Hi mrm -
I got one of the early pbs10's, had it about a month now.
I was kind of unpleasantly shocked at first by the lack of bass, after having read positive reviews. But after a short (4-8 hrs) break-in, the thing came alive.
Really happy now with the low bass extension, the clarity and musicality. (I don't have ht yet, but the assumption that what sounds good for a music system sounds good for ht makes sense to me. Unless you're just after the sound effects.) Anyway, I'm quite happy with the SVS.
I was going to get the Hsu, but went with SVS for somewhat better specs (not sure the difference is audibly apparent) and because SVS offered 4 different finishes as opposed to Hsu's black. One other difference between the two is the speaker mounting, the SVS being a front-fireing sub, while the Hsu is a bottom-fire. I guess the aesthetics of each are up to the observer. From a practical standpoint, the Hsu speaker would be more protected from kids, pets & sweepers.
I've heard it said that there are audio advantages to one system or the other. Nothing that was consistent, or that I could pin down logically. SVS would seem to be a reasonable source on the subject, but they didn't address the question in an e-mail exchange we had.
Bottom line is that both are high quality subs and you will probably be quite happy with either. If you do choose the SVS, please report back your impressions. There's a lot of feedback available on Hsu & Axiom, but since the pbs10 is a new product, not much has been heard.
Good luck, & have fun with it.
