PB2 + and Port Blocking (1 Viewer)

[David Sailor]

I have had the pb2 plus since Thursday, have had time off and on over the weekend to play with it. First off, it's big. It's hard to appreciate the size until it's actually sitting in your living/family/HT room. I'm not saying big is bad, it's just.....well, big. I'm at a disadvantage because this is the first sub I have ever owned and therefore have nothing to compare. I currently have 2 ports blocked and the subsonic filter set at 16 Hz. I am very happy with it this way, vibrations transfer to everything, even the dog. What are some of the other pb2 plus owners doing? There are more and more of them over the past few weeks. One question I have regarding port blocking focuses around the loss of some db at higher levels. If I don't listen to movies at reference levels, then what is the disadvantage to the loss of some db in order to gain some deeper notes? If I have adjusted the gain accordingly, that is, increased it so it plays at the same level as if no ports were blocked, then is the only loss some db's at reference level? I've read, several times, Ed's review regarding port blocking and settings but wanted to explore this a little more. David

 

[Chuck Watwood]

David,

Sorry I can't answer your question, however, I have one for you. When did you order your PB2 and how long did it take to fill your order? I ordered mine approximately 9 days ago (august 25th) and I am having a hard time waiting. I will probably email SVS at the end of the week and ask. I am trading up from a 20-39PC+ which sold almost instantly.

 

[David Sailor]

Chuck,

I ordered mine on June 18 and it arrived August 28. I know from the forum here and posts from the SVS crew that they were awaiting boxes, I think, during that time. Not sure what the present wait is. I have to tell you, though, I'm glad I waited. The construction is rock solid and the finish is impeccable. A word of advice: this will come to you via Bax and for me, they just showed up. I happened to leave the office early Thurs in anticipation of the sub being delivered and the Bax guy was driving up my street. I asked him what he would do if I wasn't there and he replied, "Leave a notice slip" meaning I would have had to make arrangements for a retry on delivery. Also, you may just as well toss the shipping materials the same day the sub arrives. The SVS manual tells you to hold onto them in case there is a defect or you want to exercise the 45 day return policy.....yeah, right, just get rid of the packing material now. David

 

[KeithY]

Posted this on another forum

Quote:
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how did you make your decision to have 1 port blocked versus 2 ports blocked?


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Well...it all started with that PB2+ tuning chart, I studied that
piece of paper for an hour or more and it still didn't make sense.

I recalibarated everything and set sub +10db hot, using We Were
Soldiers as the reference disc and the Broken Arrow chapter...I think
it's 16. I set receiver to -5 of reference and listened(plasma was
off) to the bombing run about 5 times without any ports plugged and
got a pretty good idea how sounded and felt.

Put in 1 plug and listened to the run, then removed the plug and
listened again. Did this back and forth for 5 times again, then same
process with 2 ports plugged. I'm in bass nirvana at this point....

o.k. back to work.

What I noticed(whether real or not)that with no plugs in the bass
seemed a bit louder and did not have the "feel"(kinda hard to explain).
With 2 plugged it had the "feel", I feel the carpet rumble under my
bare feet, but wasn't as loud. Also seemed like there was a gap
between the mains and the sub at the beginning of each explosion.
Have 1 plugged I got the best attributes of each, it has the "feel"
and is louder than the 2 plugged.

got none a dem thar fancy measurin' deevices so yer milages is likely to vary

Got order confirmation on 7/18/03, arrived 8/30/03

 

[Chuck Watwood]

Thanks for the advice on the packing material. lol I think that will be the case. I may keep it for when I move up to the B4+. When I ordered on August 25th, I was told that it could be as early as 2-3 weeks. Supposedly they were expecting two large deliveries of enclosures in a 7-10 day period. I hope that is the case. I am going to be out of town almost the whole first half of October. I hope to have the PB2+ in place by the middle of this month. I'm probably dreaming. :frowning:

 

[Ron Daily]

Chuck, you are already planning on a b4? Wow...you don't play around...do you? hehehe... Hmmmmm.....sounds like the pb2+ will need a good home when the b4 arrives. I just happen to know of such a place where that sub could get plenty of love and care....
Ron

 

[Chuck Watwood]

Ron,

I'm sure your just as anxious for the 20-39PC+ as I am for the PB2+. Hang in there, I will email SVS again at the end of the week and ask for any update. I'll pass it on to you when they get back to me. I emailed last Friday and they said 2-3 weeks, but didn't know for sure. I probably won't know until they actually have the enclosures.

 

[Ron Daily]

Chuck, Yes i am very anxious for the 20-39pc+. I have already cleared the corner out and picked up a sub cable for it. Even if it takes a month, it will be worth the wait.
Ron

 

[Brian Kleinke]

I tried it out first with 2 ports blocked and the filter set to 16hz, then I tried 1 blocked with it set to 20hz and felt it was worth loose the very low end to gain a more balanced level of the rest of the frequencies.

I will agree that you just don't realize how much of a beast this is until you've got it home. But it hides nicely in my corner where I had the PCi20-39 until the day I got this monster

Brian

 

[Chuck Schilling]

My girlfriend and I received our PB2+ a few weeks ago. Since I work far from home and don't get home as often as I'd like, I had to wait far too long to set it up. But once I did....all I can say is awesome! I have it set up with two ports blocked (16 hz) and though I did not give it a proper setup (I left my SPL meter here where I work in South Carolina and had to calibrate "by ear"), the performance of this sub is just phenomenal.

Are any of you familiar with the movie "Road to Perdition"? It's not a typical reference point for HT fanatics, but there is one section where a train rolls by - well, let me tell you that the train DEFINITELY rolled through my living room - it was one of the most astonishing auditory experiences I've ever had.

Oh, and my system is : Yamaha RX-V1 receiver driving 2 NHT ST-4 mains, one NHT SC-2 center and two NHT Super Zero surrounds in addition to the SVS.

 

[Edward J M]

David:

My personal favorite tune for the PB2+ remains 3 ports open and the SS filter set to 16 Hz.

This setting retains full port flow for maximum SPL and takes advantage of room gain. Even with all ports open, the PB2+ can play considerably deeper in an actual room (vice anechoic chamber) than the stock tune point might otherwise suggest.

Of course, the trade-off is an increased potential for bottoming the drivers from subsonic content. Plugging a port alters the tune point, but also helps maintain the proper level of "restoring force" inside the enclosure which helps prevent the drivers from bottoming below the selected tune point.

If you don't listen at reference levels and you don't run the sub overtly hot, the 3/16 tune might just be the ticket for the best combination of SPL and deep extension. If you are pushing to the 11's, though, you'd best heed SVS's stern warning and run the sub in the 3/25 tune for the most driver protection.

I tried the 2/20 tune on a few occasions, and the difference in deep extension can be noticed on just a few DVDs, but the loss of overall SPL was not an acceptable trade-off for me personally, and I kept coming back to the 3/16 tune as the best of both worlds.

I tried the 1/16 tune once and immediately concluded the sub was considerably underported in that tune and the loss of overall SPL was substantial. While the capability is there, I really don't think the PB2+'s capabilities are being best exploited in the 1/16 tune.

Regards,

Ed

 

[Joel~Solid]

I totally agree with ED on his views on Portblocking and SS filter positions. I run my Dual PB2+s with 3 ports open and SS filter at 16hz. Never have bottomed out my subs playing at Reference levels. I'm not saying it will not bottom out in your case since you are running a single pb2+ BUT I am yet to hear of anybody bottoming out there pb2+

Joel

 

[Jack Gilvey]

I don't think I'd buy a PB2 just to tune to 16Hz by plugging two ports. If a 16Hz tune is desired, two of the 16Hz cylinders would be the way to go, I'd think.

 

[Robert Posey]

How "hot" is everyone running theirs? I know the owners manual says 2 or 3 db above the other channels. Just wondering if anyone is running more than that.

I have mine set at 7 or 8 db hot, but I don't listen at ref. level like that. I measured a peak last night at my listening postion around 108 db with the gate opening scene in LOTR TT.

Robert

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Hi Chuck,

Sorry about the wait. We have another truckload of enclosures due to arrive at SVS on Friday morning. As long as the driver doesn't get hijacked or anything...we will have enough units shipped out by late Friday afternoon to have the back orders down to a couple of days.. (yes, your unit is one of them that should be shipping in about 24 hours).

By the end of next week we will have all PB-2+ and PB-1isd order caught up and should be able to keep inventory on hand from now on. Next up, the PB-2isd...

Tom V.
SVS

 

[TommyL]

Hey TV what is your take on port blocking? I run my B4+ all ports open, and get fabulous bass...yep, the leg hair moves....when cranking things up, and playing at near ref level, does anyone cut the speakers back a bit so the sound emmitted from the speakers isn't blaring to beat hell, yet the sub staying where its at (maybe 88 or 3 hot on a normal calibration) = feel the bass, yet have the speaker volume so it is at a hearable level , in a nutshell There is no way my wife can watch a movie at reference level...so I want her to feel the explosions, BUT not yell when she has something to say...thoughts?

 

[David Sailor]

I'm the same as TommyL, I want as much deep bass as possible at more normal listening levels. On a typical night, the kids will be upstairs sleeping and my wife downstairs either working on her laptop or watching with me. The flip side is if I reach this setting to give me great bass at moderate levels, what danger exists to bottoming out when the wife and kids are out and I get to crank it up? I have not tried Edward's favorite which is to have all ports open and filter set at 16 Hz but after reading his post again, it does sound appealing. I think I will play again with this setting tonight.
Edward, question for you, what concerns exist running at this setting? Bottoming out at ref levels? Look forward to yours and everyone else's thoughts. David

 

[steve nn]

This is what I come up with when I block a port on each of my 25-31cs+'s.

Blocked> Not blocked>
15 hz > 71 67
16 > 70 66
17 > 77 69
18 > 85 79
19 > 83 76
20 > 83 76
21 > 87 82
22 > 88 82
23 > 90 86
24 > 92 90
25 > 92 90
26 > 96 96
27 > 98 98 From here they are fairly consistent and they are not corrected.

These numbers are with the dual cs+'s calibrated with one port blocked. I did not recalibrate when I pulled the port blockers for the second set of numbers.

 

[Chuck Watwood]

Hey TomV,

You have made my week. Its been a very bad one so far. Sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, my house was broken into and my entire DVD collection was stolen. Over 700 DVD's. Miraculously, they didn't take any of my audio/video equipment, CD's, or my expensive camera's. They used trash bags from under my sink to carry off the loot. I just replaced my front door today. Put it in myself, what a pain. I am still in shock. It may be like pulling teeth to get the insurance company to give a fair settlement as I hadn't catalogued them. I will have to get affidavits and try to remember what I had. I plan on visiting Best Buy and browsing through their isles to get prices, inventory, etc. I will catalogue and take digital pictures of all my DVD's from now on. I also have an alarm system being installed tomorrow. My plan is to put a steel cased door into a large basement closet and use that to store valuable collections. They will at least have a much harder time if they try it again. At least now I have my PB2+ to look forward to. I will rebuild my collection, but be much more selective. I plan on buying a second PB2+ early next year. Save one for me. Or maybe a B4+.....hmmm.

Chuck Watwood

 

[steve nn]

WOW! Sorry to here about your loss Chuck.