PB2+ Received (1 Viewer)

The wait is over. My SVS PB2+ was delivered today. This is my first "real" sub and I was quite excited to get to play with this baby. At first I was a little concerned as I had read the warnings about starting off with the gain no more than a quarter turn but at that level I didn't feel the bass as I thought I should. I finally turned the gain up a little higher and all of a sudden the earth moved. With some speaker placement optimization, I've now got rockin' bass at about 40% gain. I guess my large living room with multiple large openings to other large rooms required a little more oomph.

I made the mistake of choosing Darla tapping the glass in Finding Nemo as one of my first "tests". Yow. After I changed my pants, I turned it down a bit. Right now I've got all ports open and tuned to 25 hz, the crossover is at 80hz handled by my Denon 3802. I'll experiment with the ports a little later after I get it "permanently" installed. The wife was a little surprised at the size, but I think it's growing on her.

Here's to pissing off the neighbors...

gk

congrats...

Congrats...the PB2+ is unbelievable isn't it?

That darla scene is pretty intense isnt it! I cant wait to order my SVS in april.

Congrats.. I have had my PB2+ for well, since they were introduced about 4 months ago.. Time flies. It too the place of 2 NHT subs and there was no compairson. NHT's were ok but nothing like having movie scenes that lift the hair on your chest as you feel the air go by you. I cranked it up to just under half way the other night while we were watching some suspense movie so it was not going a whole bunch but when something snuck out there in LFE land my wife screemed twice... I though it was pretty funny. I have a large room with openings and vaulted ceilings too. I ususally keep it about 1/3. I have tried to play with the port plugs but it seems that having them all open works good enough for us.

Hi Greg:

Congrats on the new sub!

Remember, the setting of the PB2+ volume control doesn't tell you much when taken out of context.

It is best to calibrate the system/sub with a disc like Avia or S&V and a sound meter. Keep your sub level in the 3802 around -5 to minimize pre-out distortion levels, and adjust the sub volume at the PB2+.

While bass tastes will vary, most prefer the sub 2-3 dB hot for HT, and flat for music. Because it is C-weighted, the RS sound meter reads about 2 dB LOW on the typical subwoofer rumble tone.

So an average reading of 85-86 dB on the meter is about 87-88 dB in reality - or 2-3 dB "hot". This would be a good starting point for HT.

An average reading of 83-84 dB on the meter is about 85-86 dB in reality - or about "flat". This would be a good starting point for music.

Regards,

Ed

I calibrated using the "Video Essentials" DVD and a Radio Shack analog SPL meter. All of my speakers read essentially the same dB level at reference (70 dB). Based on my previous experience, I bumped up my center channel to +1 dB and then the sub to +2 dB for my HT channel. For music (DIRECT mode), I have everything at +0 dB.

If I understood your recommendation, Ed, I need to recalibrate with my receiver at -5 dB for the sub and then just adjust the gain on the subwoofer until my SPL matches the others. Is that right? Then are you suggesting that I add a few dB to the HT channel for that extra kick? In other words, I would be at -3 dB instead of -5 dB at the receiver?

Thanks for the help.

Greg

Nudge nudge wink wink so no more!

Greg:

If you have VE, the test tones are recorded at a lower level than Avia or S&V, so you need to use 75 dB.

Set your Master Volume to 0.0 and set the meter at the listening position (facing forward at a 45 degree angle) on C-weighted slow on the 70 dB scale.

Play the VE test tones and adjust the speaker levels until you hit exactly 75 dB on the meter for each channel.

For the sub, set the channel level to around -5 (on a scale of -10 to +10) and adjust the sub plate amp until you hit about 76 dB on the meter. It helps to use the 80 scale for less needle bouncing. 76 dB is actually about 78 dB (or 3 dB "hot") due to the c-weighting of the RS meter. You can fine tune with the sub channel level, but it should stay in the negative region.

Once the system is balanced and calibrated with VE @ 75 dB, setting the Master Volume to 0.0 when playing a Dolby Digital movie DVD is considered playing back at Dolby Reference Level.

This should result in SPL peaks (at the seat) of 105 dB from surround channels and 115 dB from the LFE channel. If peaks occur in a few channels simultaneously, the combined SPL peaks can approach 120 dB.

The only variable (other than how hot you run your sub) in the equation is the actual mastering level on DVDs - some are mastered hotter than others.

Regardless, once you are calibrated to RL, then you can tell us at what volume you actually like to play back DVDs. Most of us will play them at anywhere from -20 to -10 (with RL being 0.0).

If for some reason your Master Volume scale does not go from the negative range up to 0.0 and then into the positive range, then you need to simply use a different set of master volume numbers and remember which setting you used for RL.

Ed

Man i want one of these... I just need to sell my two 20-39s first

Why would you want to sell the 20-39s? Do you think the PB2+ would really sound better? I always thought two SVS subs would sound better than one due to smoothing out each others peaks and such.

if you have the sub set to 25hz and your crossover at 80hz ....... wouldn't you be missing the bass produced between the 25-80 hz range ? i'm a n00b and could be wrong but wouldn't this config provide a slight "hole" in your bass management ?

25 hz is referring to the tune of the sub and corresponding sub-sonic filter. Bass is rolled off sharply below 22 hz to avoid bottoming.

So with the main speakers crossed at 80 hz you would have bass extending to 22 or so hz.

This doesn't help make up my mind between a PB2ISD and a PB2+

Thanks for nothing

Joe,

To put Zack's explanation another way, the 80Hz crossover refers to what frequencies are sent to the main speakers and which are sent to the sub.

In other words, if you were running 2 front speakers with a subwoofer, with an 80Hz crossover, all frequencies above 80Hz would be sent to your fronts, and all frequencies below 80Hz would be sent to your sub. There is no hole.

The references you'll see from people about tuning their SVS to 25Hz, 22Hz, 16Hz, etc. refers to how low the SVS can go.

Makes total sense now. Thanks a bunch .

How does the PBS2+ compare to the 16-46PC+?

Could someone please explain how to set my RL on a receiver that doesnt have a Master Volume scale? My Sony STR-DE945 shows everything you would ever want to know and NOT know, but somewhere in Sony's logic they left the main volume unmeasured.

All of this in hopes of calibrating our SV sub.

Thanks.