need help

[danweiss]

between the subs HSU VTF-2 MK 2 ($500), the SVS pb10 ($430), and the AV123 Rocket ULW-10 ($400), which one is best for music listening?

 

[golfhack]

Hey Dan,

In short, for the majority of the world - all of them. Seriously. The separation lies in movie experience. Unless you are extremely familiar with your music (as most audiophiles) all of them will suffice. Otherwise, the rocket will probably have an edge there, albeit a small edge. The ported designs will excel in the movie experience since they will extend a little deeper. Although a sealed design will extend a couple of Hz with the room - dependent on the room - usually 2 or 3 Hz. Coin toss time!!!

 

[danweiss]

i noticed the HSU has an extra set of ins and outs for speakers and the SVS doesnt. are those important? what exactly do they do?

 

[zumbo]

Probably LFE pass through for sending signal to another sub.

 

[MDS]

i noticed the HSU has an extra set of ins and outs for speakers and the SVS doesnt. are those important? what exactly do they do?

I assume you are talking about speaker level ('high-level') inputs and outputs because the SVS doesn't have those. They are used if you want to connect the L/R speaker outputs of the receiver to the sub and then from the sub to the main L/R speakers. You would want speaker level inputs/outputs on a sub if your receiver didn't have a subwoofer pre-out or if you wanted to use the xover on the sub instead of the receiver (if eg. the receiver had a fixed xover that was too high).

The SVS eliminates the speaker level ins and outs because the vast majority of people use the single cable connection from the receiver's sub pre-out to the line-level input on the sub (and thus use the receiver's xover and bass management settings).

 

[Tex-amp]

If music is your top priority the Rocket sub is the fastest and tightest of the group but it is not the loudest or deepest. I own the Hsu in my HT and am looking at the ULW-10 for my 2 channel.

The SVS has just a LFE line level input the Hsu has speaker level inputs too as an option. You can use the crossover in the sub instead of the receiver's or if your receiver has no LFE output.

 

[warpdrive]

i noticed the HSU has an extra set of ins and outs for speakers and the SVS doesnt. are those important? what exactly do they do?

The SVS relies on you having a subwoofer output jack on your receiver and has a crossover. The SVS is designed to be used with surround receivers that have a built-in crossover. They left a crossover and speaker terminals out of the product since most home theater systems don't need them (and save some cost)

If you set up any of these three subwoofers properly, they will all make for a satisfying music experience.

The whole idea of "faster" is a common joke....it was actually faster, it would be a tweeter. If your speaker cone is outputting a clean signal without harmonic distortion, then it is good quality bass, and good quality bass doesn't care if it's "music" or "explosions". Some subs sound "tighter" because they are actually not extending as deep, and that lack of deep bass gives it a lighter, tighter sound without the deep rumble of truely deep bass.

 

[Tex-amp]

Listen to the Rocket and either of the other two and see if you don't think it has faster transient responses. Faster refers to how quick a cone starts and stops motion. High school physics class enertia lessons should make this understandable. Heavier cones take more to get into motion and to stop. I have the Hsu and have heard the Rocket. The Rocket is much better at transient response and hence separation of notes. I t is an extremely articulate sub. Also the ULW-10 is a sealed sub.

You can read what audioholics has to say about it's bigger amp bother the UFW-10. - http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/AV123RocketUFW-10Subwoofer1.php

 

[golfhack]

See my previous post.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

still a newbie but learning... it would appear warpdrive's theory makes the best sense...a larger driver takes more energy to move and goes deeper so it wouldn't be as tight as a smaller driver that doesn't hit as low a frequency...sounds like texamp is kind of saying the same thing but wording it differently.

my question is about bass tone. I see some posts talking about how good music sounds "tonally" with a sub ..some subs play one tone..that would appear to me to be more important ...this and the drop curve, which i don't know much about.

 

[warpdrive]

Re: Transient response

I'm well aware of transient response, but I think there are other factors at play. If the rocket sub reached as deep as the Hsu/SVS subs, then we could compare, but I still think some of the "tightness" people are hearing is due to a lack of deep bass. Boominess in a sub can be accentuated by resonances that weren't there when produced by a less extended sub.

But my point is, the Hsu and SVS should be capable of tight sounding bass, because they are both capable of flat, accurate bass as long as they are properly set up.

For the original poster, I don't think you will go wrong with ANY of your choices for music. I just bought a Mirage with 12" drivers with dual ports, and it sounds better voiced than my old boomy Paradigm sub. The careful setup I did made all the difference too. I just get utterly clean bass at normal listening levels, nothing added except lots of impact when the source material calls for it.

 

[Tex-amp]

When there are two quick notes the Rocket plays two notes. Many times the others play one long note. I did my listening with music and it was not organ music so there really isn't anything below ~30hz to hear a depth difference.