Got my SVS 20-39PCi last Friday

[popbumper]

All:

I'm no sub expert, nor any HT expert by any stretch of the imagination. I have never owned a sub, so I have no real "point of reference", as some may. Coloring your opinion of my statements given that, I purchased and received my SVS 20-39PCi this past Friday. Turns out Saturday was going to be a rainy day, so I immediately trekked off to by a sub cable, came home and set it up. When I got home, I opened the box - this freakin' thing was HUGE. My wife commented "A bit of overkill, eh?" I just hugged it and said "my preciousssss...." like Gollum in the LOTR movies.

My room has an opening to the side, which leads to a stairwell. I had my HT setup along the wall adjacent to the opening, and placed the sub over there. Ashamedly, I admit to no calibration whatsoever, I simply wanted to "hear" this thing.

I was not impressed. My wife said, "What, you can't feel that"? Well, long story short, I had alsways wanted to "flip" my room 180 degrees to put the HT into a more "enclosed space". That evening, I pushed and pulled on all the things in the room for about two hours, and got everything set up. I carefully measured out speaker distances, and stuck the sub in a corner.

My soundstage was greatly improved, and I sat back to listen.

Well, that was it. Once I put in LOTR, on the Balrog scene, I was completely amazed at the bass I FELT. It was DELICIOUS - smooth, clean, not boomy, and the floor resonated VERY nicely. It became immediately obvious what I had BEEN missing in soundtracks, and I watched a BUNCH of movies on Saturday. The helicopter crash in The Matrix gave me goosebumps - the flying saucers in Close Encounters resonated - wow, it's great to be a newbie!!! And, as a bonus, my wife REALLY likes this speaker - now hidden away, it only adds "as it should", never distorting or overpowering anything else. It balances very nicely to my Forte's, and adds what they cannot!

On what may be an insignificant but sincere recommendation, I can highly recommend SVS for a subwoofer. Again, perhaps my credentials are not as expansive as many, but anyone starting out would also benefit from this quality speaker. I could not be happier with my purchase. Sheesh, what's next? This stuff is ADDICTIVE.....

Popbumper

[damonrpayne]

I own the same sub. I have a small room, so its more than a little overkill.

Yes, the SVS do need corners, or small rooms. Many have speculated that to hit their specs they rely heavily on room gain and wouldn't do well in the outdoor tests, but nonetheless they are great inside where most of us watch movies.

[skeptic]

" Many have speculated that to hit their specs they rely heavily on room gain and wouldn't do well in the outdoor tests"

Just curious, who is "many" ? Everyone I know that owns a SVS speculates that it is just a simple design that uses a lot of volume, and good drivers to hit their specs. What home theater sub do these people think would beat the SVS outdoors? and how much are they?

[damonrpayne]

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On 4/26/2004 10:19:01 PM skeptic wrote:

Just curious, who is "many" ? Everyone I know that owns a SVS speculates that it is just a simple design that uses a lot of volume, and good drivers to hit their specs. What home theater sub do these people think would beat the SVS outdoors? and how much are they?

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I guess the "many" is two or three sources: some magazines I've seen lately that have done outdoor subwoofer tests, and Klipsch engineer Trey Cannon said in one thread that "He'd be surprised" if the SVSs could do what they claim. I think we will be benchmarking a pair of SVS Ultra's at the Klipsch Indy trip this summer.

That being said, I love my SVS and I'd recommend it to anyone. The only thing I'm likely to replace it with is a bigger SVS.

[avman]

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On 4/26/2004 10:15:18 PM damonrpayne wrote:

I own the same sub. I have a small room, so its more than a little overkill.

Yes, the SVS do need corners, or small rooms. Many have speculated that to hit their specs they rely heavily on room gain and wouldn't do well in the outdoor tests, but nonetheless they are great inside where most of us watch movies.

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corners,YES

small room??? well,i haven't heard/tried a SVS, but what i have found w/the RSW-15 in the showroom vs. in my ht room(and have extrapolated to apply to DEEP-LOW bass in general)is a small room 'robs' you of the opportunity to hear the LOWEST bass.if i'm not mistaken,this is due to the l o n g wavelength of deep bass.

could someone familiar w/the physics of deep bass and room size chime in?

basically,my ht room is larger than the showroom,and while i get GREAT bass in my ht room w/the RSW-15(right rear corner)in the store where the RSW-15 is,the smaller room dosen't have as good or as deep bass-while down the hall,and in the attached warehouse it is very pronounced.

avman.

[lancestorm]

What would be considered a small room? Approximate max dimensions before moving towards a medium or large room?

[damonrpayne]

avman: I'm not a physics expert either but I think you are right as far as hearing the deepest bass. However sound "pressure" is going to be higher given a smaller room and the same amount of energy, assuming the room is not just the right size that the waves cancel each other out. My room is 11'x17'. My SVS turned up to say "5" is to the point of shaking things off the walls during the mine explosion scene in Finding Nemo

[Danartdis]

There was a discussion about this very topic some time ago. I have only a rudimentary understanding of the physics of sound but I recall someone making the claim that the lowest audible sounds have a wavelength of 30-something feet and therefore cannot be heard in a room that is smaller than that. Given that logic, only frequencies above what...200hz can be heard with headphones? Just my .02