Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Subs - SVS vs Axiom

Do you recommend the cylinder type of sub over the cube type? I know they run cheaper and I am eyeing the 16-46pci sub. The room size is around 20 x 20. But it is a large house and the room flows into the kitchen and dining room, entryway, etc (all open area). Is one enough? Is it enough power for using only one?

My 16-46PCi is plenty for me. My room was 14X14 with an open WALL (not doorway) into a 12X22 room leading into another 12X14 room.

No real reason to go box or cylinder other than how it looks and footprint.

Well, that's a big room with an open-floor plan. Depending on your listening habit, the room deserves a flagship sub from Hsu or SVS...

Cylinders: Hsu TN-1220HO or SVS CS-Plus series
Boxes: Hsu VTF-3 or SVS PB2-Plus

Box vs. cylinder is, to a large extent, a matter of ergonimic and aesthetic preferences. Either way, I warn you that these subs are very large (except for the VTF-3, the most compact of these, although it is still physically substantial).

Or go with a Stryke sub that outperforms the Hsu and SVS for a similar price and custom finish. There was another short thread on this.

Frank

In reply to:

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Or go with a Stryke sub that outperforms the Hsu and SVS for a similar price and custom finish.

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Just like all the the Hsu/SVS threads.....we need to qualify what is meant when we say one sub "outperforms" another.

In my home, EQ'd flat to within +-1db from 18-100hz, my SVS 16-46PCi will run with any sub you want to bring. Others may play louder, but I don't care. I have never reached the limits of my sub, so it is all irrelevant. Would I go bigger? Not now. This thing rocks! If the Plus series would have been available when I bought the PCi, I probably would have jumped, just to have the extra headroom available. After living with this sub for well over a year, I know I don't need more, and I challenge anyone to show me that in MY ROOM, theirs will outperform mine.

That is not to say that the Stryke, the Hsu, the bigger SVS, or any of the really high priced subs are not as good. It is also not to say that mine would beat them in a 10,000 cu. ft. room in extension and maximum output. What that means is that in a room the size of mine, mine does its job well, and would not be massively outperformed by anything else. (at least not the way I calibrate--flat, no house curve)

will,

What would you consider to be "outperform"?

-curtis

I bet if I parked a big diesel moving truck just outside your room and revved it, I could get more SPLs in there than your sub.

I just used the word from a post up above. A sub that would outperform would play deeper, louder, and with less distorstion. The thing is, while I know my sub is not the "best" sub ever made, in my room, which is not all that big, this PCi goes very deep without ever reaching its limits. Distortion stays low (I know I am at well under 1/2 output, even at high listening levels) and the sub plays very clean. It was a huge step up from my 12" Advent sub. I do believe in headroom, but in my case, I really don't need any more.

Since this is the case, I do not believe that too many subs will outperform mine, especially for the $599 (if I remember correctly) that I paid back then. I could have built a DIY sub, or researched and built an infinite baffle sub in my basement, but only if I consider my time to be worthless. If I value my time at $25/hr, then the PCi gets nearly impossible to beat for the money.

If I buy a 500w plate amp for say $250 (cheap!), a driver for $200, and spent $50 for enclosure material, I would have to build it in about 4 hrs to keep it under what I paid for the SVS. It would probably take ME 30 or 40 hours to build it, making it way too expensive for me.