SVS 4000 Series Subwoofers Offer Significant Gains Over Discontinued Models

Subwoofer and loudspeaker manufacturer SVS has launched a new line of subs to replace their venerable 13-Ultra Series. The 4000 Series subwoofers takes the 13-Ultra platform and makes some radical changes, especially with regard to the onboard electronics. The 4000 Series subwoofers are the PB-4000 which is the ported box enclosure, the PC-4000, the ported cylinder enclosure, and the SB-4000, which is the sealed box enclosure. Advancements were made on all aspects over the 13-Ultra subwoofers. While there are enhancements to the driver and cabinets,  the most significant changes occur in the electronics. The 4000 subwoofers features many of the same innovations that SVS pushed forward in the 16-Ultra subwoofers, including extensive control of the sub from a smartphone app, a fully-discrete MOSFET output stage in the amplifier, 50 MHz Analog Devices Audio DSP with 56bit filtering, a front-mounted LED display, and a remote control among other innovations. This looks to be a classic case of high-technology developed for the flagship product trickling down to lower-cost offerings. In some ways, the 4000 Series subwoofers inherit as much from the 16-ultras as they do from the 13-Ultras.

The enclosure design looks to mostly remain the same to the 13-Ultras save for a few tweaks such as recessed front-mounted display. The 4000 Series box enclosure subs are slightly larger. Both the PC-4000 and PB-4000 retain the variable tuning features with their three ports.

The 13.5 driver looks to be similar to the 13-Ultra Series drivers as well, although SVS does claim some enhancements were made. The texture of the glass-fiber cones are stylistically more like the 16-Ultras than the 13-Ultras. Amplification is given a boost over the 13-ultras, from 1,000 watts RMS to 1,200 watts RMS. However, the largest leap over the 13-Ultras that the 4000 Series makes looks to be the extensive control that the user is given of the performance of the subwoofer, and also the ease of adjustability. Almost every aspect of the subwoofer’s operation can be modified through SVS’s smartphone app which operates on Android or Apple devices to control the volume, parametric equalization, polarity, room gain, and all other DSP functions including a range of and custom response curves. The amount of configurability that the user has over the 4000 subs, much like the 16-Ultra subs, is near total.

However, one thing that we do not expect to change from any of the other SVS subwoofers is powerful and clean deep bass performance. SVS boasts an astonishing +/- 3 dB window of 13 Hz to 200 Hz for the PB-4000 and 15 Hz to 200 Hz for the PC-4000. These frequencies are below what is commonly thought of as audible sound; in other words, you feel them more than you can hear them. The -3 dB point for the PB-4000 is a slight improvement over the corresponding 13-Ultra model. SVS informs us that the 4000 Series subwoofers see performance increases across the board versus the 13-Ultra Series with deeper extension and more headroom.

    

More Performance NOT More Cost!

But the best feature of the 4000 Series subwoofers despite the improvements in every aspect over the 13-Ultras? There is no price increase for the box models. In fact, there is a $100 price decrease!  The cylinder does see a modest $100 price increase, but for me, the cylinder subs remain my favorite SVS design due to the ease of positioning and movement and for the small footprint that they incur. SVS has leveraged the march of progress in technology to make their classic PB13-Ultra design better without a significant cost increase. This is nothing but good news for subwoofer enthusiasts.  

    

Future 3000 Series Speculation?

If we were to guess about the future of SVS’s subwoofers, we would expect to see SVS’s Plus Series revamped to use the technology found in the 16-Ultras and 4000s, and they wiould perhaps be dubbed the 3000 Series. As it stands, 3000 is the missing whole number multiple in SVS’s current subwoofer lines up to the 4000s, and the PC12-Plus and PB12-Plus are the oldest subs of the SVS subwoofers. When and if that occurs, hopefully we will also see little to no increase in price as SVS has done with the 13-Ultras to 4000s. But only time will tell if our crystal ball is on the money.

Audioholics will be doing full reviews of the 4000 Series subwoofers with a full compliment of bench tests in the near future, so stay tuned to this channel to get a detailed picture of what SVS has cooked up with these latest designs.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.