As others have said, the size of the carton that shows up on your doorstep is quite a shock.
Getting this baby into my upstairs theater room was a challenge. I live on 22 acres in a sort of rural area, so the neighbors are few and far between. So, not having the patience to wait a day or two to chase down help, I started trying to figure out how to wrestle this monster up the stairs. I made it but I would not recommend hauling one of these upstairs by yourself unless you are a habitual entrant in strongman competitions.
I spent the better part of a day moving and tweaking to get a setup that I was pleased with. The sub ended up at about a 1/3 position on my front wall. While the corner loading position would probably have produced more total output, it didn't produce as flat a response. One immediately apparent difference between my CS (cylinder series) and the PB12 was the headroom. I calibrated the PB12 to match the CS in SPL level, and while the Sampson amp for the CS was near full on to produce enough SPL, the PB12 Ultra is idling along at about 20-25% gain. With that much extra horsepower, corner loading is probably unnecessary for most HT rooms. That allows for much more flexible placement.
While the CS's form has great appeal to me, it doesn't lend itself well to a front projection setup. In my room there was no place on the front wall that could accommodate the cylinder so it ended up on the back wall behind my theater seats. While it usually wasn't apparent, there were a few scenes that the odd placement became noticeable. The form of the PB12 Ultra provides the flexibility to place it on a front wall below the screen. That's a big advantage in my setup. In this view, you'll see that I turned the sub 'sideways'.
I've got an idea for Tom and Ron, I'd like to see an optional shield that installs around the BASH amp and extends behind the sub by 2 or 3 inches to hide the power light and the cables and knobs when the sub is placed sideways. This would allow for a cleaner look in those cases where the back of the unit isn't up against a wall. In my case, the 9 or 10 extra inches in depth caused the sub to stick out too far into the room. The sideways placement had no effect on performance that I could perceive.
I plugged one port to achieve a 16HZ tune point for the sub as that's what I had been used to for the 16-46. Again with so much headroom available, there's no concern on my part with the slightly lower total output when tuned to 16HZ.
In my listening tests, the output was breathtaking, but that's to be expected. I guess that when you are SVS, you have a higher bar to clear because of the quality of the previous models.
The opening credits of Unbreakable (DTS mix), while not the most powerful scene you can find, create an experience that most people can judge. While I've never been depth charged, or been inside an aquarium, I have ridden on a train. This scene has remarkable realism, and either of my SVSs make you feel that there's a runaway train inside the theater. The PB12 Ultra, provides a little extra envelopment. It's not a night and day difference, but it's real and can be appreciated. Of course I could have cranked the sub up and torn my sheet rock to shreds, but that isn't how most of us will experience the PB12.
In scene after scene, from The Incredibles to U-571, every one was handled with just the right amount of shock and awe, but with just that something extra that you can't quite put your finger on.
The more readily apparent improvement is in the tamer (SPL wise) land of music. The Ultra has the ability to produce more detail, and something that's hard to describe, but I'll say suppleness. One of my frequent visitors to the CD tray is Eric Clapton's Unplugged. While I really enjoy the content, there's a problem with the low bass on the first track of this disc. It kind of sounds like one of the mics was duct taped on to the floor of the stage, play the first track Signe and you'll hear what I mean. The result is that at 'normal' sub levels, there's an obnoxious fuzz around the bass. In order to get the most out of the disc, you'll have to trim the sub level. The PB12 Ultra could tame the fuzz at about 3db higher level than the CS 16-46. I consider that to be a significant improvement. I'll copyright the Unplugged Obnoxiousness Test when I get a spare minute...
To sum it all up, the answer to my question at the begining is a resounding yes. SVS can impress again and again. Maybe all the improvements I perceive are just due to operating the PB12-Ultra so far short of its full on capability, but then who cares? When we go shopping for a sub, often we have to choose between raw power, finesse and musicality, or a great price. We can all thank SVS for letting us keep choosing D. All of the Above!
Features:
Cast aluminum frame
Under-hung motor, voice coil stays in gap during max power
97oz strontium ferrite magnets
Vented pole piece
High tension binding posts
Rigid Kevlar and aluminum cone
Inverted dust cap
Dual progressive Nomex spiders with sewn-in tinsel leads
Integral rubber mounting gasket
1" synthetic rubber surround capable of over 2" peak to peak excursion
Ultra high capacity 3" aluminum voice coil, with Kapton former
Copper shorting sleeve eliminates gap induction and reduces flux modulation distortion
http://www.hometheaterspot.com/html/rev ... php?rev=72
