Review: SVS 16-46PC+

[Josuah]

I have a pair of SVS 16-46PC+ subwoofers. These two replaced a single Velodyne SPL-1200II subwoofer. The Velodyne is going upstairs into the video game setup to be coupled with a pair of Castle Avon speakers. The two 16-46PC+ subwoofers are together in the same price range as the single Velodyne. But they perform at least an order of magnitude better.

The 16-46PC+s are extremely large. Each subwoofer is approximately 17" in diameter and 4' tall. The basic construction is a single cylinder with a down-firing 12" driver at the base, and three flared ports at the top that are tubes down the length of the cylinder. The driver is protected at the bottom by a solid base, which also serves to make sure the sound is produced correctly regardless of your floor material.

They are covered in a very nice black cloth, and the construction appears excellent. The top ports are protected by a nice metal grille that fits snug, but can be removed to plug one of the ports to tune the subwoofer at 12Hz. At the base is the SVS logo.

The back of the integrated amplifier contains all of the inputs, outputs, and dials you might want. Some nice features include full-range phase control and auto-on. There are both line-level outputs and speaker binding posts if you need them.

SVS packages their subwoofers nicely, using stiff styrofoam, and the entire unit is protected from the elements and dirt during transit by a sealed bag. The bag is reusable. You will want to save the boxes, but of course the boxes are huge. I had to rearrange some things to fit them into my closet.

I have them tuned at 12Hz, and removing the top grille is easy once you realize that is what you're supposed to do to access the ports. The port plugs fit very tightly in the ports with moderate compression, so they are doing their job right.

During calibration, I discovered just how impressive subsonics can be. I was playing 10Hz through these subwoofers, feeling it come out, and hearing the house respond. I've discovered new things in the room that will rattle, including the sliding glass door to the backyard.

I also discovered that I have been missing out on these frequencies in some of the audio CDs I have. One such CD is Bible of Dreams by Juno Reactor.

I am extremely pleased with these new subwoofers. The impulse response played back during my calibration seemed perfect. The Velodyne did not recover as quickly from this same impulse response. While playing sources with low frequenices, I am not hearing any harmonics that I don't think should be there.

[Tom Vodhanel]

Hi Josuah,

Thank you for the kind words about the 16-46PC+ and for taking the time to post your impressions here. The 16-46s aren't SPL monsters..but they sure can dig deep.. In 12hz mode, you can get pretty strong bass down to 7-9hz in most rooms.

Tom V.
SVS

[Sonnie]

Now I know farily well that I posted a reply to this thread... I musta had a brain poop and instead of clicking the submit button, I clicked the back button, which I've done more than once. But I do remember thanking you for the review and commenting on the low bass response... although I don't remember exactly what I wrote.

I can only imagine having a pair of these tuned to 12hz... has to be awesome. Sounds like to me they would not only rattle your glass door but your teeth as well.

Yes... thanks for the review.

[Josuah]

I can hit about 105dB maximum after adjusting for the Radio Shack meter for <20Hz, and 110dB maximum >20Hz. Although it's really pushing the drivers way hard at that point and so it's not totally clean. Below the 12Hz hump though, my response drops very quickly. My room is very large and opens to the rest of the house, and I am not corner loading because my placement experiments with the Velodyne sounded too boomy and tended to become painful when I did that.

[khellandros66]

Cool review Josh, I considered making a Sono-Tube Sub but wanted the extra speed of a sealed for music more. Perhaps when I have a place of my own and room I will grab a few of these for HT use.

~Bob

[Josuah]

The "speed", or more accurately group delay and decay, associated with sealed subwoofers is not a universal truth. For example, viewing the graphs for the SVS 20-39PC+ (12Hz) and Velodyne DD-12 show that the group delay is only a few ms better for the DD-12 in the higher subwoofer frequencies, and actually worse <20Hz. Decay is slightly better for the DD-12 across the entire spectrum. The B.K. Monolith DF has very good group delay <20Hz, comparably, but distortion increases too rapidly. Decay seems comparable to the 20-39PC+.

[Chrisbee]

I've had a more humble 16-46 PCI for a couple of years now and it is still makes us grin. It really can dig deep and go loud.

Even in 16Hz tune I could blow my old windows out with a 12Hz sinewave in a fraction of a second. Seed trays shook out in the greenhouse when I've been testing.

I wonder why you don't use the 16Hz tune for more SPLs without losing much at the bottom end? There's practically no material that goes that low and most of that is completely inaudible anyway.

Try Bass Outlaws: Illegal Bass: Stereo Bass "Extreme woofer test." Sub 12Hz at very high levels. Then take out the port plugs and try it again.

This is the most insane bass track I've found so far! Don't try this with small subs at high level! You have been warned!

Spoiler

[Josuah]

Inaudible isn't the same as doesn't matter. I'm actually going to attempt a sub tuned at 5Hz so I can get the audio data in some movies and music which I currently can't reproduce. I have enough material that this matters to me.

On the other end, I also want to buy new speakers (whenever I could afford to) that will give me much better treble response. My current speakers drop off a bit more than I would like in the high frequencies.

[Chrisbee]

Josuah

I hope you find the exercise worthwhile. I have 4 x 15" drivers in an IB that move slowly backwards and forwards on some material.
But I am totally unaware of anything audible or inaudible. Absolutely nothing!
I must need lots more drivers to get the SPLs up to a level I can actually sense.

[Josuah]

You really haven't felt frequencies that you can't hear? I find that a little surprising given you have essentially the same output as 2x15" drivers and your response curve indicates 100dB at 12Hz or so, when you're not pushing them to the maximum. Supposedly if you reach 140dB or so at these low frequencies, you can hear them instead of only feeling them. But I suspect your house might collapse as well.

Maybe you just don't have material that makes use of those frequencies?

Here are a few movies that had inaudible, but physical, low-frequency effects that I can recall off the top of my head. These are movies I've felt myself, and I don't know if they have data below 12Hz.

Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe - when one of the giant hawks/griffins/whatever flaps over the battlefield. My pant leg flapped.

The Incredibles - when Mr. Incredible drops the little vehicle on two of the guards. Watching this scene with the 16-46PC+ subs made me jump, where as in the theater and with the Velodyne 12" I didn't notice.

Black Hawk Down - f*ing Irene scene, helicopter blades I can only barely feel minute movements near the subwoofers (I can't really feel these - they're supposed to be at 7Hz).

Appleseed - when the giant robot crawlers are moving around.

Steamboy - there's a lot of stuff throughout the movie.

I've heard War of the Worlds and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy have some too, although I haven't watched these yet (I plan to).

Probably the best music source I have that exercises low frequencies is an album by Kodo. But since they're pounding huge drums, that's not surprising.

[Chrisbee]

I wonder whether what you are sensing at these VLFs is really a harmonic?

I can't hear sinewaves below about 22Hz (probably age related) but I can feel lower frequencies down to about 15Hz as pressure using the 16-46.

Below that point I'm obviously not getting enough dBs to be able to feel anything. The 16-46 response falls off a cliff at 15Hz but can still badly rattles the old windows down to 12Hz. I haven't tried going lower because of the racket from the windows even on a fraction of a second of sinewave.

The IB can make the boarded roof creak and the the doors flex half an inch each way! It managed 120dB easily at several feet uncorrected on the RS meter with hardly any cone movement visible. It made me nauseous at 10 feet while I was browsing! Oddly it still doesn't have the same physiological effects at VLFs as the cylinder. Which is what makes me think there are few harmonics with the IB to cause them. It is a harmonic one feels rather than the fundamental with VLFs.

I've just bought Blackhawk down today so I'll see how your scene behaves using each sub.

[Josuah]

I could be mistaken, but running test tones at 25Hz, I heard them quite loudly. Running a 12Hz test tone, I felt it rather than heard it. Since the first harmonic would be at 24Hz, I imagine I would have heard it if it was there. Of course, this is running test tones at a few watts, so distortion should be low. It's too painful, regardless of what frequency is coming out, to push those frequencies to 105dB for extended periods of time.

Your description of your IB is exactly what I would expect. I suspect it is reproducing the type of low-frequency behavior found in very old houses, which tends to make people feel like there are ghosts around. Maybe because you are getting 5Hz or something...what frequency were you running through there when you felt nauseous?

[Chrisbee]

Josuah wrote:

I could be mistaken, but running test tones at 25Hz, I heard them quite loudly. Running a 12Hz test tone, I felt it rather than heard it. Since the first harmonic would be at 24Hz, I imagine I would have heard it if it was there. Of course, this is running test tones at a few watts, so distortion should be low. It's too painful, regardless of what frequency is coming out, to push those frequencies to 105dB for extended periods of time.

You have a good point about distortion. I can't hear anything below about 22Hz on sinewaves from my 16-46PCI but I know it must be producing some audible harmonic distortion.

I have run 10 second test tones from 10Hz upwards rising above 110dB @ 40Hz uncorrected at the listening position on the IB. I had to just to get the RS meter to register something in the 60dB minimum range @ 10Hz to give me a starting point for my response graph. My old windows don't like it at all and rattle very badly. They are long due for replacement but matters of style, size, insulation levels and WAF issues are all involved.

Your description of your IB is exactly what I would expect. I suspect it is reproducing the type of low-frequency behavior found in very old houses, which tends to make people feel like there are ghosts around. Maybe because you are getting 5Hz or something...what frequency were you running through there when you felt nauseous?

I was made nauseous by the constant beat on a Mike Oldfield track while I was browsing. Probably a sympathetic resonce somewhere internal.

REW can't measure below 10Hz yet so I have a total blind spot below that point. Also the RS meter correction factors become so large that one can only guess what is really happening. I get masses of LF room gain with my cylinder even well out in the room 9 feet from the nearest corner. (+30dB @ 15Hz) The same seems not to be true with the IB which needs +16dB of BFD boost at 20Hz to get any really low frequency response.

I watched Blackhawk Down for the first time last night. I alternated between the IB and the 16-46PCI and both together. The IB definitely needs more work to match the SVS on films. Turning up the SVS was instantly noticeable even above the IB. But I'm afraid the cylinder just sounds so "muddy" compared with the IB that I always prefer the IB alone. Both subs have their great strengths. I just want both rolled into one supersub.

The Irene scene you mention didn't produce anything very interesting from the helicopters. I watched this scene again after seeing the film right through. I even felt the IB surrounds during most of the helicopter scenes. Only a random background beat could be clearly felt. Perhaps I didn't have the sound levels high enough. What sort of average sound levels are you getting in the room during this scene? Since I use an augmented stereo + 2 system I can't quote +/- relative to reference values since I don't use an AV receiver. I just use the RS meter on C-slow to judge average levels during a film.

This IB talk is is getting well away from the plot of your SVS review!

I'm still a great fan of SVS and think they are doing a great job rebuilding the world of subwoofers from the bottom up. They have completely redefined perfomance/ value like no other product has in decades of domestic sound reproduction.

[Josuah]

At 15Hz, you'll get room gain at 9 feet out. Move it to 10 feet out, and according to what I read Mark Seaton post, you won't get room gain at 15Hz anymore. Although I imagine +30dB is a lot of room gain. Much more than I would think of, but then I don't really know what formulas to use for room gain. How are your IB subs installed? It might just be that the position and installation architecture doesn't lend itself to room gain in the same way.

This is the waterfall chart for F'ing Irene: waterfall. Maybe that was the background beat you heard. I'm not really hearing a lot in terms of a bass line during this scene myself. What I do for Black Hawk Down is to set it so the average volume is around 80dB. Otherwise I'm afraid of damaging my hearing.

Theoretically, an IB of sufficient power and driver volume/capabilities should be better than the 16-46PCi across all frequencies, including low frequencies.

[Sonnie]

Chrisbee wrote:

This IB talk is is getting well away from the plot of your SVS review!

[bgilly]

So any 16-46+ owners step up to the new PB or PC Ultra 13??

[Jeff Aguilar]

I had the 16/46 pci subs and moved up the 16/46 PC Plus and have been so satisfied with them, I could not imagine moving up to another sub! I am so pleased, I guess ignorance is bliss!