SVS PB-1000 Pro Subwoofer (Black Ash) | 12-in Driver, 325 Watt RMS, Ported Cabinet

High-End On The Cheap With Perks
Having lived with a home theater speaker system for over 12 years, I upgraded parts of the system every several years: first the center channel speaker then the display panel then the tower speakers and, late in 2021, it was the subwoofer’s (Premier Acoustic PA-120) turn.Based on my budget and my desire for accurate tonal balance (frequency response) at my seating positions, this was a challenge. I did not want to spend over $1,000 on any of my speakers nor the subwoofer yet I wanted flat and extended response. Up until now, this was simply unattainable because of the price constraint, my listening room’s acoustics and the simple lack of lower-priced options in the market.My listening room is a 15 x 17-1/2 foot room with an opening (3-1/2 x 6 feet) near the the left front tower speaker. That missing corner leads to a hallway, a small foyer, and a family room. So the only practical remaining space for a wired subwoofer is the right front corner, which is where my previous subwoofer was located. The results were still terrible, as the bass was very uneven and there was a massive cancellation around 87 to 95 Hz, a massive hump around 46Hz and more uneven output down to 35Hz followed by very weak output in the 28Hz to 30Hz region. Using the typical built-in 2-EQ Audyssey in my receiver did nothing to help this. I had a choice of overbearing, woolly, thick and bloated Audyssey-EQ’ed bass or anemic bass. Desperate to remove my room from the equation, I decided to explore wireless systems several months ago and settled on a BIC WTR-SYS wireless transmitter/receiver system to turn my existing subwoofer into a wireless one so that I can place it as close to my listening position as possible. It was placed on a rear corner 3 feet to the left of my listening position (aligned to my sofa).This was much better with virtually none of the aforementioned uneven bass. But there was one problem: extension and transient speed. The bass was now limited to weak output at 35Hz. This isn’t exactly bad but it’s the kind of extension you would expect from an average bass module (“subwoofer” isn’t exactly an appropriate term in this case) you’d buy at a discount warehouse. You might question my mention of transient speed and technical reviewers even clearly state that the sensation of bass tightness is possible only when accompanied by upper midrange from a source such as a bass pedal. But you know certain bass sounds should start and stop on a dime and you would notice them if they don’t. It’s the difference between a rumble or thud and a good lightning fast kick in the pants.This led me to read more professional subwoofer reviews. I needed extension preferably to at least 25Hz. After perusing the reviews, SVS kept standing out for its combination of low price and awesome extension at high sound pressure levels. Initially, I kept eyeing the holiday subwoofer sales on SVS’ website of the PB-1000 but the somewhat more expensive and newer PB-1000 Pro stood out to me for its app that enabled super flexible parametric equalization adjustments in real-time via Bluetooth.I’m so glad I bought the latter a couple of weeks ago. The SVS PB-1000 Pro is slightly larger than my old sub but slightly lighter (at 50 lbs.). For the uninitiated listeners, the on-line manual is extremely helpful yet brief, especially in its discussion of placement options (corner placement, between the center and main front speaker or side wall). Much of the competition provides little detail here. In a few concise sentences, it describes the strengths of each placement option. From deduction you get a sense of what compromises are involved between the options. Then there is a discussion of placement options for those listeners who use two subs for more even bass coverage in the listening room. Simple illustrations clearly show the placement options and include the wireless configuration showing SVS’ own wireless transmitter-receiver system.Using the same rear corner (sidewall) placement as my previous subwoofer, I used a sweeping low frequency tone to measure the sound pressure level (SPL) from 160Hz down to 20Hz. The results right out of the box were quite good with relatively flat bass. Without any adjustments the bass remained very strong to around 25Hz. Switching the polarity 180 degrees via the free downloadable SVS Subwoofer app and keeping the crossover frequency at the default 80Hz, I ensured that the front towers crossover was set at the same frequency and I left the power option to the default “On” position and the port setting to the default “open” setting for maximum bass extension. The real godsend was the parametric EQ of the app. It allowed me to control the Q (width) and amplitude of the adjustment at 3 different bass frequencies of my choice. That is, I was able to choose any 3 center frequencies of my choice and make adjustments to the Q at plus or minus 6dB. After some experimentation, I was easily able to obtain flat bass (plus or minus 3dB) down to the 20Hz limit of the swept bass tone. Finally, I used the receivers level calibration system and my SPL meter to set the volume of all channels to the same output level (volume) at my listening position.Of course, I used movie and music passages to evaluate the bass. The first 2 minutes of “Titanic” on Blu-ray as well as the climaxes gave a good sense of solid enveloping bass that remained clean even at high volume. The latest James Bond movie, “No Time To Die” was another good source. When Daniel Craig was in Safin’s lab/factory the PB-1000 Pro gave an excellent forewarning of action when it produced nearly inaudible but very palpable, rhythmic, quick yet deep bass pulses. My previous sub was never able to do this.Turning over to music, I played the first and last track of James Horner’s “Titanic” CD soundtrack. The unmistakable subsonic bass pressurized the listening room. Switching over to pop/rock material, I played Peter Gabriel’s “Shaking The Tree”, a track that effectively builds to a climax using big bass kick drums beginning in the middle of the song. At high volumes, you feel the rhythm of the bass in your gut. Finally, I slipped in a1987 release of Holst The Planets conducted by Charles Dutoit with the Orchestre smphonique de Montreal. If you want to hear and feel crescendos, the last 30 seconds of track 7 (“Uranus – The Magician”) is skin tingling (or is it intestine jiggling). Even at fairly low volume the PB-1000 Pro made my skin tingle.Regardless of material or volume, the PB-1000 Pro never ran out of gas. There was no congestion of bass caused by the 12-inch driver bottoming out, no distortion, no bloat due to the driver stopping too slow. It just delivered the entire bass range in clean, quick, palpable, gut punching bass when called for. At the same time, it could properly give you a subtle hint of body when the music or movie passage was at lower volumes as well. Whether it’s the extra thick surround of the 12-inch driver, the stiff driver material that keeps the driver moving in a pistonic motion even at high volume, the two front-firing ports that never produced any rude noises or chuffing, or the built-in high-powered Class-D amplifier or a combination of these things, I can’t fault the performance of this subwoofer. For the average consumer, it may seem expensive but when he or she realizes what it can actually do compared to the competition, it is an unmistakable bargain.

I’ve used mostly polk subs but also dual Klipsch subs for a while, witch I didn’t find any better then a cheap polk, after that I thought more expensive subs are probably just a waste of money for me, so this sub was definitely a test as I didn’t think it would wow me. This sub is amazing. I will say my room is smaller, 11x20ft, and if it was much bigger I think you might need two for the same impact, but for my size room this can go way louder then I need it, to pressurize a bigger room (at least 400+ square ft) might be hard with one though. I didn’t expect it to do alot for music honestly because I already have good tower speakers, but it really brings the music to life, even at low volumes you can really hear a difference. I’ve never experienced this with a sub but the really good sounding lows seem to make the mids sound a lot better too, even when you think you can’t hear the sub or feel it at low volumes, when you turn it off the difference is extremely noticeable. For live music played louder it makes you feel like your at the show. It can be more boomy if you like that, but you can definately set it really tight for music so even an organ won’t sound boomy, just extremely low pitched. For movies and games this sub is outstanding, movies are like being at the theatre and it brings games to a whole other level, especially fps or action games. Try out “The Game Has Changed – Daft punk” for some extreme bass and infrasonic bass, or watch the move Tron, that song is in the movie, and the whole movie has lots of infrasonic bass to tune the sub. The app for it is the best thing that has ever happened to subwoofers, I love that I can have a movie, music and night mode set in the app and switch between them right on my phone, changing multiple settings with one click, instead of climbing behind the sub. I waited a while to write this because I wasn’t sure how I felt about the value of it (1475$ cad when I bought it), it is extremely expensive, but after using it for a few months, I would consider getting another one eventually, it’s that good. And I don’t think I could ever enjoy movies or music as much again without a sub as good as this one. It really brings the sound to another level if you have good speakers, especially compared to cheaper subs, witch I was surprised about, I thought a sub was a sub.

Einfach nur top!!!

This is the best Subwoofer I have ever owned, my old Rel Subwoofer had too many issue so replaced it with this one after a lot of searching. I would like to point out the best part is the App so you can alter the setting on the fly in seconds and the sound Quality is just excellent very happy with it. This is 100% better then the Rel Subwoofer which was my old one that had way too many problems with. Really glad I replaced my Rel sub for this one cost a lot more but way way better well worth replacing. Got to love the Svs App….