# SVS letdown!



## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

I purchased a PB 13 ultra about 7 months ago and whilst i could appreciate what it could do as it could go effortlessly low and loud but it didnt have the sound i wanted as i like a lot of punch. I sold it on ebay and lost approx £1000, my own fault i suppose. But i recently bought dual sb12 nsd and whilst running them in i was enjoying them until the sound changed for the worst! I ran rew but couldnt find anything out of the ordinary but i knew it sounded different. Whilst moving the subs around to experiment with room location i noticed a rattling noise coming from one of the subs like a component has come loose. This is disgusting i have given svs £3150 over the last few months and this is what i get. Is the other one going to breakdown in the not so distant future? I only bought svs due to the excellent reviews online but over here in the uk we pay a premium for svs and we buy blind with no 45 day trial period. I put my faith in svs and i was wrong. Sorry for this post but i had to vent my anger somewhere!


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## Ed Mullen (Jul 28, 2006)

leenorm1 said:


> I purchased a PB 13 ultra about 7 months ago and whilst i could appreciate what it could do as it could go effortlessly low and loud but it didnt have the sound i wanted as i like a lot of punch. I sold it on ebay and lost approx £1000, my own fault i suppose. But i recently bought dual sb12 nsd and whilst running them in i was enjoying them until the sound changed for the worst! I ran rew but couldnt find anything out of the ordinary but i knew it sounded different. Whilst moving the subs around to experiment with room location i noticed a rattling noise coming from one of the subs like a component has come loose. This is disgusting i have given svs £3150 over the last few months and this is what i get. Is the other one going to breakdown in the not so distant future? I only bought svs due to the excellent reviews online but over here in the uk we pay a premium for svs and we buy blind with no 45 day trial period. I put my faith in svs and i was wrong. Sorry for this post but i had to vent my anger somewhere!


Hi Leenorm - 

It sounds like a defective driver. It should be covered under warranty through your local UK SVS dealer. If not for some reason, we'll work with you directly to get the driver replaced. It's an easy part to swap-out - only about 5 minutes. Please let us know how it goes with your dealer, and if for some reason you hit a wall, then contact me directly at SVS. All the best.....and thanks for supporting our brand!


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Thanks Ed I must admit that at this present moment you are the only good thing I can comment on with regards to svs. You always reply promptly and courteously. I have contacted the dealer and await his response. I should inform you that the sub is still working but it just sounds wrong, and I wasn't even watching anything loud when it happened. THE SUB IS LESS THAN ONE WEEK OLD! and I noticed that neither of my subs have been signed on the inspected by label.


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## Ed Mullen (Jul 28, 2006)

leenorm1 said:


> Thanks Ed I must admit that at this present moment you are the only good thing I can comment on with regards to svs. You always reply promptly and courteously. I have contacted the dealer and await his response. I should inform you that the sub is still working but it just sounds wrong, and I wasn't even watching anything loud when it happened. THE SUB IS LESS THAN ONE WEEK OLD! and I noticed that neither of my subs have been signed on the inspected by label.


The one thing out of our control is the shipper. Usually when a subwoofer suffers infant mortality it's due to shipping damage. Sometimes the outer carton won't even show damage if it was dropped on a flat surface, but it can be enough to damage the driver or amp. I'm sure your dealer will take care of it, and if you have any issues, again contact me directly and we'll work with your dealer to make it right.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

leenorm1 said:


> I purchased a PB 13 ultra about 7 months ago and whilst i could appreciate what it could do as it could go effortlessly low and loud but it didnt have the sound i wanted as i like a lot of punch. I sold it on ebay and lost approx £1000, my own fault i suppose. But i recently bought dual sb12 nsd and whilst running them in i was enjoying them until the sound changed for the worst! I ran rew but couldnt find anything out of the ordinary but i knew it sounded different. Whilst moving the subs around to experiment with room location i noticed a rattling noise coming from one of the subs like a component has come loose. This is disgusting i have given svs £3150 over the last few months and this is what i get. Is the other one going to breakdown in the not so distant future? I only bought svs due to the excellent reviews online but over here in the uk we pay a premium for svs and we buy blind with no 45 day trial period. I put my faith in svs and i was wrong. Sorry for this post but i had to vent my anger somewhere!


If you sold a PB13 that was only 7 months old and lost £1000, then you sold it too cheap, so yeah... I would agree that is your own fault. However, if you wanted more punch, there is a possibility that you could have accomplished that with equalization. It sounds like you failed to try to fix the issue before jumping the gun and selling it for too low of a price. 

You also stated the reason you wanted to sell it was so that you could get dual subs to level out the response in your room. 


leenorm1 said:


> Hi guys i am selling my beloved PB13 ultra as i am purchasing dual sealed subwoofers as i want to even out the bass response in my room, unfortunately i cant fit 2 pb13 in my room.


Now you say that you sold it because it lacked punch. Would you have purchased another PB13 if you had another foot or so of space to place it? 

No offense intended, but I think you are going about this unreasonably. It would be more reasonable for you to contact the local dealer you purchased the subs from and try to work out a resolution with them prior to venting so harshly towards SVS in a public forum. Your comments are unfair, undeserving and disrespectful towards SVSound. It appears that you failed to follow your own advice that you gave to another member here on HTS.


leenorm1 said:


> If hifi corner won't deal with you email svs direct they are fantastic and I am sure they will help.


You rave about them a month ago, now make it sound like they are the worst company in the world. 


I also read a couple of your other comments and I am a bit confused.



leenorm1 said:


> I know what you mean about the bass it's big and deep but missing something I think that this is down to the fact that the frequency response is so flat compared to lesser subs that tend to have a big hump at around 50 hz making it sound impressive.





leenorm1 said:


> Hi all I have a monitor audio rx6 system with a velodyne cht10 q sub. I find the sub doesn't quite track basslines accurately it is hard to integrate perfectly with the main speakers as it seems to have some strange phase characteristics. Sometimes it's loud and proud but at low volumes it seems to decide that it doesn't want to play its part. I am fed up of buying subwoofers as I have bought many in the last couple of years. All I am asking for as I am sure everybody is , is a sub that goes 105db low 25hz and is clean. I do favour sealed subs for their extension any advice would be greatly appreciated. Lee


You seem to want accurate bass, as in your comment about how your Velodyne was not performing to your satisfaction... yet you seem to want one-note bass to make it sound more "impressive"... which in reality is not impressive at all. If you wanted more one-note bass at 50Hz, use the EQ on the sub and boost it a little. If you want more punch... boost it around 60-80Hz. Yet, that is not going to be the "level" and "accurate" response you are looking for... you had that with the PB13 that you sold too cheap. :huh:

SVSound has proven over and over again that they have excellent products and renowned customer service. Rarely... less than 99% of the time you will never hear a bad thing about their products... and I can never remember hearing a bad thing about their customer service. Obviously we can not always vouch for their foreign dealers... and as Ed mentioned, they cannot control shipping damages, which can occur with any equipment. Yet, a simple email will usually resolve the issue without having to publicly disrespect them. It is better to be fair and reasonable before bashing the manufacturer publicly. :T


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Points taken and processed. I will apologise for getting straight into a rant last night so here goes .....IM SORRY. However i never put a black mark against svs direct customer service as they are the best i have dealt with. And my gripes with the pb13 ultra were nothing to do with my upset last night it was just part of the bigger picture. What i was complaining about is the service we receive here in the uk. No home trial , no trade up , and we pay exactly the same amount in pounds as you do in dollars ( i know , import costs etc ) and when you buy something that is regarded as one of the best you expect it to be exactly that , not to breakdown after less than 2 days use. I did have a flat response with my pb13 as i do (did ) with my dual sb12 but the sb12s sound punchier, which in my own experience in my own room is down to it being a sealed sub without needing the boost of an eq. The best all round sound i had came from a jamo sub 650 which appears spec wise similar to the sb12 i wish i had bought another and saved lots of money.
Anyway my dealer has contacted me today to inform me that an sb12 is on its way from America and when it arrives he will exchange mine.
Ed mullen has been great in reassuring me that if anything goes wrong he will help.
So just to reiterate i was not mad at svs direct it was the rights etc we get in the uk and the fact that when something goes wrong i cant just drive to a store to sort it out. The uk pricing for svs puts them in direct line with other competition so What might be entry level price in America is mid range in the uk so it NEEDS to be good.


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## steve1616 (Apr 6, 2009)

I wish I would have paid more attention to you selling your PB13-Ultra. I need my second. I am glad to hear you are getting taken care of. I kind of take it for granted the service we get from SVS in the United States. They are just good people, and they make you feel like you are getting taken care of by a good friend. I have never met Ed Mullen, but I almost feel like he is my friend just because of how he treats me. Now, how he may feel about me may be another question. My guess is that he thinks I am a pain in the rear because I ask too many questions.:gulp: 

Leenorm1, hopefully your new sub will fix everything. I do realize that 2 subs sounds like a better solution for you, but I was curious if you liked your PB13-Ultra better in sealed mode. I keep reading in the forums about everyone preferring the sealed subwoofer sound. I keep thinking something is wrong with my ears, because I vastly prefer the ported configuration. Thanks in advance.


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Yes ed is fantastic. The pb13 ultra was excellent low down in the frequency range but it just didn't have the sealed box punch higher up. I did run it in sealed mode and it was better but still not the sound of a sealed sub. If I had more room would I have had another pb13 ultra? No I would have had two sb13 ultras. Regards lee


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Just to let you know that i am still waiting for an update on my defective subwoofer. I will keep you posted on the progress. Regards lee


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Unfortunately I am still waiting on a replacement!


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## LCSeminole (Mar 28, 2010)

leenorm1 said:


> Unfortunately I am still waiting on a replacement!


I take it you are in contact with your SVS dealer in the UK? If so what exactly is the status?


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

He says that he is waiting for them to be delivered from America .


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## Ed Mullen (Jul 28, 2006)

leenorm1 said:


> Unfortunately I am still waiting on a replacement!


Hi Lee - 

Please send the specifics of your dealer interactions to date to [email protected] and we'll work with your dealer to ensure the replacement process is still on track. Thanks!


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Thanks Ed i have just done this. I wish i lived in The U.S.A


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## McStyvie (Feb 22, 2010)

leenorm1 said:


> Thanks Ed i have just done this. I wish i lived in The U.S.A


For the EU, you should go through Lsound, their service is legendary in the EU and they are an authorized svs dealer... I have had only awesome service from them, even when it comes to replacements (epik, not svs, but still). My next sub will be an svs for sure, just gotta get the WAF approval...


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

I tried L sound mainly because they would have been cheaper but they advised me that they couldnt sell me svs as there are dealers in the uk.


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## leenorm1 (May 7, 2012)

Hi all i finally received my replacement sb12 on thursday ( just over 3 weeks !) The box it arrived in was in worse condition than the box i was returning! And it looked like it had been used as nothing inside was wrapped. Anyway i am running it in now and so far so good. May i take this oppurtunity to thank Ed Mullen and Richard santiago of audiologica uk for their excellent customer service. Individually the two companies (SVS and Audiologica ) were brilliant the weak link is between the two continents which is what i was trying to get across in my original post , UK customers dont get the same benefits as American customers which must be taken into consideration when uk customers are buying SVS. I would strongly recommend that another courier service be used judging by the condition of the boxes. On a side note Ed if you do start to manufacture cloth grilles i would appreciate it if you would let me know and i was disappointed to hear that SVS had a stand at the What Hifi Bristol show and i wasnt informed. If anybody is interested i will give a review on my dual svs sb12 with graphs. May i take this opportunity once again to thank Ed and Richard.


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## steve1616 (Apr 6, 2009)

I would definitely be interested in a review. I hope you are getting to have some fun now that you got your replacement sub.


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