Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Advice on recent M50 purchase

Glad you like them! If you do indeed intend to add a subwoofer, I cannot recommend enough, the Hsu VTF-2 or VTF-3. Both sound the same - nice tight, clean, quick bass. GREAT for music, and they have plenty of guts for those wonderful booms in HT. The VTF-3 will just be able to go even lower, and play even louder then the VTF-2. Both are amazing. I have the VTF-2, and would LOVE to get the VTF-3 (mostly for that fantastic new Rosewood veneer than anything else!)

Enjoy your speakers!

Dear spiffnme,

We regret to inform you that we have terminated your Hsu Research Online Evangelist Payment Program (tm) account. As per the contract you read and signed when you joined the program, Hsu Research limits its members to ten (10) evangelizations per week. You have exceeded that quota by 36.7%, and are thus subject to immediate termination.

Please understand that Hsu Research appreciates your hard work and harbors no ill will towards you, and that this policy was set in order to protect our cash reserves (which would soon run out if we kept you in the program).

As a token of our appreciation, please find attached a picture of my beautiful VTF-3R.

Sincerely,
Dr. Poh Ser Hsu

That is too funny!

Sigh...that's a beautiful sub...

I don't think I'll need a sub with the M60s, but I certainly want one!

I'd like to ask you about the HSU. I've pretty much narrowed it down to the VTF-2 or the SVS PB-1D. Now the HSU is both cheaper and smaller. I've read some postings that suggest the HSU can go lower and may be a better musical sub. I've also read that it tends to do some port huffing during serious home theater workouts. This could have been just some SVS owners bashing the competition. Have you experienced any port noise?

I've only once heard any port noise, and that was in LOTR, when the Goblin drums start beating. (Just after the little hobbit dude drops the skeleton down the well)

Though from what I've heard, almost every sub has trouble with that scene. Other than that, I've never heard a peep.

Thanks for the info. That issue was really the only major mark against HSU for me. If you've only experieced that in one scene, I'm sure the issue was exaggerated by some overly loyal SVS owners. I've read the SVS may have more house shaking ability, but that's not really that important. Sure I want some kick, but I also want accurate sound which seems to be the strength of the HSU.

I'm a loyal SVS owner and I really love my PB1-ISD, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the VTF-2. I'm just waiting for the day that I can hear them both side-by-side and draw my own conclusions as to which I prefer.

I use a VTF-2 with a pair of M60s, and I like having the bottom octave or two filled in by the sub. I actually bought an ICBM specifically to be able to use the sub for two-channel listening.

I've only heard inappropriate noise from my VTF-2 once, and it was on a track that destroyed the driver in my brother-in-law's SVS.

It sounds like you have upgradeitis like me. I started with the M22s (great speakers but not enough for my large room). I ended up with the M60s, and I'm very happy. I tried to get by with the VP100s, but upgraded to the VP150s.

tobz67,

Are you sure you've read that the VTF-2 can go lower than the SVS PB1-ISD? I thought that the PB1-ISD is more comparable to the VTF-3, rather than the VTF-2. Indeed, with respect to the specs and physical size, the PB1-ISD is quite similar to the VTF-3 in the Max Output mode (two ports open).

Personally, if I had to choose between the VTF-2 and PB1-ISD, I would probably go with the SVS (assuming that you don't mind the bigger size). The VTF-2 is surely an excellent sub, but I don't think it defies the basic laws of physics -- the fundamental designs being similar, the larger the box, the deeper and louder it plays.