SVS PB10-ISD over the EP350 - Axiom Message Boards

Axiom Home Page

Folks:

I'm now seriously considering going with the SVS PB10-ISD over the EP350 for both functionality and cost reasons. Anyone got some thoughts to share? Anyone ever owned both?

Hi TK,

I'm sure you'd be very happy with either. I have the SVS PB12-ISD and am quite satisfied.

My only concern with the PB10 is the lack of a crossover. I understand that traditional wisdom is to just set your mains to small and let the receiver handle the crossover chores, so it may very well not be an issue for you or other PB10 owners.

My experience is that I like running my M60's full-range, and adjusting the crossover on the sub. I know I am in the minority on this opinion, and was surprised to discover my preference. My ears, my room, my preference. YMMV, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The Hsu guys will be along shortly to tell you to get an STF-2 instead

Thanks Tom. I'm sure other SVS owners will be along soon. I gladly invite their opinions too. However, I should be honest (to the extent that I will make enemies here). To begin with, I do not like the look of Subs. A square box in a lovely family room full of oak, Leather, nice carpet, gorgeous pictures, etc…anyway…To make matters worse on subs, SVS goes along and makes, what I affectionately call the lions scratch post. My wife would not let one come within 100 yards of our house if I bought one of those tubes--and for the first time, I agree with her. Our stereo won’t be running every second we are in the room, so it has to look good when it is off duty.

Please, everyone who is offended, remember that it’s all about personal preference and opinions. You may think the SVS garbage can isn’t a distraction. I’m glad you think so. I’m also glad there are those neighbors who don’t mind if I like to leave my lawn a bit longer, cause it looks nice overgrown. I never want to tell others what looks good and doesn’t. But for me, I just can’t imagine putting a big tube in our family room. After all, my wife has a good eye (I like to think so, thus she married me) so I won’t push the esthetics topic on her like that. So tubes are out for me.

Now back to the PB12. It does have crossovers, right?

More appropriately - the evil water heater. You must be speaking of the small cylinders.

. You are correct - personal preference is bosss (unless overruled by the wife).

Once you get past style, there is really only one consideration are you getting enough equpment to have it act like a subwoofer, or did you get almost enough equipment and you have a subwhimper. If there is a compromise because of funds to go to subwhimper, don't buy one - you wil be disappointed forevermore.

The question is a good one, it's just being asked in the wrong place. You need to talk to Axiom, SVS and (for the HSU train that is about to pull in), HSU Research. They will guide you, based on room dimensions and a variety of other things, to the correct choice. Not one of them will oversell you. If budget and capability don't cross paths, delay until you save enough.

BTW - there is nothing wrong with hiding the sub behind a piece of furniture I've got the "evil water heater" behind a Lazy Boy (double that if I am sitting in it) and no one knows its there.

Ray, your dog is bugging me. Is that a Real Dog or one of those quasi-vermin things that Mrs. Ray might carry around in her purse? I know, take it to the dog thread...

Now, back to our regular, scheduled topic.

Yes, the PB12 has a crossover

Like I said, it might never be an issue for you, and that was the only meaningful input I had on the PB10.

I'd agree with Ray (as usual). Talk to the manufacturers about your room size. That being said, I have my PB12 in a VERY large room (cubic feet-wise) and find it to be more than enough for any application.

And I agree with you about the form-factor. No way was my wife going for the big, black water heater. In addition, with kids and dogs, I just wanted to minimize the overall amount of sticky, hairy grill cloth I have in my house, so I opted for a down-firing model. It serves nicely as an end table. No complaints on performance or aesthetics. But it is a "black box"; for me, having it match the front speakers was not important.

tom, Molly is a - wait for it - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The most lovable furry creature, aside from myself, that I have ever run across. She is 5 yrs.old, weighs 22 lbs, and the breed is the largest of the toy dogs. Great lap getter-inner. I should clarify that she is by no means, one of those annoying, yappy, little rat dogs. that some people, and you know who you are, own.

TK, I just went through the sub search thing. I have a 16' X 24' room with a 16' ceiling. I called both SVS and HSU. I told them my room dimensions and that I wanted a box sub. They recommended the PB12-ISD and the STF-3 respectively.

I bought the SVS PB12-ISD and it is plenty for me.

John

For the price the PB10-ISD seems a very attractive sub. I don't recall anyone doing a review or comparison of it around here. I went with the Outlaw LFM based on reviews, price and in particular the size, proportions and inset smoked plexiglass top that made the downfiring LFM more end table like.

>>I should clarify that she is by no means, one of those annoying, yappy, little rat dogs. that some people, and you know who you are, own.

You're not talking about Curly and Milo, I hope !!

they have the appearance of just 'looking for something to bark at'!!

its insane. the one on the right looks like jerry garcia..

bigjohn

>>its insane. the one on the right looks like jerry garcia..

Geez, you're right. I never noticed that before

I'm sure Curly & Milo are not in that category. If Milo does have any Jerry Garcia in his veins, he's probably as mellow as they come. And partially brain dead.

You know Ray,
I have to say that if you didn't list the weight of that dog, I really would have guessed more like 120lbs. From the avatar (at 1280 rez) the little photo looks like a St. Bernard cross.

Sorry for taking this deeper O/T!

I have a PB10 as my first sub and am happy with it. Paid $480 from SVS direct. It makes a noticable difference in music (I love drum solos), but especially in HT. It's also my end table even though it's front firing. It does not look that bad in my living room (pictures to come later).

You guys are beautiful!
My Girlfriend was a bit wary when she heard that everyone on these forums is always asking for pictures of each other's set-ups. But now that she knows that you all are also posting pictures of your gear WITH your pets included she is convinced that you are good people, and guided me to the correct choice in speakers!
As soon as the VP150, SP350 (hey- SVS/Outlaw/Hsu Gang, I was just plain shopped-out! Could not spend one more minute trying to to Cyber A-B-C-D Comparisons! I'm sure the SP350 will be more than I could have imagined, and take me light years beyond my old Polk PSW300!) and M2i's get here to join their M60 & Qs8 bretheren I will indeed add a pic, complete with the Manny Man, our 16 pound BobCat-looking beast that spends most of the day in a coma on the couch with his head about 5 inches away from the M60's!
TjB

Manny Man sounds like one of my favorite pets Crickett (RIP).
He weighed 22 pounds and only moved when he heard the canopener or his food bowl. He lived to be 19 years old.

In reply to:
.....our 16 pound BobCat-looking beast that spends most of the day in a coma on the couch with his head about 5 inches away from the M60's!

Ah! A music lover, (perhaps a nearly deaf music lover

)

Congrats! Glad to hear you're enjoying them, as is your beastie. My cats have different feelings about it; I was watching K-19 today, and whenever something happened out of the right front, the cat sleeping on the chair next to it gave me the nastiest look...

Some cats are real speaker hogs. A friend of mine had a massive cat that liked to sleep at the base of the speaker, blocking the port. You could actually see its fur fluff every time the bass drum hit.

Quote:

I have a PB10 as my first sub and am happy with it. Paid $480 from SVS direct. It makes a noticable difference in music (I love drum solos), but especially in HT. It's also my end table even though it's front firing. It does not look that bad in my living room (pictures to come later).

How big is your room? Do you have any open endings in your room? I have a 14 x 16 x 8 and am considering the PB10 or PB12...I originally thought the PB10 would be awsome for the space, but now I am considering the PB12 for future proofing.

-Hutz

I hope you haven't been writing that post since January '05...

Almost any ten will be enough bass for that room. It really depends on what your opinion of "enough bass" is. My parents have a paradigm ten in their 17x40 room and I think it is plenty of bass. However, if you are a bass-head and listen to a lot of rap/electronica then a ten will probably not be sufficient when you really crank it.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, cava. I have a room that is a similar size to Hutzal's, and my PB10 is completely sufficient at all volumes. Even at earsplitting volume it's never shown any sign of strain.

That's kind of my point. I doubt everyone that listens would feel the same way about your PB10. I'd say better safe than sorry, get the 12.

Quote:

I hope you haven't been writing that post since January '05...

Almost any ten will be enough bass for that room. It really depends on what your opinion of "enough bass" is. My parents have a paradigm ten in their 17x40 room and I think it is plenty of bass. However, if you are a bass-head and listen to a lot of rap/electronica then a ten will probably not be sufficient when you really crank it.

Hahaha, instead of starting yet another PB10 thread, i thought i would ressurect this one.

I was thinking about the PB10...then the PB12 which is $170USD more (Which comes out to over $200 difference CAD after duties etc coming to Canada).

I am not sure if it is worth it to get the 12 when My room is not entirely too big. As always with sound stuff, i am going insane trying to figure out which one to get...

-Hutz

If the extra $200 isn't too much of a blow to your pocket, go with the PB12 (as you said, future proofing). Either one will be more than adequate for your room. I'm extremely happy with my PB10, and I used to have my brother's system (pmbuko on this forum) with a PB12 in this same room. Both provide seemingly effortless bass at any volume and can really plumb the depths convincingly (my PB10 has strong response down to 18hz in my room).

Of course, if I could afford it I'd be all over an EP500.

How big is your room, are there any openings? I may be buying a more expensive receiver today which in turn would inhibit me from purchasing the more expensive PB12-NSD.

I am pretty sure the PB10 will be able to handle my demand for loud bass.

-Robb.

Not sure why people buy expensive receivers. There are lesser receivers that have maybe 60-75 W/C that would suffice. The extra saved would allow for people to buy monoblocks, which would take the load off of the receiver, and allow the speakers themselves to play a little louder. If I were to do it all over again, that's the way that I would go. Trust me, I have heard two separate receivers, through monoblocks, and that's what I would do...and use the saved money for something else (i.e. speaker wire, or carpets/rugs, subs, etc. etc.). Anyway, your choice...so, good luck. Not anything I can add, about the sub.

My room is roughly 14x13x8. There is one door sized opening towards the rear left. Unless the more expensive receiver has important (to you) features that the less expensive doesn't, I'd probably put the extra money on the sub, since you'll likely notice more of a difference there.

Sub! Sub! Sub! Sub!

Other than my M50s, my sub is probably still the most expensive piece of audio kit I have.

Yeah, I haven't spent all that much on audio...

Quote:

My room is roughly 14x13x8. There is one door sized opening towards the rear left. Unless the more expensive receiver has important (to you) features that the less expensive doesn't, I'd probably put the extra money on the sub, since you'll likely notice more of a difference there.

Ya, I decided to go with a cheaper receiver, i was just at a liquidation sale at a store in calgary here, they have the RX-V2600 for $998CAD, now to give you some perspective there are deals in Vancouver right now selling the RX-V1600 for $999CAD and THAT was a good deal.

But i decided to go with the RX-V659 receiver. 100watts/channel 7.1 and burr brown DAC. it was my second pick next to the 1600, i got it for $560 (including a $60 5 year warranty that includes replacement to current model if the 659 is discontinued).

So in the end i spend $593CAD. that will give me a couple hundred extra to go with the PB12-NSD.

-Hutz

Sounds like a good plan, Hutzal! Be sure to give us some impressions of the PB12 - I don't think anyone here has one since they did the redesign to front firing. Also, make a cd with test tones and sweeps - it's loads of fun finding what frequencies different things in your room will start dancing to.

Quote:

it's loads of fun finding what frequencies different things in your room will start dancing to.

It's also loads of fun to find out what frequencies make you want to drop a load.

Brown note, anyone?

Myyyy--yyyyth....