I won the SVS review competition and received their PB 1000 for review, so here it is
Backgound Info
For starters I am by no means an 'audiophile' but I do appreciate quality products, especially subwoofers. My history with audio goes back to Stereos that I had as a kid, and subsequently always wanting more bass. I am a big car audio person and started getting more into home surround in the last couple of years. For my audio setup I have a Pioneer VSX-920-K 7.1 receiver, Energy CF-30 Front L/R, Energy CB-5 surrounds and a Boston Acoustics CS225CB center. For the review when listening to music I have it setup in EXT Stereo so that all speakers receive a stereo output and when listening to movies I have it in 5.1 dts-HD or the next highest setting. The crossover is set to 100hz. The room I am testing is 11'x15'x8' with 2 doors and 2 windows.
Overview of service/shipping
Ed Mullen was the man who I was in contact with during this process and he responded very quickly to my emails, which is a huge plus. The sub arrived very quickly once I received the shipping notification, though this will probably depend upon where you are located, but nice either way. It came double boxed and inside it was snug in the box and wrapped in plastic bag. There was foam at each corner of the sub to protect it and it wasn't that annoying flaky kind that gets everywhere when you try to get it out, another HUGE plus.
Build Quality
The sub itself has a really nice black wood grain finish and a cloth covered plastic grille that is very secure, I was scared to remove it at first because of the amount of force I had to use. The rear amp has L/R Speaker level inputs (5-way binding post), Stereo In and Outs with the right in used as LFE. It also has a trigger input. It has the normal Phase, Low Pass Filter and Volume knobs on the back which are very sturdy and feel like they will last forever. The one negative I have on the sub itself is the power cord. It is like the old PS2 powercord but it doesnt insert entirley and it wobbles a little bit, not a huge problem but something the OCD in me finds a little irritating. Other than that it's well built. It weight weights 46lbs according to SVS but it isn't a big deal moving it around where you need it, for me at least.
Specs
It is a 10" woofer rated at 300 watts rms and 720 watts peak. Any other specifics you need can be found at their site.
PB-1000 - SVS
Music
Music is what I use my surround for 80-90% of the time. I like Mash-ups and House music most, but I listen to a variety depending on my mood, and the company I have. I play music off of my desktop through HDMI to my reciever. When I received the sub the very song I listened to was a mash-up that I like to test all subs with, the specific part I like is a nice Bass roll-off at just after 3:55 in the song Avicii - Levels VS Pretty Much Everything (Artur White Mashup) - YouTube the sub handles it very well even at max volume and it shakes the room as the Hz drop. The sub handles its power very well and doesn't seem to distort at high volumes. You might need to increase the gain on the receiver to get the most out of the sub because with mine set to 0 you have to set the sub volume to ~70% of the way to get the bass to appear, but that is all part of setting up the sub. The sub is very accurate and great for listening to music.
Movies
I am not too much of a movie watcher when it comes to using my HT. When I do watch movie, I do it at night when people are sleeping so I made a point of watching some high volume mid-afternoon movies. The lack of owned movies made it hard so I watched my Jurassic Park Blu-ray and the sub blended very well with all the sound effects. The scene where the T-Rex appears is really nice with the added bass. I also went online to find good sub testing movies and found the lab scene from pulse. I placed myself in the sweet spot for the sub and played it. The amount of air that this sub is able to move is pretty impressive. The bass was very heavy at its deepest point and was shaking things all over the room and the room next to mine as well as upstairs. It's well equipped to help you figure out what needs to be tightened. I think that as good as this sub is all around it really shines when given a good movie sound track. Being able to use that Peak wattage more often really helps add depth to any movie.
Final Thoughts
If you haven't looked it up already the sub comes in at $499.00 shipped. I was really impressed with the overall sound quality that the sub had, and its ability to go deep (as low as 19Hz). It never struggled to play anything that I had going. I think this would be a great sub for anyone who is new to HT and subwoofer, who wants to get good sound and buy a sub that you can keep for 10+ years, in a medium sized room. I don't think I would personally buy this sub mainly because I would want to go up to the PB12 (I prefer how 12" subs sound), but for anyone looking for a well balanced sub to go in a main viewing area, that wont break the bank, this would be a great choice.
