SVS PCi 25-31 fill 28x18 room?

walk

Money is an issue. Is the base model SVS sub PCi 25-31 enough to fill this room with good bass - not talking reference levels but enough to engage PWM (pant waffling mode) when the occasional action-movie calls for it?

RuSsMaN

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.

Anything up from the bottom-of-the-line SVS is mere icing on the already scrumptious cake.

Buy a passive, and 2ch amp to bridge on the cheap.

Cheers,
Rooster

gatemplin

The 25-31 actually has the most output of the PCi series. It should excel at HT with lots of punch. The optional 22 Hz tune is very popular aswell, with better extension. I'm sure there are owners here who can chime in on the performance.

walk

Yeah I was thinking about getting the 22hz tune.

As for the passive, I thought about that, but the price difference between the PCi 25-31 and CS 25-31 is only $170. I don't think I can get a quality 320 watt amp for $170...
I do have my old receiver but it's only 70 watts/ch and not bridgeable, plus I'd rather use it to bi-amp my 150s I think.

pjdami

Walk,

How high are your ceilings? If your ceilings are even the minimum 8 foot tall, you are looking at a very large room at over 4,000 cubic feet.

I would email SVS at:

http://www.svsubwoofers.com/contact.htm

and tell them specifically what your expectations and listening habits are.

Have you calibrated your Onkyo receiver using a calibration DVD? If so, do you remember what volume level you needed to get 85 db on all of your surround speakers? Finally, compared to this "reference" volume on your Onkyo, what volume level do you normally watch movies at?

As an example, my living room is a little over 3,000 cubic feet with large openings into other areas of the house in opposite corners. For reference listening levels, SVS actually proposed that I needed a PB2-ISD to adequately fill the room with reference volume bass. Since I told them that I only go to about -15 db of reference as a maximum volume, they told me that the PB1+ would serve my purpose fine.

I know that you say that money is a consideration, but I would email SVS for some options. From my experience in dealing with them they respond the same day usually within a few hours. Have some of the information that I just reviewed available for them in your email as well.

Have fun researching your new sub,
Paul

walk

Ok, the room isn't quite as big as I thought!

It's more like 22x16, with "standard" 7-8ft ceilings. But I can already tell from a brief audition that the BassCube8 isn't quite gonna cut the mustard in there. The floor is "soft" - hardwood over a crawlspace, so there is some reverberation (which is good IMO) but I'm definitely gonna want a bigger sub soon!

walk

As for calibration, yes I've calibrated all speakers to 75db using internal test tones with the volume level at about 75-78, then I normally listen with the volume at 50-60, maybe a little higher now in this larger room but not too much.

I'd guess during louder passages the total SPL may reach 95-100 but only during peaks, and normally much lower (75-85).