SVS Prime Center review (by Erin)

[sweetchaos]

Thanks to @hardisj for another review.

This is the US$400, 3-way center channel by SVS.

Discuss!

 

[abdo123]

I'm honestly really disappointed at the port tuning for this one. How could a company that its business mainly revolves around subwoofers fuck up a port?

I feel like i was really judgemental back then when i thought the response linearity of the DIYSG HTM-V2 was not that great. Apparently it's the creme de la creme of the affordable home cinema speakers.

 

[Hydrav]

I wonder how much better the SVS Ultra Center measures than this...

 

[sweetchaos]

I wonder how much better the SVS Ultra Center measures than this...

At double the price, it should be 2x as good!

I kid....but I do hope it's much better than these disappointing measurements.
I was strongly considering these in the past, but alas, without NFS spinorama, nothing is guaranteed, even if it's a 3-way.

 

[beaRA]

That is surprisingly wonky through the midbass range. Disappointing for sure.

 

[Descartes]

Thanks to @hardisj for another review.

This is the US$400, 3-way center channel by SVS.

Discuss!

Doesn’t look good probably doesn’t sound all that great either

 

[dnadrifter]

Could someone educate me why this looks so bad. Trying to learn here as I need to replace my old PSB center C40.

I guess I was looking mostly at the horizontal response and plots, which appeared pretty good, at least compared to the JBL 520C. As is, I am probably going to get the ELAC Uni-Fi 2.0 UC52 recommended, but would just like to understand why it is superior.

 

[beaRA]

Could someone educate me why this looks so bad. Trying to learn here as I need to replace my old PSB center C40.

I guess I was looking mostly at the horizontal response and plots, which appeared pretty good, at least compared to the JBL 520C. As is, I am probably going to get the ELAC Uni-Fi 2.0 UC52 recommended, but would just like to understand why it is superior.

Mostly we are reacting to the uneven on-axis response. As you observed, the 3-way design does enable pretty good horizontal dispersion. Add a sub and some EQ and you'll end up with an acceptable result. At a similar price, you may as well get something closer to "right" in the first place like the UC52.

 

[dnadrifter]

Got it. Thank you. Will be ordering the UC52. (considering ordering the mono 365C to compare, but probably won't be able to tell the difference anyway )

 

[dualimas]

it sorta bothers me that svs has this untouchable aura in the hometheater market, not surprised to see the measurements shed some light

 

[dnadrifter]

Any thoughts on the Mono 365c? It has a higher Sensitivity.

 

[MD_Squared]

I have this as my center and was happy with it for a while (first real home heater system) but for the last several months I’ve have been bothered by problems with male dialogue sounding off. Not sure if it would be considered “boomy” or “shouty” or what but often seemed like the speaker was cupping hands around his mouth while talking. Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones commonly caused this. My room is pretty well treated and I tried repositioning the speaker (fully forward on top of an open stand) and putting a thick acoustic panel behind it without success. I thought it might be a furniture resonance but taking it off the stand didn’t help much. I tried turning off Audyssey MultEQ and that seemed to make things sound a bit better but still wasn’t totally satisfied. Seeing this data makes me wonder if I was just hearing an uneven midrange all along.

It looks like EQ should work okay for the midrange, and I recently got a new receiver with Dirac Live so I’ll see if that can fix what Audyssey MultEQ could not.

On top of that, would stuffing the port(s) make any sense for me? Asking because it sounds like they contribute to some of the unevenness lower down.

 

[Web35]

Seeking an 'expert' opinion: I am currently using the Ascend CMT-340 SE Center Channel Speaker tested in Feb 2020 by Amirm. In that review he commented that the "dialog intelligibility may not be very good". I am using this in a dedicated theater with carpeted walls and floor, Marantz SR6011 in 7.2.4 configuration using Audyssey and the Marantz supplied mic for setup. 100% movies and generally only use the 2 sweet spot seats which are 14' back from the screen and center speaker. I am dissatisfied with my ability to understand the dialog. I am limited to no more than a 22"L x 7.5"H center speaker. Will the SVS Prime Center provide a noticable difference in dialog clarity over the Ascend? I see that the overall response curve has issues but it appears smoother in the voice frequencies and is a 3-way design vs the 2-way.

Thanks for any input.

 

[sweetchaos]

@Web35
In terms of horizontal directivity, SVS wins hands down.

In terms of frequency response, they don't impress me.
Unless you can use EQ to fix some of their issues. You won't get perfect, but better than out of the box.

Instead of these, consider a single KEF Q150 or Q350 (rotated to be like a center channel).

 

[dfuller]

I wonder how this would perform with port bungs?

 

[Web35]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll put it to good use.

 

[dougi]

At double the price, it should be 2x as good!

I kid....but I do hope it's much better than these disappointing measurements.
I was strongly considering these in the past, but alas, without NFS spinorama, nothing is guaranteed, even if it's a 3-way.

Agreed, I was too, as the most affordable 3 way centre. I would like to consider the KEF centres with concentric mid/tweeter but I don't like the grill-less look on those. I'm looking for a centre with good horizontal dispersion (out to 40-45 degrees).

 

[noise]

Hmm..... I had been eyeing this one for a long time and it seems like people are disappointed with the performance. Besides the Elac center channel, are there any other options in this price range? I think one of the things that I was looking at was the frequency response is lower than my current center channel and it fit into the spot I have in my media console (SVS ultra is too big). Also supposedly W(T/M)W is better than coaxial. Maybe if I wait long enough SVS will update this model.

Thanks for the test data.

 

[Dal1as]

Any thoughts on the Mono 365c? It has a higher Sensitivity.

The Monolith has a few reviews out there and measures very well.

 

[go_mo]

I have this as my center and was happy with it for a while (first real home heater system) but for the last several months I’ve have been bothered by problems with male dialogue sounding off. Not sure if it would be considered “boomy” or “shouty” or what but often seemed like the speaker was cupping hands around his mouth while talking. Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones commonly caused this. My room is pretty well treated and I tried repositioning the speaker (fully forward on top of an open stand) and putting a thick acoustic panel behind it without success. I thought it might be a furniture resonance but taking it off the stand didn’t help much. I tried turning off Audyssey MultEQ and that seemed to make things sound a bit better but still wasn’t totally satisfied. Seeing this data makes me wonder if I was just hearing an uneven midrange all along.

It looks like EQ should work okay for the midrange, and I recently got a new receiver with Dirac Live so I’ll see if that can fix what Audyssey MultEQ could not.

On top of that, would stuffing the port(s) make any sense for me? Asking because it sounds like they contribute to some of the unevenness lower down.

Hey @MD_Squared, I was curious what your Dirac Live room correction did to your Prime Center? I currently have the Ultras as L&R, but need to change over my center. I was contemplating the Prime to save a few bucks, and plan to get a Dirac Live - enabled AVR this year.