1. Describe your current home theater and music system, listing all equipment, speakers, and subwoofers.
2. Describe your evaluation room (size, dimensions, openings), and do you utilize any room treatments (bass traps, absorbers, diffusers, etc.) in that room?
I would have the ability to test the sub in two rooms actually; both a living room (2.1) environment, and a dedicated theater room (7.2).
Living room is a large open space (living, kitchen, breakfast area all one) which is open to a great hallway all with 12' foot ceilings -- 30' x 25' x 12'. There is no treatment in this room, and is quite 'live' with all tie flooring. Equipment:
Display: Panasonic TC-P60GT30 60" Plasma
Audio Components: Denon 3808ci AVR & Emotiva XPA-3
Sources: Denon DVD-3910, Oppo BDP-93, and PS3
Speakers: Paradigm Studio 60 v.5
Subwoofer: SVS PB12+ (BASH amp)
The theater room is, of course, a dedicated space -- 21' x 20' x 10' -- light controlled (not that this has any bearing on audio) and well insulated from the rest of the home. This room is not treated, but has thick heavy carpeting and much densely padded seating which helps the acoustic a good deal.
Display: Epson 9700UB projector & 123" Stewart Luxus Deluxe Screen w/ Studio Tek 130 G3
Audio Components: Denon 4311ci, Emotiva XPA-3, Emotiva UPA-5
Sources: Oppo BDP-93
Speakers: SVS MTS mains, MCS center, Definitive Technology SR-8080BP (4)
Subwoofers: 2 x SVS PB12+ (SLEDGE amps)
3. How long have you been a music and HT aficionado?
Yikes, this would go back to when my dad got me into music listening on vintage JBL studio monitors of his. This then morphed past just music into the whole home theater experience as well. Probably more than anything was my development as a pianist -- which started at age 5 and has taken me around the world -- completing a masters in piano performance about 4 years ago (29 now). This great passion continues to fuel me today…
4. What is your level of expertise as it relates to high-end A/V, and in particular, subwoofers?
I would like to think I have a fairly varied experience in the area of A/V -- though certainly not to the technical and engineering level as many members here. The development of my own systems aside, I have done several music listening systems for friends and family; in addition to designing and installing 3 home theater systems which ran the course from bang for your buck to mid-range systems($30k).
In terms of truly 'high-end' I have had to opportunity to listen to and sought out the places to spend time with the top-end stuff in the $30k + stratosphere (Krell, Wilson, Revel, as some). Professionally, though outside of the realm of home audio, I've participated in the design and installation of some big budget systems. At my current church position we recently expanded the worship space to seat almost 2,000 which saw the installation of a $750k Meyer line-array and Crestron controlled system, as well as a new 64-channel digital organ (another $325k).
As for subwoofers, for home audio I have owned Velodyne MiniVee 10, SVS 16-46 PC+, PB13-Ultra (BASH), PB12+ (BASH and SLEDGE), and JL F110. My work with and playing on digital organs, also gives me experience with some very large scale and scary powerful systems (albeit for a very specific use).
5. Have you performed any previous equipment user reviews on Audioholics forums? If yes, please provide links.
No, not anything dedicated specifically as such.
6. Do you have anything else to add that may better qualify you as one of the three candidates?
Probably my training as a pianist -- being that my ears are honed to examine a great level of detail. The things a musician toils over such as details in dynamics, articulation, phrase, etc. -- lend themselves to being able to discern a nuanced, balanced, and accurate source reproduction.
7. Bonus (NOT required): Do you have the ability to take basic acoustic measurements (such as using the popular Room EQ Wizard software)?
No, but for the purpose of objective detail, I would look at purchasing to undertake an evaluation project such as this.