Dual subs or one better sub?

nugget2014

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currently in my home cinema setup I have a single sub. A Dali ikon sub mk2 which serves me fine. Although my room is very awkward and in the seating area the bass is weak for 2 of the 3 seats I have on my sofa. I was thinking about upgrading to a sb13 ultra, pb13 ultra or pb-2000 (when budget allows and if I can get one second hand which is rare these days) but what would dual ikon subs be like? I assume this would fix the null void I have in the seats and have equal sound for everywhere in the room. But would it give me more bass in total or would it be a wasted upgrade? Richer sounds sell the sub for £400 now. And what would having 2 different subs be like? For example 1 Dali ikon sub mk2 and 1 svs pb2000.
 

Son_of_SJ

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Let's hope that David at Frank Harvey chimes in here, because he has much experience of this. However, I think I'm on fairly firm ground in saying that if you are using multiple subwoofers, it helps if they are all the same, rather than mixing various types.
 

ellisdj

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multiple subs will better than solo - however not all subs are created equal, adding 2 lesser subs might better 1 sub short term. 2 much better subs sets you up properly for the long haul.

The SVS Ultras would be a very different sub to the dali - much much much more power.

They are worth their money - but as with all subs its the user thats get the great bass out oif the sub I feel

You can get home demos of them, I had one on home demo
 

nugget2014

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ellisdj said:
multiple subs will better than solo - however not all subs are created equal, adding 2 lesser subs might better 1 sub short term. 2 much better subs sets you up properly for the long haul.

The SVS Ultras would be a very different sub to the dali - much much much more power.

They are worth their money - but as with all subs its the user thats get the great bass out oif the sub I feel

You can get home demos of them, I had one on home demo

where did you get a home demo from, did it cost anything to send back? It's a shame mainstream retailers like richer sounds or superfi don't sell them would be easier to demo them Instore..things never easy. I wonder how much better even a pb2000 would be. Can get them for £650 now.
 

nugget2014

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also the bk monolith plus is £100 cheaper. same driver size, same rms output and only 100w less peak. is there much difference between the two?
 

Son_of_SJ

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Nugget2014, I've recently been corresponding with the main technical man at SVS, Mr Ed Mullen, and for one of my rooms that measures 11'6" square and 10'6" high he recommended an SVS SB-2000, not one of the larger subwoofers.
 

ellisdj

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nugget2014 said:

where did you get a home demo from, did it cost anything to send back? It's a shame mainstream retailers like richer sounds or superfi don't sell them would be easier to demo them Instore..things never easy. I wonder how much better even a pb2000 would be. Can get them for £650 now.

Nick at Home Sound arranged it for me, I have bought both of my subs from him as a result

I dont remember it costing me anything except the money to buy it.

Where do you live?
 
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I can also recomend Nick at Home Sound also..... I've just bought all my Naim/revel hi fi from him and surround sound in the past (which i no longer have i traded in all in for 2ch naim)....

You can also trade in your old stuff to off set the price of the new. As long as it's in good condition.

Give him time to respond though as he's curruntly going through a very big company change allowing him to get hold of more brands. But rest assured he will respond.

To be honest mate stay away from the monolith.. I tried one and was very dissapointed and its a real pain if anthing goes wrong, BK have there own working pace. SVS will be in a completly different league. Buy once and only once

Though Nick will guide you through your requirements as the SVS is very big you my be better suited to one of there sligtly smaller subs. Remember if you want really good bass your going to have to comprimise on the living spcae alot more than you already have (if i remeber your pics correctly). And a bigger sub won't solve bass nulls in the room, infact from experiance it will make them worse as it will make them more noticable. Sometime's just sometime's less is more!!!!
 

ellisdj

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Nick will recommend velodynes to you as thats his favourite.

The Monolith will be excellent in the right hands and with freedom to place it in the best spot.

If it has to go in a corner which is not a bad thing sealed's are easier to work with generally people say, depends on a lot of things

I think a lot of the time the bass thats missing is the upper bass. I had this problem for years - loads of low end not enough punchy upper bass.

2 things sorted this out - 1 was alignment - getting the timing between the subs and speakers spot on.

Now I mean for all speakers not just the front 2. If you get this right you can have full on explosions behind you. There is the scene in Oblivion where Cruise checks out the crashed ship with all the humans in hyper sleep. Quite soon after he gets out of his flying craft there is an explosion behind him and thats also supposed to be behind the listener to the left. - Thats class to experience when done properly. Auto setups are supposed to do this - but there is a easy way to check.

Download this and burn it to a DVD as an ISO - or just get it to play on your blu ray player.

In the stereo section there is a timing - you hear a a tick from speaker and a boomb from sub - you adjust the speaker distances until the tick and boomb are starting and stopping exactly in time.

time_zpspstgepwx.png


I can do this for all my speakers by changing the interconnects between the processor and power amp.

For those using recievers - Make sure you have the Receiver in Stereo to adjust the front 2 speakers. I would say to adjust both the speakers by the same distance - i.e. both up or down in distance by the same amount.

Then to check the centre change the system into prologic and the tick comes out of the centre.

You might have to think of a way to do the rears, I am not sure for that.

This is extremely worth doing / checking as it will knit your bass together with the speakers perfectly if it is not already.

Second is to run dual subs and higher crossovers - I am sold on this - no going back for me ever
 

nugget2014

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ellisdj said:
nugget2014 said:

where did you get a home demo from, did it cost anything to send back? It's a shame mainstream retailers like richer sounds or superfi don't sell them would be easier to demo them Instore..things never easy. I wonder how much better even a pb2000 would be. Can get them for £650 now.

Nick at Home Sound arranged it for me, I have bought both of my subs from him as a result

I dont remember it costing me anything except the money to buy it.

Where do you live?

nottingham.
 

ellisdj

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I was thinking where can you go to get a demo - I know Jeff at Castle Sound And Vision because he is a former dealer for brands that a good friend got me interested in. I had to go hunting to find what I wanted so started with Jeff.

I dont know what he sells for AV - I know he does higher end installs but I dont know what he could demo for you. He is a cracking guy though.

David is Brum over an hour think he stocks SVS and a few others,

Ideal AV is 2 hours but he sells JL Audio - they have a newer cheaper range out now

You have XTZ demo's in Slough 2 hours and MK demos Reading just over 2 hours.

I appreciate its not your room but it would help you get an idea what you like and how those subs compare to the Dali you have.
 

nugget2014

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ellisdj said:
I was thinking where can you go to get a demo - I know Jeff at Castle Sound And Vision because he is a former dealer for brands that a good friend got me interested in. I had to go hunting to find what I wanted so started with Jeff.

I dont know what he sells for AV - I know he does higher end installs but I dont know what he could demo for you. He is a cracking guy though.

David is Brum over an hour think he stocks SVS and a few others,

Ideal AV is 2 hours but he sells JL Audio - they have a newer cheaper range out now

You have XTZ demo's in Slough 2 hours and MK demos Reading just over 2 hours.

I appreciate its not your room but it would help you get an idea what you like and how those subs compare to the Dali you have.

thanks for that!
 

nugget2014

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My mind is set on the pb-2000. Will there be much difference from what I have now? The most important change is the power. 250w rms 300w peak compared to I believe 500w rms and 1100w peak on the svs! And the driver seems better quality. Also the whole sub looks better. I'd say the only downgrade is I don't have a plinth like the ikon has. Guess to solve that I buy a subdude HT or something
 

ellisdj

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The pb2000 has got a natural house curve which is interesting.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Gives the option to run dual subs using your dali as well see how that benefits you.

Cool
 

ellisdj

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Just before you dive in there is a Powersound Audio V1500 to consider

15" driver 725w of ice amplifier and Performs equivalent to a SVS Pb13 ultra for $1099.

Ricky at Kalibrate in Croydon sells these in the UK.

Might be worth a call to him he is a nice guy
 

nugget2014

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I have spoken with Nick at HomeSound, will speak again on Monday about possibly having sb or pb-2000. Hopefully he will be able to work somethings out with me as I want to try both the models and see if I prefer the sealed or ported variant. For different sources (and to see how loud the sealed can go for movies) is there a big difference of the two for music? I know there will be for movies
 
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nugget2014 said:
I have spoken with Nick at HomeSound, will speak again on Monday about possibly having sb or pb-2000. Hopefully he will be able to work somethings out with me as I want to try both the models and see if I prefer the sealed or ported variant. For different sources (and to see how loud the sealed can go for movies) is there a big difference of the two for music? I know there will be for movies

Simple answer is basically no there will be no audible difference. Some say the sealed subs are faster thus being better for muisc, some say ported sub are better for movies. But to be honest i doubt you will notice at all. Though a sealed sub will be easier to set up.
 

ellisdj

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Good link BB I had not seen that before

It's a little on the fence but how else can they write it to not un promote one of their whole ranges.

Their flagship product is ported but their most acclaimed product is sealed.

Work that one out :)
 

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