Edward J M
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2002
- Messages
- 2,031
Hello HTF members:
This is my first post to HTF. I have been into HT for a few years now, and I regularly surf HTF, AVS, Spot, Klipsch, and frequently post at Club Polk.
I am posting today at HTF because I am so impressed with this new sub and I wanted to share with everyone what an incredible product I think it is. Let me say up front I do not work for SVS, I do not personally know anyone at SVS (although they have provided exceptional CS via email), I am not affiliated in any way with the company, and I have not been bribed or coerced in any way to post this review. I am simply a very proud owner.
Highlights of the PC+ line include a proprietary TC Sounds db-12 ultra long throw, super high output 12" downward firing, bottom mounted woofer. Triple 3" flared top firing ports. Birch end caps which are 1.5” thick and CNC’d. The enclosure is a high tech exceptionally dense and rigid fiber/polymer laminate tubing (much stronger than MDF), turned to exceptionally tight tolerances. The Indigo BASH 525 watt (RMS 4 ohm nominal) onboard amp has an infinitely variable phase knob and a 4 position SS filter (25, 20, 16, 12), with low/high/speaker level inputs.
My HT room is roughly 12x18x8 with one permanent opening (stairwell) and 3 openings to a basement, bath and office that are normally closed during HT listening. Room volume with all doors closed is about 1,800 cubic feet. The floor is concrete slab on grade covered with Armstrong wood laminate.
Set-up and calibration details are as follows:
1) The sub is placed in the front left hand corner of the HT room, between the left main and the HDTV. Blurring of the picture on HDTV from vibration or from magnetic flux has not been a concern.
2) Bass management is done at the receiver, with all speakers set to "normal" and the sub is set to "on". Crossover to the sub is set at 100 Hz for all speakers.
3) I am using a Bruel & Kjoer (made in Copenhagen, Denmark) professional grade sound pressure meter on C-Weighted Slow response setting. I just calibrated it with the included tone generator and it reads spot-on (94 dB @ 1,000 Hz).
4) My listening position is 12 feet from the mains/center/sub and 6 feet from the surrounds. At the "reference" master volume setting (-15 on the Kenwood), the receiver's test tones for the center/mains/surrounds all read 75 dB +/- 0.5 dB. The sub test tone reads 78 dB +/- 1dB (i.e., fluctuates between 77 and 79 dB).
5) Individual speaker volume settings on the Kenwood are mains (+2), center (-1), surrounds (+2), and sub (-3).
6) Settings at the sub are: one Monster sub cable running to the low level left RCA input, auto on enabled, crossover disabled, SS filter set to 20 Hz, no ports plugged, phase set at 0 degrees, gain set at about 2/5 volume.
7) For my testing, I made sure to disable all the various cinema, speaker, and LFE trim settings on the receiver and just ran a “straight through” signal.
Well, how does it sound? In a word - spectacular. This sub will completely alter your impressions of ALL of your best bass demo DVDs. It is tight, clean, refined, DEEEEP, and very, VERY powerful.
The funny thing about SVS subs (I've heard two different models now - the sonic signature is very similar) is that your initial impression will be "where did all that boomy mid bass go?". These subs are very flat through the mid bass range (60-30) with none of the usual emphasis at 35-40 Hz that many sub makers deliberately build in to hide the fact that their subs have no real bottom end. This lack of mid bass bloom allows the sub to blend beautifully with the mains and it remains very neutral and undetected until the source material calls for it.
The second thing I noticed is that there is an entire world of bass from 30-15 Hz that I never heard before on several DVDs. It is literally another dimension in sound. The ultra deep stuff is absolutely visceral - it is felt more than heard, and there are no messy 2nd or 3rd order harmonics, just pure, clean, DEEEEP bass that literally PUSHES its way through the room and envelopes you in the sound field.
At reference levels, and if the source material calls for it - this sub effortlessly provides vision blurring, teeth rattling, couch moving, guts turn to jello, pants waffling, stuff falls off the shelves upstairs, call the fire department - REAL DEAL ULTRA LOW INCREDIBLY POWERFUL BASS.
The third thing I noticed after extended HT listening sessions is how beautifully this sub handles bass nuance and detail during the quieter moments of movies. Subtle background bass notes that change in texture or tone all come through with perfect clarity and this makes for a very satisfying listening experience.
Demo discs included:
1) U-571 (DTS) (master volume at –20):
Oh, so that's what depth charges are really supposed to sound like! Amazing! When they show the close-ups of the destroyer passing overhead with the props spinning - HANG ON. The final battle scene with the destroyer rattled several things off the shelves – in OTHER ROOMS.
2) LOTR – FOTR (master volume at –25):
This soundtrack is mastered on the “hot” side, so –25 gave me plenty of volume on playback. I never before heard the sub-20 Hz (actually goes to 10 Hz on waterfall charts) delayed reverb when the ring hits the ground in the opening battle scene. When the cave troll bursts into the room (109 dB peak on C-Weighted Fast setting at the listening position) and when he falls dead (108 dB), I thought the walls of my house were going to COLLAPSE. The falling bridge and rocks in the caverns and the fight with the fire demon are all VERY deep and powerful with many peaks in the 106-108 dB range.
One small nit to pick here. The scene where the Ring Wraith is trying to find Frodo and his friends under the tree root ball: There is a bass tone at 46:09 through 46:11 that actually caused the sub to vibrate itself against the floor and move an inch or two. Just to be clear - nothing on the sub itself was vibrating – this thing is built like a tank. This gives you an idea of not only how powerful this woofer is, but also how exceptionally rigid and strong the entire enclosure and assembly is. I don’t think this issue would ever show up on anything but a very hard, smooth, slippery and acoustically dead floor like mine. Anyway, I had a roll of generic automotive grade truck cap foam tape with adhesive on one side and I simply turned the sub on its side and laid strips across the entire bottom plate, supplementing the three foam rubber feet supplied by SVS. This worked like a charm and completely damped the base plate from vibrating and moving in this scene. I recommend this easy modification if you purchase a PC+ and you will be placing it on a hard, smooth floor.
3) Saving Private Ryan (DTS) (master volume set at –20):
Battle scene explosions, and the tank buster/P-51 fly-over scene on the bridge (108 dB peaks) - I was RIGHT THERE with Hanks.
4) The Matrix (master volume set at –17):
The lobby chest punch (107 dB), the Morpheus knee drop sparring scene (108 dB), and the helicopter explosion (107-108 dB) were all MUCH deeper and stronger than I've ever heard before.
5) Star Wars – TPM (master volume set at –15):
The pod race – amazing. The fly-bys have such DEEP after shocks they feel literally subsonic. The wave of energy is incredible, and one of the canyon exits registered 109 dB! Ditto on the light saber duels – especially when the bad guy gets cut in half - never heard half the stuff before.
6) The Haunting (DTS) (main volume set at -20 dB):
We saved the best for last. We have over 100 DVDs in our collection, including all the popular LFE bass busters – but the DTS version of The Haunting is STILL the absolute, undisputed, KING of ultra low end, super pumped up LFE. Whoever mastered the DTS version of this DVD must have been on drugs because it is INSANE with bass. This DVD will blow your mind at near reference levels with this SVS sub. The combination of low, LOW bass and the sheer SPL this DVD generates will scare you - literally SCARE YOU. We kept waiting for the sub to start showing signs of distress – IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. It just kept effortlessly belting out wave after wave of PURE VISCERAL MIND BLOWING NEAR SUBSONIC BASS. Stuff rattled off my shelves - upstairs, and picture frames through the entire house were off kilter. We recorded bass peaks of approximately 111 dB (!!) at the listening position. KILLER - TOTALLY KILLER.
What more can I say – I am OFF MY ROCKER AND OUT OF MY MIND over this SVS sub. For ONE sub to generate CLEAN 110+ dB bass peaks at the listening position 12 FEET AWAY is remarkable. This is the absolute BEST investment I have EVER made in my HT system - BAR NONE. My hat is off to SVS - they are truly THE BASS AUTHORITY.
Regards,
Ed - aka Dr. Spec on the Club Polk Forum
This is my first post to HTF. I have been into HT for a few years now, and I regularly surf HTF, AVS, Spot, Klipsch, and frequently post at Club Polk.
I am posting today at HTF because I am so impressed with this new sub and I wanted to share with everyone what an incredible product I think it is. Let me say up front I do not work for SVS, I do not personally know anyone at SVS (although they have provided exceptional CS via email), I am not affiliated in any way with the company, and I have not been bribed or coerced in any way to post this review. I am simply a very proud owner.
Highlights of the PC+ line include a proprietary TC Sounds db-12 ultra long throw, super high output 12" downward firing, bottom mounted woofer. Triple 3" flared top firing ports. Birch end caps which are 1.5” thick and CNC’d. The enclosure is a high tech exceptionally dense and rigid fiber/polymer laminate tubing (much stronger than MDF), turned to exceptionally tight tolerances. The Indigo BASH 525 watt (RMS 4 ohm nominal) onboard amp has an infinitely variable phase knob and a 4 position SS filter (25, 20, 16, 12), with low/high/speaker level inputs.
My HT room is roughly 12x18x8 with one permanent opening (stairwell) and 3 openings to a basement, bath and office that are normally closed during HT listening. Room volume with all doors closed is about 1,800 cubic feet. The floor is concrete slab on grade covered with Armstrong wood laminate.
Set-up and calibration details are as follows:
1) The sub is placed in the front left hand corner of the HT room, between the left main and the HDTV. Blurring of the picture on HDTV from vibration or from magnetic flux has not been a concern.
2) Bass management is done at the receiver, with all speakers set to "normal" and the sub is set to "on". Crossover to the sub is set at 100 Hz for all speakers.
3) I am using a Bruel & Kjoer (made in Copenhagen, Denmark) professional grade sound pressure meter on C-Weighted Slow response setting. I just calibrated it with the included tone generator and it reads spot-on (94 dB @ 1,000 Hz).
4) My listening position is 12 feet from the mains/center/sub and 6 feet from the surrounds. At the "reference" master volume setting (-15 on the Kenwood), the receiver's test tones for the center/mains/surrounds all read 75 dB +/- 0.5 dB. The sub test tone reads 78 dB +/- 1dB (i.e., fluctuates between 77 and 79 dB).
5) Individual speaker volume settings on the Kenwood are mains (+2), center (-1), surrounds (+2), and sub (-3).
6) Settings at the sub are: one Monster sub cable running to the low level left RCA input, auto on enabled, crossover disabled, SS filter set to 20 Hz, no ports plugged, phase set at 0 degrees, gain set at about 2/5 volume.
7) For my testing, I made sure to disable all the various cinema, speaker, and LFE trim settings on the receiver and just ran a “straight through” signal.
Well, how does it sound? In a word - spectacular. This sub will completely alter your impressions of ALL of your best bass demo DVDs. It is tight, clean, refined, DEEEEP, and very, VERY powerful.
The funny thing about SVS subs (I've heard two different models now - the sonic signature is very similar) is that your initial impression will be "where did all that boomy mid bass go?". These subs are very flat through the mid bass range (60-30) with none of the usual emphasis at 35-40 Hz that many sub makers deliberately build in to hide the fact that their subs have no real bottom end. This lack of mid bass bloom allows the sub to blend beautifully with the mains and it remains very neutral and undetected until the source material calls for it.
The second thing I noticed is that there is an entire world of bass from 30-15 Hz that I never heard before on several DVDs. It is literally another dimension in sound. The ultra deep stuff is absolutely visceral - it is felt more than heard, and there are no messy 2nd or 3rd order harmonics, just pure, clean, DEEEEP bass that literally PUSHES its way through the room and envelopes you in the sound field.
At reference levels, and if the source material calls for it - this sub effortlessly provides vision blurring, teeth rattling, couch moving, guts turn to jello, pants waffling, stuff falls off the shelves upstairs, call the fire department - REAL DEAL ULTRA LOW INCREDIBLY POWERFUL BASS.
The third thing I noticed after extended HT listening sessions is how beautifully this sub handles bass nuance and detail during the quieter moments of movies. Subtle background bass notes that change in texture or tone all come through with perfect clarity and this makes for a very satisfying listening experience.
Demo discs included:
1) U-571 (DTS) (master volume at –20):
Oh, so that's what depth charges are really supposed to sound like! Amazing! When they show the close-ups of the destroyer passing overhead with the props spinning - HANG ON. The final battle scene with the destroyer rattled several things off the shelves – in OTHER ROOMS.
2) LOTR – FOTR (master volume at –25):
This soundtrack is mastered on the “hot” side, so –25 gave me plenty of volume on playback. I never before heard the sub-20 Hz (actually goes to 10 Hz on waterfall charts) delayed reverb when the ring hits the ground in the opening battle scene. When the cave troll bursts into the room (109 dB peak on C-Weighted Fast setting at the listening position) and when he falls dead (108 dB), I thought the walls of my house were going to COLLAPSE. The falling bridge and rocks in the caverns and the fight with the fire demon are all VERY deep and powerful with many peaks in the 106-108 dB range.
One small nit to pick here. The scene where the Ring Wraith is trying to find Frodo and his friends under the tree root ball: There is a bass tone at 46:09 through 46:11 that actually caused the sub to vibrate itself against the floor and move an inch or two. Just to be clear - nothing on the sub itself was vibrating – this thing is built like a tank. This gives you an idea of not only how powerful this woofer is, but also how exceptionally rigid and strong the entire enclosure and assembly is. I don’t think this issue would ever show up on anything but a very hard, smooth, slippery and acoustically dead floor like mine. Anyway, I had a roll of generic automotive grade truck cap foam tape with adhesive on one side and I simply turned the sub on its side and laid strips across the entire bottom plate, supplementing the three foam rubber feet supplied by SVS. This worked like a charm and completely damped the base plate from vibrating and moving in this scene. I recommend this easy modification if you purchase a PC+ and you will be placing it on a hard, smooth floor.
3) Saving Private Ryan (DTS) (master volume set at –20):
Battle scene explosions, and the tank buster/P-51 fly-over scene on the bridge (108 dB peaks) - I was RIGHT THERE with Hanks.
4) The Matrix (master volume set at –17):
The lobby chest punch (107 dB), the Morpheus knee drop sparring scene (108 dB), and the helicopter explosion (107-108 dB) were all MUCH deeper and stronger than I've ever heard before.
5) Star Wars – TPM (master volume set at –15):
The pod race – amazing. The fly-bys have such DEEP after shocks they feel literally subsonic. The wave of energy is incredible, and one of the canyon exits registered 109 dB! Ditto on the light saber duels – especially when the bad guy gets cut in half - never heard half the stuff before.
6) The Haunting (DTS) (main volume set at -20 dB):
We saved the best for last. We have over 100 DVDs in our collection, including all the popular LFE bass busters – but the DTS version of The Haunting is STILL the absolute, undisputed, KING of ultra low end, super pumped up LFE. Whoever mastered the DTS version of this DVD must have been on drugs because it is INSANE with bass. This DVD will blow your mind at near reference levels with this SVS sub. The combination of low, LOW bass and the sheer SPL this DVD generates will scare you - literally SCARE YOU. We kept waiting for the sub to start showing signs of distress – IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. It just kept effortlessly belting out wave after wave of PURE VISCERAL MIND BLOWING NEAR SUBSONIC BASS. Stuff rattled off my shelves - upstairs, and picture frames through the entire house were off kilter. We recorded bass peaks of approximately 111 dB (!!) at the listening position. KILLER - TOTALLY KILLER.
What more can I say – I am OFF MY ROCKER AND OUT OF MY MIND over this SVS sub. For ONE sub to generate CLEAN 110+ dB bass peaks at the listening position 12 FEET AWAY is remarkable. This is the absolute BEST investment I have EVER made in my HT system - BAR NONE. My hat is off to SVS - they are truly THE BASS AUTHORITY.
Regards,
Ed - aka Dr. Spec on the Club Polk Forum
