Anyone here upgrade to SVS 12.3 driver?

kuntasensei

I've got a SVS 20-39CS+ that I got back when they first came out, which means I'm still using the original 12.1 driver. I was just wondering if anyone here did the upgrade to the 12.3 driver, either from the 12.1 or 12.2, and if so what their thoughts were on the changes it made in the sound.

Ron Temple

I went from 12.2 to 12.3 and liked the upgrade, wasn't huge, but apparent. However, later I put that 12.2 driver in a different design and thought it sounded much better. Anyway, the 12.3 should be significantly better than the 12.1.

greene1968

i did like Ron..its a difference, but not huge

kuntasensei

Where in the frequency range would you say the difference seems? I'd like a little more sound in the 50-80Hz range.

Ron Temple

kuntasensei wrote: »

Where in the frequency range would you say the difference seems? I'd like a little more sound in the 50-80Hz range.

I don't recall exactly, but there might be some archived threads from 3 years ago on AVS that discussed it. Might even be on the current SVS thread. I think it was a 1-2db more efficient driver and you did get better definition above 50hz. Like I said, since you have the 12.1, it's likely that it's significantly better. Ping Ed Mullen and get his opinion... support@svsound.com

kuntasensei

I know Ed from his pre-SVS days at Secrets and his posts at AVS. I'll search AVS and maybe shoot him an e-mail. Thanks.

kuntasensei

Just as a follow up: Found a few of your upgrade impressions scattered about various forums, Ron. Also, I found Ilkka's subwoofer tests for the 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3 woofers in the 20-39PC+ (powered version of my CS+) at various tunings. First, his observation that plugging one port got smoother response above 50Hz jives with what I had found with my in-room response, which is why I'm running a subsonic filter at 17Hz with one port plug in, so I think I'll get similar response to his tests. Comparing the 12.1 to the 12.3 charts, it looks like the 50-80Hz region does get an improvement as the rolloff isn't as steep. Also looks to be more efficient, so I can get a little more oomph from the 500w I'm running to it from my Samson 1000 amp.

So basically, I internet researched my way into upgrading. Gonna wait and see how I survive Christmas first, but I'll definitely snag the 12.3 in January. Thanks for the comments and for pointing me in the right direction!

Ron Temple

Not too long ago, I talked to Stephen Ponte, ex-TC Sounds, now the driver/speaker designer for SVS. He made everyone of those replacement 12.3 driver's that got sold for cost when they came out...and he curses each and everyone of us for making him work an additional 20 hours a week to catch up :eek: . Frankly, I don't know if or for how long they'll support the 12.3 replacement. You'd better check. They have no plans for doing this with the 12.4 or better.

kuntasensei

Yeah, I read that the 12.4 won't work in the old enclosures. I'll fire off an e-mail to Ed to make sure they'll still have the 12.3 upgrade available.