SVS subwoofers

[Pearljam5000]

Are they any good?

 

[PierreV]

Doing their job so far (I own 4: 2 SB2000 and 2 SB16Ultra). I like the SB16 app a lot. They are, so far, reliable.
I am not one who goes for ultra-high sound pressure so I am not going to tell you how loud they can go.
My choice was basically motivated by relatively reasonable prices and local availability.

 

[Matias]

Fair prices, great reviews on all models in their price points, reliable... What's not to like? I don't own one but it's definitely on my shopping list.

 

[JW001]

I have two SVS subwoofers: SB2000 in a medium size room (14' x 20' x 8') 5.1 HT setup (bass management/EQ with Denon 2113/Audyssey), and SB1000 in a small room (10' x 12.5' x 8') stereo system (bass management/EQ with minidsp 2x4HD/REW/APO EQ/Peace).

Before getting minidsp for the stereo system, I tried to use the SB1000's high-pass filters for the main speakers, but could not achieve a good bass integration. So I decided to order minidsp 2x4hd. The minidsp's digital crossovers significantly improved the sound and provided a convenient place for equalization. In that small room I can listen to any sort of music (hard rock, dixieland, symphony, etc), at high volume, and the sound is detailed, without a muddy, booming bass.

The HT setup with SB2000 sounds great as well. There is enough bass for LFE effects in any movie I have watched.

I believe there are many vendors who make good subwoofers. My advice is to pay attention to bass integration and equalization - these are the most important factors in the overall sound quality.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I have a single SB2000 and it works very well with my LS 50s crossed over at 100hz via the miniDSP 2 x 4 HD. Let's not forget the value proposition SVS offers. No shipping charges either way, unlimited right of return and/or exchange for I believe 90 days, and in country (if you're in the US) shipping, so no customs fees or hassles.

 

[LearningToSmile]

In Europe there aren't many viable competing options, SVS is a safe bet. In US the market is a lot bigger, so it's more debatable.

I bought an older SVS subwoofer model recently, SB12-NSD(predecessor to SB2000) and it's mostly great, tons of headroom for my use case. I have one issue with it: I went with the older model because unlike the newer ones it includes a high pass crossover pass trough, so in theory you can do without an external bass management solution. But the problem is that it lets through a ton of noise from my PC - most of the time it's fine but when I run anything that taxes my GPU I get a really loud high pitched whine coming from my speakers. So I have to get an external crossover anyway(I'm pretty sure it's the issue with the sub because not only did I not have that issue when running my speakers directly from my dac, I also did not have it when I run the speakers with a 3.5 mm to 2 x TS cable for a little bit).

 

[theyellowspecial]

SVS subs are well-designed subs. After measuring and trying different subs I'm in the "all well-designed subwoofers perform equally in their linear response range" camp.

 

[Beershaun]

I have 2 sb-2000s and have been very happy with them. I have run them together on one system previously and currently have them in two separate systems. They integrate very well with both my systems and the different speaker choices. I have not seen them measured so can't comment on objective performance but I have been very happy with them for my home theater and music needs.

 

[Ron Texas]

The new ones with built in DSP have a 6ms latency. That means the user needs something which will delay the mains, probably by 2 or 3ms. That can be accomplished by placing the subs closer to the listening position.

 

[win]

i like my 2x sb1000 in gloss white. I have the gain knob on around 50%, have the subwoofers slightly less gained than the mains by my crossover, and still have plenty of headroom with the subwoofers.

I like that they are small and visually unobtrusive. I wish they had a balanced xlr input. It's nice that there is a variable phase adjustment. 12v trigger works great with them too, I simply turn off my ahb2 amp and both my subwoofers power down.

 

[hardisj]

I can't speak to them yet. But I will be receiving a PB2000 within the next couple weeks to review so hopefully I can try to provide some input there as well. Like others have said though, they generally get great reviews, everyone I know or have come across that has owned one has nothing negative to say about what they purchased or the company. The return policy is excellent and the "got your back" customer service they seem to provide is a nice reassuring thing.

 

[Steve Dallas]

I have never seen objective measurements, but my pair of SB2000s has served me well. In my 13.5' x 13' x 10.5' room, they move enough air with their volume controls set to 25% and AVR levels set to -5dB to deliver substantial visceral impact.

They do have some delay, thanks to their DSP, so some sort of bass management that can delay the mains is nice to have. My AVR finds their distance to be nearly 14' from the MLP, even though they are actually around 7.5' away.

I have recently made a Denon AVR-4700H the brains of my system--even with its middling performance compared to SOTA devices, because I find the bass management and room correction to be worth the trade-offs.

Here is how Audyssey measured and theoretically corrected their performance using 6 measurements around the MLP (my speakers are all crossed at 80 to 90Hz with LFE HP set to the default 120Hz):

And here is a corrected in-room stereo measurement with subs (the Target curve is a 1.0 - 2.0 dB too high in this plot):

So, they do go lower than any budget sub and do it convincingly. I am more than pleased with them. Also, the company is great to work with.

 

[sweetchaos]

What’s not to like?
- Most models were already tested using CEA2010A.
- Both sealed and ported versions available.
- You can purchase based on size or output.
- Great warranty and support, based on community feedback.
- They are constantly innovating, and launching new models yearly.

I have HSU sub myself, but SVS was 2nd on my list. HSU gave me more db/$ at the time of purchase.

 

[DDF]

I have the SB12 NSD. It was challenging to integrate with the main speakers. I took a few near field measurements which explained why:
- the gain adjustment is very sensitive. 12 oclock to 2 oclock resulted in +9 dB.
- the filter low pass adjustment makes little difference between full low pass and 9 oclock. The 6 dB down point remains the same but it sharpens the knee and causes more out of band loss. Crossing over below 80 Hz was challenging

I can't say how their other amps fare, but using a mic and careful measurements, very good integration was possible. More than compensating on the positive side is that its powerful for the money, sounds clean, is small and attractive enough for the living room and when the amp died just after warranty, SVS replaced it with delivery to Canada in just a few days. Service was fantastic, and I'd easily buy another. Since it has no PEQ, I use EAPO to tame room modes.

 

[Chrispy]

I have never seen objective measurements, but my pair of SB2000s has served me well. In my 13.5' x 13' x 10.5' room, they move enough air with their volume controls set to 25% and AVR levels set to -5dB to deliver substantial visceral impact.

They do have some delay, thanks to their DSP, so some sort of bass management that can delay the mains is nice to have. My AVR finds their distance to be nearly 14' from the MLP, even though they are actually around 7.5' away.

I have recently made a Denon AVR-4700H the brains of my system--even with its middling performance compared to SOTA devices, because I find the bass management and room correction to be worth the trade-offs.

Here is how Audyssey measured and theoretically corrected their performance using 6 measurements around the MLP (my speakers are all crossed at 80 to 90Hz with LFE HP set to the default 120Hz):

View attachment 92309

And here is a corrected in-room stereo measurement with subs (the Target curve is a 1.0 - 2.0 dB too high in this plot):

View attachment 92310

So, they do go lower than any budget sub and do it convincingly. I am more than pleased with them. Also, the company is great to work with.

Fwiw the difference in actual distance for a sub would normally be accounted for by the extra processing time in the sub amp so not unusual not to have matching physical distance set for distance/delay.....

 

[flyzipper]

They're a reputable company, but it depends on your goal.

I'd use multiples of their smaller units for a fairly discreet setup with a design objective of high control of frequencies down to 20Hz (with appropriate DSP for time alignment, smoothing, and applying a house curve). That said... many sub brands could be used with this approach to implementation.

Looking for <10Hz at high SPL in a dedicated home theatre? Pass on SVS and instead look at JTR, Rythmik, Power Sound Audio, Funk (if you have deep pockets).

 

[Chrispy]

Can't say from ownership, but from what I've read is like what else has been said, they have tons of satisfied customers and their customer service (dealing directly at least) is great. I do own some SVS speakers, they're fine. I went diy last time I considered the usual sub suspects like SVS, Hsu, Power Sound Audio (the V in SVS started a new company), Rythmik, etc....

 

[TomJ]

What’s not to like?

The 6ms DSP delay, a problem you don't have with Rythmik and Hsu. Moving your sub 4-6 ft closer than your main speakers is not always feasible. Another way to compensate: https://www.minidsp.com/applications/auto-eq-with-rew/measuring-time-delay

 

[Chrispy]

The DSP delay, a problem you don't have with Rythmik and Hsu

Why not?

 

[Vasr]

Fwiw the difference in actual distance for a sub would normally be accounted for by the extra processing time in the sub amp so not unusual not to have matching physical distance set for distance/delay.....

In typical set ups, the subs at side or front wall can be at a greater distance than the mains AND any processing inside introduces delay, so they are additive to be delayed more than mains. You would need to have the sub's acoustic distance shorter than mains to compensate for any processing delay. It is fairly common in Dirac measurements for it to delay all others with zero delay for the subs.

The subs nearer to the listening position nearer to the back wall or rear sides/middles might require a delay in the subs. It would be purely coincidental for the processing delay to cancel out the distance differences correctly.

Having said that, not all content would make any discrepancy obvious to most ears.