My SVS 20-39 PCI

[fox]

Recently, I acquired a cylinder sub from SVS. It has been used more for music than DVD's up to this point, although I did watch "War Of The Worlds" yesterday. What I have found is that with certain bass prone passages in one CD I have is that it can at times be overly bass prone, to the point that it did not sound good to me. Now this happens rarely, so it is not a major concern for me, but during that particular track it was just a little to much for my liking. So I turned the gain back from around a 1/3 of the way up to say around 27% of the way up and this seems more right to me. The bass is still there, and makes music sound all the better because of it. As for the film yesterday, there were times when the floor, recliner, and yes I were all vibrating. Oh yeah. The sub just adds so much more realism to the movie soundtrack. Even though I went with a more modest unit, so far, I have been pleased with my SVS. Right now, Pink Floyd is playing on the laser turntable....and when I bypass the SVS, the music just sounds so much more flat. The cylinder was a better choice for me due to real estate concerns in the room. The 20-39 PCI fits perfectly between my main and the audio rack as close to the corner as it can be. Thank you SVS. You have another happy customer.

 

[Adam]

fox, glad to see that you got it dialed in the way that you like it. Did you set up the speaker levels (with an auto set-up routine on your receiver or with test tones and an SPL meter) when you got the sub? If not, you might consider doing that and then tweaking the levels from there to your liking.

 

[croseiv]

First, have your properly calibrated your sub's level? Sounds like you may be running it rather hot. It can be tricky trying to adjust the level by ear because we are rather insensitive to bass frequencies. It's best to use a SPL meter to measure the sub's output. I run mine about 3-5dB above my mains. This gives me really good results.

Have you done a frequency plot from your listening position? It's a little labor intensive, but it can show you if you have any serious frequency spikes that would make the sub sound bad. However, I would initially focus on getting the sub's level properly adjusted.

Congrats on getting the new sub!

 

[fox]

I set it up based upon my listening preferences. My receiver is not equipped with an auto set feature, but for the test tones all of which sound evenly matched. I thought about getting at SPL, but up to this point have not. I may yes, but for the moment I have chosen to trust my ears more than anything else. I know it's not the "best" way of going about it. But it does sound good to my ears. We'll see yet about picking up an SPL.

 

[croseiv]

I set it up based upon my listening preferences. My receiver is not equipped with an auto set feature, but for the test tones all of which sound evenly matched. I thought about getting at SPL, but up to this point have not. I may yes, but for the moment I have chosen to trust my ears more than anything else. I know it's not the "best" way of going about it. But it does sound good to my ears. We'll see yet about picking up an SPL.

I found that I was running my sub WAY hot without using a SPL meter. It was quite surprising to me really.

 

[fox]

Well, it sounds like getting an SPL meter would be a good thing to do. The sub does not sound like it is running HOT to me, it did before yes, but now it seems much closer to as it should be. I didn't go with a meter to cut some some costs and well, the dollars only go so far as we all know so well. I know it isn't a lot more cost wise. But you know how it is for us all. If I turn the gain down much more, it almost seems to me that I it might be defeating the purpose of getting a new and nice sub. But I will reconsider a meter and I do appreciate the input.