PC-13Ultra to a Rythmik?

[ravingndrooling]

Have any of you Rythmik owners come from an SVS? I am in the process of converting my 5.1 to 2.1 and am thinking about giving up my PC-13Ultra. I like the idea of a sealed, very musical sub. I am running my Ultra in sealed mode now, so I don't know if I will be gaining anything. If the move is an upgrade, I will be happier about doing it. If it's just a lateral move, I can live with my Ultra. My room is 2500cu ft and sealed. As it is now, my Ultra is set with the gain almost all the way down. HT is still a concern, but its a side note now, not the majority by any means. All opinions are welcome.

[hearing specialist]

I'll take a stab and provide my .02

From what you said one of the biggest things in switching will be advantage of the servo design. Sounds like you may want the accuracy and quickness for music and the Rythmik servo sealed would be your winning ticket. Maybe even go with a smaller driver to maximize what your goal seems to be or better yet, stereo smaller servo sealed enclosures! Now we're talkin!

[petmotel]

Have any of you Rythmik owners come from an SVS? I am in the process of converting my 5.1 to 2.1 and am thinking about giving up my PC-13Ultra. I like the idea of a sealed, very musical sub. I am running my Ultra in sealed mode now, so I don't know if I will be gaining anything. If the move is an upgrade, I will be happier about doing it. If it's just a lateral move, I can live with my Ultra. My room is 2500cu ft and sealed. As it is now, my Ultra is set with the gain almost all the way down. HT is still a concern, but its a side note now, not the majority by any means. All opinions are welcome.

I too have an SVS PC-13 Ultra, and have often wondered if sound quality would be substantially better with a Rythmik. Since my listening room is quite small, gain is also fairly low. From my understanding, distortion from a non-servo sub is much less when not pushed too hard, but I still have that nagging feeling that I'm sacrificing sound quality which is very important to me as music is a large majority of what I use my system for.

I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone whom has listened to both subs in their own listening space. I really enjoy deep, powerful, controlled bass, and would be willing to try a Rythmik if it is indeed a noticeable improvement.

Jay

[Destructo_1]

Hi (first post on the forum!),

I had 2x PC13-ultra (bash+sledge) in my room (2000ft3, not sealed) equalized with a SVS AS-EQ1. I made the switch to 2x F12 from Rythmik (also equalized with the AS-EQ1).

Maybe it is the shape of my room and all, but I didn't hear a difference. I too don't listen to my movies/music too loud because of the room and because I'm in a apartment. One thing for sure, the SVS was able to play louder and still be clean (to my hears).

I'm happy that I made the switch just because it saved some space and that the F12s play loud enough for me.

*I also made the switch between SVS STS-01 and Ascend Towers before switching subs, that made a HUGE difference.

Seb

[FirstReflect]

Is yours one of the older PC13-Ultra subs with the BASH amp? Or is it the newest version with the "Sledge" DSP amp?

Regardless, the SVS Ultra subs are fantastic subs. But the Sledge DSP version offers some of the lowest distortion measurements from any subwoofer out there. And in sealed mode, it has virtually no group delay or ringing, and offers transient response that's about as fast as it gets, while still offering 20Hz and lower extension.

The older BASH amp version didn't offer quite the same level of nearly perfectly linear output with vanishingly low distortion, but it was still an excellent sub.

Just in terms of sound quality, you'd be looking at a lateral move in going to a Rythmik. Which is still saying a lot for how good the Rythmik subs are! But if you are finding any instances of "ringing" or "bloat" or "muddiness" in your bass with your PC13-Ultra sub - that is all due to your room acoustics, not the output of the subwoofer itself.

The PC13-Ultra is certainly a large sub, but it actually offers one of the smallest footprints when it is standing upright. It might be an eyesore, but in terms of how much floor space it takes up, you can't do much better. Fits perfectly on an Auralex SubDude, too

Your greatest improvements in your bass are going to come from adding a second subwoofer, and positioning them optimally so that they work together to remove as many peaks, nulls, and standing waves in your room as possible. If your room is rectangular, that's going to mean putting the two subs at the mid-way points of two opposing walls - as in, the middle of the front wall, and the middle of the back wall, or the middle of both side walls. If your room is not a rectangle, then it is a far more difficult and involved process, which basically amounts to placing one of the subs, and then moving the second subwoofer, measuring, seeing what your response looks like at all of your seats, then moving the second subwoofer, measuring again, and repeating that process as many times as needed until you find the best spots.

If you are in a non-rectangular room, the "brute force" approach to making two subwoofers play nicely together might actually be easier. That involves placing the two subs wherever you like, then using Audyssey MultEQ XT32 with SubEQ HT to calibrate both subwoofers individually. Of course, that requires buying an AV Receiver or pre-pro that has those Audyssey programs, which are only found on the high end Denon, Marantz, Integra and Onkyo units. Even the TX-NR818 doesn't have it - even though it has MultEQ XT32, it does not have SubEQ HT...it just outputs mono to both subwoofers.

The other thing to consider are passive or active bass traps. Talk to the folks at GiK Acoustics to see what bass trapping steps you might be able to take to improve the bass in your room.

Regardless, the PC13-Ultra subwoofer itself is a great subwoofer, and switching over to a Rythmik isn't going to improve the bass that you hear. A second subwoofer - optimally placed - is the best solution. Acoustic bass traps are an important piece of the puzzle. And brute force processing from Audyssey MultEQ XT32 with SubEQ HT is your "last resort", but also effective.

[curtis]

Jonathan, have you heard a Rythmik?

[Blutarsky]

The Servo Sub was invented by my friend Arnie Nudell when he owned Infinity Speakers in the 1980's. I have owned several of his designs, both from Infinity, and Genesis. I decided to downsize my system, and am very happy with my Ascend Towers.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/a...-here-infinity

I agree that J. would benefit from comparing servo to non servo designs. Of course, two servo subs would be a worthy goal.
B.