# PB13U DSP tested by audioholics



## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

Ilkka measured the older PB13U IIRC, now Ricci has gone and measured the new one with the 1000w amplifier:

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/subwoofers/svs-pb13/pb13-measurements


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Its interesting looking at the sealed response, as its typical of a sealed sub before the low end eq has been applied etc. This would initially say to me its not that great as a sealed sub, but if one applied Audyssey this natural roll off would be boosted. The driver isnt really optimised for use in a sealed sub, but I do wander how how the new sub might sound in sealed mode compared to the old, especially if Audyssey has been run on it. Personally, I wasnt a fan of the original PBU in sealed mode, it simply works much better in ported mode and IMHO should be left as a ported sub.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

My only question Ricci (if your here), is how do you think the new amp changes things. I know a couple people in the UK upgraded and didnt think there was much difference. Still a cracker of a sub though!


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## Ricci (May 23, 2007)

Well...I think the new amplifier platform is awesome really. It seemed to have plenty of power and all of the DSP built in and the one knob control scheme is really slick. I liked it a lot. 

If you compare Illka's output results to mine there are some differences. I believe that the 2 data sets should be close enough for some comparison within reason at least. It looks like the new amp did allow for a couple of dB of extra dynamic output overall compared to the old bash amp. However below tuning the output I recorded is somethat less than what Illka did. I suspect that the reason for this is that SVS got a little more aggressive with the protections there with the new amp but i don't have any proof of that, that's just my bet. Maybe Ed could confirm. The amplifier swap wasn't just a power increase. Ed mentioned that they refined and tweaked their dsp settings a lot as well (and continue to do so) to extract every bit of performance and reliability from their products. Also note that back in the day when AVTalk and Illka both tested the PB13 originally it would not complete a 115dB nominal sweep level without protecting. I was able to get a 118dB nominal pass with the sub in 20Hz mode with no issues at all. The sub just went about its business and the limiter kept everything under control with no interuption in output. While that isn't a real world signal, that does represent a pretty big improvement in output and stability with demanding signals. 

So yeah I think the current product with the new amp is a of a sub and seems to be improved over the already great original.


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## Moonfly (Aug 1, 2008)

Cant argue with those results. Its like I always say though, if your currently running with plenty of headroom, then gaining more isnt really noticed. If it makes the product more robust though, thats a big bonus.


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