SVSound PB13-Ultra Subwoofer

tl;dr: Believe the hype. This sub is absurdly good for it's price point - $1,999 (Plus free fedex freight shipping!). (Quick link to product page:here)

This is one of my final touches to my home theater room - I previously had a Velodyne 12" sub that I bought several years ago for $599. It's decent, but my new home theater room is 18' x 24' so the velodyne just doesn't do it anymore. Keep in mind - this sub weighs about 30lb or so, and it's been solid performer, but I wanted something bigger and had been looking at SVS subs since the days of the PB12-Ultra/2.

I was a little uneasy with this purchase, only because its a single 13.5" sub. I was worried it wouldn't be enough for the room, but when I contacted customer service (Who are exceedingly helpful btw), they said "Oh no, this is more than enough sub for a room that size, in fact, don't set it too loud or you'll shatter your windows." Mkay, whatever.

So first impressions: Jesus fuck this thing is massive and heavy. The pictures do not do it justice. It's fucking HUGE. And we had to get this upstairs. I had to use a strap dolly AND have three friends to help out just getting it up stairs and being out of shape nerds we almost killed ourselves in the process. It is 188lbs shipped and almost 2 feet tall, 2 feet wide, and 2.5 feet deep! Out of box its about 160lb. The getting started card says it's already set up for a direct connection to a receiver, so we just plugged it in and off we went and didn't bother adjusting anything. Turns out they were right, though I had to turn the sub volume down a bit. I got the black piano gloss finish -- it's very very beautiful and clean. Very nice finish.

Sound: Incredible. Yes, it's not the same as a $50,000-$100,000 sub, but come on, this thing is $2,000 and is absolutely amazing in sound quality. The floors shake, even on subtle motions in movies (such as the famous nemo finger tapping scene). The sub is very very clean sounding, and absolutely stunning to listen to. The only issue I'm still having is finding the perfect position for it -- they recommend you use it at the front but I have my sub wired to the back. It still sounds fine, but I'm sure could be better in the front.

Overall: 5 out of 5 - for the value, if you want to spend $2,000 for a subwoofer, there is clearly no other choice. Nothing even comes close until you are in the 7-10k range, and even then the PB13 is still better in some respects.

If anyone wants pictures, mention it and I'll take some.

Tech specs from the website - the amp is built into the sub, of course:

Subwoofer Specs:
Cabinet Dimensions: 22" (H) x 20.5" (W) x 27" (D)
Overall Dimensions: 22.5" (H) x 20.5" (W) x 29.9" (D) (includes feet, grille, amplifier)
Weight (unboxed): 155 pounds
Shipped Dimensions: 36" (H) x 25" (W) x 40" (D)
Shipped Weight: 188 pounds
Rigid and braced Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) cabinet
Black gloss or full veneer black oak finish
Front-firing driver
Front-firing triple 3.5" high-flow flared ports
Dense foam port blockers (3) included
Variable 20 Hz, 16 Hz and Sealed tuning modes
Protective non-resonant steel mesh grille
Power cord length: 8 feet.
Driver Specs:
SVS 13.5? extreme performance underhung Ultra driver
SVS custom-tooled die-cast aluminum basket
Flat-wire, 3? diameter, high-power, high-temp, 8-layer, aluminum voice coil
Polyimide impregnated fiberglass former/bobbin
Dual 9", composite layered, linear roll, extreme excursion spiders
Integrated tinsel leads
Nickel-plated high-tension spring terminals
Proprietary injection molded gasket and parabolic SBR extreme-excursion surround
Composite pulp/fiberglass press layered cone with stitched surround
Low carbon 1008 steel components, electrophoresis black plating
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)-optimized underhung motor structure for the lowest possible distortion
Copper shorting sleeve reduces gap induction and distortion, and enhances thermal conductivity
Dual Genox 8H/Y-35 high grade ferrite magnets
Oversized pole vent for greater cooling and low noise

Amp Specs:
STA-1000D Sledge with 1000 watts RMS continuous power (3600 watts peak dynamic power)
High efficiency cool-running Class D switching topology
Detachable power cord with main power switch and ceramic fuse
RoHS compliant, lead-free construction and world-wide safety certifications
Auto-On / On switch with "green" standby mode
Stereo line-level RCA and balanced (XLR) input/output connections
Normal and Hi input voltage switch
Customized EQ and DSP limiter settings specifically for the PB13-Ultra
Variable tuning with 20Hz, 16Hz, and Sealed settings to match subwoofer port settings
Fully adjustable (frequency and slope) phase-correct speaker/sub digital crossover
Intelligent Feature Control (IFC) with bright LCD display
Two (2) digital PEQs with adjustable frequency, cut/boost, and Q values
Room gain compensation control with adjustable frequency and slope
Adjustable digital delay on main speaker line-level outputs to time-align the speakers and subs
Input impedance - 24 k? (unbalanced RCA) / 22 k? (balanced XLR)

forin_sl said:

Hiyas AladainAF, I have heard and owned a number of the big internet direct subs, and have built a few of my own. The PB13 Ultra was my first "real" subwoofer and I owned one for a year or so, and yes it was amazing. However, once I learned more about subwoofers and acourstics I realized that Bass reflex ( ported subwoofer) designs offer a number of inherent problems for accurate playback. I then blew through around $15,000 worth of subs and even built few myself. Once the dust settled I ended up with a Seaton Sound Submersive. You can purchase one with the older 1000watt ICE amp for $1795 (dual opposed version) or $1995 (F2) version. It is a seriously much better sub for the same price. It uses 2 15 inch drivers which allows it to dig deeper, plays louder, and offer lower distortion. If SVS is offering a return ( sounds crazy I know) I would ship it back to SVS and buy a Submersive.

Click to expand...

They do offer a return, but honestly, I'm still very very happy with it and not really interested in returning it - in fact, I'm not a super high end audiophile by any stretch, but I just wanted something nice to replace my piece of shit old velodyne. I just want something that sounds good and clean. I've done quite a bit of research on subs in the 2k price point and the SVS seems to perform quite well in every category. The Seaton's are great, though they are closer to $3,000 range plus you pay for shipping.

Also I'm surprised you didn't even ask me about my room -- the room I use is fairly open, so a ported sub is generally considered to be more preferred anyway.

Still, for the price points, the Seaton's and the SVS are the best subs money can buy for that general range.