MCACC on my Pioneer (Auto EQ)

I have an Antimode 8033 in the loop as well

ran it - and it said Subwoofer too low- wasn't that much of a surprise as I had had on the Pio it dialed in at +4 gain

so turned up volume to about 1/2 on the gain on the back of the Ultra 13

re-tried - and this time no subwoofer detected ! - re-ran the check and the SVS was not ouputting anything at all

turned it off and on - still nothing (green light on of course)

and again - still nothing output

then finally something output on 3rd attempt - but it didn't sound right - almost as if the driver was busted

thought perhaps kids had accidently damaged the driver or something - so just felt with my hand around the bottom ofthe driver for any damage (didn't press it in or anything - just lightly felt around the edges and the main part of driver)

re-ran test - and it now sounds absolutely fine

any ideas ?

only thing I can think of is a loose connection internally onto the driver ? or the amp board ? interestingly when I turned it on I didn't get the normal "wooomph"

very odd indeed

it could be the 8033 I suppose doing something daft to the signal - but I doubt it

Well what can I say. I'm a extremely impressed with my new ultra. Just done some dialing in with tron and I had one neighbor come over and ask if my house was ok because my windows were all flexing and the front right hand side gutter fell from the house you should hear my siding outside the house. The whole lot vibrates lol. The pressure waves from some parts of the film are unreal. I'm all excited like a little kid

^^^
Sounds like you have it dialed in just fine. I'm in a CBS (Concrete Block Stucco) house so the walls don't really vibrate--just my couch and the frame walls. I watched War of the Worlds the other night and it was very intense to say the least--the Ultra is an impressive beast to be sure!

I wish. I have six SVS (with the ASEQ 1) in a 12x12 room and they merely satsify, but I'd love them to destroy my house.

What's funny is I used you as an example to my wife that I need one. She said I don't and I said this guys got 6 but I will be happy with one

lol yeah, my wife thinks I'm nuts. She's cool as she let me get a new Bryston 4BSST2 a couple weeks ago on top of everything else, so I'm pretty lucky.

I currently own the BPS-400 sub for about 8 years. I bought a PC-13 Ultra DSP sub and it is coming in . Will I hear a major improvement ?

Can I run both of them at the same time ? If so , how do I set them up to work together.

I decided to buy the SVS because the Mirage was overpowered by the main when I listen loud (about -5 on the Denon 3311ci). I have a big room that is connected to the kitchen and bathroom.

The Mirage is a 400 watts sub , the SVS being a 1000 watt, can I say that it is twice more powefull.

Thanks

Mush

Hey Archaea...

How are the Ultras holding up? What are your latest impressions? I know you were trying integrate the Yamaha and it didn't work out well. Did you return it or decide to keep it?

doug.

The Ultra will be well more than twice as powerful from say 15hz to 30hz or so (will probably have a 8 to 12db advantage there. Above that, not so sure.

It was a great sub when it came out some 10 to 12 years ago, but several offerings have likely surprassed it now in terms of SPL.

The pair of Ultra's are doing just fine. I'm enjoying them quite a bit. Another buddy of mine came by this last week from the southeast states and he adoringly remembers how my Infinity HPS1000 subwoofer shook things up in a big living room wooden floor in a house we used to rent together. He was impressed by the SVS Ultra's but remembered a single HPS-1000 doing nearly as much he said. He said they sound great, but 'I guess all the extra money is only incremental improvements in the world of subs'. I relayed that the Infinity pair doesn't sound like what he remembers in my current room with cement/tile floors, but had no way to prove it to him because both Infinity subs are out of commission. What a difference a room makes. If I didn't know better I'd have a hard time with it too. I have absolute confidence that the SVS PB13's are a better sub than the Infinity HPS1000, (which was a great sub in itself), but comments like still sting a bit! If I ever build a house I'm going to make a dedicated home theatre room and do it right! I'll take comfort in a the couple times I noted he looked my way with a smile on his face and a off hand comment saying this or that scene in the Tron movie we watched sounded great!

The biggest reason why I am not working on a dedicated home theater right now is because I think I am coming to the realization that I really don't want one. At least in this point in my life.

My basement, like your's, is a multipurpose area. I too would like the ability to pressurize my area with minimal effort like Luke's, but I am not willing to give up the extra space.

Right now I can enjoy my setup while using my weight equipment (although my wife is the one taking advantage of this ), computer, and playing with my kids. Your area is just as functional as mine. You got your computer, poker table (which is what it would be for me anyway ), etc.

I'm sure my priorities will change as time goes by though...

I like the idea of a dedicated home theater as far as the technical aspects of a refined sound but I'm not convinced that I want to watch Big Bang Theory on a 110" screen. Would it be any funnier?