Compared to some of its peers in the consumer audio industry, SVS is a relately young manufacturer. However, with a management staff full of industry veterans, the company's collective market experience and expertise is years ahead of most companies of similar backgrounds.
Flexing its experience and engineering expertise, the Ohio-based company has just introduced its new 16-Ultra Series of subwoofers. The line of subwoofers launched with two products—the sealed enclosure SB16-Ultra and the ported enclosure PB16-Ultra.
“The Ultra Series subwoofers have been the most important SVS products for so long that we knew our newest iteration had to be groundbreaking on many levels. I challenged our engineering team to create a signature subwoofer line for the entire industry and not just for sVS and to push the boundaries of innovation and performance as much as possible,” says Gary Yacoubian, president and managing partner, SVS.
“We set out to create the reference standard for all subwoofers and shake the foundations of the audio world by making this level of world-class experience available to more people than ever before, and I think the world would agree with me. We did it,” Yacoubian adds.
Details & Specs
At the heart of the 16-Ultra Series is a 16-inch driver that features an eight-inch voice coil and a Class-D amplifier rated to produce 1,500-watts of continuous power and 5,000 watts of peak power bursts.
Controlling the subs' Sledge STA-1500D amplifiers is 50 MHz Analog Devices Audio DSPs with 56-bit filtering.
SVS says the subs' advanced DSP capabilities, “gives the 16-Ultra Subwoofers' refined behavior and pristine output, while enabling precise tuning so the perfect amount of low-frequency energy is unleashed at just the right time and just the right frequency.”
SVS explains its latest driver and amplification technologies are combined with new cabinet designs that employ double-thick MDF front baffles and rigid internal bracing to enable the products to, “produce the finest low-frequency output, deep bass extension, frequency response accuracy and pinpoint transient response the world has to offer.”
App Control
Another key feature of the subwoofers is the company's its new subwoofer control and bass management smartphone app, which is available for iOS and Android users.
The app provides control of polarity, room gain, phase alignment, parametric equalization (EQ) and other DSP options.
The app stores user presets and features two-way communication that shows updates in real time as well as Bluetooth capabilities for subwoofer adjustments when the subwoofers aren't in sight.
SVS also provides standard IR control, and control options via the subs' front panels.
The 16-Ultra Series will start shipping in November 2016. The sealed SB16-Ultra will carry a price of $2,000 and the ported PB16-Ultra will carry a price of $2,500.
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