Bass Beast: SVS PB12 Ultra/2

DarqueKnight

My new bass beast finally arrived from SVS. They made me wait a few weeks on account of they didn't have any rosewood cabinets in stock when I placed my order the first week in March. This will replace two SVS CS Ultras that were powered by two dedicated mono block amps. I am moving towards a more simpler life.:D

opus

Oh man, this is not what I needed.:( I just convinced myself that I don't need to upgrade. Please post how much you hate it . Please:o

michael_w

Wow that will look absolutly amazing in your house. I love the finish on it.

Just a thought, don't you get a bit of a boomy sound when you have your subs in that little inset part of the wall? Kind of like having it in a tight corner but in the middle of your room?

dorokusai

Sweet.

McLoki

The rosewood looks great, but I bet those are not 12" floor tiles it is sitting on... I will be interested to hear if you think there is any sound difference between the 2 cs-ultras and your new Ultra/2.

Michael

I originally asked if you were going to sell the CS-Ultras, but I noticed you had them listed on A-Gon so I withdraw my question... Good luck with the sale...

MattN03

That sub is beautiful! I'm expecting my 20-39 PCi later this week

polkatese

Very nice, indeed!

scornful

Didnt realize you were a Polkie DarqueKnight. Sorry you didn't meet your reserve on Egay. I still want one of those Ultra's..... but the tax man cometh.

schwarcw

Wow! I saw the rosewood finish when I visited the SVS factory last year. I also heard that beast there. It shook the whole building:eek: Let us know how you like the sound vs the two cylinders.

DarqueKnight

opus wrote:

Oh man, this is not what I needed.:( I just convinced myself that I don't need to upgrade. Please post how much you hate it . Please:o

Sorry. I will not be able to accommodate your request. I have never met an SVS sub that I didn't like. This one was love at first sight.

McLoki wrote:

The rosewood looks great, but I bet those are not 12" floor tiles it is sitting on... I will be interested to hear if you think there is any sound difference between the 2 cs-ultras and your new Ultra/2.

The floor tiles are 17 inch squares. For movie sound tracks and low frequency effects, I cannot hear a difference between the dual CS Ultras and the PB12 Ultra 2. For music, the dual CS Ultras had a bit more definition. I expect that the definition and articulation of the PB12 Ultra 2 will improve as it breaks in. The PB12 U2 is far more sensitive to placement than the CS U. The CS U's sounded good at just about anywhere in the room. The sound of the PB12 U2 varied wildly depending on room placement.

By the way, the sub not only looks great, but smells great. The rosewood veneer has a very nice aroma.

michael_w wrote:

Just a thought, don't you get a bit of a boomy sound when you have your subs in that little inset part of the wall? Kind of like having it in a tight corner but in the middle of your room?

Actually, the TV alcove is the optimum location for this sub in this room. Prior to purchasing the sub, I sent SVS a photo and dimensions of the TV alcove and asked if they thought there would be problems with that location. They said they didn't anticipate any problems and they were right. I constructed a cardboard mockup with the same dimensions as the PB12 U2 to play around with placement. Coincidentally, my ideal aesthetic location was the same as the ideal sonic location. That will probably never happen again in my lifetime.

I did get a bit of "boom" prior to calibrating the PB12 U2 with the built in parametric equalizer. Also, turning the PB12 U2 so that the face, rather than the side was facing outward gave a flatter frequency response (see attached response charts).

Replacing the wimpy 18 gauge power cord with a 10 gauge power cord significantly improved clarity and definition.

The optimum location for the CS Ultras was near the corner to the right of my HT system.

In summary
Pros: Looks, sound quality, ease of setup.
Cons: Weight, difficult to move arround, wimpy stock power cord.

I will post a more detailed review and comparison to the dual CS Ultras after a few weeks.

kingtut

The sub looks great. Nice looking Samurai swords too. Congrats.

footwedge

The TV stand looks good also. Do you mine letting me know the manufacturer? Long time learner. Wow my first post.

DarqueKnight

footwedge,

When you asked about the TV stand, it was not clear to me if you meant the black metal stand attached to the TV or the wood cabinet. The black metal stand is a Hitachi STF-551 stand. The wood cabinet is a Salamander Synergy Quad 30 (www.salamanderdesigns.com).

footwedge

I was asking about the wood stand that the wife would allow. The link did not work.
Thanks
footwedge

McLoki

DarqueKnight wrote:

The wood cabinet is a Salamander Synergy Quad 30 (www.salamanderdesigns.com).

Try it now...

Michael

michael_w

That's pretty funny how everything looks in proportion. I would have expected the sub to look much bigger in the room (since it's massive to begin with) but when you put it next to some 1.2's it looks pretty perfect.

Glad to hear it's working well for you!

MrNightly

Awesome sub! Congrats on the purchase. That is the same one (Black) that I have my eye on. Does it just hit ya hard with the bass? Ohhh.. getting excited looking at those pics..

danger boy

congrats!

Your entire set up looks amazing. From the spekaers, to the TV, to the subwoofer... it's stunning looking. Your system should be featured in an audio/video magazine.

footwedge

McLoki wrote:

Try it now...

Michael

thanks

vipari

holy cow

DarqueKnight

McLoki wrote:

Try it now...

Michael

Thanks for the corrected link Michael. Footwedge, StudioTech makes some nice cabinets also:

www.studiotech.com

Lowell_M

WOW.........just.......WOW............Awesome system...

Meeks32

It looks like you have the ports very close to the back wall. Have you thought about laying it on its side & taking the baseplate off? That should give you enough room for the ports to breath & would look pretty cool seeing the ultra drivers in action.

DarqueKnight

There are four inches of clearance from the back of the subwoofer to the rear wall of the TV alcove. Prior to ordering the PB12 U2, I asked SVS if that would be a problem and they said no.

After installing the sub and measuring its frequency response, I sent the response curves to SVS and asked if there was anything else I could do to improve the response. This is Tom Vodhanel's reply:

"All of the curves look very good for "in room"..:) The best being +/-2.5dB from about 12-100hz. That is about as good as it gets for a non dedicated room without extensive acoustical treatment..:)"

As for laying the sub on its side, the ports would still be 4 inches from the rear wall and, even if I were inclined to do this, I don't know if the sub was designed for that orientation. Besides, I do not like looking at naked drivers.;)

dorokusai

The finished look is best.

Holydoc

dorokusai wrote:

The finished look is best.

Agreed

Zen Dragon

That is one beautiful system. The sub really does compliment the speakers from a visual standpoint as well.
I can only imagine the sound. Congrats.

dholmes

Where did you get the power cord for the SVS??

michael_w

Looks like a signal cable power cord.

Signal Cable

jakelm

Did you sell your CS Ultras yet Knight?

wingnut4772

Congrats! I love my maple one but I have to admit it's a beast!