Svs 16-46 Pc+

[Nicholas Mosher]

You can read the events leading up to this here...
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=851




More to come...

[Mag_Neato]

Hey.....what's with the water heater next to the 170's?

Holy shi.....take mushrooms Batman!!

[GaryB]

Don't make us wait too long!

[Nicholas Mosher]

I can't use the same near-field position between my left surround and couch due to the shear height of the 1646+... it interferes with the SL output!

I'm going to try it between the center channel and right main.

With the BFD in bypass mode I ran a few sine waves with the 1646+ (w/one port plugged in 12Hz mode) calibrated to 70dB with the mains...
Note that these are UNMODIFIED readings, no RS SPL fudge factors!

75dB @ 10Hz
87dB @ 15Hz

HOLY LOW FREQUENCY BATMAN! SECURE THE HATCHES!

Once the peaks are knocked down, and the sub rematched to the mains, these figures should be even higher! I had readings (albeit much lower) down into the single digits! I'd also like to note that the sub seems much less stressed than the PB10-ISD did in this frequency range.

I'm going to calibrate the sub w/BFD in a couple hours, I should have a final FR chart up tonight with some comments.

[curtis]

Like a kid in a candy store!

[bikeman]

Chances of me putting that in my wife's livingroom are none and less than none. Enjoy it Nicholas. I'm jealous.

David

[jimsiff]

Damn that's a tall sub. I bet it sounds great. Like Bikeman, the WAF factor for that sub in my house is ZERO. I'd never get away with that. I had a hard enough time when my wife saw the VTF-3.

[GaryB]

When I was considering getting one of the SVS cylinders last fall, my wife was initially resistant to the idea, but, over time, seemed to become more and more accepting. When I finally decided on the PB10, she was somewhat disappointed that we weren't going to have an interesting-looking cylinder tucked in the corner of our family room.

I guess if and when I decide to upgrade to something like the PC-Ultra, I won't have to do much arm-twisting after all - as long as she doesn't know the price...

[Nicholas Mosher]

Ok guys, I ran it through just about everything I have in 16Hz mode. I want to thank and apologize to my neighbors (landlord) upstairs, people blown into the road walking on the sidewalk out front, and small animals in the woods outback that were driven underground.

I should start by saying it didn't bottom out even once today. I did notice a drop in the infrasonics during a few scenes moving from the 12Hz tune to the 16Hz tune, but I can't sit there and listen to "Clack-a-Rap Rap" as the driver destroys itself. The super-lows are still nice and strong though, better than anything I've ever heard.

Here it goes...

LOTR: FOTR
The 16-46 PC+ picked up the nice infrasonic tail to the "Ring Drop" scene at the beginning of the film. This movie is loaded to the hilt with Bass. I swear, I was waiting for a 6 second 20Hz blast when the hobbits flip the piece of canadian bacon in the frypan. The 1646+ was nice and calm though. After calibration the sub blended in smoothly and wasn't boomy whatsoever. It lended deep, nearly bottomless impacts to anything that asked for it. The breath-sucking bass that backs up the inferno of the balroq was spectacularly clean yet powerful.

LOTR: ROTK
Oliphant footstomps land with a "THUD" not a "THOOMP". Very, very nice. The Oliphant collision scene captured the deep infrasonic space-warping impact. All the butts, hits, and falls in the battle epics were as clean as I expect for this kind of money. I'd say 95% as clean as anything I've ever heard. Frodo and Sam in Mt. Doom was excellent. Not just the Heartbeat that sent waves of audible & inaudible bass through the floor rattling the light fixtures, but also the bass rendered from the environment. When the camera pans around as Sam first enters there are room shaking effects that really hit you with the volatile nature of the "set".

Master & Commander
Chapter 4. Yup, cannons cracked, wood busted, people screamed. The cannon blasts were tight with that nice and low wall-flexing hit that comes just after the high-frequency crack and low-frequency thump. Impacts and cannonfire were nice and discreet, a huge improvement over the PB10-ISD. No complaints for chapter 4.

Star Wars: Episode I
"Start your engines!", I got ready with my box of cheez-itz and hard cider. I noticed a wee-bit of rumble in about 10sec of the entire chapter, isolated to just 2 or 3 intense scenes. Some of this may just be the material though, as I have some beef with a few of the sound effects and how they are mixed in this scene. Canyon exits are nice and clean, and rock the room. Completely satisfactory performance.

The Incredibles
Incredible bass that is. It's everywhere, even more than LOTR with it's 15Hz earthquakes as Liv Tyler tosses her hair. As noted above, this movie caused the 1646+ to bottom out in 12Hz mode with a peak output of 103dB in my 1500ft^3 room. Once in 16Hz mode, it had no problems, but I did feel like I was missing a little something after the swap, especially during the Rocket liftoff while Dash is in the blast tunnel. Still, in 16Hz mode the 1646+ was no slouch, going deep and clean with a nice SPL. My favorite part is actually the bonus short on disc 2, "Jack Jack Attack". When Jack Jack bursts into flames after being shown the campfire flashcard the impact given off by the 1646+ is fantastic. The controlled thunder is maintained throughout the whole scene, as he is chased all over the room.

Black Hawk Down
The "Other Chapter 4". I could tell I was pushing the sub a bit here. When the soldiers run from the hangar to get on the choppers I could feel the infrasonics of the rotor blades tearing a hole in the atmosphere. Combined with the bass heavy soundtrack and explosions the sub felt like it was approaching it's limit and getting ready to shoot through my ceiling like some hilarious Monty Python skit. It never once bottomed out, but I was on the floor a couple times listening intently in panic.

Next I tried some DVD-A and SACD titles...

Diana Krall: Love Scenes DVD-A
Bass chords are beautiful! The sub drew little, if any attention to itself. The quick, loud notes at the beginning of "My Love Is" were just that, quick and loud. Everything was natural and completely transparent. The sub blended so nicely that imaging was spot on, and not ruined by a rumbling box that detracted from this quality. The PB10-ISD struggled to do this, while the 1646+ did it effortlessly. I listened to the whole disc... twice... ... ...in a row.

LAGQ: Latin/Guitar Heroes SACD's
Not much bass, but the sub has to pick up just a little bit from whats crossed over to it at 80Hz. The 16-46 PC+ did a fine job that was once again clean and transparent. Nothing else to say here.

Telarc's Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture SACD
Holy loud cannon-blasts Batman! I got down next to the sub just to make sure it wasn't bottoming out, and it wasn't. The first one that went off scared the crap out of me. Cheezitz flew everywhere, and my rug escaped a near disaster as I expertly righted my tipped cider bottle. Unbelieveable! Big drum blasts had a tiny bit more "whoomp" to them than they should, but even when focusing on this one small aspect it was minor. What a great 16min performance.

Dupre.Franck.Widor SACD
Yup, this sub does pipe organs. Very pleased. It fleshes out the higher bass nicely, and belts out those curdling lows excellently. Not much more to say on this one either. Listened to the whole disc by mistake.

Eagles: Hotel California DVD-A
Kick-drums sound better than they did on the PB10-ISD, but they still don't sound ideal. Could just be the mix, but there is a bit too much whoomp in it. Given the clarity of other bass hits, I'm wondering if it's just me. It may also be that I grew up listening to this just on 3" stereo speakers, and now that I have a big gnarly 12" driver belting out those notes my ears/memory are disagreeing. I dunno.

With the 16-46 PC+ I've definetly found the extension I was looking for, but after tasting it in 12Hz mode I've managed to plant seeds of desire in the back of my mind. Overall it has phenomenal performance that has easily met my expectations. With the sole-exception of an uber-expensive Thiel sub I heard at one of my local hifi shops, this is the best sub I've ever heard that meets my demands of extension, clarity, and output. I plan to keep this one!!! Woo-hoo!!!

I do have some beefs though. This thing was bottoming in 12Hz mode with a peak output of 103dB in my 1500ft^3 room. In otherwords this optional extension really isn't optional (in my case atleast). Kick/kettle drum blasts don't seem to be 100% in their clarity, but they're close enough for me, especially at this pricepoint.

During a few passages peaking in the 100dB range I could tell the sub was raising an eyebrow at me (work with the metaphor please). Seeing as I don't have the $4k for that Thiel sub I loved, I'm seriously considering the possibility of placing another 16-46 PC+ on the other side of my front soundstage. I know colocating is the best option, but I feel that spreading two out to either side of my front soundstage will help to make the bass even further diffused and even less localized during intense bass scenes. From my understanding, with proper setup (and phase) this will also increase headroom for the super-peaks in films such as The Incredibles and Black Hawk Down. While I was looking at getting my display next, I may try another 16-46 PC+ next month to see if that fills in the last 8 or 9% of my desire. Boy am I glad that I'm single...

Two thumbs up for the SVS 16-46 PC+!

[GaryB]

I'm truly happy for you, Nicholas. Your carefully-detailed well-written assessments have been invaluable! Didn't I tell you that the 16 Hz tune was the ticket? Didn't I also tell you that you'd be delighted with the PB10-ISD?

Now we've just got to convince Ron/Tom to release a 16-46 PC-Ultra...