So, I'm going to try to revive this thread now that I finally got my SB13-ultra. Had for a little over a week now, constantly tweaking it and my system along the way. I've had some setup problems, particularly in taming my room acoustics and getting a flat frequency response. While initially I was disappointed with the performance, I've since gotten it to sound much better by tweaking placement, adjusting levels, and activating the parametric eq to tighten my response. I still need more time to give my final judgement but overall, I can say it's a quality product.
Unboxing and Initial Setup
My previous sub was a SVS PB12-NSD (older down firing model with 325W Bash Amp). My motivation in getting a new sub was initially to get more accurate bass in a more compact aestetically pleasing form factor. That naturally led me to look at some of the quality sealed subs out there like the Hsu ULS-15, JL Audio Fathom F113, Def Tech Supercubes, Velodyne DD+ series, Paradigm SUB 12/15, etc. However, when looking at the cost of many of those subs, I become sold on the SVS mainly due to value and previous experience with their quality. In addition, I recently discovered that my PB12 had an issue with the driver (i think) where it just flutters horribly at frequencies below 35hz creating nasty audible distortion (I may not be able to sell it afterall). Thus, I guess it was time to upgrade and get something that I can add a 2nd sub to my system for a reasonable cost and size investment.
I got the piano gloss finish and it is gorgeous. Even my fiance was impressed compared to the pedestrian look of the old PB12. The sub is solid, heavy, and sturdy exhibiting the excellent build quality SVS is known for. The driver is impressive and I was really taken by the material used and it's sturdiness. The first thing I did when I got it out the box was place it in my main listening position, crawl around the front of my room, and compare the two front corner positions to see which one worked best. I decided to place it in the front right corner, set the Sledge volume to -5dB, run Audyssey on my Marantz AV7005, and get to listening.
This Is Not What I Expected
To be honest, my inital impression when first listening was..."where is the bass?". The bass was not very powerful or impactful with various music I tried spanning Hip-Hop, Jazz, Classical, and Pop. Granted, I wasn't able to really turn the volume up beyond -25dB on the Marantz due to the time of day but it was extremely difficult to discern the contribution of the sub to the overall sound. I tried turning off the mains several times to evaluate the sub's sound alone and still found the sound kind of "empty". The next day I gave SVS a call and they gave me some things to try to isolate the issue. I verified that it was not an issue with the Marantz by sending a signal directly from my Oppo-93 player. The levels were still roughly the same. The SVS rep suspected it may just be room issues but I initially was relunctant to believe that for two reasons: 1) The sound from the SB13 did not sound as full as the PB12 throughout the audio band in the same room, and 2) playing some test tones revealed that the levels decreased dramatically in my room below 60hz (we're talking like -15-20db and stayed down to the limits of the sub around 22hz). After several more days of evaluation, I resolved both concerns. The most recent location for my PB12 was on the opposite front corner, so it wasn't really an apples to apples comparison. At one point, I did have the PB12 on the same side as the SB13, but found the sound thin and moved it to the opposite side. I wanted to leave the SB13 on the right side for room aestetics so I was going to try the get satisfactory performance in that location. Furthermore, I obtained some new test tones that worked better than the initial ones which apparently weren't recorded at the same levels thus invaliding my freq response data.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
After obtaining new test tones I manually charted the frequency response at my main position and discovered I have a large null at 45hz and a peak from 75-90hz. I then used the P-EQ to flatten those out best I could. Finally, I moved my couch back about a foot from the center of my room which has a null and did some listening. Now I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tracks that should have full booming bass do now and I can hear it with much more impact at my listening position. The bass is certainly tighter than my PB12-NSD with much less distortion that reduces unwanted noises such as shuffing and rattling. I still am not sure I hear the difference with the "accuracy" and "articulation" of the bass when compared to the PB12. That could be do to either the room still or the source material I'm using so like I said, I want to give it more time before I give a full evaluation.
The next thing is to spend more times with movies to see if my tweaking has helped. Using a DTS sampler disc I received from CES2011, I found some of my favorite tracks lacking in the sub-30hz region compared to the PB12. Again, that could be do to the more complete corner loading I had with the PB12. I also haven't listened to movies since I made the last round of tweaks with the parametric EQ. So look for some follow up impressions with movies by the end of this week.
Summary
Pros:
- Tight controlled bass
- Low distortion makes listening more pleasant and louder levels less disruptive
- Great aestetics and finish
- Flexible with lots of DSP controls for tweaking
Cons:
- Difficult to get sounding up to it's potential in my room
- Lacking in the ultra-low end (sub-30hz region) when compared to the cheaper ported PB12
AGAIN, THIS IS NOT MY FINAL WORD. JUST MY IMPRESSIONS UP TO THIS POINT. THERE IS STILL PLENTY OF TESTING I NEED TO DO AND VARIABLES I NEED TO ELIMINATE BEFORE I CAN GIVE A CONFIDENT AND FAIR EVALUATION.
Hopefully, this will bring some of you other owners out from your silence
