SVS... What is going on here???

dipiazza

After much research and talking to the guys at SVS. I ordered the 20-39PCi last week. Today it came. I was extremely excited to get it setup and hear this awesome bass everyone is talking about. Maybe im doing something wrong because everything i heard was weak weak weak.

I dont understand, I had a PSW303 before and it plays much louder and with more punch than the svs. I found myself having to turn the svs up to 3/4 gain just to hear it with my other speakers. I set it up and calibrated it as i had done with my PSW but the results were just weak.

I put on the dvd of the day after tommorow hoping to hear some deep bass from the action scenes. I FEEL more bass with the psw. Am i just stupid or could there be something wrong with my svs.

I expected much more. Right now im feeling like I just wasted $600.

jma9

i have the 20-39 and it gets pretty loud. mine shakes the walls in my room during movies and it is a huge room. the svs isn't a boomy sub so maybe that is the difference between the polk and the svs that you are noticing. with music the svs isn't overpowering but fills in nicely. with movies, though, i think you should be feeling the bass. do you have your speakers set to small? something doesn't sound right.

danger boy

couple things to check..

check to see what the sub crossover is set to. set it at 80 for starters. also check your setting for your main front speakers. if they are set to large.. then very little bass is directed to your new SVS subwoofer.

Make sure you are watching in dolby digital... i got caught off guard just last night.. i was in some kind of Pro Logic setting.. sounded ok, but hardly any bass.

Also check to make sure you didn't accidently enable some kind of "midnight" mode on your receiver.. that will also kill the bass and the loudness you hear.

I can't imagine you would have to turn up your SVS to 3/4 volume just to hear it slam. that's very odd. I'm guessing it's some kind of setting on your receiver OR in the set up of your DVD player.

good luck. that SVS should be hitting pretty low. Which model of SVS? Where did you place it in the room?

RuSsMaN

Give it a week. You are getting flat response for the first time, not the typical bloated, boomy push at 50-80Hz.

I think you are hearing REAL bass for the first time, and you just aren't acclimated to yet it.

danger boy

Agree with RuSs..... the bass is different than Polk subs. it may not seem as loud or hit in you in the face as hard.. but it takes some getting use to.

What movie were you watching? Try Master and Commander for good low effects. It'll kick you around.

VR3

You should NEVER turn it past 12 oclock, EVER.

krabby5

I "only" have the 25-31 and the gain is only about half way....

VERY deep bass....You should definately notice a difference...I know I did when compared to my other sub (although it was only a 8" Velodyne)

dipiazza

Ok guys i see what your saying about the svs being a different type of bass then the polk, but i dont see how it could be that much weaker. Like Sid said, i figured id need not turn it past half volume, but i really dont eaven feel it much.

In response to the other stuff. My spkrs are set to small all the way around. And the dvd was DTS encoding, also used dolby didgital, with the same weakish results. I guess its possible im not used to this kind of bass, but somethign just doesnt seem right about it.

Is there an off chance that there could be something wrong with the sub, or have others who have the 20-39pci had a similar kind of bass?

Thanks

aaharvel

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

You should NEVER turn it past 12 oclock, EVER.

question: What if you turn your sub up all the way and turn the sub output on your receiver down? I've heard that keeping the sub trim on the receiver/pre-pro in the negative is better..

dkg999

I have the SVS 20-39PC+, and I also have a PSW303 that's in my bedroom HT. The SVS should be knocking your socks off! Are you using the LFE connection from your HT receiver to the SVS? Double check that you have it going to the LFE "IN" rca jacks on the SVS, either the right or the left channel. Make sure you have speakers set to small, cross-over at 80hz, and the LFE output turned on in your HT receiver settings. Check the cross-over and phase settings on the SVS. You shouldn't need to turn it more than a third of the way up. Do you have test tones on your receiver? You might try checking it with those.

PolkThug

Something is very wrong here. Check everything dkf999 mentioned. You are using the sub out from the receiver, right? I have a funny feeling you have your speakers set to small and have your speaker wires going to the sub.

danger boy

dipiazza wrote:

Ok guys i see what your saying about the svs being a different type of bass then the polk, but i dont see how it could be that much weaker. Like Sid said, i figured id need not turn it past half volume, but i really dont eaven feel it much.

In response to the other stuff. My spkrs are set to small all the way around. And the dvd was DTS encoding, also used dolby didgital, with the same weakish results. I guess its possible im not used to this kind of bass, but somethign just doesnt seem right about it.

Is there an off chance that there could be something wrong with the sub, or have others who have the 20-39pci had a similar kind of bass?

Thanks

Call SVS customer service.. they are very helpfull. I used to have the same sub.. it's an amazing subwoofer. It may be bad, sure anything is possible.

VR3

You should NEVER have to turn your subwoofer past half way.

I personally run my tones FLAT (I dont have individual speaker levels) and when I do, I only set my left main to -5db, what my other speakers are based on that level is variable.

But your sub, regardless should NEVER be past half way, if you set your sub to -5, you need to set everything else at that level.

Past half way = distortion.

dipiazza

Thanks for the help guys. I'll get on the phone with SVS tommorow and see what they have to say.

-Jake

aaharvel

Vr3MxStyler2k3 wrote:

You should NEVER have to turn your subwoofer past half way.

I personally run my tones FLAT (I dont have individual speaker levels) and when I do, I only set my left main to -5db, what my other speakers are based on that level is variable.

But your sub, regardless should NEVER be past half way, if you set your sub to -5, you need to set everything else at that level.

Past half way = distortion.

thanks Sid. I had my Velo volume all the way up, using only the left sub jack and had my receiver's sub out trim to -10. It sounds fine- but I didn't know if that would fry the sub's amp or not.

dipiazza

Are you using the LFE connection from your HT receiver to the SVS? Double check that you have it going to the LFE "IN" rca jacks on the SVS, either the right or the left channel. Make sure you have speakers set to small, cross-over at 80hz, and the LFE output turned on in your HT receiver settings. Check the cross-over and phase settings on the SVS.

Going out from my reciever to the sub through the LFE into the SUB left channel (shouldnt matter). Spkrs are all set to small. Cross over is at 80hz.
Its not that im not getting any sound.

I have a funny feeling you have your speakers set to small and have your speaker wires going to the sub.

The sound im getting feels that way. haha.

Dennis Gardner

What is weaker is the distortion and box resonance of the SVS. You are simply experiencing cleaner bass. It is an aquired taste for those hooked on the boom of lesser subs.

The good sub will disappear into your soundfield and not even be noticeable until something big happens. A poor sub with the higher frequency bump always lets you know its there since it produces sound on stuff it shouldn't.

Product returns at SVS are mostly from the boom box addicts.

dkg999

I would think that in comparison to the PSW303 you would still/should notice much more bass impact. The PSW303 is really a mid-bass driver, and is very tight, accurate, and musical compared to say a PSW505 (which I also have). I used to run my PSW505 with the PSW303 setting on top of it, corner loaded in my bedroom HT. These two actually work together pretty well. Now the PSW303 is doing sub duties for my EPOS ELS3 mini-monitors, and it keeps up with them pretty well.

I still think something is not quite right with his sub or setup.

VR3

The PSW 303 should be an afterthought in comparison.

Ricardo

Well...I understand the difference in bass between a Polk and an SVS...but from what I hear, there might be something wrong with that sub. A 20-39 at 3/4 gain and it feels "weak"???

Talk to SVS as planned. Let them know how you have it setup and what you are feeling (or not feeling).

PolkThug

Maybe the +/- wires between the plate amp and sub driver are reversed. Or the amp or sub is defective.

wingnut4772

There is no way that you should be disappointed with the otput of that sub. I used to have the 20-39 PC Plus also and it rocked my HT and only 1/3 gain. Something is amiss.

gregure

I agree all this garbage about "cleaner" bass is utter ****. You should notice a huge difference, simply for the extension alone. I'm not a huge fan of SVS, but I recognize they give great theater performance for the money. Honestly, one thing no one hear has mentioned that can be very important is placement. We are talking about a down-firing sub here, which is usually trickier to setup properly. My advice, move to a couple of different positions and see if it makes a difference. Honestly, I've heard from lots of people that the cylinder will have a much different sound than a box. I still think you should be experiencing better results though.

danger boy

gregure wrote:

I agree all this garbage about "cleaner" bass is utter ****. You should notice a huge difference, simply for the extension alone. I'm not a huge fan of SVS, but I recognize they give great theater performance for the money. Honestly, one thing no one hear has mentioned that can be very important is placement. We are talking about a down-firing sub here, which is usually trickier to setup properly. My advice, move to a couple of different positions and see if it makes a difference. Honestly, I've heard from lots of people that the cylinder will have a much different sound than a box. I still think you should be experiencing better results though.

back about 10 posts. i asked "Where did you place it in the room?" yeah placement is important. but would not be the only reason he's not getting any bass output.

dipiazza

"Where did you place it in the room?"

The room is VERY small, probably about 16x10. there are two doors that totally close off the whole space. The sub is placed in the corner at the front of the area, next to the right front speaker along the 16' wall.

Some pictures here. Rooms a little messy...

Dorms on University of Maryland College Park, by the way.

Maestro

Well, I believe it is a combination: room acoustics and placement. As said earlier a good sub disappears in the soundfield. BTW, Dipiazza is the cable defective? New cable? AND everything is connected good and tight? Sometimes the little things we overlook can make a world of difference.

dipiazza

Well, I believe it is a combination: room acoustics and placement. As said earlier a good sub disappears in the soundfield. BTW, Dipiazza is the cable defective? New cable? AND everything is connected good and tight? Sometimes the little things we overlook can make a world of difference.

Few things... The cable is not deffective. conncetions are tight. i have tested it with my old sub, which is working fine.

Also, there is NO way that room acoustics and placement could be the reason for what im hearing. As my psw303 had no problem filling the space.

It seems there is either problems with the settings or the SVS is deffective. I'll be on the phone with SVS tommorow. Thanks guys.

PolkThug

After you get the problem straightened out, switch the sub places with the lamp.

wingnut4772

There is no doubt that room placement is important but no matter where you put it in that small room you should be able to tell that it is going to rock when placed perfectly or close to it. Don't worry it will be resolved and then you will see what we mean.

Holydoc

dipiazza wrote:

Few things... The cable is not deffective. conncetions are tight. i have tested it with my old sub, which is working fine.

Also, there is NO way that room acoustics and placement could be the reason for what im hearing. As my psw303 had no problem filling the space.

It seems there is either problems with the settings or the SVS is deffective. I'll be on the phone with SVS tommorow. Thanks guys.

I cannot agree with you more. There is no way and SVS sub, no matter where it is placed in that room, would not make your old sub cringe in terror.

Tell us what happens once you talk to the SVS folks.

Joey_V

Dude.. you should be compressing your room right now with that thing. If I were you, I would do a full reset on your receiver's saved options... just do a factory default thing. See if that works.