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22 Dec 2011. Johan Zwiekhorst
The subwoofer didn't become popular in our homes until the arrival of home cinema and the dvd. Explosions and low motor rumbles in movies have such low frequencies, that common speakers can't accurately reproduce them. That's why you need a subwoofer to do that properly. In fact, this also applies to music. Both with classical and with modern music very low frequencies can occur: so low, that only a subwoofer can reproduce them properly. In classical music, instruments like organs and double basses come to mind. In modern music, these low notes can come from synthesizers, bass drums and bass guitars.
Almost any all-in-one surround system comes with a subwoofer. Often, these small cubes are also available separately. These can deliver quite an impressive result when you first hear them with a dvd movie. Unfortunately, these small subs tend to be designed for movie explosions and rumbles only - not for music. They usually blow are, they don't play actual notes. If you try to play music with a surround setup like that, that becomes painfully obvious. The bass notes sound muddy and boomy. Definitely not pleasing to the ear.

THE BRAND SVSound
SVSound was founded by two real bass fanatics: Ron Stimpson and Tom Vodhanel. The first letters of their family names became the first two letters of the company name. The goal for SVSound was and is to make affordable subwoofers and since a couple of years high quality speakers as well. Almost all of the reputable speaker brands offer subwoofers as well, but only SVSound (that we know of) begun making subwoofers and added main speakers only years later. Another distinguishing feature of the SVSound subwoofers is that the brand doesn't only cubes like all other brands, but cylinder shaped subwoofers as well. A cube shaped sub is not very high, but usually requires quite a lot of floor space. A cylinder shaped sub typically doesn't need much floor space, but will be much higher than a cube. This way, SVSound offers you a choice. With respect to performance, there's no difference in owning a cube or a cylinder. Typically, a cylinder will be a bit cheaper since its construction is much simpler than that of a cube. What one chooses will come down to personal taste. Me, I favor a cylinder because I like that fact that it takes up very little of my precious floor space. I don't mind that it is more visible in height. SVSound has a lot of different models of subwoofers, both in cube and in cylinder shapes.

SVS PC13-Ultra
The PC13-Ultra we're reviewing here is the top-of-the-line model of the active cylinder subwoofer range. An active subwoofer has a built-in amplifier, a passive doesn't. 99% of all subwoofers designed for home cinema are active. All SVSound cylinder models have the same diameter: 42 cm. Only the height is different according to the model and the lowest frequency you want to be able to reproduce. How higher the cylinder, how deeper the bass. The PC13-Ultra is 119 cm high and can reproduce frequencies even below 10 Hz. Your listening room will have to be large enough to do that justice.
It also depends on which main speakers one has. If the sub is configured for deep bass (more ports sealed), he can get less loud. How louder you configure the sub, how less deep it can go. Don't be mistaken: even with all the ports sealed, it can deliver quite a few decibels thanks to its massive 1 kW amplifier.
With a height of more than one meter, you won't be able to hide this PC13-Ultra subwoofer from view. Since our ears are less or not at all directional sensitive for low frequcncies below 100 Hz, you can place a subwoofer almost anywhere in your room. Behind the couch or a seat is certainly possible. The PC13-Ultra derives its name from the special 13 inch (34 cm) woofer driver that's built into the bottom of the cylinder. Its cone can move across several centimeters in order to displace a maximum amount of air. Yet, the cone is constructed very rigidly to allow it to play real notes and not just blow air like cheap subs do. The SVSound subwoofer stands on firm 'legs' and below them, a thick and solid base plate is mounted. The woofer radiates sound towards that base plate into the room and not towards your floor. That means, the sub can always deliver the same bass performance, no matter if it stands on a tile floor, wood parquet or a carpet. That's the kind of thinking you only get with SVSound and not very often with other subwoofer brands. The PC-Ultra is powered by a class D amplifier of 1000 W of the American brand Sledge.

Controls and connections
Integrated into the sub is a 'bass egalisation control', comparable to an extended tone control especially for the low frequencies. With it, you can eliminate unwanted bass peaks in your room. Unfortunately, the subwoofer isn't equipped with a remote control to fine-tune it from your listening seat. Nor is there an automated egalisation or calibration by means of a microphone. If you know that the Danish brand Eltax sells a very small and very cheap subwoofer of less than 200 euroes which does have a remote control for its adjustment, we think that SVSound could at least provide the same and so we're a bit disappointed about that.
SVSound features an LCD panel with just one operating knob: you turn it to select menu items and you press it to select such an item.
In terms of connections you can choose between RCA or XLR connectors. RCA connectors are typical for most home audio equipment while XLR is more common with professional audio or high-end hifi of the more expensive kind. There is both an input and an output and they can be used in mono as well as in stereo. With these, you can connect the output of a common stereo preamplifier without any support for a sub to the PC13-Ultra and then another interlink to your stereo power amplifier. The PC13-Ultra then acts as an external crossover filter, keeping al the low basses for itself so your regular power amplifier and speakers don't have to reproduce them, thus alleviating them from that burden. You can understand that this sub is not exactly scrawny: it's a big barrel and it weights 41 kg. With the subwoofer, SVSound supplies three foam plugs. The PC13-Ultra has three open ports on top and depending on how low versus how loud you want to go, you can plug none, one, two or even all three of the ports. You need to alter the subwoofer's configuration settings via the LCD control panel at its back so that the setting matches the number of ports you have plugged. The PC13-Ultra has a top cover composed of a metal mesh or grid. You can remove that cover to reach the three ports. The cover has a magnetic seal.

Impressions
Our review room is not that big: only 4 by 5 meters, albeit with free walk-through to other rooms. Furthermore, we use electrostatic speakers which will demand very little volume from a subwoofer or it would overpower them. That's why we decided to go for the lowest notes and plug all three of the ports. That enables the PC13-Ultra to go as low as 10 Hz (wavelengths of that size don't fit in our review room) and yet the volume range doesn't seem to be decreased very much. That is without a doubt due to the massive 1000 Watt power of the built-in subwoofer amplifier.
After that, we only had to adjust the subwoofer gain to make it integrate as seamlessly as possible with the main speakers. We do that by means of a decibel meter and by ear. We start with the sound level meter and a cd with test tones between 20 and 200 Hz. The PC13-Ultra gain level is configured to the point where we can't hear any difference when sound crosses over the 70 Hz crossover setting and everything has the same volume. Then, we repeat the test with musical instruments that cross this 70 Hz boundary, like cellos, double basses and piano. By ear, we try to determine that the subwoofer integrates seamlessly and overpowers nowhere. Once we're satisfied that that is the case, the real listening can begin. We had the set the subwoofer to a gain setting of -10 dB, by the way.
The first sounds produced convey a strong impression: tight! Very tight. Much tighter even than its predecessor of the same name. If that one was set too loud, it would boom. Not this new PC13-Ultra. It remains tight and dry as desert sand, even if set too loud. That way, there's no chance of listening fatigue.
As you would expect, it's rather obvious to review this sub with lots of superlow basses: crashes, explosions and more thunderous sounds from films like 'Inception', the three 'Lord of the Rings' movies and the fantastic submarine flic 'U-571' on dvd and Blu-Ray, plus the deepest low notes in hiphop music or of organs in classical music. We did all that and we were very impressed with how deep and tight this subwoofer can deliver those notes and sounds. The real test, however, is with much more subtle sounds. How does a man sound when singing on a wooden stage with and without the sub? If we disconnect the main speakers, can the subwoofer then reproduce the full melody of the bass clarinet from Willem Vermandere's instrumental piece 'Diepe Adem' ('Deep Breath', from the instumental cd 'Omzwervingen' - 'Roamings')? The answer to the first question is: it sounds better, with a much more defined stage presence. And to the second question: yes, the melody is reproduced clearly.

Conclusion
When we reviewed the previous PC13-Ultra model, we thought it could hardly be improved. How wrong we were! SVSound managed to astound us all over again. This new PC13-Ultra sounds incredibly tight and super controlled. It integrates effortlessly and seamlessly with the most difficult main speakers of all: electrostats. For this kind of performance, you'd have to pay a multitude of SVSound's price with other brands, that much is sure. As far as audio performance is concerned, all our expectations have been met or surpassed and all of our desires were fulfilled. Simply wow!
Still, further improvement is possible and warranted. With the configuration of the subwoofer. For a sub of this class, it deserves an automatic calibration via microphone or at least a remote control. If SVSound adds that, it will have an absolute star performer. As far as this author is concerned, this sub merits the label 'product of the year'.
Pro and contra
+ available power / power reserve
+ extremely tight and controlled sub-bass
+ for its size very small floor space
+ slick control panel
+ rich options for calibration and configuration
+ many connection options
+ 45 days try-out with full money-back-guarantee
+ price
- looks (the black fabric won't be to everybody's liking)
- no remote control or automatic calibration via measurement microphone
Software list
Music (used cd's/sacd's/dvd-audio's during review):
* Earl Wild (piano) + Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos etc.
* Felix Alexandre Guilmant, Symphony No. 1 for Organ and Ochestra Op.42 (I. Introduction and Allegro); Charles-Marie Widor, Symphony for Organ Op. 42 No. 5 (V. Toccata, Allegro); Francis Poulenc, Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani (I. Andanta)
* Edgar Meyer: "Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites performed on double bass"
* Hille Perl: "...per la viola da gamba"
* Günter Wand / Berliner Philharmoniker: "Bruckner - Sinfonie Nr. 8", Originalfassung
* Yo-Yo Ma plays the music of John Williams; cello & orchestra; solo cello
* (sacd), Richard Joo - piano, "Op. 1-10 Fantasies & Delusions" by Billy Joel, music for solo piano
* (sacd) Björk: "Medulla"; track 6 'Who is it'
* Patricia Barber: "Café Blue"
* (sacd) Norah Jones: "Come Away With Me"
* Jean-Michel Jarre: "Metamorphoses"
* (sacd) Dire Straits: "Brothers In Arms"
* Universal 017 193-2, Willem Vermandere: "Omzwervingen - Liedjes zonder woorden"
* (dvd-audio) Kunzel/Cincinatti Pops Orchestra: "Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture"
* (dvd-audio) Juritz/London Mozart Players: "Vivaldi - The Four Seasons"
* (dvd-audio) Zubin Mehta/Israel Philharmonic: "Mahler - Symphony No. 2 in C minor 'Resurrection'"
* and much, much more...
Film (used dvd's and Blu-Ray's during the review):
1. dvd-video
* Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King (DTS-ES)
* Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, II: Attack of the Clones III: Revenge of the Sith
* U571 (DTS)
* DTS demo disc #4
2. Blu-Ray
* BBC Earth
* Eragon
* Inception
* The Day The Earth Stood Still

Review setup
Front and rear speakers: Audiostatic DCM3-T7 electrostats (heavily modified ES-300R)
Subwoofer: SVSound PC13-Ultra (review model)
Power amplifier front speakers: Musical Fidelity P270.2
Power amplifier rear speakers: Nikko Alpha VI
Surround processor/preamplifier: Sherwood P965
Stereo preamplifier: Advance Acoustic MPP-206
Player 1: Denon DVD-3910 (sacd, dvd-audio, dvd-video, cd)
Player 2: Sony BDP-S500ES (BluRay, dvd-video, cd)
Audio connection players to surround processor: multichannel HD analog
Video connection players to tv: HDMI 1.4
TV/monitor: Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85E (full HD plasma)
Speaker cable: 2,5 mm² multi-conductor copper cable 4x 5 m length
Audio cable (interlinks): Oehlbach, InAkustik, Von Masoch
HDMI cables: König
Configuration subwoofer crossover frequency: 70 Hz
Product info,Price, Technical specs
Product: PC13-Ultra STA-1000D
Producer: SVSound, Inc.; USA; www.svsound.com
Distributor: L-Sound, N; www.lsound.eu
List prices: 1.799 euro incl. VAT excl. transport
Technical specifications:
? 45 days try and money-back guarantee
? 1.000 Watt DSP Sledge STA-1000D amplifier built-in
? three 9 cm ports (can be closed with three supplied foam plugs)
? down-firing 34 cm woofer with special very light yet sturdy composite cone
? user configurable depth: 20 Hz, 16 Hz or sealed
? magnetic removable metal grid on top
? architecture-grade black fabric exterior
? takes very little floor space (42 cm diameter)
? 119 cm height
? weight 41 kg
? guarantee: 3 years "bumper to bumper" (free transport)


