Hey Doc....SVS

kelley
kelley Posts: 287
edited January 2004 in Speakers
How good do you see the new PC Ultra being? Is it worth the upgrade over a 20-39PC+?
SDS-400, SDA-1B, SVS 20-39pc+, B&K Ref 50, Denon 2900
Post edited by kelley on
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited January 2004
    I have heard both the Plus and the Ultra subs. Yes, the Ultra has its own unique sonic signature. It's subtle, but audible, even at lower volumes. Both sound excellent, and anyone could happily live with either.

    Subjectively, I would say the sonic accuracy of the TV-12 is just a hair better than the dB-12 driver in the Plus line. The Ultra just seemed to perfectly nail every passage no matter how complex and difficult. The PC+ was just a frog's hair behind the Ultra in sound quality, IMO. But both are extremely good, which is no surprise considering the drivers are made by the same company.

    I found the TV-12 driver to be slightly more "authoritative" than the dB-12 at VERY high volumes. This is probably due to the larger magnet, underhung 10-layer VC, and extraordinarily high xMax (>26mm one way) allowing excellent thermal power handling, cone control, and excursion characteristics. The TV-12 is an effortless driver and really makes the stretch for that last dB of deep impact.

    It has been well established that the TV-12 driver has a 1.5 dB maximum output advantage over the dB-12, and we certainly proved it. We recorded 116-117 dB peaks (on C-weighted Fast) about 12 feet from the sub during playback at reference level. This is about 2 dB better than the dB-12 driver managed in the same room.

    The TV-12 driver in the Ultra and SS subwoofers represents the ultimate in design technology that TC-Sounds and SVS currently offer in a woofer. It is considerably more expensive than the still excellent dB-12 Plus driver. This is a perfect example of the law of diminishing returns: The Plus driver offers about 85% of the performance of the Ultra driver (in terms of SPL capability, power handling, distortion, etc.) for about half the cost.

    To some (many) people, having the ultimate woofer SVS offers is worth the considerable expense. Ask Tom Vodhanel what he thinks of the Ultra and he'll tell you "It's worth every penny". But if you place a premium on bang for the buck, the Plus subs are IMO easily the best performance value in the entire line-up.

    What might swing you to the PC-Ultra (other than the above) is the single band PEQ feature. Perfect to knock down a room-induced FR peak.

    Doc
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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  • dave shepard
    dave shepard Posts: 1,334
    edited January 2004
    Originally posted by Dr. Spec


    What might swing you to the PC-Ultra (other than the above) is the single band PEQ feature. Perfect to knock down a room-induced FR peak.

    Doc

    But finding them can be a good learning experiance on how to best manage and set-up a system. Not to mention you'll get a better understanding of what those in depth review specs really mean, so long as you don't loose your patients :) .

    Dave
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