Seeking to Upgrade Subwoofer from SVS SB2000

@deep_333 +1 The OP can buy two more SB-1000 subs and place them behind him as you suggest. This is the sub swarm concept. Spending $2K is a waste of money when the OP already has a capable pair of subs. A swarm of four or six subs will give smoother and more enveloping bass.

4 is better, of course... but, not many guys go the 4 sub route, if they’re relatively frazzled by the thought of even using a single subwoofer. I am assuming his speakers are set up on the 12 ft dimension and he’s sitting right in the widthwise center of the room, which would imply that he’s sitting right on top of a big ~47hz modal null and probably the ~63 hz modal null lengthwise...with some coupling going on to the heightwise nulls......which made him wonder where all the bass went.

Assuming that his mains woofers extend relatively low with some room gain (serve as ’lackluster subwoofers’ at the least... i.e. he has 2 proper subwoofers + 2 lackluster subwoofers for a total of 4), he could atleast cancel some of these problematic nulls by side wall placement (cancel out the widthwise null entirely). Depending on where the subs went behind his seat, he would cancel out a couple of lengthwise modes as well.

The whole cosmetic scenario (because that’s what everyone does on the forum pictures) of subs sitting on the front stage next to the mains didn’t do him any favors, it would seem. Last, but not the least, he does have full variable phase control on his SVS subs to faciliitate the removal of such modal nulls when placed in favorable locations.

Hopefully, at the end of this exercise, he realizes that subs are not just for "adding some bottom end", but, are very effective room treatment devices instead.

I agree that placement, integration and a properly treated room make all the difference in subwoofer impact. If you haven’t already, your best $ spent is on a Umik1 and downloading REW to get a baseline of what your room is doing, the in-room response of your speakers without subs, and then bump in your subs and integrate from there. As previously stated, you likely have a phase issue making the subs cancel out the speakers. That could be just at your listening position, but possibly across the whole room. Spend most of your attention here to get best results with whatever sub used.

All that being said, I recently went from using two SB2000 which were very well integrated over to a single GR Research sealed sub. I did lose the tiniest bit of stereo separation (higher crossover point and small listening room) but the sub is SO much more tactful punch, articulate and musical. The notes come through worlds better and the punch of a kick drum has snap to it instead of a thud, especially through heavy repeated hit passages like double bass metal drumming. Having now heard it, servo subs are so much more controlled and punchy that I can’t go back. Also having a PEQ built into the plate amp really helps control any room modes and integrate EASILY into your system. If you watch the used market, they do come up for a real bargain from time to time.

Just my $0.02.

-Lloyd

There are a lot of different opinions regard SVS subwoofers. I own a SB3000 which I have low pass filter set at 33hz with my Dynaudio Emit 50s. I had tried several crossover settings from 50hz as recommended by SVS down to 40-42hz as recommended by my dealer. After an enjoyable afternoon of experimenting, when I settled on 33hz, the speakers disappeared. My room is 12 x 22 with 8 ft ceiling. I also have four GIK Soffit Bass Traps in the front corners. The volume level on the sub is set at -20. The soundstage is deep and wide with great clarity. Everything sounds so much better. I think the subs you have now could achieve similar results with a little tweaking on placement and settings.

servo subs are so much more controlled and punchy

Is a servo different from a regular plate amp? Or is it just a holdover term from the days of Apogee and IRS-V?

Just curious. Thanks! 

HSU Research.