If you recognize the brand in this title straight away, you probably already know your subwoofers.
I expect you’ll also know that SVS have designed some of the most successful ranges of subs over the last few years. It’s fair to say that it’s their specialism.
Subs are listed first on their website (source at svsound.com). They are not shown as accessories, home theatre, or as extras in the way you’ll find on some speaker manufacturers pages.
You might say that SVS ‘R’ Subs, as I hope nobody ever actually wrote!
Guides you to their recommended sub: https://www.svsound.com/pages/system-builder
Countless awards, Best Buy badges, ‘sub of the year’ accolades, and dozens of glowing reviews attest to the phenomenon that is SVS’s entry level subwoofer duo.
It’s enough to make the competition green with envy! Handily, the labelling helps, because the PB series are ported, and the SB series are sealed, so you don’t need to delve into the spec list to understand which is which. https://www.svsound.com/collections/1000-series
Let’s take a look at four key points you need to think about when choosing between these two, or any subs for that matter…
How big is my room?
Have you ever noticed that there often tends to be quite the opposite opinions about a speaker?
I can understand this for more "personal taste" kinda products like clothing, for example.
But for engineering products like speakers? Personal tastes and preferences probably still play a role. But shouldn't it be less?
Why is it that we can't set a universal metric for sound quality?
First time I asked this question to myself has been a pivotal day.
Because it turns out that in the mid 90's, Electrical Engineer PhD Floyd Toole came up with a method called Spinorama. This is exactly what he accomplished with this. Turns out that his book Sound Reproduction is like the bible of audiophiles.
Put it simply, Spinorama is a set of measurements that gives a comprehensive overview of a speaker's performance from various angles.
It allows you to compare the performances of different speakers before even laying your ears hands on them.
Isn't that amazing?
This is why Spinorama was apparently groundbreaking news for audio industry. Hence in the mid-late 2010's, most brands and magazines began publishing Spinorama measurements, despite the challenges of making such measurements.
Fortunately, now we have the Spinorama data for a bunch of quite popular speakers. Pierre Aubert put all this untidy data together and put it into https://www.spinorama.org/. This is a stunning source. Pretty valuable stuff from him right there.
All good up to this point.
Now there comes a caveat.
Since the sound speakers propagate are in the form of omnidirectional waves, all measurements are obtained in anechoic or semi-anechoic chambers (a super-quiet room where soundwaves don't bounce back, here's how different that room sounds [a mind blowing time-adjusted video]).
This is a problem because it means that Spinorama alone, unfortunately, won't give us all we need. Placement and reflections play an equally important role there too.
This is why most A-class brands (like SVS, Bang & Olufsen, etc) often come up with room correction features, adjusted either manually or automatically. The EQ adapts itself to the placement (room, corner, center, etc) for a better (deeper and more accurate) sound. Which is great.
Additionally they often emphasize the importance of placement, here is an example: https://www.svsound.com/blogs/subwoofer-setup-and-tuning/75365187-the-art-of-subwoofer-placement
Anyways...
The source code under Pierre Aubert's work is licensed under GPL (General public license). He didn't perform any of the measurements himself, and instead he compiled all of them into one place, so that makes sense.
At this point, I thought that if there was a tool that combined both the Spinorama with the room acoustics data, it'd be extremely useful.
Unfortunately, it turns out that there wasn't any.
This is where I stepped in and partnered with an Acoustics and Audio Engineering PhD in order to achieve this.
We combined Spinorama data with room acoustics and came up with Soundton. A very simple, 2D online tool that allows you to:
- Reveal optimal speaker positions in a room,
- Test with real speakers from real brands,
- Compare different speakers and different positions in the room.
It can be very valuable for the vast majority.
The colormap provides you the locations with the best (green) and worst (red) listening experience.
It works the best with subwoofers since Soundton processes low frequency response waves only.
- Soundton is going to be, say, 80% accurate. Not 100%.
- Because, other parameters such as the age/materials of the building, furniture/windows in place also have an impact on room acoustics.
- If you want absolutely the most detailed room analysis, then what you need is an acoustics consultant. Mind you that's going to require deep pockets and patience though... assuming you find the right person and they get the job done.
Anyways...
The smaller your room - and here we mean its length or longest dimension - the higher the frequency at which the room will reinforce the lowest bass.
Larger subs than the 1000 series will need a larger room to work at their best.
There is a link to a full look-up chart at the end, so just to give an easy example here - in a 12 foot room (366 cm) the ‘room gain’ begins at 47Hz.
You’ll quickly see from that example why typical ‘bookshelf’ speakers work well in small rooms, because they’ve pretty much given up by 50Hz, so this room gain effect saves them from sounding underpowered down low.
Placement of your sub nearer a boundary will increase the bass you hear.
Do I prioritise cinema effects, or how my Hifi sounds?
Cinema effects or music? The often repeated and rather simplistic answer is to choose a sealed box for music, because it rolls off more smoothly, and is less likely to boom or emphasize one note.
But that’s not necessarily the case for every room, listener or kit combination, so keep an open mind and open ears! For explosions and peak output volume, a ported sub will typically go louder and deeper.
And bear in mind that a port takes up room, so you’ll likely end up with a bigger enclosure. Bigger tends to mean better. And that leads us to…
Do I want my sub on show or to keep it discreet?
Out there or hidden? Brash or discrete? Ok, no need to divulge your personality, we are just considering how your new sub is going to look. Ported designs are invariably bigger, and front ported ones often look the part, or shout ‘look at me’, depending on your perspective.
The SVS PB-1000 has one large port on the same face as the 25cm/10” driver. The sealed SVS SB-1000 obviously has no port, but sports a larger 30cm/12”driver. The PB goes deeper and louder, if you need it to.
- SVS also offers a good document library, check that out too if you'd like to read more.
Is it a recommended pairing for my main speakers?
If you haven’t already done so, take a look at SVS’s website. It has a great ‘wizard’ to guide you to their recommended match for your main speakers.
Unlike similar guides I’ve seen this looks really comprehensive as it has matches for some of the rarer combinations I could think of.
Even if another model is actually recommended, one of the hallmarks of this admittedly low-cost range is how versatile it is.
So you shouldn’t rule it out if you’re adding a sub on a tight budget. By this point, you’ll have found that these almost ‘classic’ original SVS designs in the 1000 range have been superseded by Pro models.
These benefit from technology developed originally for the senior models in the range, especially the leading Ultra designs. Both PB Pro and SB Pro now use 30cm (12”) woofers, with the ported PB Pro sporting two front-mounted ports.
Necessarily, the PB is bigger in every dimension, heavier too, so you might want to make time to go back with a tape measure and think about how well these could fit within your room. https://www.svsound.com/pages/merlin
Also check out deals on most popular SVS subs in here.
What’s the catch?
Just hang on, I hear you saying!
You’ve already highlighted that the Pro models are now the core 1000 series offering, so why all the discussion about the original models?
Well, it’s one of the most frequently asked on audio forums across the globe, and SVS really set a new standard at this price level. That still holds good - the originals are still a great buy.
They cannot be ignored. Many places will have unsold stock, returns or traded-in models. And all those points we looked at above about how to decide between ported and sealed models hold good for the Pro series too, so you’ve not wasted your time.
If you can, get down to a SVS dealer and hear them for yourself. If you can’t, see if you can have one on home trial, or with an option to return. (In the USA, SVS offers a 45 day home trial with free returns).
If those options don’t work for you, consider a used one from your favorite auction site, especially as they hold their used value well. But if you want to just take a punt and buy unheard, you really can’t go far wrong. And if you've been thinking about it for a while and can run to the even better and latest Pro series, then don’t hesitate.
Don’t forget, there are countless guides and videos to walk you through the set-up if you need some help. Here’s a great one to get you started…
Enjoy!
Further reading and helpful links:
#Wavelength calculator - look down the ‘half wavelength’ column to find the measurement of your largest room dimension… https://www.fmsystems-inc.com/sound-frequency-wave-length/
The frequency shown is where the effect of ‘room gain’ will start adding to the bass output you hear.
For a more complex system, try this...