Tim_S
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2000
- Messages
- 80
Looks like I get to be the first to post a review of the new SVS CS Ultra. Woohoo!
The beast arrived on Wednesday and their new packing cartons seem very nice. I didn't see what SVS' used to come in, but the molded foam container seemed very sturdy. The sub came through UPS' torture test with not a scratch on it. I tried to hook it up immediately but as I posted before, got bit by the stupid ground loop hum when I hooked up the accompanying Samson 1000 amp. That is all fixed now.
Before I proceed to talk about how it sounds I will preface this with a note from our legal division: I took no scientific measurements during this review nor do I have the equipment or interest in doing so. I used an SPL meter for calibration but that was it. If anyone gets the urge to post and tell me anything written below was the result of a placebo effect and not legitimate unless scientific justification is presented, I kindly request that you refrain (or look on the SVS website for their response curves). The following is purely subjective and my opinion only.
So on to how it sounds. I previously used a Velodyne CT100 which was fine as I had been living in apartments and didn't want to annoy my neighbors too much. I just moved into a house with a 24'x18' living room and so the Vel was on his way out. I used it for about a week before the SVS came so I could have a frame of reference for comparison. Not surprisingly, the poor little Vel was hopelessly outmatched, but then again it also cost about 1/3 of the SVS, so not a fair comparison.
My first listening experiences with the SVS was with it being driven by a channel from my Anthem MCA5 amp before I fixed the ground loop hum with the Samson. In some initial listenings, I was already very impressed. The accuracy and extension of the SVS far exceeded the Vel. Once I hooked up the Samson, true Nirvana was reached!
So far I have listened to it mostly with music. One of the first tracks I tried was the first track off of Paula Cole's "This Fire" album. It has this very low bass riff that I can barely hear in my car or other such system and with my Vel I could pick up that it was there, but it still sounded muffled (although adding the Anthem to my Denon helped clear it up some). Now, this track threatens to dismantle my walls! It is a very low funky riff that seems really hard for speakers and subwoofers to reproduce. I now actually know what it is supposed to sound like. Wow!
Another test disc I like is Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine." This thing is filled with all sorts of bizarre sounds and intricate imaging. I didn't hear much that was new but the precision was amazing. On the third track it starts with something of a "bass bomb" that hits and then kind of radiates for a while. Usually this is an unfocused boom, but the SVS really captures this with amazing sonic ambience, is about the best I can describe it. Many other tracks will have some very low bass thumps that are very quick and fast, the SVS added significant clarity to these as well.
I could go on and on, but to keep this from getting overly long, I'll limit myself to only one more music note. Moby's "Play" is another one with a lot of interesting things going on. On many of the tracks, he will have some very low and subtle bass riffs layered underneath the rest of the song. Some I knew were there but could never make out precisely and some I didn't know were even there but can now hear cleanly. Amazing.
Movies? Well, to be honest I haven't run that many through yet, but the results are as expected. I watched a few scenes from JP and The Haunting. Both are downright dangerous to the structure of my house now. Previously I could get a little bit of rattling from the Haunting, but now when the spirit slams those doors, it feels like someone kicked me in the chest! I also watched Unbreakable last night and the train scene was, as many others have pointed out, very strong.
I should point out that although I've made a lot of comments on the quantity of bass being produced, this might not quite convey the quality as well. The thing that has shocked me most is that eventhough the quantity is significantly increased, it never sounded out of proportion to the rest of the audio range (at least after calibration). I focussed on music so much above because my expectations upon purchase were that it would shake the house when watching The Haunting, but for music, it wouldn't help much and might even leave it off to keep it from overpowering everything. The first expectation was dead on, but the second was very far off bass (sorry, couldn't resist
). The improved extension and accuracy not only helps with movies but brings a new dimension to much of the music that I've been playing (a mix of stuff like mentioned above as well as a bit of jazz and classical).
Is there anything wrong with it? Ok, one minor gripe about the amp (I had to find something). The amp has a little level indicator that flashes right and left depending on how strong the amp is pushing. I find this very annoying and will probably cover it later on. Otherwise, I haven't found much not to like. It is a little big though.
Oh, last thing to mention. I've been able to hear the vast improvement mentioned above but I'm still not sure I've even found the optimal placement yet. I wanted to get some intial impressions up quickly and my house is being recarpeted next week so I haven't had time to do a huge amount of comparative testing with placement yet. Point is, it will only get better. Scary.
Tim
The beast arrived on Wednesday and their new packing cartons seem very nice. I didn't see what SVS' used to come in, but the molded foam container seemed very sturdy. The sub came through UPS' torture test with not a scratch on it. I tried to hook it up immediately but as I posted before, got bit by the stupid ground loop hum when I hooked up the accompanying Samson 1000 amp. That is all fixed now.
Before I proceed to talk about how it sounds I will preface this with a note from our legal division: I took no scientific measurements during this review nor do I have the equipment or interest in doing so. I used an SPL meter for calibration but that was it. If anyone gets the urge to post and tell me anything written below was the result of a placebo effect and not legitimate unless scientific justification is presented, I kindly request that you refrain (or look on the SVS website for their response curves). The following is purely subjective and my opinion only.
So on to how it sounds. I previously used a Velodyne CT100 which was fine as I had been living in apartments and didn't want to annoy my neighbors too much. I just moved into a house with a 24'x18' living room and so the Vel was on his way out. I used it for about a week before the SVS came so I could have a frame of reference for comparison. Not surprisingly, the poor little Vel was hopelessly outmatched, but then again it also cost about 1/3 of the SVS, so not a fair comparison.
My first listening experiences with the SVS was with it being driven by a channel from my Anthem MCA5 amp before I fixed the ground loop hum with the Samson. In some initial listenings, I was already very impressed. The accuracy and extension of the SVS far exceeded the Vel. Once I hooked up the Samson, true Nirvana was reached!
So far I have listened to it mostly with music. One of the first tracks I tried was the first track off of Paula Cole's "This Fire" album. It has this very low bass riff that I can barely hear in my car or other such system and with my Vel I could pick up that it was there, but it still sounded muffled (although adding the Anthem to my Denon helped clear it up some). Now, this track threatens to dismantle my walls! It is a very low funky riff that seems really hard for speakers and subwoofers to reproduce. I now actually know what it is supposed to sound like. Wow!
Another test disc I like is Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine." This thing is filled with all sorts of bizarre sounds and intricate imaging. I didn't hear much that was new but the precision was amazing. On the third track it starts with something of a "bass bomb" that hits and then kind of radiates for a while. Usually this is an unfocused boom, but the SVS really captures this with amazing sonic ambience, is about the best I can describe it. Many other tracks will have some very low bass thumps that are very quick and fast, the SVS added significant clarity to these as well.
I could go on and on, but to keep this from getting overly long, I'll limit myself to only one more music note. Moby's "Play" is another one with a lot of interesting things going on. On many of the tracks, he will have some very low and subtle bass riffs layered underneath the rest of the song. Some I knew were there but could never make out precisely and some I didn't know were even there but can now hear cleanly. Amazing.
Movies? Well, to be honest I haven't run that many through yet, but the results are as expected. I watched a few scenes from JP and The Haunting. Both are downright dangerous to the structure of my house now. Previously I could get a little bit of rattling from the Haunting, but now when the spirit slams those doors, it feels like someone kicked me in the chest! I also watched Unbreakable last night and the train scene was, as many others have pointed out, very strong.
I should point out that although I've made a lot of comments on the quantity of bass being produced, this might not quite convey the quality as well. The thing that has shocked me most is that eventhough the quantity is significantly increased, it never sounded out of proportion to the rest of the audio range (at least after calibration). I focussed on music so much above because my expectations upon purchase were that it would shake the house when watching The Haunting, but for music, it wouldn't help much and might even leave it off to keep it from overpowering everything. The first expectation was dead on, but the second was very far off bass (sorry, couldn't resist
). The improved extension and accuracy not only helps with movies but brings a new dimension to much of the music that I've been playing (a mix of stuff like mentioned above as well as a bit of jazz and classical).Is there anything wrong with it? Ok, one minor gripe about the amp (I had to find something). The amp has a little level indicator that flashes right and left depending on how strong the amp is pushing. I find this very annoying and will probably cover it later on. Otherwise, I haven't found much not to like. It is a little big though.
Oh, last thing to mention. I've been able to hear the vast improvement mentioned above but I'm still not sure I've even found the optimal placement yet. I wanted to get some intial impressions up quickly and my house is being recarpeted next week so I haven't had time to do a huge amount of comparative testing with placement yet. Point is, it will only get better. Scary.
Tim
