SVS PB13-Ultra Subwoofer Review

[shadyJ]

What can I say, I don't consider forum buzz and subjective options "vetting". When you look at the PB13U, or even subs like your Outlaw LFM-1EX and Hsu VTF 3.3, you can look at measurements and see they've got reasonably flat FR, low distortion, good response in the time domain, etc because guys like Ricci and Ilkka have measured them up, down, and sideways. Within their performance envelopes, they are reference quality subs. That Mark doesn't want the Submersive reviewed and professionally measured with the stated reason that he doesn't want the additional sales...well, take from it what you will. I'm a cynic, so you can guess what I take from it.

The Submersive has been around for six or seven years now I believe, and gets a lot of praise even from the hardcore DIY subwoofer enthusiasts. The drivers are top notch, as are the amplifiers and cabinet construction. It is a pretty well known quantity, there is a wealth of information about it available, and it gets top scoring at every shoot out and gathering its ever been in. You can hardly blame Mark for not wanting too many orders, he runs a much small shop, and I would guess he couldn't handle the volume of orders that, say the PB13 gets. Forum hype is one thing, but I would say the Submersive is pretty well established top performer.

 

[Raks]

Adam...Thanks for explaining your point. As you said, if any one can afford I am not even questioning it. But I will give you a breakdown of how it is not a VFM ina home theater set up

 

[Steve81]

The Submersive has been around for six or seven years now I believe...You can hardly blame Mark for not wanting too many orders, he runs a much small shop, and I would guess he couldn't handle the volume of orders that, say the PB13 gets.

I guess that's the part that bugs me. In six or seven years, he's not even gotten a website together, let alone a pro review w/ measurements for his products. In six or seven years, he hasn't gotten his ducks in a row to expand his business. It doesn't inspire confidence in me, versus say Tom V. at PSA.

However, in either case I wish Mark no ill will, and I do expect the SubM to be a great performer. From my standpoint though, when given the choice between two high performance subs, if one has been reviewed and measured by Josh Ricci, or Ilkka Rissanen, etc, and the other has not, well...you know what I think. Of course, I don't plan to worry about it if others make a different choice from me.

 

[Alex2507]

Gimme a break.

I'm pretty sure that's coming right up.

 

[Steve81]

I'm pretty sure that's coming right up.

I did just have a Kit Kat bar...

 

[mike c]

Yeah right...SVS uses Bucket and HSu uses Plate. Gimme a break.

You're a troll or a moron. Either way, you don't belong here.

 

[shadyJ]

I guess that's the part that bugs me. In six or seven years, he's not even gotten a website together, let alone a pro review w/ measurements for his products. In six or seven years, he hasn't gotten his ducks in a row to expand his business. It doesn't inspire confidence in me, versus say Tom V. at PSA.

I think Mark could be right where he wants to be, a small business with healthy sales. That he doesn't have a fancy website doesn't mean much, he seems to be doing well with word of mouth exposure. Anyway, he is catering to a much higher budgeted customers than PSA, and I would guess he probably can't and wouldn't want the kind of volume of sales PSA gets. To make a car analogy, PSA is making Mustangs, and Seaton is making Ferraris, but not just for performance, but for manufacturing, marketing, and customer relations as well.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

I guess that's the part that bugs me. In six or seven years, he's not even gotten a website together, let alone a pro review w/ measurements for his products. In six or seven years, he hasn't gotten his ducks in a row to expand his business. It doesn't inspire confidence in me, versus say Tom V. at PSA.

However, in either case I wish Mark no ill will, and I do expect the SubM to be a great performer. From my standpoint though, when given the choice between two high performance subs, if one has been reviewed and measured by Josh Ricci, or Ilkka Rissanen, etc, and the other has not, well...you know what I think. Of course, I don't plan to worry about it if others make a different choice from me.

I know a few speaker builders that have bad websites and still do good business, but I agree, I mean, get a domain and use a template. Can make a really nice storefront using stuff like Shopify without any web experience, and connect your domain to it. Pre-made templates for free to 30 bucks that look great.

But, hey, I know how it goes with the web thing, it's so important but you get caught up in the day to day stuff and it lapses.

Do think it would help him though.

 

[ack_bak]

I know a few speaker builders that have bad websites and still do good business, but I agree, I mean, get a domain and use a template. Can make a really nice storefront using stuff like Shopify without any web experience, and connect your domain to it. Pre-made templates for free to 30 bucks that look great.

But, hey, I know how it goes with the web thing, it's so important but you get caught up in the day to day stuff and it lapses.

Do think it would help him though.

Well that's just it. I don't think he needs more orders. From everything I have read, Mark is fully engaged all the time. He has a different business model than SVS/Hsu/PSA, etc. I do agree, if he ever wanted to expand his business (which would mean hiring more people), he would need to improve his website and ordering process, but something tells me he is happy with the status quo

 

[Steve81]

To make a car analogy, PSA is making Mustangs, and Seaton is making Ferraris, but not just for performance, but for manufacturing, marketing, and customer relations as well.

Not a very good analogy since Ferrari has a website and has their products regularly reviewed by the car rags. When you buy a Ferrari, you don't have to take word of mouth from some random guy on an internet forum that they're awesome.

I think Mark could be right where he wants to be, a small business with healthy sales.

It's certainly possible, but as noted, I'm a cynical person. Of course, I'm not sure his lack of ambition to grow Seaton Sound into a real player is something to be overly proud of either.

 

[ack_bak]

Not a very good analogy since Ferrari has a website and has their products regularly reviewed by the car rags. When you buy a Ferrari, you don't have to take word of mouth from some random guy on an internet forum that they're awesome.


It's certainly possible, but as noted, I'm a cynical person. Of course, I'm not sure his lack of ambition to grow Seaton Sound into a real player is something to be overly proud of either.

How about we stop with the personal attacks and focus on the actual product and performance.

 

[Adam]

Of course, I'm not sure his lack of ambition to grow Seaton Sound into a real player is something to be overly proud of either.

I know virtually nothing about that company or the products, but I'd like to say that I see nothing wrong with not wanting to expand a small business into a larger one. If he does enough business to be happy, and little enough business that he can still be involved and be proud of the products, then I can see the joy in that. I believe that a number of people have found themselves less happy when they got more ambitious and expanded a business to the point where they became a lot more busy, but all that extra work was now in management and not actually part of making the product.

 

[ack_bak]

I know virtually nothing about that company or the products, but I'd like to say that I see nothing wrong with not wanting to expand a small business into a larger one. If he does enough business to be happy, and little enough business that he can still be involved and be proud of the products, then I can see the joy in that. I believe that a number of people have found themselves less happy when they got more ambitious and expanded a business to the point where they became a lot more busy, but all that extra work was now in management and not actually part of making the product.

I don't own a Seaton product but he is constantly on the DIY forums sharing ideas and thoughts with people and trying to help people out. He has also attended a number of the GTG's and just seems like a genuinely nice guy. He is always very professional and seems to take the high road. I would definitely have no problem giving business in the future or recommending his products. I don't think I have ever heard a single complaint about a Seaton product, or the designer.

 

[Steve81]

How about we stop with the personal attacks and focus on the actual product and performance.

OK; lets see a battery of ground plane measurements performed on the Submersive so we can fairly and objectively compare it to other top tier subs.

 

[Steve81]

I know virtually nothing about that company or the products, but I'd like to say that I see nothing wrong with not wanting to expand a small business into a larger one. If he does enough business to be happy, and little enough business that he can still be involved and be proud of the products, then I can see the joy in that. I believe that a number of people have found themselves less happy when they got more ambitious and expanded a business to the point where they became a lot more busy, but all that extra work was now in management and not actually part of making the product.

Fair enough, but it's still a copout in my book. He can't possibly have 3rd party ground plane measurements performed on his product (or even do them himself) because his stuff is just so awesome it would drive up his sales 10 fold. He has no desire to expand his business at all, so all an enthusiast has to work with is the word of a handful of forum members that his stuff is the alpha and the omega of subwoofers. Doesn't work for me, what can I say. In any event, since this isn't germane to the OP, I'll leave it at that. Peace out fellas

 

[Splicer]

I joined for the sole purpose of this ridiculous thread. Simply put, Value is like sound quality, very subjective and different for each individual. I mean, I build my sub(s) myself so any of these ID places that sell subs is not "VFM" as far as I am concerned.

 

[Adam]

I joined for the sole purpose of this ridiculous thread. Simply put, Value is like sound quality, very subjective and different for each individual. I mean, I build my sub(s) myself so any of these ID places that sell subs is not "VFM" as far as I am concerned.

Welcome to the forum!

You're clearly better at building them than I would be. I'd probably spend a lot of money building something that looked like something the cat would drag in. Well, a big cat.

 

[Steve81]

Welcome to the forum!

You're clearly better at building them than I would be. I'd probably spend a lot of money building something that looked like something the cat would drag in. Well, a big cat.

You know, something like these flat packs:
Subwoofer Flat Packs DIY Sound Group

With a couple of Dayton 18" HO drivers would make an interesting combo that even a guy like me could probably build without too much trouble. Some day maybe

 

[Klips]

I don't post very often, but the digest of activity of this thread to my email has caught my attention.

I don't know what road you all are traveling here, but it seems so far off the thread topic and so far south that I can no longer see the light of day.

Someone wanting to read about 'SVS PB13-Ultra review' will not get what he is looking for here. You know, it is pretty easy to start a new thread on all this (what ever it is) and leave this thread focused on topic. If I wanted to know somthing about another sub manufacturer, I would not come to this thread to find out about it.

It would be really nice if the moderator would move this extra stuff to a new thread. Suggested title could be sub bashing 101 or something. rofl

It's just sad to see good threads go bad.

Now, I have to find the settings to un-subscribe to this thread.

P.S. I own a SVS PB13-Ultra and love it. However, life would be pretty boring if there was only one sub manufacturer out there. Just like life would be pretty boring if there was only one make and model of cars available for purchase. ;-)

 

[mrmichaelbeck]

Alright, so this will be try number 2 to post this.

I just took delivery recently of an SVS PB13Ultra. It's a beast. A gorilla in piano black. I installed it and didn't tweak the settings initially and got several texts from my wife upstairs on the other side of the house that our chimney was rattling and to knock it off.

I use my theatre mostly for movies. I had a few guys over the other night who got me setup so I could do 2 channel if I wanted... I don't think it's for me. I've watched a few movies on it and I have been thoroughly impressed with the stately authority that is projected from this beast. I have it paired with a small Linn sub. While the Linn has a very large range, it doesn't have the lungs to compete with the SVS. But then, comparing the amplifiers, it's really got a fart's chance in a hurricane to keep up.

So movies...

Avengers - my setup really picked out the mixing problems. The SVS loved all the explosions. The music was very low in the mix. The voices were pretty intelligible.

Pacific Rim - mixed beautifully and who doesn't love giant monsters fighting giant robots? The SVS mowed through everything Mr. Del Toro was able to dish up.

The Last Stand - Honestly this had the greatest sounding shotgun blasts of any movie I've seen recently, even in theatre. Really enjoyed it.

GI Joe: Retalliation - Terrible movie, very well mixed sound. The SVS didn't care. It may as well have been playing the Smurfs. At this point, I really had the SVS dialled in and it was less a gorilla and more proud, and dependable workhorse, blending into the background when necessary and rising to the forefront when called. It's really an amazing sub.

I highly recommend it. Yes, I would like another SVS sub. Will I get one? I don't know. There are a lot of other purchases that I would like to get first before that and they're all really expensive.