SVS SBS-01 & PB10-NSD review - Lyd & Bilde (English version)

[L-Sound - Jan]

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Thundering budget sound!
Yamaha and SVS have a potent combination for those of you looking for maximum entertainment for your money. Compact but powerful speakers, and solid electronics makes a promise of grand home theatre sound without costing an arm and a leg.

We have tested the subwoofer, PB10 before, and the conclusion was "a revolution in quality" in the price range around £500. This time around the sub is accompanied by the brand new speakers SBS-01. The speakers are compact bookshelf models, with a modest design where most of the budget has been spent on making the sound as good as possible. The enclosure is made out of sturdy MDF, and the drivers are of a reassuring quality. But best of all is the price, £1100 for a 5.1 set. This is positive for us because it allows us to spend more on the electronics. Staying within our budget of £2000 we paired the set from SVS with the Yamaha RX-V757, and the DVD-S657. The RX-V757 is the big brother of the 657 who received the title "Best sound" in the receiver test that we conducted at the end of last year. In reality the receiver is overqualified for the job of powering small bookshelf speakers, but a bit extra power under the hood is never a bad thing. The DVD player DVD-S657 lacks HDMI/DVI connectivity, but it should represent a step up from the cheapest players, and then some.

Music
We make a soft start with Bugge Wesseltofts treatment of the piano. The Yamaha, SVS combination quickly reveals that this is a system most people can live with for music listening. The sound is warm and rich, and the subwoofer adds a solid fundament without drawing to much attention to itself. The resolution from the satellites is approved without any doubt, even though there are alternatives with a more grandeur reproduction of overtones. On the other side of the equation, such speakers can be tiresome with extended listening, and this is not desirable when you are listening to music, or watching movies for extended periods of time.

The system also got to lock horns with Nine Inch Nails latest album. This is where SVS excels with an engaging reproduction that never clutters up the sound stage even when the music is at its most aggressive. The speakers can play incredibly loud without any signs of strain or distortion. The subwoofer shoulders the load below 80 Hz, and delivers punchy, tight and weighty bass without any port noise, or resonance.

Movies
“The Polar Express” is a movie filled with spectacular sound effects, and Yamaha/SVS delivers them with great enthusiasm. The PB10 sees to that the train moves along the track with a realistic amount of weight. The chuffing from the locomotive can be felt as deep throbs through the back of your sofa, this while the dialog coming from the centre channel is portrayed with great realism. Simply put: There is no problem telling that Tom Hanks is the voice behind several of the characters. When the train sets of the steep drop and heads for the narrow tunnel we are surrounded by sound effects, at the same time the music can be heard clearly trough the commotion. The system has a slightly dark character that gives dialogs a nice profundity, but we do miss a bit of sparkle in the upper mid, and at the same time, the surround could have been a bit more airy. But also with movies you can listen at stupendous sound levels without risking that the sound will get harsh. You will have to look long and hard if you are going to find a system with more headroom in this price range.

After the curtain falls
There are no major drawbacks with the Yamaha, SVS combination. Foremost the sound quality is better then with any of the other systems. Fuller bass, better dynamics and a bigger and more spacious sound stage is the result of this exceptionally successful combination.

Yamaha + SVS
Best bang for the buck
Yamaha/SVS exceeds our expectations for what a compact system costing less than £2000 can deliver. Here you will get performance that is not ordinary even with systems costing £500-1000 more. The secret behind this are the lovely SVS loudspeakers that manages to surpass the competition on both price and performance


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Best Regards,
Jan
www.lsound.no