SVS 2231...a bit different than what I expected. (1 Viewer)

[Jorge UF]

So I took that plunge and ordered the svs 2231 and I recieved it last week. The first thing I noticed was that my sub did not come double boxed as many have posted prior to me. That was somewhat disappointing. Not that my sub came damaged, but the sides of the sub I'm sure were exposed to some abuse since there is only thin cardboard with a plastic sleeve covering it. Why was my sub discriminated against?? [:frowning] Have the svs guys just stopped double boxing? Well then I went ahead and measured the heght of my sub. I noticed that it was actually 33 inches as opposed to the 31 as I expected. I measured with 2 different tapes to make sure that it wasn't an error. Well what I am thinking is that the 31" is the actual height of the sub(minus the base) and the base adds the extra 2". I was also hoping to get one of those neat svs signs that I have seen people recieve so I could hang it up, but I really wasn't expecting it. The fabric covering on the outside of the sub is not on as well as it probably should be. When I was trying to move it I noticed that it would constantly get wrinkled, and I would have to straighten it out. I also noticed that the port on the top, has 4 "shock absorbers", that look to be the same material that the sub came protecting it. Is that normal? I take it that it is. Just wondering what it is for? Anyways, nothing major just some discrepancies that I noticed upon recieving my sub. As far as sound quality goes, it does sound great. The bass is smooth and tight, and has the ability to shake your heart until it stops beating. I really haven't pushed my sub, since I have it set to just half way on the sub volume. I'm scared of getting thrown out of my apartment.[:] I would like to hear the svs guys thoughts on this.

 

[Sebastian]

Why don't you call SVS or E-mail them? They will respond much quicker that way.

 

[BrianKR]

No offense Jorge but you must be murder in a relationship. My sub didnt come double boxed and it was fine. SVS doesn't give out their SVS logo signs to every person that orders a sub. If you have heard others get them for free, they are usually repeat customers of SVS or they encounter a problem with their SVS sub do a shipping mishap or they were one of the "very" few to have a defective sub or amp.
SVS goes out of their way to please their customers, but you cant expect free merchandise from a company that does everything they can to keep making incredible performance subs for such a low price.
Bang for the buck, there is no better sub on the market then an SVS sub.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Jorge,
No discrimination there at all, really. We haven't used double boxing for well over a year, so whoever told you it would come that way had VERY dated information. I sure hope no one in SVS told you to expect two cartons ;^) Fact is, we have one of the most sophisticated shipping solutions I know of, and it's much more effective than two boxes. We spent thousands of hours perfecting it actually.
The old double boxing we used was getting us a damage rate of something like 10%. Now we're probably below 1%. That carton and the inner spacers are pretty effective. The box alone (which is specially laminated heavy double layer corrugated material) went thru about 5 versions. The reason outer box dimensions are so key (that is, the need to keep them compact and still effective) is that we're keeping to UPS restrictions in overall girth.
This is not to say damage can't happen (UPS does their best to test us every time) but it's rare and we're on it like "white on rice" when it DOES happen. Apparently in your case all is well.
As you discovered, the fabric on our subs can "hike up" if you grab the sub by the sides. But as you also noted, it smooths out just as quickly. Just the nature of the beast I'm afraid. The material is very high quality (about 3 times the cost of typical "speaker mesh") and will endure just about anything you can throw at it. Since moving the sub should be a rare occurance, I hope this isn't too inconvenient.
On the grill damping, that's another feature we've used for about a year. The foam spacers (it's not the same type foam as the cradle your sub shipped in) are there to kill any resonance in the 15" port grill. At one time we used rubber insulated screws to hold the grill down. This was prone to shipping damage and was a PITA to assemble. Another thousand hours went into a "size, density and shape" study to come up with compliant spacers that lightly pushed UP on the grill. Then the key was to find a local firm to make them! The spacers look better, are much easier to assemble, and allow the customer to quickly take off the grill (lift up on one edge with your fingers) for cleaning, port changes etc.
Why damp the grill at all? Well, in one instrumented test long ago, we detected a hint of resonance on a low frequency sweep at VERY high sound pressure levels (SPLs). While we knew it would be inaudible in normal use we resolved to ensure it was NEVER audible in ANY circumstance. Thus the foam blocks (replacing those screws). We do offer a grill upgrade kit to folks that want to dump the look of the screws on older subs BTW.
.
We should probably have a photo in the PCi pages showing this feature (it is up in the Ultra/Plus section, we originally developed this for the tuneable ports of those models, but quickly applied it to ALL subs it worked so well). So your comment is much appreciated. We don't want ANY customer to be surprised for any reason.
PS, the 25-31PCi has grown a bit as we beefed up various components over the last couple years. I'll have to tweak the dimensions we post. If a customer is particularly size conscious I think we say the 25-31PCi is 32.5" tall. We'll check.
PPS. 98% of the folks that get those spiffy SVS "Wall Logos" get them here. In other words they order one. Now and again (as noted) we'll get a customer on his third or fourth SVS, or someone's sub was delayed for some odd reason, so we'll do what we can with a small "spiff". Given we keep our prices/margins low to be competitive it's just not possible to include them free with every order (I wish we could). Next thing you know we're charging $27 more for your sub! ;^) No problem if you want to get one at any time of course.
Anyway, I hope this helps explain things a bit. As noted we actually respond quicker to e-mail. We don't get to hang out at the forums as much as we used to!
If you have any other findings fire them off to me personally and I'll cover them as best I can.
[email protected]
Ron

 

[Jorge UF]

Great response Ron. I didn't want to sound like a whiny bitch, although it might of sounded that way. Just somethings that I noticed. You are right Ron. You do say that it is 32.5 inches tall now that I checked. My dumb ass fault for just looking at the 31 part of 2531. What I find weird is that the 2039 is actually 39" tall and the 2531 is actually 32.5". Again not a big deal, but being a QC guy for trade, I notice things like this. I guess you just want to keep that 2531 model number, since there has been so many reviews written about it, and changing the model # would just create some confusion. As far as the fabric covering goes, it really isn't a problem only if your moving it as you stated. It is just as easy to straighten it out, so its not a problem. Now that I look back, the picture that I saw your packaging is an old one. You start doing your research, and you stop checking some important things like the dates when they happened. Again my fault.
BRIAN as I said before
"I was also hoping to get one of those neat svs signs that I have seen people recieve so I could hang it up, but I really wasn't expecting it."
I am not comlaining about not getting a sign, just thought that it would of been nice to get one. Wouldn't of bothered me if they slipped one in the package. But if it is between raising the cost another $25 or not getting the sign, I will take the $25 off.
Last question I have is that when I have my sub on auto power, is the only piece that requires power the little red led light? Just wondering hoe much power it consumes by leaving it on auto the entire time.
P.S I have also posted this exact topic in the klipsch forum, so I will foward your reply to that thread.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Jorge,

"QC guy" eh? I might have known ;^0

No foul at all. They were all valid observations. With a small company like SVS we can change products/packaging/pricing even our product lines in a matter of weeks and months so if you are looking at any info about us (reviews etc.) that's dated at all, it's always good to fire us off a note for the latest info on whatever is a concern. We like to think SVS is like a shark (Woody Allen fans know this joke). If we're not moving forward all the time (on several issues at once) we just stagnate and die ;^)

The SVS website generally has the latest info, but even as rich as it is, even we draw the line at providing much of an expose' on something as mundane (yet critical!) as the thousands of hours/dollars we just poured into the latest boxing change. Every once in a while Tom will send me out a sub and we'll make tweaks to packaging just based on that. So customer comments are ALWAYS welcome!

Your question about the sleep mode of the sub is a good one. With kids in my house I personally rarely think about what the sub draws in that mode (anyone with kids knows that there is inevitably a trail of lights, radios, TV's, and small household appliances left of). Still I think Tom recently checked on this and we discovered it was a couple of watts. More than I'd guessed. About the same as a decent incadesent night light. As you probably saw there is a hard power switch too (a CE/European requirement) so if you ever want to totally kill the power to the sub just flip that.

In the end, as long as the bass experience is what you hoped for, we achieved our primary goal.

Ron

 

[Mike Sloan]

Maybe begging would help get a sign. I will try that on my upcoming SVS order!

 

[steve nn]

Let me know if it works Mike? :b

 

[SVS-Ron]

Oh yeah, that works every time.

;^)

Slip in an order for signs, cables, shirts etc with a sub and you do typically get free shipping though.

Hey, it's somthin!

Ron

 

[Robb Roy]

And the shirts raise questions at the local pub, trust me!

 

[steve nn]

"S"ome "V"ersatile "S"ubwoofer? "S"uper "V"ertical "S"ubwoofer? I know it's one of these.

 

[DonaldZ]

I'm the proud owner of a new 25-31 PCi. The littlest SVS is still huge!

But on the other hand, it fills the room, matches the speakers well, is quick and clean, and shakes the house for movies. I'm in need of a demo of the other models at some point in time, because I can't imagine what I might be missing. I think I'd need to be shown.

It's both discrete and mildly menacing off in its corner.

:wink: