Acoustic Visions AV-15 sub (1 Viewer)

I got my AV-15 sub from Acoustic Visions/Stryke Saturday and this thing is a capital M/boldfaced MONSTER both in size and performance. I do not have a rat shack SPL meter so have not calibrated it yet, and cannot give you any numbers at this point, just subjective impressions.

It's huge. The guy who dropped it off the back of the delivery truck said it was "140 lbs". Took both of us to get it into the house. It's supposed to be a 24" cube. But it's huge...it's damn near as big as the bass bin on the Klipschorn it's sitting in front of. It DWARFS the Klipsch KSW-15 whose place it took. You could fit 3, maybe 4 Klipsch 15" subs in that enclosure and still have room for some ice and beers. I think the 24" thing may have been the INSIDE dimensions. Since it's made from double thickness 3/4" MDF, that could explain it's outer dimensions.

Oh yeah, it's got two 1600 gm 18" Stryke PR's, too: "Gee, it's got lotsa speakers..."

I had planned to hook it up to a 700W pro amplifier, but had to use one of the Rythmik Audio 380 watt plate amps instead, because for whatever reason my pro amp (with a pre-amp) will not drive the LFE coming out of my A/V amp. (????) Even supplied with a measly 380 watts this beast easily keeps up with my K-horns now. I now fear for the structural integrity of my dwelling and for those objects which rest inside it.

My first impression was you would probably have to pay a couple grand to get something like this commercially. I paid MUCH much less for this...

I did not have the tools or the ability to build something like this for myself. The alternative was to have someone build it for me. For anybody who's thinking of buying a "commercial" sub, having someone build one for you doubles or triples the value of your dollar. I considered going "SVS" but glad I settled on this route. Unless you just can't wait and gotta have that sub as soon as you plop down the cash. It was worth the wait for me.

Jeff,

Wait 'til you see the 28"H x 24"W x 26"D monster we're finishing up in the next couple of days! It's pretty huge too! One AV15, 2 4" dual flared ports, lots of bracing. I'll have to throw it on the scale after I get everything inside.

"sounds" great! any pictures?
I think you need to bust out LOTR!!!

I have a 24.5" (external) sub being bilt and it IS huge!

Brian, try picturing the Everest! 23.5"W x 23.5"D x 47"H!!!

I'll see what can be done to get some pictures up. John at Stryke is supposed to send me some pictures of the sub. If that happens I'll post them. I'm still using 35mm film photography so that does not help much, unless someone can scan them for me...

Here is a picture of his cabinet without hardware installed.
I'd post the image but the picture is kind of large. Jeff's is the cabinet on the left in oak.

Congrats Jeff on your sub. I also have a pre made AV15 25" (measured 26" and change squared) power cube sub. Mine weighed in at 160lbs and it took a dolly and a friend of mine to lift it up to the third floor. It is heavy and imposing looking in a Mike Tyson sort of way with it's short but stocky dimensions.

I will say that this PR design does sound DIFFERENT (not necessarily better or worse) than the 214L ported Tempest design that I had previously. Also, I am no longer using a plate amp and have a pro amp that I use for power. Too many variables for me to start claiming things but I will say that for the money, most mortals will not need more bass than this.

Now if I can only get my front Grill from John I'd be a happy camper.

Jeffrey you have me in such a frenzy that I better go take a cold shower. No I cant! UPS is on the way. I am the person Brian Bunge is building the sub for. I think it will ship at the end of this week? I do have a 25-31cs+ showing up at the door today so this should help me with the wait but don't you dare tell Brian. Thanks for the review and it looks as though I need not worry then about only putting 450 watts to it. The SVS will give me some practice with the noisy fan 1450 QSC also.

Stevo:

It'll be worth the wait....here's something else I posted today at Klipsch re: the AV-15 behemoth:

"Two of those AV-15 bastards are more than any sane, crazy, or even semi-retarded person should ever need, want, or envision. I only got half power going to mine now and for me (insane & retarded) and it is ENOUGH. Where before I had low frequency "troughs and valleys" in various positions around the room, now I just have BASS. Lots of it. And the bass longer hides, cowering in a corner. It does not need another similar sub stacked on top. It cares not about "nulls"...it fills the entire room and is just THERE. Just wait'll I get an SPL meter and my Behringer on the job...Oh yeah, I forgot: BRIAN BUNGE DO NOT READ THIS, OR EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY THE POST BEFORE!!

Thanks Jeff.. Na! I don't think Brian will read this for you know, he is kind of slow? No Nulls? Excellent! Well I have a big brown box to go open up now so I better go see what kind of trouble I can get into.

Well I did run some SELECT movies with deep bass content while having the AV15 hooked up and here are my findings.

Movies used:

Titan A.E.
The Haunting DTS
Pearl Harbor

I picked these movies because of how well I know them and because of the different types and quality levels of bass that they have.

My room is 11x17x9 which is not a lot of space for this sub to cover. The sub is powered by a QSC RMX850 in bridged mode which provides 830watts to the sub. Granted, anything over 500watts is overkill for this sub but 330 extra watts won't hurt and who wouldn't mind the extra headroom.

The first movie I put in was Titan A.E.. Most people know this movie quite well and it's bass and LFE passages are legendary in regards to power and depth. I like the movie because Chapter 16 gives me the opportunity to see how much control a sub has when driven hard and loud (@85-90db in my room). The part where the giant ice caps roll by really tests your subs ability to hold loud deep passages together and for sometime as well. Mind you, my last 214L Tempest sub held it together quite well also but the AV15 based sub seemed to do it a little easier which allowed you to enjoy MORE of the effect and LESS of the sound of the sub.


The Haunting

This movie is known for it's sheer destructive bass and LFE information and has forced many owners of lesser 'qualified' subs who like to pump their movies, to look to another brand or a more capable sub.

Playing the classic "Coming Mother" chapter is one of many passages that provides your sub the opportunity to make it's solo performance and presence known. What many may not recognize in this passage is that along with the obvious bass energy in this passage lies a bunch of upper bass tones that lend to the realism of the effect. The effect when the "3 Knocks" occurs at it's loudest and heaviest point, is not just heavy but very punchy as well and there is a low level swoosh sound before it hits and a lot of lovely upper bass tones that fill out the after effects of the hardest hit. Also, there are a lot of house growns and moans that appear as after effects of the 3 knocks. The fact that many may already hear these effects with their current sub is not the point being made here. The point being made here is that a driver and sub design that allows you to hear, feel and experience the sound effect with little distortion and coloration, at high volume and stress levels is what separates subs and people who love them from people who are happy with bass modules and bass when watching movies.

When you purchase a driver that allows you to add very high volume levels and still manages to add a mimimal amount of audible distortion and coloration to the effect, that's when you know you have a winner. The AV15 in the Power Cube design seems to be much more tuneful, relaxed and CLEARER then my last sub when watching this movie.

I've been to some people's home who played the same scene and although it may have hit hard (LFE), the more subtle bass tones were drowned out by over aggressive calibration and the fact that the sub was working too hard (distortion) to produce the frequencies at the set volume level. The AV15 is quick enough to catch the subtle nuances of the upper bass frequencies as well as deliver the deepest LFE effects with control, authority and plenty of headroom and The Haunting DTS disc is what I used to test this sub in this regard.


Pearl Harbor

I know some of you may wonder why I chose this movie and not something like LOTR or Star Wars but it is not the deepest bass scenes that I was after with this disc. No, it was the fact that Pearl Harbor has so many different types of bass and LFE tones through out the attack scene that it is one of my favorite disc's to use to test the overall tonality of a sub. If you get a chance to, go back to this disc and count the many different explosions during the attack scene and then try to make note of the many different tones of the explosions. You have deep ones, far off distant ones, ones that hit you in the chest, some that rumble your floor and ones that feel like they are sitting in your lap when they go off. Also, the score is lovely as well but that's a different thread.

Anyway, as I said before, if your sub is not capable of moving a lot of air without straining then a lot of the glorious explosions will be lost and they will all tend to start to sound the same or even worst, muddy and mono toned. The AV15 allows me to hear a whole lot of those wonderful bass tones and feel the LFE track that is mixed on to this disc and at the same time doesn't call attention to it's self regardless to how hard I push it in my 11x17x9 room.

I'm sure many can say that they have the same experience with their sub that I am having with the AV15 but I will say that I have owned a 70L Dayton DVC ported sub, a 214L Tempest based ported sub and now the AV15 and I can say that the AV15 with the use of a better power amp, has cleared the window on bass and LFE in my HT. I can play it lower than I did before and still feel very connected to the movie.

However, I can't say if it's the design, the fact that this sub uses passive radiators as opposed to ports or even the fact that I have a different amp than I used with my previous subs that brings about a sense of higher satisfaction with this sub and heck it could be all three factors at work here (probably) but I will say that once you experience bass that equals the level of clarity of your mains, centers and surrounds you know that you are hearing the truth.

Any Cons? Yes like the way the Passive radiators smell. It took about 1 1/2 weeks to get it out of my room and also the sub is very wide. I had to remove my front door in order to squeek it inside my place. Last but not least, I'm still waiting for my grill to show up.

Martice

*** My old subs used a PE Plate amp as opposed to the AV15 using my QSC RMX850 amp.