[Bigload]

I have 4 SongTowers and a SongCenter headed for my home theater room.  Currently have an SVS PB12-Plus sub which does a good job but thinking about a different sub to go with the new Songs.  I was eying a new SVS PB13-Ultra ($1700), but also real curious and interested in the SongSub ($900).   Any comments or suggestions?  Thanks.

[Big Red Machine]

Opinion:  SVS makes a pretty good sub.  But if you are hankering for a change consider two Songsubs or one Submersive from Seaton.  About the same outlay in cash and the two SOngsubs may be easier to locate due to their smaller footprint and possiblly smooth out the overall response.  The Submersive will rattle the drywall for sure but is bigger.

[silvermesa]

I have had my living room 5.1 songtower home theater system (2 pair songtowers , song center, song sub)  for about 2 months now. I am very pleased with it.

One of the benefits of purchasing a song sub, is that Jim can match the finish to your speakers. I feel like it is very high quality sub. I'm sure, there are other subs that may be better, but the song sub works fine and I feel no need to look further.

 I can see myself being happy with this set up for a long time!

Good Luck!

Silvermesa

[Nuance]

Opinion:  SVS makes a pretty good sub.  But if you are hankering for a change consider two Songsubs or one Submersive from Seaton.  About the same outlay in cash and the two SOngsubs may be easier to locate due to their smaller footprint and possiblly smooth out the overall response.  The Submersive will rattle the drywall for sure but is bigger.

This.  Jim can also build a custom Rythmik sub too, even with passive radiators.

[Big Red Machine]

This.  Jim can also build a custom Rythmik sub too, even with passive radiators.

  That would be a very good choice.

[floresjc]

Bigload -

I was going to  agree with BRM and the others who said to check out the Rythmik with  passive radiators from Jim. For the kind of money you are talking about spending on the SVS, you could get a pretty nice sub I would imagine. And it would probably be a better all around performer for your dollar.

[Marbles]

I replaced 2 SVS Ultra's on a Crown K2 amp and an ART 351 EQ with the Rythmik Servo subs and couldn't be happier.  They play very nicely with my HT3's.

If it were me (and it was), I would have Jim make me some servo subs to match the veneer of the Songtowers.

[Bigload]

Thanks for the comments.  I have reached out to Jim and will go from there.

[Jeff B.]

Thanks for the comments.  I have reached out to Jim and will go from there.

For a quick comparison - the Songsub uses a very nice driver and has a little more amplifier power than the Rythmik Servo amps have. It will go just as deep and reach a little higher of an SPL, but for less expense. The Rythmik, on the other hand, are servo controlled, which offers some benefits in response correction and distortion control. It also uses a very nice driver (the same driver I am using in my own sub right now). If it were me, if I could fit two Songsubs or two Rythmik servos into my budget, knowing the drivers and amps that are used, that would be my choice. Given the costs, two Songsubs might get the edge here.

[Bigload]

I have heard that the Rythmic with the Servo has to be turned almost all the way up.  Have also heard it works fine at near max gain.  That bugs me just a little bit.  But that is with the 370w amp.  Wondering if that has actually been a problem for anybody??  I also see where Rythmic now offers a 600w Servo for their 15" drivers.  I think that would be plenty for my 16X18 room.  Right now, I am leaning towards a Salk built Rythmic 15" sealed sub with the new 600w Servo amp.  Would be matching that with 4 SongTowers and a SongCenter.  Waiting for feedback from Jim on that.  I gotta believe the 15" Rythmic with the 600 amp would be great.  Appreciate any comments or cautions.

[floresjc]

Bigload -

I have a 15" Rythmic with dual passive radiators and the 370W PEQ amp. When I first got it, I had issues like you described, I seemed to have to turn the thing way up on the gain. Two things fix this really easily.

1. Turn up the LFE or Sub gain offset in your surround processor. In my Outlaw 990 I can trim it up 10dB, and in my research on the issue, I found a link where it said most LFE effects were pressed to disc down 6-10 dB, so this is not uncommon.

2. Brian Ding at Rythmik recommended I get a line splitter and use both sub inputs on the amp instead of a single. The amp treats this as a summer, and you get another 3-6dB of signal gain (I can't remember which).

Having done both of the above myself, the sub works awesome. I have the gain knob around 40-50% and I get as much output as I like. There's still alot left in the pedal if I desired more. Also, Brian designed the "auto-on" feature to be not so sensitive, so the above steps make it work great since you have so much signal coming into the amp.

Note that for 2-channel listening, I have no such trims. I go directly from CD player to Parasound 2100 preamp to sub, and it both "auto-on" and plays at fine levels.

If the 600W amp had been available at the time, I probably would have purchased it because I like to have the best available. But as a user of the amp, I couldn't tell you that the 370W is inadequate, because it works great in my home using the same speakers as you have. My room is roughly 33x18, and opens to an adjacent room roughly 30x15.

Note: I have no experience with Rythmik subs outside of the passive radiator version I have. What I said above may not be true for sealed subs.

Note 2: The Oppo Blu-Ray player also has LFE/sub trims for its output as well. So there is another option for trimming the system if you don't want to do it in the processor.

[floresjc]

Also, if there is one thing I would check out, it would be the kind of output a sealed sub would get you in a home theater setting. Sealed subs work very nicely for music and are agile, but some people like to have 2 or more for a home theater because they trail ported or passive radiator subs in raw output. I don't see 16x18 as being a really massive room, but you may want to have Jeff or Jim comment on what kind of response you might get using a single sealed sub and what you'd like to achieve.

[Bigload]

Thanks for the feedback.  Curious about the line splitter solution.  My current Onkyo TX-NR5007 has dual sub outputs.  SO I think I could just run both lines??  Wonder if I should be doing that now even on my current SVS PB12-Plus?

[floresjc]

If the sub outputs are both active with the same signal at the same time, that could work. Although two runs of sub cable would be pricier than buying a 1.99 Y signal splitter. If you're not having an issue now with the SVS, I wouldn't worry. Doing the two adjustments above, I was able to get the Rythmik away from the 100% gain and down to 50%, which I was more comfortable with.