SVS SB-3000
Subwoofers
From my previous experience with top-of-range subwoofers from Velodyne, REL and Bowers & Wilkins I was expecting more or less the same procedure. Though the basics are similar the SVS makes the dial-up routine much more visual and playful than any of the competitors.
Funkce a forma
An Android or iOS device with Bluetooth is the only thing you need to do everything from the comfort of your listening chair. No cables, no installations (apart from the SVS App that is available free of charge in Google and Apple stores), no getting up to rush to the subwoofer and back to a listening spot to review the new settings by ear. I used my son’s Samsung tablet and was connected to the SB-3000 in just 40 seconds including download, no kidding. When I recollect the set up routine of either Bowers & Wilkins or Velodyne the SVS has easily the friendliest UI of all. It is the most intuitive and the most versatile subwoofer control thing that I have come across so far.
Nízké frekvence
For example Dean Peer’s Lord’s Tundra (Stereophile Test CD 3, STPH006-2) the bass guitar reaches the fundamentals of 37Hz so it is an ideal candidate for subwoofing. With the SVS SB-3000 the guitar acquired round fullness and the notes that were thinner previously became equally loud, thus lending the sound more relaxing quality while preserving the speed and punch. I listened to this track for a half an hour again and again so that my ears would get accustomed to the sound and then removed the sub. Often just switching off the sub is not the way of doing it as the sub’s internal digital amplifier remains in stand-by and interferes with the main signal, sometimes just by emitting HF noise. Playing again the Dean Peer’s track with the SVS disconnected completely to compare the experience. As expected the sound became ‘quicker’ and transients seemingly more accurate, but it also got lighter and the tangible substance was gone.
Čistota rozlišení
Angel from Massive Attack’s Mezzanine (Virgin, 7243 8 45599 2 2) is another track with infrasonic bassline. It was not as much about the depth like about the quality of the bassline when the SVS SB-3000 was in my system. Simply, the bass was more even and the recording got sense of much larger ambience then it had without the SVS. Remember that low frequencies such the one in Angel or the omnipresent and incredibly powerful droning bass in Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack penetrate walls easily and accumulate somewhere else in your house or flat, sometimes they are ‘best heard’ in your neighbourhoods! Though Angel was beautifully controlled in my listening seat my kids rushed in and asked me to turn it down. When I listened to the track in their room the air was so pressurized that books were moving on the shelf.
Tonální věrnost
With classical music, like Nicola Benedetti’s superbly played Violin Concerto in D major, RV 208 (Decca, Italia, 476 4342) the SB-3000’s contribution was entirely different. I could hardly detect any contribution in instrumental tonality or colour, not even speaking about bass as such, rather I could hear much better sense of acoustic space of the recording venue. The listening became more real, more there. It is really pity that with public abandoning multichannel DSD the developing of high-end multichannel players and amplifiers stopped. It is exactly the application where the SB-3000 would excel in creating a multidimensional space-time which is so needed for orchestral recordings.
Prostorovost
The SB-3000 may not be the last word in subwoofers and there are more advanced models in the SVS’s own catalogue. Still I could not find a single issue with it. Dialing it in was easy and friendly and the sound in stereo was amazing. I did not try it in home cinema applications so maybe for a helicopter crashing in your 200sqm apartment it won’t be powerful enough.
On the last day of the review I checked the price list to see whether it is affordable and got caught by surprise. I was thinking about something in the region of 4.000€ as to my ears it betters the aforementioned DB-1. Well, the SB-3000 is three-times cheaper at 1.400€. If I am ever on a hunt for an excellent subwoofer this will be the one.
FULL UNABRIDGED VERSION OF THIS REVIEW CAN BE FOUND HERE: SVS SB-3000 SUBWOOFER..
Doporučení prodejci
High-End Audio Studio, Praha, tel. +420 224 256 844
Web výrobce: http://www.svsound.com
Připojené komponenty
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, Accuphase DG-58
- Amplifiers: TAD-M2500 MkII
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest Vodka, Audioquest Redwood, Vovox Sonorus XL, Audioquest Wild
- Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Sigma HC, Shunyata Research Denali 6000T, Nordost Valhalla, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2
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