Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo SVS PB12-NSD and the EP600

Well, he is comparing it to the older fathom F112 and not the newer F113 which is much more highly regarded and which the PB13 Ultra is rated even more highly than for half the price of the F113. But none the less it does sound like a promising sub only problem would finding a dealer or shipping costs.

The sub I have been looking at lately is the MFW-15 over at av123, now that seems to be the best bang for the buck, still under $1000 delivered to my door but have to wait till July to see/hear one if I ordered now.

Hey, don't forget about the Emotiva DRS-1 system, due out pretty soon. Dual, sealed 12" subs, 600W amp, auto room correction, calibration mic, blue LED's.

Frankly, I don't know how some of these manufacturers can offer products like these for such low prices.

Once again the Emotiva sounds good, twin boxes with 12" drivers and with the external processor I should think it would be a breeze for set up. Time will tell if it is up to the rest of the $1000 group.

The PB13-Ultra is a fine subwoofer, SVS finally made a great sub with that design. The notorious mid-bass FR hump, found in most of their old products, was finally flattened which made it much more articulate than the low end thumpers in its line. (Extension in the SVS lineup usually came at the price of nonlinear FR).

Last year we compared the PB13 Ultra to a Paradigm Servo, Fathom JL113, Velodyne DD-18 and the EP600. The comments were mixed as to which one was the best sub, but everyone put the Servo in last place which tells you alot about the quality of the other subs.

Sealed and ported subs have different strengths. Ported subs will always deliver more output down low but at the cost of some port noise. Sealed sub will have less output but come across as "tighter", "faster" and more detailed. With these subs the line gets blurred but IMO its still safe to say that for strictly HT applications ported subs give you better performance because of the extra output down low while sealed subs are more "musical".

With regards to the Fl113 and PB13 Ultra, if HT was the main application I would lean toward the Ultra. But with music no contest in favour of the Fathom. That result was clear from our listening test. Lists that say otherwise are misleading and unscientific BS.

As for the EP600, it holds its own against all these subs even though its an older design now. Its great for HT and much more articulate than other ported designs. One of the guys in our shootout last year ranked it tops in the blind listening.

Thanks John, I have been meaning to ask you your thoughts on the PB13-Ultra. I remember you mentioning that it was their best product and after my experiences with the PB12-NSD. I know what you mean by the mid bass hump. It is definitely there, but does provide that slam so many people seem to like. I like it...for a while, but it does become annoying.

As I mentioned before, the thump was tremendous for movies...and for the first couple of minutes of music. After that, like Jason said, it became annoying.

I missed that that was an older fathom entirely.

That was in interesting set of posts. Given the various posts on subs over the last few weeks, It seems like the EP350 would also hold its own against more popular comparably priced subs.

I am also beginning to get a sense for how to judge comments about a sub based on how someone describes its 'musiclity'.

It is very hard to find a sub that hits hard for HT but will lay back a little for music and blend nicely like the Axiom subs do.

jakewash, what sub(s) do you own (that you actually use and not just experiment with!)?