For those who have been following along on the Official PSA thread, I've shared that I finally came to a decision (of sorts) about what to do in my 7500 cubic foot room. After wavering back and forth between sealed and ported options, the release of the new ICE-powered line from PSA prompted me to do my own, in-home test between the two options most likely to work well in my room: the ported, single-driver V1500 and the sealed, dual-opposed driver S3000i. Before I go any further, I want to thank Tom V and Jim F for offering their free in-home demo and both-way shipping that made this test possible! I also want to thank Tom for convincing me to do the test; telling me explicitly not to feel guilty about ordering both knowing that I would return one.
That said, whichever of these two products is returned will simply be exchanged for a duplicate of the one I decide to keep. My room is large enough that I am going to want 2 subwoofers and I do plan do place one near-field.
Latest Updates
V1500 Unboxing Photos (3/23)
V1500 Initial Setup and First Impressions: Movies (3/27)
V1500 First Impressions: Music (3/28)
S3000i Unboxing and side-by-side with V1500 (3/31)
V1500 post-measurement conclusions (Holy 14hz, Batman!) (3/31)
S3000i vs V1500 Best location found graph (4/2)
S3000i in the best location found with Audyssey (4/2)
S3000i Compression
Why PSA?
Stellar reputation. Stellar customer service. Made in USA Products. Free in-home trial with free both-way shipping. And, with the announcement of the s3000i, I suspected (for the first time in my budget) that there was a sealed option that (when dual was considered) could be powerful enough for my room. Everyone has leaned me towards ported; I have a bias towards sealed. Ultimately, I needed to try both myself.
Schedule
The first subwoofer, the V1500 is scheduled to arrive about a week before the S3000i and is currently listing as arriving on 3/23. Tom gave me the option and I chose to get the V1500 early so I had time to learn the controls and get it well-dialed in before the S3000i arrived.
About Me, My Room, and My Tastes
I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't admit up front that I am a total amateur when it comes to anything objective that I'll present in this thread. I do have a UMIK-1 and MiniDSP coming with my order; however, I have absolutely no experience with them. Those hoping for a really great, wonderfully measured shootout are, sadly, going to be disappointed. I will do what I can to take measurements and post graphs; however, I think it's important to understand that, for me, the results of this test are going to be almost entirely subjective: the sub I keep will be the one I like best.
My room is an unfortunately enormous 7500 cubic feet. I say "unfortunately" as almost all of the space is vertical, I have vaulted ceilings all the way up to my roof which mean that, while the room is huge, the usable space for placement is not. Part of the space is a second-level loft space which is completely open along the longest side of the room between the upper-and lower level--so I include it fully in my space measurement. My room is not treated for acoustics--so don't expect a great looking waterfall.
My usage is about 60% music, 40% HT. My primary concern for speaker and subwoofer performance is music. While I do use HT regularly, my general opinion is that as long as it's exactly what I want for music, it will do well-enough to make me happy with HT. While I recognize this opinion is not prevalent, it's my opinion--so my decision will ultimately come down to what makes me happier with music.
My Setup
Marantz AV7702 Pre/Pro (hooray Audyssey XT32)
Emotiva XPA-5 Amp
Martin Logan Theos L+R speakers
Ps3 for Blu Ray & CD
If I can get it done in time, I'm trying to get a Martin Logan Motif X center channel delivered quickly so I can work with a 3.1 setup for the testing on film; however, that may not happen in time. Atmos is in my future; but it's a pretty distant future.
Test Material - Music Updated 3/19
I've tried to select music that reflects my broad taste. Some of it is good 'subwoofer test' music while others are just tracks that I know well and love. I am absolutely open to suggestions and will add anything that falls in line with the types of music I listen to. The list is in no particular order.
Looking at the list, it's currently slanted too heavily towards rock music; I'll be making some adjustments to remove mostly redundant tracks and add more electronic, hip-hop, classical, jazz, and "crooner" music--all things I listen to regularly but don't have tracks off the top of my head or sitting in a playlist to look through. I will also likely change some the songs out in favor of listening to certain albums front-to-back.
Garbage - Queer
Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonnaise
Telefon Tel Aviv - I Lied
Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough
Beck - Where It's At
Kansas - Carry on My Wayward Son
Bjork - Hyper-Ballad
The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - 1st of the Month
Daft Punk - Human After All
Boston - More Than a Feelin'
BT - Madskillz - Mic Chekka
BT - Every Other Way
Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
Ellie Goulding - Figure 8
Coheed & Cambria - The Camper Velorium I: Faint of Heart
Coheed & Cambria - The Crowing
Delerium - Truly
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Dr. Dre - Nothin' But a G Thing
Econoline Crush - Home
Madeon - Technicolor
Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly
Foreigner - Double Vision
Gorillaz - Feel Good, Inc
Hybrid - Finished Symphony
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat
K's Choice - To This Day
Marilyn Manson - Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode Cover)
Mars Lasar - Lords of Truth
Mat Zo - 24 Hours
Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl
Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror
Michael Jackson - Love Never Felt So Good
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
Orbital - Halcyon & On & On
Orbital - Belfast
Orgy - Blue Monday
Outkast - BoB
Outkast - Rosa Parks
Paul Oakenfold - Get 'em Up (ft. Ice Cube)
Solarstone - Seven Cities
The Prodigy - Voodoo People
REM - Losing My Religion
Rabbit in the Moon - Out of Body Experience
Royksopp - Remind Me
Sneaker Pimps - Wasted Early Sunday Morning
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Tiesto - Wasted
Sting - Desert Rose
VAST - Touched
Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls
Yanni - Live at the Acropolis (full album)
Dido - Here with Me
Test Material - Movies (Updated 3/19)
I'm keeping this list relatively short--limiting it to what I have on Blu Ray as well as keeping it short as I intend to watch the full movie rather than selecting individual scenes.
The Dark Knight
The Avengers
Iron Man
The Matrix
Pirates of the Caribbean
Harry Potter (Random selection--probably the last 2 though)
Conclusion
Join me for the ride--I hope to learn a ton about both of these products and, regardless of which I choose to keep, I know the next few weeks are going to be insanely fun!
That said, whichever of these two products is returned will simply be exchanged for a duplicate of the one I decide to keep. My room is large enough that I am going to want 2 subwoofers and I do plan do place one near-field.
Latest Updates
V1500 Unboxing Photos (3/23)
V1500 Initial Setup and First Impressions: Movies (3/27)
V1500 First Impressions: Music (3/28)
S3000i Unboxing and side-by-side with V1500 (3/31)
V1500 post-measurement conclusions (Holy 14hz, Batman!) (3/31)
S3000i vs V1500 Best location found graph (4/2)
S3000i in the best location found with Audyssey (4/2)
S3000i Compression
Why PSA?
Stellar reputation. Stellar customer service. Made in USA Products. Free in-home trial with free both-way shipping. And, with the announcement of the s3000i, I suspected (for the first time in my budget) that there was a sealed option that (when dual was considered) could be powerful enough for my room. Everyone has leaned me towards ported; I have a bias towards sealed. Ultimately, I needed to try both myself.
Schedule
The first subwoofer, the V1500 is scheduled to arrive about a week before the S3000i and is currently listing as arriving on 3/23. Tom gave me the option and I chose to get the V1500 early so I had time to learn the controls and get it well-dialed in before the S3000i arrived.
About Me, My Room, and My Tastes
I would be absolutely remiss if I didn't admit up front that I am a total amateur when it comes to anything objective that I'll present in this thread. I do have a UMIK-1 and MiniDSP coming with my order; however, I have absolutely no experience with them. Those hoping for a really great, wonderfully measured shootout are, sadly, going to be disappointed. I will do what I can to take measurements and post graphs; however, I think it's important to understand that, for me, the results of this test are going to be almost entirely subjective: the sub I keep will be the one I like best.
My room is an unfortunately enormous 7500 cubic feet. I say "unfortunately" as almost all of the space is vertical, I have vaulted ceilings all the way up to my roof which mean that, while the room is huge, the usable space for placement is not. Part of the space is a second-level loft space which is completely open along the longest side of the room between the upper-and lower level--so I include it fully in my space measurement. My room is not treated for acoustics--so don't expect a great looking waterfall.
My usage is about 60% music, 40% HT. My primary concern for speaker and subwoofer performance is music. While I do use HT regularly, my general opinion is that as long as it's exactly what I want for music, it will do well-enough to make me happy with HT. While I recognize this opinion is not prevalent, it's my opinion--so my decision will ultimately come down to what makes me happier with music.
My Setup
Marantz AV7702 Pre/Pro (hooray Audyssey XT32)
Emotiva XPA-5 Amp
Martin Logan Theos L+R speakers
Ps3 for Blu Ray & CD
If I can get it done in time, I'm trying to get a Martin Logan Motif X center channel delivered quickly so I can work with a 3.1 setup for the testing on film; however, that may not happen in time. Atmos is in my future; but it's a pretty distant future.
Test Material - Music Updated 3/19
I've tried to select music that reflects my broad taste. Some of it is good 'subwoofer test' music while others are just tracks that I know well and love. I am absolutely open to suggestions and will add anything that falls in line with the types of music I listen to. The list is in no particular order.
Looking at the list, it's currently slanted too heavily towards rock music; I'll be making some adjustments to remove mostly redundant tracks and add more electronic, hip-hop, classical, jazz, and "crooner" music--all things I listen to regularly but don't have tracks off the top of my head or sitting in a playlist to look through. I will also likely change some the songs out in favor of listening to certain albums front-to-back.
Garbage - Queer
Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonnaise
Telefon Tel Aviv - I Lied
Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough
Beck - Where It's At
Kansas - Carry on My Wayward Son
Bjork - Hyper-Ballad
The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - 1st of the Month
Daft Punk - Human After All
Boston - More Than a Feelin'
BT - Madskillz - Mic Chekka
BT - Every Other Way
Ellie Goulding - Lights (Bassnectar Remix)
Ellie Goulding - Figure 8
Coheed & Cambria - The Camper Velorium I: Faint of Heart
Coheed & Cambria - The Crowing
Delerium - Truly
Depeche Mode - I Feel You
Dr. Dre - Nothin' But a G Thing
Econoline Crush - Home
Madeon - Technicolor
Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly
Foreigner - Double Vision
Gorillaz - Feel Good, Inc
Hybrid - Finished Symphony
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat
K's Choice - To This Day
Marilyn Manson - Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode Cover)
Mars Lasar - Lords of Truth
Mat Zo - 24 Hours
Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl
Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror
Michael Jackson - Love Never Felt So Good
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Nine Inch Nails - Terrible Lie
Orbital - Halcyon & On & On
Orbital - Belfast
Orgy - Blue Monday
Outkast - BoB
Outkast - Rosa Parks
Paul Oakenfold - Get 'em Up (ft. Ice Cube)
Solarstone - Seven Cities
The Prodigy - Voodoo People
REM - Losing My Religion
Rabbit in the Moon - Out of Body Experience
Royksopp - Remind Me
Sneaker Pimps - Wasted Early Sunday Morning
Stabbing Westward - Save Yourself
Tiesto - Wasted
Sting - Desert Rose
VAST - Touched
Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls
Yanni - Live at the Acropolis (full album)
Dido - Here with Me
Test Material - Movies (Updated 3/19)
I'm keeping this list relatively short--limiting it to what I have on Blu Ray as well as keeping it short as I intend to watch the full movie rather than selecting individual scenes.
The Dark Knight
The Avengers
Iron Man
The Matrix
Pirates of the Caribbean
Harry Potter (Random selection--probably the last 2 though)
Conclusion
Join me for the ride--I hope to learn a ton about both of these products and, regardless of which I choose to keep, I know the next few weeks are going to be insanely fun!
