Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Thoughts about my new PB10

Well, it's here, my first sub ever. I was at work when UPS delivered, and the wife called: "what's that humongous thing that you just bought?".

Some time ago I posted a message here saying that I want more bass than my M60s can provide. Not any more! This "humongous" thing does it for me. Last night just listened to Richard Bona's bass solo and Antonio Sanchez's drum solo on PMG's Speaking of Now DVD in DTS, and I thought I had reached the big "O" of music listening.

Now to the more philosophical part, I am wondering if this is what an entry level, 10-inch "humongous" sub can provide for my 25x25x9 living room, then what on earth do people look for with two subs, or a larger-than-a-water-heater PC 16-46?

This definitely sounds naive and/or ignorant. Pardon me since I never owned a sub before, and thus can't really give you a review. Just some thoughs I wanted to share.

Cheers,
Vu~

Thanks for posting about it! I think you're the first PB10 owner we've had around here. Welcome to the magic of a good sub...

haanhvu,
Congrats on your purchase! Your story sounds exactly like mine. I bought an SVS PB10 and it arrived a few days before Christmas. I also have never owned a sub before in my life. I felt the same way about my M60's...they sound unbelievable but I just wished they had a little more kick in the bass. My new PB10 is a bass kick in the teeth! I've gone back and listened to the Zepplin DVD's in DTS, Roger Water In the Flesk (Welcome to the Machine sounds awesome with the sub) and even some of my more bass heavy CD's like TOOL Lateralus. Awesome. I felt I couldn't write an objective review because I never owned a sub before and I didn't want to start a sub war or anything. I have a relative who owns an HSU STF-1 for a small home theatre room he built (the STF-1 also sounds awesome by the way for an 8" sub) but have never experienced room shaking bass like I do now.
After the music, I threw in the original Matrix and my entire living room shook. Really cool! I couldn't imagine one of the bigger 12" subs and what it would do to my living room.

Whoopie! Just hearing about someone getting new equipment makes me happy. My svs 2039+ is my first sub and it is never turned up past 12:00 on the gain. Puzzles me too about these people and their dual or monster subs. Only thing I can figure is they have very solidly built homes.....Enjoy

Congratulations to both of you PB-10ers! Have you each calibrated your speakers/sub? What is the sub gain set at? rdwarn - what size room are you in? I'm just trying to get a feel for this thing. Amazing what a good sub does to enhance HT.

My first sub was a pathetic Yamaha YST-50 (?)...it was better than nothing (just barely) then I got a Hsu VTF-2. Holy shnikes! Absolutely amazing. Stunned. Flabergasted. Jaw dropped. Needless to say I was in love.

Then I heard a Rel Stadium...and a Hsu VTF-3...

Yeah...it gets even better.

There are two separate reasons for getting dual subs -- "more bass" and "more even bass". If you have a single sub in some large rooms it's really hard to get even bass response in all the seating locations since moving the sub makes the bass better in one listening position and worse in another. Having a second sub can really help to even out the sound in different listening positions.

The big SVS is intended to give deeper bass not louder bass -- in fact it can't play quite as loudly as the 20-39 or 25-31 models. So you see the people with big / dual subs aren't *necessarily* insane

Congrats on the new sub. Enjoy !!

Brigman is right:

Well, many would argue my sanity. But you are exactly right. the 16-46, is bigger - the biggest physical size of the 39 and 31, but does not play as loud (true decibel)

The largest plays the deepest in Hz. = goes the lowest.

The smallest plays the loudest. I selected the 20-39+ because (with porting it goes very, very low, even without it plays below 20 Hz. And has a lttle more headroom (high-end range) than the 46, yet a little less than the 31. It all depends on what you want. the 39, for me gave me both. I went with 2 cause I will soon have 22 ft. cielings (at peak) and about 6400 cubic feet. And as stated 2 subs, blend, and integrate easier. So I really don't think it's over-kill, but than again I LOVE bass.

I have not calibrated my setup. I heard that I need an AVIA disk and a SPL meter. SVS manual calls the Radio Shack $45 SPL "a bargain", but I am thinking after calibrating I'll return it for refund. Can any one sense an el cheapo guy here?

Regarding two subs for "more even bass", I get the point. But in my case the only one in my household who cares about sound quality is yours truly, so I'll have no trouble fighting for the "sweet spot". My living room is large, but my listening area is only about 10x10x9, and I don't want to fill every corner of my 25x25x9 room with uniformly good sound.

Regarding larger sub for "more bass", maybe some day I'll audition what a 12-inch can bring to my table. My use is almost entirely for (surround) music (jazz, progressive rock, classical with no pipe organs), so I am not sure I will benefit much from sub 20hz capabilities.

These are just my personal preferences. Thanks for chiming in and apologize if I sound like questioning others' sanity

haanvu, Think twice about the return of the SPL meter. I think you will find that you'll use it often enough to hold on to it. I end up recalibrating every 4-6 weeks. Furniture gets moved, speakers get moved, settings get tweaked - its amazing the things that happen without you thinking about it. Just my $.02.

My listening room is currently in my first floor living room. It's 19'x14' but opens into a 18'x15' kitchen/breakfast nook area with a little half wall seperating the two rooms. Oh and all rooms have 8' ceilings. My sub sits in the corner of the room where the half wall meets one of the perimeter walls and aims in towards the living room and away from the kitchen area.
I have not used anything to calibrate my sub as of yet. I just did it all by ear. The "volume" or gain my sub right now is set at about 10 o'clock.

Maybe this should be put in a seperate thread but in comparing subs, the PB10 is a front firing sub as well as all of the Axiom subs. Are there pros/cons to front-firing vs. down firing?

As Ray has suggested I too would say the Radio Shack meter is a keeper.I also break it out when we move furniture around or buy something new to put in the living room.

Congrats on your new sub.I've only heard good things about it.

You'll also keep finding new measurements to take. I don't think everyone goes through the entire Avia disk the first time (I sure didn't).

One other point about the PB-10 -- it might be an entry-level sub for SVS but it sure as heck isn't entry level for the market. Subs start at under $100 CDN and get quite a bit better by the time you get to the PB-10's neck of the woods.

Thanks for the tip regarding the SPL. I have not bought it yet. Will be my project this weekend.

If you were to choose between AVIA and DVE, which one would you choose? I suppose I don't need both. The AVIA is twice as expensive.

Any one knows if I can pick up either one of them at my local Barnes and Noble?

Thanks!

I picked up my Avia disc at Media Play...not sure if there's one in your area.

Not sure there's a reason to do alot of research. Either one does the job. You can google for the price.

there was a thread regarding which disk just a couple weeks ago i think. oh here it iswhich calibration dvd