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nickthegrip
09-21-2020, 10:57 AM
Currently have an SVS SB-2000. I needed to patch together aging B&O RL-140 speakers that had blown out surrounds in woofers. Was going to get the Rythmic F12 as I also own an original pair of Sierra's but SVS had a killer price on open box for $599 and had great reviews so took a chance. It seemed to do the job very decently. Cut to the present and we have upgraded system to include the Naim Uniti Star all in one Amp-Streamer-CD Ripper with very nice Burr Brown 1791A 24Bit DAC. The B&O RL-140 woofers have been professionally gone through and rebuilt. Together, the system now produces clean, detailed sound with very good staging such that have not been heard before except in some outrageous audio demo rooms. The question is, would spending a little more on the F12 Rythmik sub with the Direct Servo technology give me a noticeably quicker, sharper and more musical bottom end and better match the B&O speakers and Naim Amplifier? Anyone have experience comparing SVS to Rythmic? Both subs have aluminum cones, similar dimensions and are non vented. Rythmic has 375 watts class A/B amplification vs SVS with 500 watts class D amplification. Rythmik has the servo control. Any and all feedback appreciated...

N Boros
09-21-2020, 12:39 PM
I don't have experience specifically with SVS to Rythmik, but I can share my experience with my Sierra 2's and an Outlaw LFM-1 subwoofer (made by HSU). I thought that the blend between my Sierra 2's as mains and my Outlaw subwoofer was great until I started messing around with the crossover. With an 80 Hz crossover, on material that I am very familiar with, I noticed that the bass lacks the detail in comparison to a 50 to 60 Hz crossover. I know that the subwoofer in integrated well in my room as I have run sweeps from 200 Hz down to 20 Hz and it sounds linear to my ear. This leads me to believe that the Outlaw can't keep up with the transient response of the Sierra 2's in the 50 to 80 Hz range. An easy fix would be to just leave the crossover lower at 50 to 60 Hz, but I primarily use my system for movies and TV. The Sierra 2's are not suited to being hit with massive bass that occurs in movies in this 50 to 80Hz range, compared to a subwoofer.

Like I said, it is only with content that I am very familiar with. I caught it when I was watching the AMC show Halt and Catch Fire. I was playing around with the crossover and noticed this difference when watching the intro to the show. I leaped out to me with this intro that I heard many many times. With content that I am not familiar with it does not stick out at all. I do plan to get a Rythmik subwoofer, when I upgrade my subwoofer, hopefully next year to fix this issue. I know that there is more detail that I am missing out on and I am looking forward to the upgrade partly because of this.

In your specific situation, having a sealed subwoofer with transient response that already is faster than that of my ported subwoofer, I'm not sure if you would notice a huge difference, if at all. In fact, if your system is for music only, then you can fix any possible issues with a lower crossover, like I mentioned. If you are still in the window where you can return the SVS subwoofer, then by all means bring in a Rythmik to A/B with the SVS. If not, I wouldn't worry about it and just keep the SVS. It is a good subwoofer.

nickthegrip
09-21-2020, 04:39 PM
NB,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. Just adjusted and it sounded much tighter. Was also impressed that the SVS guy I spoke with new about Rythmik and had nothing bad to say. His only suggestion was to consider using my one year free trade in option to step up to the SB-3000 for only a few hundred $ more and get their new remote app with more adjustments and presets, the larger 13" cone and the 800 watt D class amp which he said would likely give me a larger presence in the same footprint for less...