I have a 3,700 ft cubed, multipurpose living room. My audio system includes: An Onkyo AVR, Aria 926 L/R speakers, (currently no center channel - I always sit in the middle anyway), generic surrounds in the ceiling, and I just got two SVS SB 3000 subs. Previously I was using Polk Audio PSW 10 subs.
I just got the SB 3000's and honestly I've not been impressed. I don't want to sound crazy, because they are much more powerful than my previous Polks (850 watts RMS vs 100 watts and 13 inch drivers instead of 10), but they just don't have as much punch and slam as I thought they would. I appreciate their small size and controlling everything from the app is nice. I do use the the parametric eq they come with. My Onkyo receiver doesn't allow me to go in and do any parametric EQ (only the automatic eq'ing it does in the background with the setup mic). I have REW and a UMIK 1 so I can see that the built in eq on the subs helps me to flatten out the response, but honestly I can't physically hear much of a difference between when they are eq'ed vs un-eq'ed. The graph looks significantly flatter, but it's hard to say I hear a difference. For music I'm running them at -13 db and that blends in wonderfully, so I don't think bigger subs will make much of a difference for music, but for movies they lack some punch and slam in my opinion. I have to say that for $100 each the little Polks were punching way, way above their weight class. The SB 3000's area clearly better, but it's not the same wow factor I felt when going from the Pioneer fs52 towers to the Focal Area 926's, which just blew me out of the water. I guess I expected subs costing 10 times more than my bargain subs to be at least 4 times better, when I might realistically call them twice as good at best.
Because of WAF, and the multipurpose aspect of the room I can't go much bigger so ported subs are probably a no go. I could get HSU ULS 15's and it appears they would be about 6db plus more powerful, but I would lose the eq and ability to control them from the app. I also am not sure if they would be as "tight" and good for music as the SB 3000's. On the other hand, I will eventually get a Denon AVR and then I think I'll have parametric eq for my subs (right?) and the utility of the SVS subs might be less.
Do to room modes etc. I would also like to stick with duals and I can only afford subs around 1K each, roughly.
Any recommendations? Thoughts? Stick with the SB 3000's or send them back and try out the HSU ULS 15's?
Thanks for your help!
I just got the SB 3000's and honestly I've not been impressed. I don't want to sound crazy, because they are much more powerful than my previous Polks (850 watts RMS vs 100 watts and 13 inch drivers instead of 10), but they just don't have as much punch and slam as I thought they would. I appreciate their small size and controlling everything from the app is nice. I do use the the parametric eq they come with. My Onkyo receiver doesn't allow me to go in and do any parametric EQ (only the automatic eq'ing it does in the background with the setup mic). I have REW and a UMIK 1 so I can see that the built in eq on the subs helps me to flatten out the response, but honestly I can't physically hear much of a difference between when they are eq'ed vs un-eq'ed. The graph looks significantly flatter, but it's hard to say I hear a difference. For music I'm running them at -13 db and that blends in wonderfully, so I don't think bigger subs will make much of a difference for music, but for movies they lack some punch and slam in my opinion. I have to say that for $100 each the little Polks were punching way, way above their weight class. The SB 3000's area clearly better, but it's not the same wow factor I felt when going from the Pioneer fs52 towers to the Focal Area 926's, which just blew me out of the water. I guess I expected subs costing 10 times more than my bargain subs to be at least 4 times better, when I might realistically call them twice as good at best.
Because of WAF, and the multipurpose aspect of the room I can't go much bigger so ported subs are probably a no go. I could get HSU ULS 15's and it appears they would be about 6db plus more powerful, but I would lose the eq and ability to control them from the app. I also am not sure if they would be as "tight" and good for music as the SB 3000's. On the other hand, I will eventually get a Denon AVR and then I think I'll have parametric eq for my subs (right?) and the utility of the SVS subs might be less.
Do to room modes etc. I would also like to stick with duals and I can only afford subs around 1K each, roughly.
Any recommendations? Thoughts? Stick with the SB 3000's or send them back and try out the HSU ULS 15's?
Thanks for your help!
