SVS SB2000 vs HSU ULS-15 subwoofer choice? (1 Viewer)

Halfway done purchasing my new HT equipment and I am nearing the point of buying the sub.AVR will be Yamaha RX-A1030
L, C, R, SR, SL are Yamaha NS-777
RR, RL are Yamaha NS-333
I was originally thinking to get an SVS SB2000 as I have found that sealed subs sound cleaner to me, and I thought this would be a good match for the speakers.However, I am wondering what you guys think about instead getting HSU's ULS-15?

Obviously the HSU is larger and thusly has better bottom-end frequency response, but as I don't know anyone locally with either sub to listen to, I would appreciate any input here.Also - with a higher end sub like these (compared to my cheapy $200 DCM 10" piece of junk), should I still consider a ported sub? HT use is about 50% background music listening, 40% movie watching, and 10% console gaming, and this room is 12 feet wide, 24 feet long, 8 foot ceiling with carpeted floor.Thanks in advance!

Sealed.That much power/size, your foundation is going to get pounded.If you have the (spare) cash...buy both...return one.Worst case(maybe...haven't checked return policies...) is you pay return freight. At this budget...what is $100...

Just looked...SVS pays both ways. HSU you pay return. Either way, buy a rebox/return(if they have one so you save...they don't have another open box)

I'd also consider Rythmik: servo subs with plenty of nuance AND slam

schan1269 said:

Sealed.That much power/size, your foundation is going to get pounded.If you have the (spare) cash...buy both...return one.Worst case(maybe...haven't checked return policies...) is you pay return freight. At this budget...what is $100...

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Very good points - I will order the HSU first, if any doubt I'll get the SVS and return whichever is less destructive to the house foundation.Mark - I've not heard of Rythmik, how would you rate them in comparison to SVS and HSU?

Besides Rythmik, also look at forum sponsor Power Sound Audio. The owner is a founder of SVS.

For that budget you can go crazy with DIY or AIY (assemble it yourself).

Thanks Robert, I will check them out for sure - I'm probably 5 weeks away from being able to buy one in the $1000 ballpark (next paycheck purchase is the AVR - leaving the sub as final piece).On a sad but funny note, I'm trying to pawn off my old piece of crap DCM SW-10 onto a coworker and found it's specs... 100watts of humor, and a whopping 40hz-160hz frequency response range.I had to chuckle at that because my F,C,R,SL,SR Yamaha NS-777's are 30Hz-30kHz, so they go lower than the sub. No wonder I haven't really noticed it (sub) missing while listening to music off my PC over toslink...

Yamaha NS-777's are 30Hz-30kHz, so they go lower than the sub.

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That doesn't tell you anything without a reference. 30hz - 30khz, + or - 3db is awesome. + or - 24db is terrible.

No wonder I haven't really noticed it (sub) missing while listening to music off my PC over toslink...

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That could be almost anything. Does your sound card have a crossover? Are you listening to highly compressed music where the compression algorithm drops the lowest and highest frequencies? Don't always blame the equipment.

found it's specs... 100watts of humor

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Don't knock the wattage. I could build a sub that would crush every sub you listed in this thread with only 100w of power. It would be the size of a small refrigerator but it could do it. Here's an example.

Robert_J said:

That doesn't tell you anything without a reference. 30hz - 30khz, + or - 3db is awesome. + or - 24db is terrible.

That could be almost anything. Does your sound card have a crossover? Are you listening to highly compressed music where the compression algorithm drops the lowest and highest frequencies? Don't always blame the equipment.

Don't knock the wattage. I could build a sub that would crush every sub you listed in this thread with only 100w of power. It would be the size of a small refrigerator but it could do it. Here's an example.

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I understand what you're getting at... my only point was that the DCM SW-10 is not a high-end piece of work. Half of my music is FLAC now. The situation I was referring to was whether or not I have the AVR send the low-end frequencies from the front channels to the sub as well, or only a dedicated LFE signal.With the sub in use for music (IE AVR pulling low's from the L+R signals), there is a boominess to the overall sound and I do feel the floor shake more but it doesn't really sound better to my ears in any way.With the sub not in use, everything sounds quite clear and I still hear the low end pretty well.For reference, this is the (very old and cheap when new) sub: http://www.dcmspeakers.com/manuals/SW10.pdfand these are the 777's: http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/speaker-systems/home-speaker-systems/ns-777/

With the sub in use for music (IE AVR pulling low's from the L+R signals), there is a boominess to the overall sound and I do feel the floor shake more but it doesn't really sound better to my ears in any way.

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That could be the location of the sub in the room causing a peak at a specific frequency. It could also be the tuning frequency of the sub. Small, ported subs are usually tuned too high for home use and sound boomy. The least likely culprit is an inductance peak. That would mean your sub driver has a 3" or larger voice coil. I had that issue with my subs https://web.archive.org/web/20070402025330/http://www.tcsounds.com/tc3000.htm and it took a parametric EQ to tame them.