Velodyne ULD 15 Series II vs SVS CS-Ultras

[brad1138]

I love my Velodyne subs, but I ran across a deal on a pair of SVS CS-Ultras with original 500 wpc amp. These review awesome, anyone have a thought on if this would be an upgrade or not? They would cost me less than I could sell the Velodynes for.

The Velodynes are 15 inch sealed, with 400 watt servo controlled amp, the SVS is 12 inch, ported, with 2 channel, 500+ WPC amp. The Velodynes are over 25 years old now. The SVS about 15.

Also, the SVS were designed with home theater in mind (which is what I use mine for), the surround is much larger than on my Velodynes. The Velodynes were made before "Home theater" was a thing.

Any thoughts,
Thanks.

 

[shadyJ]

The SVS subs will have an advantage in deep bass, but the Velodynes probably have a bit of an advantage in mid bass. I think this would be a more lateral move than anything, and I am not sure its worth the trouble.

The thing is, both systems are pretty old and will fail eventually. With the SVS system, you can just replace its amp with an iNuke DSP amp, and that will only set you back $250 or so. There may not be any way to replace the amps in the Velodyne subs. I would guess they don't carry replacement parts that old- and you can't just use any off-the-shelf amp with those subs. That is the real reason to go for the SVS subs.

Subs have come a long ways since those days, so maybe you just want to look at some new subs instead.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I agree. Of the two choices the SVS's imo will be better all around, and as shady said easier to service. However I also agree if you have any kind of budget I'd start looking at newer stuff. For a hundred different reasons, it would be a better long term purchase.

 

[brad1138]

I don't really have any budget. I love the Velos, and wasn't really looking to replace then, but I can make money in this deal. I could sell my Velodynes for probably about $1000, especially with the spare 3rd amp I have for them, and they have both been recently refoamed. The SVS' with amp are $700. There isn't going to be anything new that will compete at that price range. Being able to use any ~500 wpc amp on the SVS, would be helpful down the road. The reviews I found on the CS-ultras were fantastic. I may pick them up, and if I don't like them as much, just sell them for the same $.

 

[Pogre]

I have no experience with those subs, but I have some experience with SVS. They make really good products. I'd probably lean that way myself for the easier servicing option. Plus I'm a little biased. I was pretty impressed with the little sb1000's.

 

[brad1138]

I picked up the SVS' today, and have been listening to them all afternoon. ShadyJ, you were right, the SVS' have better, really low bass (not to say the ULDs don't have great low bass), the ULDs are better over the rest of the bass range. I will be taking more time, probably a few weeks to make a final decision, but at this point, the ULDs are in the lead.

I put in Ironman (1) before switching out the subs, and the opening screen, even though I have listened to it a number of times before, still gave me a jaw dropping, spine tingling experience, yet again. It sounded SO FREAKING good! I looked over at my son with a huge grin on my face and said with a giddy laugh, "wow that sounds so good". I then switched out to the SVS' and after leveling, watched the opening scene again, and it wasn't as exhilarating, not really even close. There was more "really deep" bass, but aside from that, it sounded a bit flat. There was a definite loss of (perceived?) warmth, particularly noticeable in dialog and lack of "fullness" in the mid/upper bass region.

I also listened to some blu ray concert videos, and a couple other movies. It is not as though the SVS' are bad, if I had never heard the ULD's, I would like them a lot. I need more time, to mess around with placement and levels etc.

I'll update later.

 

[shadyJ]

You can equalize the SVS subs to sound more like Velodyne subs by applying a filter that rolls off everything below 40 Hz. Just turn off the filter on movie night when you want that bigtime deep bass. You can also have the best of both worlds by getting a couple ported 15"s from Rythmik or Hsu. It is more expensive, but they can be made to have either signature, placing emphasis on deep bass or more emphasis on mid bass, whenever you want. And they will be more powerful than either the SVS CS Ultras or Velodyne subs in either respect as well.

 

[brad1138]

The SVS's are growing on me, I really need some more A/B testing. They are both fantastic, especially when in pairs.

I am comparing 2 very nice sets of subs, that most people would be thrilled to have. I really can't go wrong, whichever set I decide to keep. The ULDs may be old, but they are still a hell of a sub. 2 15" servo subs, even if not built for HT, can still kick butt.

This is how I have built my system over the better part of 30 years. Yes I could go out and spend $2,000-$3,000+ on a pair of really high end new subs, but I am choosing between some really high end subs, from the past, at ~25% the cost, and it will and does sound fantastic.

The main thing that is bothering me at the moment is, when I turn the SVS amp (Samson s1000) up all the way, there is a noticeable static/hum that comes from the sub, even if no source is coming through. If I back it down to about "3 o'clock" the hum is negligible, but then I have to max my Prepro LFE output to +10 dB to have a moderate sub level. I have no more room if I want to boost it any more. All my equipment in the direct audio path, runs through my ADCOM line conditioners, and every other speaker is dead silent. The hum is loud enough to hear from the seating position, if the Prepro volume is off, but not if you are watching anything, but it bothers me nonetheless.

 

[shadyJ]

Sounds like there is a problem with the amp if you have to boost it all the way just to hear moderate playback. Lots of subs will exhibit slight hum or noise if you crank the gain knob to full, so that isn't what concerns me. You might look into something that boosts the signal into the amp like this, but that is just a workaround the real issue which is the sub amp may be defective. If you think about replacing the amp, make sure the replacement amp has DSP filters onboard so you can protect the subwoofer drivers.

 

[brad1138]

I just came home with a balanced XLR cable and WOW what a difference. The static/hum problem is completely gone and they sound much better. I don't know if there was a problem with the 1/4" input or the RCA to 1/4" adapter, but I'll have completely reassess.

 

[brad1138]

I have had some more time to get the levels (more or less) right and A/B test. The SVS' are really shining. The perceived lack of the upper bass in the SVS' isn't what I thought it originally was, they are really sounding great. I am playing a bit with the Emotiva's built in PEQ, and I raised the "upper" bass @ around 80 Hz by a couple dB and lowered it @ 20 Hz by a couple dBs, and will continue to fiddle with that.

But at this point, the decision on which set to keep isn't real hard. I will be sad to sell the Velos though, they gave me years of great performance.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Lol. Had a feelin about that...