SVS SB-2000 Pro vs SB-3000 Subwoofer Review

[jonfitch]

Great review, @hardisj . Any noteworthy hiss? I have a pair of SB-2000 notPro, and both emit an audible "shhhhhhhhhhhh..." at a listening distance of ~8'. SVS support told me it is normal, but I can hear it clearly during quiet passages and between songs, which causes me to listen to music without subs most of the time.

That noise seems to vary based on where the dial on the low pass filter crossover frequency is set on the SVS SB series. If you set it all the way at the bottom at 50hz, there's very little noise. I'm not sure what the cause of that noise is, it seems pretty loud when the LPF is set all the way to the highest setting.

That said there's no such thing as a subwoofer with no noise floor. Even high end active speakers Genelec The Ones or Kii speakers have much higher noise floors than a $200 pair of passive speakers, because of the fact the active amplification is run at 100% gain and there's no crossover network to filter out the noise. I've owned high end subs like JL Fathom F113s or Velodyne DD+12s. They all have some audible passive electronic noise coming out of the drivers. This is simply the price you pay for built-in active amplification.

If you can't stand any noise, get a passive subwoofer like the old Revel Ultima subs and hook them up to pre-amp/amp separates of your choice.

 

[Jkaiser3]

I’ve owned klipsch subwoofers and they ran near silent. While all powered speakers and passive with amplification have driver noise it’s not suppose to be audible across the room and 3-4 times louder than a tweeter hisses when an amp is at near max volume.
you may have low expectations for your equipment standards but that doesn’t need you need to pass along your jaded low standards and misinformation.

 

[Jkaiser3]

Additionally I am talking about the pro models and sb3000 not old models with nobs and manual only settings.

 

[jonfitch]

Dunning-Kruger effect in action.

 

[waynel]

In the subwoofer comparison sheet, there are exactly 4 sealed subs that beat(by >0.1dB) the SB-3000 with these measurements at 20hz: The Paradigm Signature 2, JTR Captivator RS1 and S2, and Funk Audio FW21.0. All are much larger and use 18" or larger/multiple drivers and cost several times as much. Many, many 15-18" subs are below them.

I did remember that there is another source of SVS data.... Brent Butterworth's spreadsheet. Converted to 2m peak, he measured the SB16-Ultra at 102.1db@20hz, SB2000 Pro at 93.6dB, and the SB2000 at 95.1dB. Hometheaterreview measured the SB-4000 at 98.5dB.

I feel like there's gotta be some kind of systemic difference, and I'm not even saying Erin's measurements are wrong but... I'm not sure they are apples to apples comparable to all others measurements.

I guess measure more SVS and non-SVS subs so we can find out!

I'm surprised that there has not been follow up on the systematic offset when comparing these measurements to others.

The following plots the CEA-2010-A ( 2m Peak SPL) at 20Hz vs price, the top circled SB3000 and SP2000Pro are Erins measurements, Also, circled are other SB 3000 measurements and SB16 measurements. As we can see Erin's SB3000 measurement has 10dB more output at 20Hz, and more output than the SB16 alternative measurement! Something is very wrong here and I think investigation is needed to make the measurements comparable. (thanks to Sweetchaos)

Here are the SVS measurements in table form

 

[silentt29]

Anyone have any experience/measurements with the SVS SB-3000 Micro and how it compares to the SB-2000 Pro? They're listed as the same price new, but if the Micro takes up less space with the same power at the regular SB-3000, I wonder if that's the better deal?

 

[Sancus]

Anyone have any experience/measurements with the SVS SB-3000 Micro and how it compares to the SB-2000 Pro? They're listed as the same price new, but if the Micro takes up less space with the same power at the regular SB-3000, I wonder if that's the better deal?

The 3000 Micro has less driver area than the SB-2000 Pro and a much smaller enclosure so the same power means less output. How much less is hard to say without measurements, and nobody has measured it yet afaik.

 

[Matias]

From SVS:

SB-2000 Pro

3000 Micro

I superimposed both images: 3000 Micro purple, SB-2000 Pro green.

Basically the SB-2000 Pro has lots more below 40 Hz.

 

[falkin42]

I feel like of the two issues discussed so far, measurement discrepancies are much more important than hiss. I'm very curious about the electro/mechanical limitations described by @Steve81 in post #43, or the fact that this does suggest the sealed 2000 has more output than the ported (except at one specific band). That alone also raises my eyebrow. These things don't appear to add up; although please don't mistake this for me ascribing any intent to deceive. I accept without argument the idea that temperature, humidity, and resultingly air density made the difference between the AH numbers and these, but the other two issues warrant further discussion, in my opinion.

 

[waynel]

I'm surprised that there has not been follow up on the systematic offset when comparing these measurements to others.

The following plots the CEA-2010-A ( 2m Peak SPL) at 20Hz vs price, the top circled SB3000 and SP2000Pro are Erins measurements, Also, circled are other SB 3000 measurements and SB16 measurements. As we can see Erin's SB3000 measurement has 10dB more output at 20Hz, and more output than the SB16 alternative measurement! Something is very wrong here and I think investigation is needed to make the measurements comparable. (thanks to Sweetchaos)


View attachment 126654

Here are the SVS measurements in table form

View attachment 126655

Really surprised to see no follow up on this.

 

[hardisj]

Really surprised to see no follow up on this.

I don't have a way to follow up. I tested the items and then I sent them back. And I don't know what else to say that I haven't already said.

 

[Slayer]

Nothing wrong with SVS (except for pricing of course ).
Erin's testing of both subs, just helps me to confirm the great deal i got on the Monolith subs. 2 for $600, yes i'm happy.
As always, Erin's hard work is appreciated.

 

[falkin42]

For the SB-2000 pro...
Comparing two spreadsheets from Erin and Wirecutter, I see that Wirecutter's numbers are in 1m space, so they should be 6db louder than Erin's. The Monolith 15" (24458) in ported THX mode lines up nearly exactly as far as converting from 2m to 1m space. The problem I run into is that the other spreadsheet also has the SB-2000 Pro. In that instance, Erin's numbers actually exceed Wirecutter's. Can anyone help me understand how this math works? I.e. it's louder for Erin at 2m than it was for Wirecutter at 1m.
And to Erin specifically, I know far less than you and I respect you and your work. I'm just confused by what I perceive to be irreconcilable information. If you tell me to go away I will. Thanks.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...k4mHkuwv_uiGAMyEhgrTkjwdXc/edit#gid=407670234
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KjlXBWMPAHgU_V9DAHSdIZ_ke0MxwH6ekt3vTIlYOJU/edit#gid=0

 

[waynel]

I don't have a way to follow up. I tested the items and then I sent them back. And I don't know what else to say that I haven't already said.

I think it's a matter of calibration so that we can compare between measurements done by different parties. Perhaps you can request a sub that has been tested elsewhere and see if the results can be duplicated or see if there is some kind of systematic offset in your mearurements?

Thanks
Wayne

 

[hardisj]

I think it's a matter of calibration so that we can compare between measurements done by different parties. Perhaps you can request a sub that has been tested elsewhere and see if the results can be duplicated or see if there is some kind of systematic offset in your mearurements?

Thanks
Wayne

So far, these are the only ones that have been so far off. It’s also worth noting that test results have varied by more than a few dB between outlets other than myself. It’s an interesting thing, for sure. One thing I do is document my conditions. Not sure if the other outlets do that. But it’s one less unknown when I post my data.

 

[hardisj]

For the SB-2000 pro...
Comparing two spreadsheets from Erin and Wirecutter, I see that Wirecutter's numbers are in 1m space, so they should be 6db louder than Erin's. The Monolith 15" (24458) in ported THX mode lines up nearly exactly as far as converting from 2m to 1m space. The problem I run into is that the other spreadsheet also has the SB-2000 Pro. In that instance, Erin's numbers actually exceed Wirecutter's. Can anyone help me understand how this math works? I.e. it's louder for Erin at 2m than it was for Wirecutter at 1m.
And to Erin specifically, I know far less than you and I respect you and your work. I'm just confused by what I perceive to be irreconcilable information. If you tell me to go away I will. Thanks.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...k4mHkuwv_uiGAMyEhgrTkjwdXc/edit#gid=407670234
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KjlXBWMPAHgU_V9DAHSdIZ_ke0MxwH6ekt3vTIlYOJU/edit#gid=0

See my two previous posts.

 

[MZKM]

Quick question: Have you ever measured spectral decay? I know since speakers are minimum phase that a waterfall plot shows nothing of value (unless using non minimum phase DSP correction/crossovers), not sure if subwoofers are the same.

 

[Prolix]

My sb-1000 had a hiss you could hear from across the room. New amp improved it. Later on I bought a sb-2000 that's silent. While after that I upgraded the 1000 to a sb-3000 pro which was an impressive upgrade but it had the hiss you can hear across the room as well as a high pitched whine. Returned it and am probably going to look elsewhere.

 

[Slayer]

My sb-1000 had a hiss you could hear from across the room. New amp improved it. Later on I bought a sb-2000 that's silent. While after that I upgraded the 1000 to a sb-3000 pro which was an impressive upgrade but it had the hiss you can hear across the room as well as a high pitched whine. Returned it and am probably going to look elsewhere.

Good call on returning the hissing sub.
I don't understand those who make excuses for a hissing sub. A powered sub should not make any hiss or whine noise we here some complaining about. If they do, it's a malfunction or bad design. I can put my ear up against any of my subs and they are dead quiet.

 

[Matias]

@hardisj any chance you can review a shootout between the SVS 3000 Micro and the KEF KC62? After the review below I am very interested.

https://www.themasterswitch.com/svs-3000-micro-review