petetherock Posted September 8, 2007 Posted September 8, 2007 Some folks have got their hands on this, stateside, envy.... http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/svsound/6123-pb13-ultra-initial-impressions.html "Calibrating this sub was easier than I’ve ever experienced. With the improved frequency response, the sub remained flatter than any other sub I’ve calibrated. In my own system, my PC-Ultra required about 5 different points of equalization, whereas the PB13-Ultra, I ended up with 2 points. Aside from actually moving the sub into place, I was able to calibrate it faster than I have with any of my previous subs. So this allowed me to get a little more time to actually test the sub tonight, instead of using a lot of time to flatten the response curve. Starting off, I mostly played a lot of clips of familiar music passages tonight and have been impressed to no end with the differences when compared to the previous PC-Ultra. The initial difference, which is probably the most obvious with music, is the quickness of the driver itself. The notes lift even quicker more so now than they used to. The low frequencies blend into the music quite a bit better and the sub disappears even further into the soundstage than the old Ultra did. The lower range of a lot of the musical recordings definitely has more of a presence than they did before. Along with the added presence, the detail of the notes that were reproduced by the previous Ultra are now enhanced, brought out, and overall more noticeable. Hearing this sub reproduce kick drums or double kick drums in some of the rock passages was thoroughly satisfying. The upper range of the sub was pretty amazing, too. The mid range often ended up kind of getting garbled into the music (hindsight talking), and now I notice more notes and sound. It added another dimension to that frequency spectrum that didn’t quite get reproduced correctly before. My brother also pointed out to me, while were listening to some classical music, tympanis actually sound like tympanis and drums actually sound like they should, instead of a warbling thump. The previous PC-Ultra is a pretty musical sub, but this one certainly takes the crown in musicality. If I were to use one word to describe the sound I noticed from the sub, while listening to music, it would be “Articulation.” I did pop in a couple scenes of movies, but I couldn’t do too much testing before my wife and baby went to bed, but I watched a couple scenes from Chicken Little and Déjà vu on Blu-ray, and THX Ultimate Demo DVD. In Chicken Little, I skipped directly to the invasion sequence where I was greeted with a very surprising “crunch” from the cracking sky sequence. I remember a pretty decent thud at that very point before, but the “crunch” definitely had my brother and me both saying, “Whoa.” Continuing on in that invasion, there was a lot more impact in a lot of the low frequencies that were previously thump or thuds. There also seemed to be a lot more sound pressure, but never overbearing sound pressure. Just overall harder hits from the sub than I recalled from the TV-12 Ultra. Next I went onto Déjà vu. I really like the opening sequence from the start of the film through the initial ferry explosion. This sequence has a good musical score that has a lot of very low notes incorporated as well as a very cool explosion. First off, the musical portion of this sequence can often times be overwhelming with lesser subs that I’ve heard. The TV-12 did a pretty good job, but comparing it now to the PB13-Ultra, it just doesn’t quite cut it. There are a couple of beats that go really low and just sound really smooth on the Ultra 13. The low end got filled and filled even more than I expected, but never felt like too much. The explosion of the ferry, from what I recall pressurized the room pretty good with the TV-12, but with the Ultra 13, the explosion seemed to expand and go right through me, while having some surprising jolts. It almost seemed as though the fire from the explosion came to life and as it expanded and lifted, the sound from the sub expanded and lifted up to match. Lastly, I popped in the THX Ultimate Demo DVD and listened to most everything on there. Starting with the Starwars Episode I Podrace in DTS. I really love how much detail there is in the engines of this sequence. The growl and roar of some of the racers going by really came to life. With the TV-12 I remember some of the sound being there and there definitely was a growl, but with the PB13-U, the growl became more articulate and meaner. This sequence definitely did pressurize the room a lot more than I remember, especially during the tunnel explosion sequence. I listened to all the different types of music passages on the DVD and in general the sound from the PB13-U sounded more natural than any sub I’ve previously listen to. There’s a swing number that starts out with the drums, when I listened to that with the TV-12 Driver, there was a lot more remaining resonance after the drum was hit somewhat muffling it a bit. The Ultra 13 still had the impact, but let off the drum a lot faster. The drum in the Blues number definitely had a bigger hit and kick feel to it. The THX intros, and especially the Calvacade intro definitely had a real big impact and snap to them. When the ball exloded on the Calvacade intro, it actually sounded more like a quick burst of pressure, rather than just a release and thud. Overall, with even my little bit of time so far, the sub certainly sounds quite a bit better than even that of my old PC-Ultra, while enhancing the slam and impact even further. I definitely am happy with the musical aspect of this sub. Being able to reproduce a lot of the deeper instruments without coloring the sound truly impressed me. I certainly think it’s worth the upgrade if one can swing the money for the upgrade."
basspundit Posted September 14, 2007 Posted September 14, 2007 Wow very pretty sub.....argh.....will temptation never cease. The cone's interesting too....some mesh like thingie.
petetherock Posted September 26, 2007 Author Posted September 26, 2007 Review available now: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_3/svs-pb13-ultra-subwoofer-9-2007-part-1.html Seems to be sold out til Oct '07
samglamour Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Is PB13 Ultra or PC13 Ultra suitable for the HDB dwellers? ::)
basspundit Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 http://www.avtalk.co.uk/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=22950&start=0&rid=0&SQ=0 Some beautiful charts
2100 Posted October 3, 2007 Posted October 3, 2007 Is PB13 Ultra or PC13 Ultra suitable for the HDB dwellers? ::) Why not, 21 and 24" also got.
petetherock Posted December 12, 2007 Author Posted December 12, 2007 Another review: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_4/svs-pc13-ultra-subwoofer-12-2007-part-1.html
HT102 Posted May 11, 2008 Posted May 11, 2008 Sorry for digging this old thread out. Any bros has this monstrous in their HDB/Condo room and experience to share? My dedicated HT room is only 3.5m x 2.7m x 3m (LxWxH). I have a PB10 for more than 4 years and don't usually turn up the volume much, but would love to feel that intense lung-crushing subsonic pressure I had twice experienced at a fellow forumer's place.
petetherock Posted May 11, 2008 Author Posted May 11, 2008 Our bass meister has a brace in his room, which is not bigger than yours... Of course it is a well treated room, but you can have it and your 905 can help control it. It won't overwhelm
tsammyc Posted May 18, 2008 Posted May 18, 2008 I have a PB10 for more than 4 years and don't usually turn up the volume much, but would love to feel that intense lung-crushing subsonic pressure I had twice experienced at a fellow forumer's place. /quote] To get that, you need a sealed room. You could try adding another PB-10 like I did, but to get enough power to duplicate the Ultra, you need a total of 3.
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