Sub Break-In????

[jb5200]

Hey everybody,

So I just recently got my new SVS SB13 Plus (I know, probably a waste of $$$) delivered Monday and was just wondering what the appropriate length of time it would take for a sub to break in?

I haven't gone through all the setup menu's other than set my speakers to small w/Xover at 80hz and the low pass filter set to 80hz. I have been playing rap music (a lot) for the past few days to break it in and I can't seem to get it to play very low, deep, heavy, weighty, clean, etc. It is very vibratey, reverby, resonatey (not sure if those are even words) and doesn't go very deep. This sub will be strictly for movies so I obviously want it to play deep. I don't have the space so that's why I didn't get the ported.

I am replacing a Klipsch RW12 and honestly that played lower than the SVS does. I know this sub is pretty advanced and I will be honest I am not the most knowledgeable with the advanced, new technology but I thought at least same settings just swap out old sub put in new one that is 2X the price should be better right?

I have a JL Fathom 112 that I use for my 2 ch. music rig and that is the deepest, cleanest bass for music that I have ever heard and I guess I was expecting the SVS to be better.

Am I just doing it wrong?

Thanks

 

[ahblaza]

Hey everybody,

So I just recently got my new SVS SB13 Plus (I know, probably a waste of $$$) delivered Monday and was just wondering what the appropriate length of time it would take for a sub to break in?

I haven't gone through all the setup menu's other than set my speakers to small w/Xover at 80hz and the low pass filter set to 80hz. I have been playing rap music (a lot) for the past few days to break it in and I can't seem to get it to play very low, deep, heavy, weighty, clean, etc. It is very vibratey, reverby, resonatey (not sure if those are even words) and doesn't go very deep. This sub will be strictly for movies so I obviously want it to play deep. I don't have the space so that's why I didn't get the ported.

I am replacing a Klipsch RW12 and honestly that played lower than the SVS does. I know this sub is pretty advanced and I will be honest I am not the most knowledgeable with the advanced, new technology but I thought at least same settings just swap out old sub put in new one that is 2X the price should be better right?

I have a JL Fathom 112 that I use for my 2 ch. music rig and that is the deepest, cleanest bass for music that I have ever heard and I guess I was expecting the SVS to be better.

Am I just doing it wrong?

Thanks

Something ain't right.

 

[ahblaza]

I did not know subs had a break in time, honestly, not trying to be arrogant.

 

[j_garcia]

I did not know subs had a break in time, honestly, not trying to be arrogant.

You aren't because they don't.

The SB13 is a sealed sub, so it may not give the same kind of rumble as a vented sub, but if you get it setup correctly, I can't imagine anyone coming from a Klipsch sub to be disappointed. You would need a PB13 Ultra to compare to the Fathom AFAIK.

 

[ahblaza]

You aren't because they don't.

The SB13 is a sealed sub, so it may not give the same kind of rumble as a vented sub, but if you get it setup correctly, I can't imagine anyone coming from a Klipsch sub to be disappointed. You would need a PB13 Ultra to compare to the Fathom AFAIK.

Second that John, my sealed Epik legend does not have that kind of rumble, but I think it is setup right and I can tell you it's real close, last night I felt some chest pounding response that really impressed me, great sub.
jeff

 

[emorphien]

I 'break' my subs in by listening to whatever the hell I want at a level louder than I spend most of the time actually listening to music. Why? Because it's fun!

Anyway, double check your connections & receiver setup I suppose? You could see if the Fathom is actually making proper noises in this system too if you wanted to start hauling things around (or test the SB13 in your other system). Make sure the driver on the sub is moving (hold your hand in front of it for example) and see if you don't have something on the sub set wrong? I know that thing has a pretty snazzy amp with a variety of controls/settings.

 

[jb5200]

Thanks for the input. I am not a fan of moving a 100lb sub around but maybe that's what I am going to need to do. I am going to spend some more time this weekend and try to go through some of the fancy dancy features to see if that helps. Again I am not really the best at this new technology.

I just figured the JL is a 12" sealed, the SVS is a 13" sealed - should be better right??! The driver is moving but it just isn't close to as deep as the JL. And this is just at normal listening volumes. Maybe I will watch a movie to see how that goes!

Will report back soon!

 

[bellevegasj]

You aren't because they don't.

Exactly. Same goes for all speakers.

 

[j_garcia]

I just looked at their charts and it shows the SB13 dropping off around 30hz anechoic, but with room gain, should be around 95dB down to 10Hz. The room they tested was 2000cf. How big is your room? I don't see charts for the F112, but it says -3dB at 21Hz.

I was a little underwhelmed at first with my Empire also, because it didn't have the same rumble as my Tempest did, but I've come to love the sound of this sub and find it very satisfying because it is cleaner everywhere else.

 

[GranteedEV]

You aren't because they don't.

The SB13 is a sealed sub, so it may not give the same kind of rumble as a vented sub, but if you get it setup correctly, I can't imagine anyone coming from a Klipsch sub to be disappointed. You would need a PB13 Ultra to compare to the Fathom AFAIK.

Extra High excursion drivers do have a break in period.

With that said OP should start by running some 20hz test tones through both subs and see if you get the 60hz harmonics (easy to tell... if you can hear it then your sub is distorting)

Next play around with the room gain settings on the SVS.

 

[shadyJ]

There shouldn't be any serious break in time with a sub. Also, make sure that you aren't playing heavy bass sounds for prolonged periods of time, that could cause thermal issues with the voice coil and amp. Rap isn't as bad as test tones though, I have heard of people trying to 'break-in' their sub by looping sine wave test tones for hours. That isn't breaking-in a sub, that is just breaking a sub. Also remember most rap bass doesn't really go that deep, so if deep bass is what you are after, make sure it is in the material you are listening to.

I would run some test tones- here is a page with a variety of tones you can use. I wouldn't try to run the really deep tones and expect to hear much, however I recall reading that the new digital amps make it impossible to bottom out the sub. I would definitely talk to SVS to confirm that if you want to test the maximum output of the sub though, especially at deep frequencies.

Also, remember the SVS sealed subs rely on room gain for the deep frequencies, and room gain depends on the size of the room. In a larger room, you won't hear much deep output from the SB13, you would have to get multiples for that. In a small room, you should be able to hear deep stuff though with no problem, as long as care was taken in the subs placement.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Extra High excursion drivers do have a break in period. ....

How so? Why? References?

 

[TLS Guy]

Hey everybody,

So I just recently got my new SVS SB13 Plus (I know, probably a waste of $$$) delivered Monday and was just wondering what the appropriate length of time it would take for a sub to break in?

I haven't gone through all the setup menu's other than set my speakers to small w/Xover at 80hz and the low pass filter set to 80hz. I have been playing rap music (a lot) for the past few days to break it in and I can't seem to get it to play very low, deep, heavy, weighty, clean, etc. It is very vibratey, reverby, resonatey (not sure if those are even words) and doesn't go very deep. This sub will be strictly for movies so I obviously want it to play deep. I don't have the space so that's why I didn't get the ported.

I am replacing a Klipsch RW12 and honestly that played lower than the SVS does. I know this sub is pretty advanced and I will be honest I am not the most knowledgeable with the advanced, new technology but I thought at least same settings just swap out old sub put in new one that is 2X the price should be better right?

I have a JL Fathom 112 that I use for my 2 ch. music rig and that is the deepest, cleanest bass for music that I have ever heard and I guess I was expecting the SVS to be better.

Am I just doing it wrong?

Thanks

The Fathom looks to be a much more capable sub than the SVS. It should be its a lot more expensive. The SVS is 3 db down at 40 Hz and around 12 db down at 20 Hz the Fathom is 3 db down at 19 Hz.

 

[shadyJ]

The Fathom looks to be a much more capable sub than the SVS. It should be its a lot more expensive. The SVS is 3 db down at 40 Hz and around 12 db down at 20 Hz the Fathom is 3 db down at 19 Hz.

I'm not sure how you can determine this without knowing the maximum clean output of each. Is the low end roll off necessarily indicative of overall capability of the sub?

 

[jb5200]

My room is tiny - 11x13 with a 7 1/2 ft ceiling. I not really talking about high volumes or max output. I am talking at just normal listening levels. I also have been playing a lot of hard rock with solid bass - Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin and again the low, deep, weighty notes aren't there. And the bass is again very reverby, vibratey instead of with the note clean, low, with the right amount of weight overhang like my JL.

Since my room is so tiny that's why I couldn't get the ported, not to mention my wife wouldn't approve, she's pregnant right now and due in 2 months so I kinda have to abide by her rules right now.

I have my JL's volume at just under 1/2 and the room it fills is huge - 20x40 again with 7 1/2 foot ceiling. I listen at normal volumes and again the JL is so deep, low, weighty, and clean not to mention it fills the room very nice. The SVS volume goes from -100 - 0 and I have it at -19 which is what 81% of Max. I guess I should mention though I use Anthem's ARC for that system and it is pretty slick. I don't use anything for the little room - Yamaha RXV3800 and I set up everything manually. SVS recommends using the auto setup but I have never been a fan of the results with receiver auto's.

I guess I bought this based off of SVS's reputation on the forums, not to mention their very strong words that they claim that any sealed sub for $4000 should be scared (or something like that) which I took to be aimed at JL.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm not sure how you can determine this without knowing the maximum clean output of each. Is the low end roll off necessarily indicative of overall capability of the sub?

I think the SVS is too inexpensive to produce a good sealed sub. I think they would have added Eq on their frequency response graph if they could have. -3db at 40 Hz is not really a sub. That is getting into bass module territory.

Any how the OP can put it to the test. The SVS sub has Eq. Add 12 db peroctave boost starting in the 40 to 50 Hz range and see if the driver bottoms, or protection cuts in. I bet one of the two happens.

Subs are a problem.

I dislike Qb4 ported subs basically, they are over resonant and spread their gooey bass over everything.

To me sealed never sounds quite right and I don't know entirely why. I guess it is because a driver cone is a very poor and inefficient coupler to the room. Because of that you need a very good (expensive) linear long throw driver system and gobs of clean amp power.

I have been saying for years: - "Do speakers have to be large? No but it helps a lot". As the years pass I'm coming to the view that speakers do in fact have to be huge for good accurate bass. You can only fool mother nature to a point.

 

[j_garcia]

My room is tiny - 11x13 with a 7 1/2 ft ceiling. I not really talking about high volumes or max output. I am talking at just normal listening levels. I also have been playing a lot of hard rock with solid bass - Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin and again the low, deep, weighty notes aren't there. And the bass is again very reverby, vibratey instead of with the note clean, low, with the right amount of weight overhang like my JL.

Since my room is so tiny that's why I couldn't get the ported, not to mention my wife wouldn't approve, she's pregnant right now and due in 2 months so I kinda have to abide by her rules right now.

I have my JL's volume at just under 1/2 and the room it fills is huge - 20x40 again with 7 1/2 foot ceiling. I listen at normal volumes and again the JL is so deep, low, weighty, and clean not to mention it fills the room very nice. The SVS volume goes from -100 - 0 and I have it at -19 which is what 81% of Max. I guess I should mention though I use Anthem's ARC for that system and it is pretty slick. I don't use anything for the little room - Yamaha RXV3800 and I set up everything manually. SVS recommends using the auto setup but I have never been a fan of the results with receiver auto's.

I guess I bought this based off of SVS's reputation on the forums, not to mention their very strong words that they claim that any sealed sub for $4000 should be scared (or something like that) which I took to be aimed at JL.

A very large room is actually easier to get good bass in because the waves are able to properly setup (even in a 40ft room, low bass sine waves are longer than the room). For a small room, standing waves are much more likely and the closer you get to square, the worse that is. In a square-ish room like yours, placement and your listening position are CRITICAL to minimize this.

 

[ahblaza]

I just looked at their charts and it shows the SB13 dropping off around 30hz anechoic, but with room gain, should be around 95dB down to 10Hz. The room they tested was 2000cf. How big is your room? I don't see charts for the F112, but it says -3dB at 21Hz.

I was a little underwhelmed at first with my Empire also, because it didn't have the same rumble as my Tempest did, but I've come to love the sound of this sub and find it very satisfying because it is cleaner everywhere else.

John, I felt the same way with the Legend, but now that I'm used to the sound, everything just sounds better, I could not be happier. At first I was dissapointed but after some critical listening and placement and calibration, I am truly amazed. I would advise anyone in the $500 price range to consider the Epik.

 

[emorphien]

My room is tiny - 11x13 with a 7 1/2 ft ceiling.

In a room that size, if you're having these problems there's either something wrong in your setup or with the sub itself. The SB12-NSD I've been listening to in a room that's the same size basically (has a couple areas that extend off it) is able to easily produce and fill the room with good bass without having to go over half power on it (and the volume setting on the preamp driving it isn't terribly high).

 

[jb5200]

I know, I'm sure I don't have something hooked up right.

So last night I ran the auto setup on my receiver and it put the xover at 160 and I set the low pass filter to 125 and that seemed to help. I really don't know much about there PEQ1 and 2 so I didn't do anything with that. Other than that there aren't a lot of other settings to change on the sub menu. So I played a few songs that I know very well and those low, deep notes are still missing. It's better but in those when the drums and bass guitar go down all of a sudden they stop and I know there is a note or two lower.

So I watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and The War of the Worlds two movies that sound incredible to me. Same thing, the deep low notes are not there. There is a lot of loud hard slamming bass that you hear but there is no low rumble bass that you feel. I do agree that this SVS is a lot tighter but the Klipsch believe it or not had a lot of rumble and bass you felt for 1/2 the price. I know the Klipsch is ported but this should not be.

My next step is to contact SVS and haul my JL over into the next room (this will be fun) and try it to see what it does. Overall, I am NOT satisfied with this sub for the reputation, the marketing hype, and the price.

If anyone has this sub please let me know what your settings are.

Thanks