[MRL]

I'd like to start a thread for us PB2+ owners.


I think it would be nice to know what folks have found out doing different experments with positioning and calibrating and such.


I think we may all be able to help each other out here.


I have not had time or the energy since I got mine to be able to move it around the room and test in and calibrate in different positions but hope to soon and will share my results. Hope others can do the same.


Also what are people finding out about the port blocks? Are you using them or not. Please dont forget when posting to give us an idea of your room measurements and things..... Thanks

Mike

 

[imagamejunky]

Mike, what are your thoughts on the pb2+? How long have you had it? Does it hit as loud and as hard as the svs website states?

 

[MRL]

I love it and have not calibrated it or moved it to its final resting position yet. I am waiting on new speakers to arrive in the next few weeks and just got a new receiver that I have not set up yet so am running it off my older Yamaha DD setup. It really does move the air. I have a pretty big room that is 15X26 with a sloped ceiling that is pushing 14 Ft. on one side. Also opens into an eating area then a kitchen. I have the sub placed on a long wall at the far end away from the openings into the other room. I have not got the Rat. Shack meter out yet but I am satisfied beyond belief already. I had dual NHT's it replaced that had 120 Watts each (?) or so into them at each end and this thing blows them away. Will keep you posted when I finally get it dialed in even better. It will knock things off the wall. What I really like about it vs. my old ones is that is kind of surprises you.. you dont get that rumble effect until the boom hits you if you know what I am talking about on the action movies. I cannot imagine what a BP4 would be like... surely overkill for me but you still always wonder.

 

[kweezr]

I've had mine 11 days, have tried 4 different locations and I think I found

a location that suits myself and my wife. 1st palcement was the same area

where the PDR10 was, but it was a boomy there. The next spot was better,

the boominess was gone but there was a null in the upper Hz, my guess

would in the 80-100Hz range. Rotated it 90deg and null got smaller but

was still there. I left it there for a day or two. Then while sitting at the

computer and a movie playing I noticed the bass much stronger than in the

sweetspot...so I moved it there( see attached). Still not sure why it's

better back there.


Not sure if it's sub, location or what I'm used to. It's definitly better than

the PDR, but it just sounds like something is missing...I keep wanting to

turn up the volumn on the receiver or the gain on the sub to feel the bass.

At -5 to -10 of reference this thing rocks the house, but any lower it just

not doin' it for me. I've calibrated till my ears are numb, maybe it's time for

an EQ?


On the bright side....this sub is AWESOME!! I've been using We Were

Soldiers and Toy Story2 as my refence discs. The bass in WWS is

incredible, every mortor, grenade, fire of a rifle, bullet hitting flesh feels as if

it's hitting me square in the chest. TS2 logo slams down on top of you, I've

never felt or heard anything like this with the PDR during chapter2 no

matter how loud it was.


The PB2+ seems to make my whole sound system sound better, not sure

how it does that....but it will keep from wanting to upgrade anything else...

for a little while anyway

 

[nicholtl]

Yeah, I just got mine today and spent a while trying to calibrate it. I have it in the corner behind the TV, and there isn't really any other place I can put it since I live in an apartment and we have 3 3-seater couches forming a C around the TV. The sub is f*cking massive! I can't put it anywhere even if I wanted to!


But like you said Kweezer, it makes the system sound so much better. I never realized 25hz and below bass added so much to soundtracks. Plus the 900 watts helps give that extra punch to music. I've never felt this kind of bass before. I used to have a cheap Cerwin Vega 12 inch sub which hit down to 30hz, which was very very boomy and unnatural.


I was using LOTR, LOTR 2, Matrix, Fight Club, Titanic, Stargate, Gladiator, and 5th Element as some of my reference discs. I cannot believe the floor literally shook left to right like an earthquake below me. I've never experienced bass that I could not hear but could feel. I am so happy. And my ears hurt so bad.

 

[BlouZbee]

kweezr,


Nice coffee table u got there i cant wait to get mine but the G-darn wife said not to next year. u guys have me so excited!! that thing is a beast, congratz on the sub.

 

[RGrim]

I've had mine for about 3 weeks now and have never been happier.

 

[RGrim]

Okay, now I can finish what I started. Before the PB2+ I was running Dual Polk Audio, PSW-450's, which no matter how much I calibrated or where I placed them, the Polks were boomy and not very accurate at all. Now when I play a movie or listen to music I'm nothing but short of amazed. The PB2+, does it hit as hard and as loud as the website says, NOPE, it plays and hits LOUDER....


I enjoy showing off a couple of movies which are: U-571, Monster's Inc., LOTR (FOTR and TT), We Were Soldiers, Matrix, Blade I & II, and I could go on all day. So what I'm trying to say is no matter what I play whomever is sitting in one of the sweet spots is FLOORED but what they hear, most don't even know that certain bass notes are even in the movie until they come to my house.

 

[MRL]

Its kind of like getting new speakers and folks saying hey I am listening to my music collection again. This thing makes you want to watch movies over and over again. I too am hearing things in movies that were not there before and its exciting.

 

[Joel Solid]

The wait is OVER!!!!! I finally took delivery on July 24


Ok guys one the guys over at the Hometheater spot was nice enough to host some pictures of my Dual PB2+ set up.


I first started with the tall stack set up.

TALL STACK


Since putting the subs next to each other would have been too tight in the corner. Then I tried the Side stack option.

SIDE STACK


I like this better simply because the sub look a little more discreet in the corner. (If that is possible) The performance has been incredible! The Toy Story 2 intro and TPM/AOTC THX Trailer are still my HT best demos. But EVERY movie I have watched since then I have picked up on things that I never heard before. The subs completely changed my hometheater experience. I'm current playing with different tuning options but so far I like the all port open SS filter at 16hz. Since I have Dual PB2+s there is isn't much fear of bottoming out the subs. On a side note if you look at the "side stack" picture the stack of foam blocks are parts of the packing material, which is TOP notch by the way. I stacked them up just for kicks. Hey to me it looks like modern art. Strangely enough all three people that have seen the blocks say they like the look of them. Thanks to all the guys @ SVS


Finally

MAX STACK


Max has found a new home up there.


Joel

I posted this awhile back but I thought I would add it to the Unofficial PB2+ page

 

[cujobob]

That sub really is massive! How does it perform for music?

 

[KenCM]

Got mine a couple of weeks ago. Was out of town for a week and am now preparing for new flooring, so won't have much time to play with it for another couple of weeks. Have it set at 16Hz, 2 ports blocked, all Diva's set to small.

Impressions of a newbie:

First couple of hours "this sounds weird"..definitely could feel the pressure in the room. Popped in Maddona's GHV2 wasn't too impressed. Still sounds pretty thin or tinny, thought there would be more depth to it. Eagle's Hell Freezes over DVD (DTS) was expecting to be kicked by the kick drum...nope. Think I need to do some more playing around with placement / ports and settings.


A couple of days later: LOTR FOTR...Sauron falling in the opening sequence did nothing for me...SWPM Pod Race was pretty cool, however.


I had calibrated with my SPL meter and had the sub dialed up about 1/4 and my receiver's Sub setting at -10. Turned it up to 1/3 and -2 for fun. Big Difference.


NOW: THX intro for AOTC/TPM - just about crapped my pants. LOTR TT opening of Mordor's black gate brought a smile to my face. One of the big surprises was when the Uruk Hai (sp.) were attacked and the horse came down on the hobbits. WWHHOOMPP. Heart skips a beat during that one.


These are my very new impressions and look forward to some more time with the beast.

 

[Ron Stimpson]

Ken,


I've yet to find a magic setting that gave the desired impact for movies, and for CD/Stereo music too. If (as is often the case these days) your receiver allows different bass/channel level calibrations try using a favorite music CD in stereo as a baseline bass setting.


Second, and this is KEY, make sure you are setting your mains to "SMALL" in your receiver's setup menu. If you don't and you play back a CD in either stereo OR surround you might not be sending any bass signal to the sub at all.


Assuming you DID set (as we recommend) all speakers to small, and your bass management is working properly, then it's just an issue of sub placement in your room and/or level calibration to get music sounding just as impressive as movies are.


Don't hesitate to e-mail us if you can't get things bang on right, and soon.


Ron

 

[Joel Solid]

Ken,


IMHO I think blocking two ports is too much blocking...... With only one port open the box sounds to stuffy for me. I much prefer the sound of atleast 2 ports open. Musically I feel the sub performs best with the all the ports open due to the fact that most bass in music is in a higher frequency range. But like I said in my above post. I go with all ports open and Sub Sonic filter to 16hz. as long as your not bottoming out your drivers you are just fine in that configuration. Just be careful.......


Joel

 

[DougSmith911]

I have had mine installed in the new home theater for about a week now. I only have one place for it so I can't experiment with placement but so far the best word for it is WOW!


All I did was take it out of the HUGE box, plug it up, crank the volume to about 1/3 and turned it on. Two ports are blocked. I'll try unblocking them after we are through moving in and I get a chance to play with it more.


I am using U-571 as a demo. The first time, I was wearing shorts and standing about 6 ft. from the PB2+ and when the depth charges went off. I literally felt the hair on my legs move from the air currents!!!


We treated our friends (who helped us move) to Pizza, beer and Daredevil. They were suitably impressed by the PB2+, the Rocket speakers, the Sanyo projector and the Berkline recliners . . . they all promised they would be back. . . which is good! We still have landscaping to do !!!!!



Doug


Room size: 21 X 13 X 8.5 feet

Sub location: Left rear corner

 

[pgatour]

The only place for my PB2+ is next to my front right speaker and as luck would have it, its actually the best sounding location as well. I had a 20-39CS previously and moved it around to about 6 different locations but front right always seemed to be the best. The 20-39 was a good sub but the wife and I both agreed we didn't like it up front. So when we could afford it, the PB2+ was ordered.


I took it straight from the box and put it in its place, turned the dial to 1/3 the way up and fired it up. Man, what a room mover. This thing is awesome, stunning, unbelievable. We normally watch movies at about 20db below reference and this thing makes our couch rumble and things shake.


Sometimes we move it out from its position a little bit to help the master bathroom mirror stay on the wall. The living room and master bath share a common wall.


Needless to say...best subwoofer I have ever owned.

 

[naschbac]

So far I've been really impressed with my 20-39 PC-Plus compared to the Def Tech SuperCube II I had before.


However I always have to wonder if I'm hearing everything as it should be heard.


I run my gain dial at just above 1/2, plus I set my receiver's channel gain to +6 dB on the bass channel. Which is right around the same boost I apply to my other speakers to get them to 85 dB at -05 dB on the receiver.


I have to wonder if I'm running everything too hot? I typically have to run my bass tone levels at +6 and my treble tone at -2 on my NAD T762 to make up for how bright my Def Tech BP8 speakers seem to be.


I think my room might be just too big to be properly served by a single 20-39 PC+ so I've considered going to a dual 20-39 PC+ setup in the not too distant future. One bonus of this being that I could wire my front speakers through one SVS crossover, and then wire my rears through the second SVS sub crossover. I could then set all my speakers to large and use finer crossover control and tuning offered on the subs rather than my receiver.


I've already talked to Eric at SVS about placement, and he seemed to think I picked the best spot in the room based on the diagram I gave him, so I have to assume I just need more sub.


The question is do I go with a single PB2-Plus or two 20-39 PC-Plus's.


If anyone is curious here's the diagram.... the length of the wall the TV, etc. is against is about 14 ft.

http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~naschbac/Sub_placement.gif http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~naschbac/...ment_small.GIF


Click image for larger view.


Anything that goes behind the seating position has to be against a wall because there is a lot of traffic in the back half of that room. I already can't pull my BP8's far enough away from the wall in the back to get better bass response from them. Room limitations are a real b*tch That and I have three other housemates with scores of useless furniture filling the remainder of that room.


I'll come back later to night and post some actual pictures.


-Nathan

 

[kweezr]

Quote:

Originally posted by cujobob That sub really is massive! How does it perform for music?

Felt/sounded pretty damn good to me, but what do I know


Had to turn the gain down about half a notch, there was just too much

bass for most music. Metallica's ....and Justice for all, Gladiator soundtrack,

Rage Against the Machine's Renagades and Anthrax's We come for you all.


Lars' kick drums were great! The Battle from Gladiator pounds! Pistol Grip

Pump from Rage was thumpin' and Anthrax's Contact was speed metal at

it's finest!

 

[goodrich]

just got mine today. i had it delivered to my part time job because i'm not home too much during the day for delivery. there was a slight scare when the box had a fork puncture from some dumbass on a forklift, thank god the fork went inbetween the woofer housing and the bottom plate....what were those odds? after inspecting everything i found no damage. everyone at my job thought i went WAY overboard when they first saw it, face it...it's HUGE! a few people laughed because they couldn't believe that i spent $1300 on a subwoofer, i guess its like explaining Led Zepplin to a 90 year old woman...she's just aint gonna get it. i still have a couple weeks before i can get everything set up, i have to build a shelf that will hold my other bohemeth...an HK7200 (60+lbs). but i had to have something to make my JBL Studio's sound good. i will let everyone know how it turns out.

 

[Joel Solid]

I have all Three ports open and the Sub Sonic Filter (SS) at 16hz. Here is the reason behind this. Leaving all ports open gives you the most bass output from 25hz and up. Setting the SS filter at 25hz electronically limits the bass frequency response. Any Frequency below 25 hz rolls off and gives you a lot less bass below 25hz. The SS filter is just a safety precaution so you don't bottom out your drivers. The box with all ports open and the drivers are capble of going much lower then 25hz safely. So by setting the SS filter at 16hz rather then 25hz is a win win situation as long as you don't bottom out the drivers. I have not heard of anybody on this and other HT forums out there reporting they bottomed out a PB2+. So if you leave all ports open and set the SS filter to 16hz you will not have the SS filter remove bass information below 25hz. It removes it at 16hz. There is not much bass information below 16hz so there isn't much of a loss. You can block one port and set the SS filter at 16hz and gain a little some bass energy between 16hz and 20 hz but lose a little bit from 20hz and up. After playing around with different configurations I think I'm sticking with the all ports open SS filter at 16hz config. So far my Dual PB2+s and I are loving it. Now my Fiance's opinion...............thats a entirely different story. I think she likes it best when it is unplugged.


If I'm wrong on any of this theory let me know.



Read this review on the PB2+ by Ed (I'm sure most of you have read it already)

***REVIEW***



He is VERY knowledgable about Subwoofers


Any other questions just ask.


Joel