SVS 3000 Series Powered Subwoofers Review

SVS 3000 Series Subwoofers Introduction

Last fall, SVS released the 3000 series subwoofers which was said to bridge the performance and price gap between their 2000 and 4000 subwoofer lines. This role had formerly been filled by the ‘12-Plus’ line before they were discontinued. SVS’s naming system of using numerations of one thousand helped simplify redesigned models of previous names, so the redesign of the ‘13-Ultra’ series became the 4000 series, and the ‘12-NSD’ series became the 2000 series. Those were redesigns that kept the same basic construction, so much of the cabinet design and driver design remained the same, which is not a bad thing since they had been proven to work very well. The 3000 series, on the other hand, is quite different and does not bear resemblance to the ‘12-Plus’ series that it takes over in SVS’s price/performance ladder. It is a totally different design that uses an entirely different driver, cabinet, and amplifier. A couple of aspects remain the same, such as the use of variable port tuning and the 800 watt RMS power rating of the amp, but it really is an entirely different subwoofer.

The 3000 subs do keep the same price point as the 12-Plus models. One trade-off that SVS has decided to make is to use higher-performing parts at the expense of the higher-end finish and build of the ‘12-Plus’ subs. The PB12-Plus had a much heavier and thicker cabinet which could also have a gloss black finish. The PB-3000 has foregone these amenities in pursuit of higher performance; a car analogy might be that the PB-3000 is less of a luxury car and more of a sports car. The sealed SB-3000 can still be had in gloss black, but doubtlessly, it is a lot less expensive to have such a nice finish on a small sub as opposed to a large ported sub.

In for review today, we have the PB-3000 and SB-3000 subwoofers. Having dealt with both the 2000 and 4000 series subs, we will look at how well the 3000s bridge the gap between those two lines. The price range that these subs occupy, $1,000 to $1,400, is fiercely competitive in the subwoofer market, so SVS was probably right to bring out a whole new design rather than redo the 12-Plus line. Given the competition, they would not have entered products in this price range lightly,

Unpacking and Appearance

The 3000 subs arrived in heavy-duty cardboard boxes. There are instructions on the outside that guide the unpacking process, and if these instructions are followed, it does make the unpacking process much easier and simpler. Both subs were packed with heavy-duty polyethylene foam blocks sandwiching the top and bottom. This does protect them against shock and hard knocks, and, in fact, the box for the SB-3000 that I received showed evidence of having endured some kind of significant impact yet the sub was in perfect condition. The subs were also wrapped in a plastic bag to protect from moisture, and a soft cotton bag underneath that to protect them from scuffs during unpacking. As usual, SVS’s packing is top-notch, which is not surprising from a company with so much experience having shipped many thousands of subwoofers all over the world. 

SVS PB-3000 and SB-3000 Subwoofers

The appearances of the PB-3000 and SB-3000 are two very different stories. Even though they use the same driver, the PB-3000 is large and muscular looking, while the SB-3000 is much more elegant and refined. While this is mostly due to the fact that the PB-3000 is over twice as large as the SB-3000,  another major contributing factor to this effect is that the SB-3000 came in a Piano Gloss Black finish whereas the PB-3000 comes in a Black Ash finish. The PB-3000 only comes in Black Ash. The SB-3000 can be had in Black Ash but can be had in Piano Gloss Black for a $100 surcharge. SVS’s gloss black finish is a deep high-gloss that is quite nice and not plasticy, so it is well worth the premium cost in my opinion. 

I have always liked the look of SVS’s woofers, and they keep a consistent style throughout their product lines. They always have a soft black texture with the SVS logo printed on the dustcap. I don’t normally like it when any kind of graphic is printed on cones, but SVS gets a pass here since it has always been somewhat understated and tasteful. One new stylistic touch that is not as welcome is the SVS logo is impressed in the gasket piece around the surround at the top and bottom. With ‘SVS’ printed on the dustcap in large font, we do not need the additional reminders that this is an SVS product. I think less is more in terms of logo placement.

The ports on the front of the PB-3000 do add to the brawny look especially with the grille on. SVS’s grilles have always been far more about function than form and that remains true for the 3000 subs. The grilles certainly can be useful, but these subs look better without them, especially the SB-3000. The SB-3000 almost achieves a certain clean perfection. I say almost, because it doesn’t quite achieve perfection on account of the grille guides on the front baffle which do mar an otherwise smooth design. Nonetheless, it is one of the nicest-looking subwoofers I have dealt with to date. It is a gleaming beauty that would not look out of place in luxury spaces (sans grille). My advice to SVS - move to a magnetic grille for the SB-3000. Yes, small magnets would not support as robust grille as the existing one, but think about how much more graceful it would be without the grille guides!

I would sum up these subs’ appearances by using an automotive comparison: the PB-3000 resembles a beefy SUV whereas the SB-3000 resembles a luxury sedan. This seems a fitting analogy not just in aesthetics but also of performance.

Design Overview

At Audioholics, we often see the question from audio novices of what the difference is between a ported sub and a sealed sub, aside from the obvious size difference. The answer is simple: ported subs tend to have a lot more deep bass output than sealed subs. For those who don’t know, ported subwoofers use the back motion of the rear side of the woofer into the cabinet to resonate the air mass within the port. The air mass inside the port vibrates at precise frequencies from an effect called ‘Helmholtz Resonance.’ This is the same acoustic principle at work when you blow over the top of a bottle or jug and a distinct note is produced. The volume of air inside the cabinet and volume of air inside the ports are critical ingredients to this and govern the sound produced by the port, much like the volume of air inside of a jug and the shape of the opening determines the sound when blown upon. In a sealed subwoofer, the pressure waves created by the motion of the rear side of the cone are simply lost, and, in terms of sound produced per watt, a sealed subwoofer is far less efficient in deep bass ranges.

This difference in deep bass capability will certainly carry between the SB-3000 and PB-3000. The catch is that ported subs need to be substantially larger than sealed to take full advantage of this principle when using the same driver and amplifier. Going back to our analogy of the SB-3000 as a sedan and the PB-3000 as a truck, it is more than just an aesthetic comparison because the PB-3000 can displace a lot more air which means much higher sound pressure levels at low frequencies, so, like the vehicle differences, it has a lot more ‘hauling capacity.‘ One thing to keep in mind is that the output advantages that a ported sub has over a sealed sub are mostly limited to deep bass. Above port resonant frequencies, which is a relatively narrow frequency band, ported subwoofers do not have as much output advantage. We will be able to take a close look at the performance differences in the ‘Measurements and Analysis’ section of this review.

SVS 3000 Series Bass Driver

Getting into design specifics of these subs, let’s talk about the driver since they both use the same one, a 13” diameter, high-excursion driver. There is a lot of neat stuff going on with this driver, but one of the most interesting aspects of it is how the voice coil is wound around the former. SVS uses a split-wind voice coil meaning that, instead of the coil being wound in a uniform layering around the former, the coil winding has thicker density outside of its rest position within the ‘gap,’ which is the place where the permanent magnet’s force is focused. If executed properly, this can help maintain more linearity across higher excursions. In a normal uniformly wound coil, the rest position is the point of greatest magnetic strength, and the further that the coil moves away from its rest position, the less magnetic power is exerted upon the moving mass of the driver, so the magnetic strength is always changing depending on the position of the coil. That means that the driver is always losing linear motion control over the cone as excursion increases. A split-winding compensates for that by moving more coil away from the center and toward the edges of the winding, so the magnetic force stays the same so long as there is coil in the gap. The result will be that the cone’s motion is more tightly controlled over a greater range of excursion, and the sub retains accuracy in deeper frequencies and louder levels.

I am told by Ed Mullen, SVS’s Director of Technology that:

“proper execution of a split-wind coil is incredibly difficult and requires complex simulations and very precise machining and manufacturing tolerances.  But when done properly, the benefits are a much flatter force/displacement curve and excellent motor strength at/near the excursion limits of the driver, resulting in excellent overall driver linearity.”

One potential trade-off of this winding topology is that since there is less winding density around the rest position, there will be less magnetic force available for low excursion frequencies, and that means the driver will lose sensitivity as frequencies increase. So this type of winding should be very good for deep bass but may sacrifice upper bass performance toward that end. However, one aspect of having less coil in the rest position that could help compensate for the reduced sensitivity at higher frequencies is that there will not be as much inductance occurring around the rest position as there will be around areas of greater coil density. Inductance can have the effect of reducing higher frequency output. Something else that helps to retain balance is that the driver suspension has the most amount of compliance at the rest position. The farther the driver moves in one direction, the lower the compliance (meaning more resistance from the spider and suspension), thereby requiring greater motor force to overcome.

When we take the driver out, we see that it uses a very robust-looking cast aluminum basket and two 7” diameter ferrite magnets, each with a roughly 5/8” thickness. That should make for a very powerful magnetic field, and SVS claims that the motor section of the driver alone weighs almost 18 lbs. Inside the motor, we can see a 2” diameter voice coil. Measuring the driver’s diameter, it comes out to a 13 ⅞” diameter from the frame’s edge. Most manufacturers use distance from frame edge as diameter, and almost all of them would have rounded up to say this is a 14” driver, but SVS has rounded down for some reason. But by most manufacturer’s standards, this would be considered a 14” driver. The 3000s use aluminum cones, and they are a good choice not only good because they are stiff and light but also serve as a heatsink for cooling when the voice coil gets hot, and that can improve thermal compression behavior. This is helped by a thermally conductive polyimide impregnated fiberglass former so that heat is quickly leached off of the voice coil. There is also an aluminum shorting ring in the motor which will help to reduce inductance and lower distortion.

SVS Class D Sledge Amplifier

The amplifier uses the same platform as was used in the 4000 and 16-Ultra series but scaled down a bit in power and features. It is rated for 800 watts of continuous power (although we think SVS’s claim of 4,000 watts peak power is a bit hyperbolic). It is the same class-D design with discrete 25-amp MOSFETs and DSP engine running on a 50 MHz Analog Devices Audio DSP chip with 56bit filtering. As with the 4000s and 16-Ultras, the 3000s can be operated by a smartphone app that can control a wide range of functions to an extremely fine degree of adjustability. With SVS’s Subwoofer Control App, the user can control the volume down to a single dB of precision, low-pass filter behavior from 30 Hz to 200 Hz down to individual hertz frequency precision and also with a choice of slopes of 6, 12, 18, and 24 dB/ octave, phase control from 0° to 180° selectable down to individual degrees (or you can just flip the polarity from positive to negative), room gain compensation response curve selectable from 25 Hz, 31 Hz, or 40 Hz with a choice of a 12 or 6 dB/ octave slope (this is very handy for taming low-end boominess for those who get a lot of room gain), and port tuning configurations. One neat thing that is especially easy to use with the SVS app is a 3-band parametric equalizer with which the user can adjust the bass response to their taste. It can also help tame peaks in the response that are produced by room acoustics.

The 3000 subs do not have the front-panel display of the 4000s or 16-Ultras, but they do have a very clean and economic control layout on the amp plate that SVS calls the ‘Intelligent Control Interface’ (ICI). There is a meter that can be switched to indicate volume, phase, and low-pass filter settings, although that seems to be the extent of the onboard controls. For deeper control of settings, users will need the smartphone app.

The cabinet is very stout although not as heavy-duty as the 4000 series and 16-Ultra series cabinets, and that is a good thing in my book. Those enclosures were overbuilt, and that ended up adding a whole lot of extra weight just for effect and not really for any performance gains. The 3000 subs are much more sensibly constructed. The PB-3000 is still a bit heavy at 82 lbs, but it is much easier to move around as opposed to the back-breaking 153 lbs. PB-4000. The PB-3000 is a robust construction using a 1 ½” thick MDF front baffle and ¾” thick side panels and bracing. There is a window brace in the center that helps to support the driver motor and another brace further back that supports the ports. There is an ample amount of stuffing lining the cabinet walls. The ports are quite large with a 19” length and 3 ½” diameter. They are flared at both ends. The SB-3000 has an internal window brace as well. As always, the SVS grilles are very heavy-duty, and SVS consistently provides the most protective subwoofer grilles in the industry. It is a big steel grille that could really protect the driver from a hard kick or some hand-thrown projectile. They don’t look pretty (in my opinion) but they are truly effective at driver protection. The feet are some wide rubber cones that can be used on hard surfaces without worrying about scratching the floor. They may leave a mark if dragged across carpeting though, so make sure that they get some clearance if moving the sub across carpeted flooring. 

The PB-3000 supports two different operating modes: ‘Sealed’ (where the ports are sealed) and ‘Standard’ (ports are left open). Using the sub in ‘Sealed’ mode will grant the user a more gradual low-end roll-off at the expense of overall deep bass headroom. The sealed operating mode nullifies port output completely, and that can come in handy in certain circumstances where room gain boosts deep bass output so much that it can sound boomy or overwhelming. SVS does not seem to have included support for an ‘extended’ mode on the PB-3000 like they have on their 4000 and 16-Ultra subwoofers where one port is plugged for deeper extension. I would guess the reason for that is that the driver is capable of so much displacement that a single port would get quickly overwhelmed, so SVS decided that a mode with that kind of compromise is better left unused on the PB-3000.

The overall design of these subs points to similar engineering practices that we have consistently seen from SVS: a well-built, well-balanced system that should be able to dig into deep bass frequencies cleanly and powerfully. However, one welcome departure from the upper-tier models from SVS that I have dealt with is that the cabinets are not massively overbuilt. The SB-3000 is actually easy to pick up and move, and almost any healthy adult should be able to manage its 54 lbs. weight and petite size. As we mentioned before, the PB-3000 is also far more physically manageable than the higher-end SVS subs. It should still be a two-man job to lift and carry it, but it can be ‘walked’ around on flooring pretty easily by a single person. The advantage of those massive cabinets is that are able to damp rocking motion from the force of the moving driver. Also, the weight and solid feel of those cabinets do impart an impression of a higher-end item. However, all of that extra weight does not assist in performance in any way. As I said before, it is simply there for ‘effect.’ This makes the 3000 subs more practical, in my view. The 3000 subs are not a big chore just to move around. If you needed to pack them up for whatever reason, they are much easier to deal with. Moving around or repacking the 4000 and 16-Ultra subs is a serious logistical task that needs some planning before undertaking, but I don’t find this to be true of the 3000s.

Listening Sessions

The best placement for a single sub in my room gives me a relatively flat response for an un-EQ’d single subwoofer, with a window of +/- 4 dB from 25 Hz to 100 Hz with no broad dips in important ranges. This location trades low-end room gain for a relatively flat response, a worthwhile trade for my tastes. The receiver used was a Pioneer Elite SC-55 and the crossover was used mostly at 80 Hz. As always, I will note here that since room acoustics have a huge effect on low frequencies, the way these subwoofers sound in my room at my listening position is not necessarily going to be the way they sound anywhere else for anyone else, so readers would do well to keep that in mind, and not just for this subwoofer in this review, but for any subwoofer in any review.

Music Listening

A traditional musical instrument which can take advantage of a subwoofer like no other is the pipe organ, and an album that I found that leverages the pipe organ’s deep bass abilities was a re-issue of a recording from 1986 album entitled ‘Mendelssohn: Organ Works’ performed by the accomplished organist Peter Hurford, who passed away earlier this year at age 88. The album was recorded on the monumental Rieger Organ in the landmark Ratzeburg Cathedral (constructed in 1220 A.D.) in West Germany. Taking one look at this organ, one has to wonder if any subwoofer could do justice to such a colossal instrument. This album is not afraid of deeper bass notes, even though few loudspeakers manufactured in 1986 would have been able to give it the kind of potent playback that is required to feel the full force of this music. Listening for a subwoofer in this kind of material is tricky because if the system is properly calibrated and the sub is well-engineered, it’s difficult to tell where the sub ends and the speakers begin. It is only apparent when you hear bass sounds that you know the speakers couldn’t possibly be producing. While pipe organ music is known for its use of deep bass, many pipe organ recordings don’t really dig that deep, although ‘Mendelssohn: Organ Works’ certainly does, but not in every track. Still, when those deep notes hit, it can be soul-shaking when heard in a capable system.

I alternated between the SB-3000 and PB-3000 when listening to this album to hear if any difference could be discerned. It was easy enough to switch between them thanks to the SVS app. I started with the SB-3000 and found that it was very much up to the task of recreating the sound of the Rieger Organ in the Ratzeburg Cathedral, so much so, in fact, that I wondered what advantages that the PB-3000 could even bring. I was surprised how authoritative the SB-3000 could be given its relatively small size. It’s one of the smallest subs I have had in for review yet it still managed to shake my sofa (helped in part by its near-field placement, no doubt). The sub blended in well with the rest of the system so I could only really be sure of its sound specifically when those low notes resounded with gut-churning power. For the most part, the sub did what it was supposed to by providing seamless support for the rest of the sound. Switching between the SB-3000 and PB-3000, they seemed to be on an equal footing except in instances where the organ really plumbed the depths such as track 8, the Chorale for Organ Sonata No.6. In that track, the PB-3000 was able to deliver the lowest notes with disconcerting power. The notes were so low you could distinguish individual pressure wave cycles. The SB-3000 just didn’t have that kind of low-end grunt, but for 90% of this album, it could keep up with the PB-3000. I think that organ music aficionados would be very happy with either sub, but the PB-3000 could capture the deepest notes with more force, although that is expected given the design differences. However, for those who do not have room for a large sub, the SB-3000 did an outstanding job for its size.

There aren’t all that many acoustic instruments that take advantage of deep bass frequencies, and one reason for that is because, in order to produce large pressure waves, it really helps to have a large acoustic converter, or in other words, big instruments are needed to produce deep bass. One such instrument is the double bass, also called the upright bass, and a contemporary master of this instrument is Adam Ben Ezra. Ben Ezra’s most recent album was 2017’s ‘Pin Drop’ and I thought it might make for a good exhibition for a subwoofers abilities with an acoustic instrument. Ben Ezra’s double bass performance is the center of this recording, but other instruments crop up as well such as clarinet and piano, all played by Ben Ezra. ‘Pin Drop’ is very much a fusion of styles with double bass play at the forefront. Adam’s tremendously dextrous playing techniques with the double bass are not just limited to using the strings since he extensively uses the body of the double bass as a source of percussion.

‘Pin Drop’ sounded terrific on the 3000 series subs. I didn’t notice any serious differences between the subs switching back and forth during listening, so I would guess that the PB-3000’s deeper extension is not an advantage on material like this. The double bass can dig deep but not 20 Hz deep. The transient response of the subwoofers was excellent, and they were able to track the sharp attacks and releases of the Double Bass beautifully. The deep bass of the double bass also blended nicely with its overtones from the main speakers so that the instrument sounded like a single sound source. Calibration has a lot to do with that, but a good sub is also needed in order to reproduce the signal in a linear, predictable manner. Either of the 3000 series subs is a terrific choice for this kind of acoustic music and is more than capable of giving it a realistic low-frequency foundation. 

On what might be the very opposite end of the musical spectrum, I turned to an almost purely ambient album entitled ‘Illumination’ by veteran electronic music composer Robert Rich. ‘Illumination’ was produced as music for an art installation by Micheal Samoroff in 2007. This music is largely a soundscape with little in the way of melody or a normal rhythm. It is a sonic atmosphere and at many points uses deep bass as a way of intensifying the sound or evoking a large space. There are a variety of drones, rumblings, and distant thundering sounds to keep a subwoofer engaged throughout the album’s running time. ‘Illumination’ might make for great companion music to the reading of a science fiction novel or a planetarium exhibition. Since the sound of ‘Illumination’ can often act as a whole rather than a collection of noises, it is important that the subwoofer not make its aural presence a distinctive one; it must blend in with the rest of the sound. Much of the low-frequency sound here is subtle rather than booming, so the sub needs to be well-integrated and also well-controlled in order not to become a distraction. A subwoofer with a peakish response, for example, would be ruinous for the intended effect of this music.

Happily, I can report that both of the 3000 subs were able to reproduce the low frequencies of ‘Illumination’ with aplomb. In coordination with the rest of the audio system, they recreated the sound of the album as a convincing mystical space in my home theater room. The low-frequency sound was given definition instead of becoming a boomy, rumbling smear. The bass was powerful when it needed to be and subtle when it wasn’t, and the 3000 subs never broke the illusion of a seamless whole. Switching between the PB-3000 and SB-3000, I couldn’t really tell any difference between them, so I would guess that this music doesn’t dig deep enough for the lower extension of the PB-3000 to come into play. Both subs were stellar performers on ‘Illumination,’ and I think either is a terrific choice for those interested in good execution the subtler bass content.   

Taking another hard right turn to something entirely different, I threw on an album to see what kind of dynamic range the 3000 subs offered on wilder and more rambunctious music. The genre: Drum’N’Bass, the artists: Black Sun Empire, the album: ‘The Wrong Room.’ Regular readers of my subwoofer reviews will probably note by now my propensity for using Drum’N’Bass music for pushing subs to their limit. It isn’t just because I am fond of the genre but because not many other music types are as taxing of subwoofers as Drum’N’Bass, especially the rowdier side of the genre. The name of the genre pretty much explains why it is so heavy in low frequencies: near constant synth bass and very high tempo breakbeat percussion. ‘The Wrong Room’ by Drum’N’Bass genre titans Black Sun Empire is the right choice for heating up the coils on any sound system for those seeking permanent hearing damage. It is ferocious music that doesn’t ever really let up, although it does change tempos and styles at certain points.

I cranked the volume and braced myself for an hour and seven minutes of a brutal aural beatdown, and the 3000 subs did not disappoint. Again, I was surprised at the SB-3000’s serious punch for its petite size. I did feel the PB-3000 had a bit more muscle overall when I pushed them hard, but the SB-3000 wasn’t far behind in headroom, even though it’s less than half the size of the PB-3000. At full throttle, these subs are absolutely jarring. They can hit hard, but again, partly as a consequence of the placement I had them in, which is closer than they would end up in most user’s setups. Nonetheless, they did nothing to indicate misbehavior or trouble handling these high levels. I noticed no distortion, and the subs scaled up in volume to higher levels than I, or almost anyone, would probably end up using them at in normal listening before running out of headroom. The kick drums were felt like a sharp punch to the sternum, and the bass lines were given a gutteral growl that vibrated my lower digestive tract. I have dealt with subs that could deliver more power for this kind of music in the past such as SVS’s 16-Ultra series, but these have as much output as I can use for my own tastes, and my preferences for bass quantity likely exceed what most people would want from this type of content.   

Movie Watching

I have long been a fan of the movie ‘Blade Runner’ and had purchased a Blu-ray of the sequel some time ago, but I just didn’t get around to watching it. I had long heard of discussion of ‘Blade Runner 2049’s’ bass-heavy sound mix, and I figured what better time to view this movie than with such powerful subs in hand. Indeed, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ turned out to be a bass fest, so much so that I checked the levels on my system to make sure the subs weren’t running hot. Much of the bass sound was coming from the music score, which is not surprising given Hans Zimmer’s involvement. Zimmer is quite fond of bass frequencies. Effects sounds plunged the subs into infrasonic output at times where I could hear things vibrating from pressure waves that were in frequencies below my ability to hear. This was much more the case with the PB-3000 than the SB-3000. I rewatched certain scenes at a later point to compare the PB-3000 to the SB-3000, and while the SB-3000 could reproduce the music with authority, it couldn’t match the weight that the PB-3000 brought during effects-heavy scenes, at least for loud level listening. At more modest listening levels, the SB-3000 would be able to keep up with the PB-3000, but a movie like ‘Blade Runner 2049’ demands to be played loud. Of course, it is not unexpected that the SB-3000 doesn’t quite have the low-end output of the PB-3000, but for a smaller sub, again it surpassed my expectations. It’s hard to believe that something so small can make such a big sound. ‘Blade Runner 2049’ benefits from the extreme deep bass prowess of the PB-3000, but it is still a full and enjoyable experience with the SB-3000 for those who do not have the room for its larger ported brother.

I had not yet seen the newest Godzilla movie either, ‘Godzilla: King of Monsters,’ and its recent release on Blu-ray was good timing with the SVS 3000 series subs in house. It should be obvious how a big-budget Hollywood production about huge monsters battling and causing widespread destruction would be a great opportunity for a subwoofer to show off its chops. And indeed it was! There was so much bass-heavy destruction that the sub barely had any down-time whatsoever during this movie. I used the PB-3000 for initial viewing of this film and later went back to rewatch some passages with the SB-3000. The PB-3000 was able to keep up with the loud levels that I had set for the movie. It rumbled my sofa frequently and produced bass that could just as easily be felt as heard. I don’t see any need for those tactile transducers that can be attached to the seat when sheer SPLs can recreate the same effect and do a more convincing job of it too. ‘Godzilla: King of Monsters’ is a heavy workout for any subwoofer, and I felt the PB-3000 was more than up to the challenge at any point in the movie. I didn’t get a sense that it was compressing or distorting at any point, no matter how fierce the LFE track could get. Movies like “Godzilla” are why large ported subs exist. While the SB-3000 could charge the LFE track adequately enough that viewers could certainly enjoy the movie, the PB-3000 is another experience. It added another layer to the realism of the onscreen havoc that the SB-3000 doesn’t quite capture. But getting a big sound requires a big enclosure, hence the need for subs as large as the PB-3000. In my opinion, the immersiveness added from the authoritative output at near-subsonic frequencies is much greater than the scads of surround channels that surround formats are coming up with nowadays. The sound of a 5.1 system with deep bass performance on the level of the PB-3000 is going to be a lot more realistic and convincing than a 13-channel system with middling bass performance. This type of movie begs for capable subs, and the 3000 series subs from SVS are very capable.

SVS 3000 Series Subwoofer Measurements and Conclusion

The SVS PB-3000 and SB-3000 were tested using ground plane measurements with the microphone at a 2-meter distance in an open setting with well over 100 feet from the nearest large structure. The subs were tested with woofer facing the microphone. The temperature was recorded at 43 degrees with 58% humidity. The subwoofers’ gain was set to maximum, phase was set to 0, and the low pass filters were left off.

The above graphs show the measured frequency responses for the PB-3000 and SB-3000 subwoofers. Both curves show a very well-controlled and flattish response overall. SVS’s claimed response windows do pan out in our measurements. The PB-3000 does show a small bump around port tuning that might give a bit more weight to effects sounds that take advantage of those deep frequencies. Users who want to taper the low end of the PB-3000 in cases where room gain boosts it too much have a variety of ways to do so, including plugging the ports and setting the PB-3000 to ‘sealed mode,’ using the parametric EQ to reduce that narrow frequency band, or use the ‘room gain compensation’ to reduce the low end altogether. We can see from the above graphs that the SB-3000 does have a high-pass filter which attenuates the response shape below 20 Hz, as the SB-3000 has a steeper slope than the traditional 12dB/octave that one would expect to see in the low end of a sealed subwoofer. In both graphs, it’s nice to see the response extend out to 200 Hz. This isn’t just good for those who like to use higher-than-traditional 80 Hz crossover frequencies, but also makes for better integration with the main speakers because the response needs less work at the crossover by the AVR.  

Note: The above CEA-2010 measurements are short-term bursts that show the subwoofer’s clean peak SPL before heavy distortion sets in. Our measurements have been referenced to 2-meter RMS, which is 9 dB down from the standard requirement for the measurements to be shown at 1-meter peak. However most publicly available CEA-2010 measurements are shown at 2-meter RMS, so we followed that convention.

There are a couple of differences between this round of CEA-2010 testing from what we normally do that we should note. Firstly, testing for these subs was conducted in weather that is a fair bit below the specified 65F to 80F degrees mandated by the CEA-2010 protocol. The reality is unless testing is done in such cold weather that the surround becomes very stiff thereby inhibiting excursion more than normal, the results should be very close to values obtained in compliant temperature conditions. Second, due to an interface issue with the pre-amp, CEA-2010 testing was conducted using REW instead of Don Keele’s CEA-2010 testing program written for Igor Pro from Wavemetrics. The two programs can get slightly differing values at times, with REW managing to record somewhat higher values in the low-end in past comparative testing. For the most part, however, the measurements should be very close. Indeed, SVS told us our results are within 1 dB of theirs at all frequencies for both subs except for the 16 Hz measurement of the PB-3000 where they did see a couple of dB more than what we recorded. But one drawback of using REW for CEA-2010 burst testing is that it does not give out distortion numbers as a percentage, and so we do not have the corresponding THD numbers for our burst measurements as we normally would.

Both the PB-3000 and SB-3000 put up some very impressive numbers. As a point of comparison, check out the measurements in our review of the larger and more expensive SVS PB-4000. The PB-3000 is either matching or surpassing the performance of its higher-end sibling at 25 Hz and above. The PB-4000 holds a major advantage at 20 Hz and below, but that range isn’t used nearly as often as 25 hz and above. I think this was a smart move on SVS’s part in the PB-3000’s design. SVS could have made a heavier driver that could dig a bit deeper but that would have incurred a pretty hefty penalty in all other frequencies. That might also have needed a larger cabinet. By giving up on some ultra-deep bass and letting the PB-3000 have a slightly higher tuning point, SVS gets big returns over all of the rest of the range. Yet it still holds very respectable deep bass performance with solid output down below 20 Hz. In fact, for 90% of movie content and 99.9% of music content, I doubt anyone could tell the difference between the PB-3000 and PB-4000 from their sound alone.

The SB-3000 is similarly good for a sealed sub; respectable deep bass output but terrific mid-bass output, especially when one considers its size. For a small sub, the SB-3000 is an absolute humdinger. Its mid-bass burst measurements are more in line with what one would expect to see from a 15” sub, not a 13” sub.

Testing for long-term output compression was done by first conducting a 20-second sweep tone where 50 Hz hit 90 dB with the subwoofer 2 meters from the microphone. We then conducted further 20-second sweeps by raising the gain by 5 dB until no more output could be wrung out of the subwoofer. These tests show us the long-term continuous headroom that the subwoofer is capable of. Both the PB-3000 and SB-3000 have a great deal of headroom in mid-bass frequencies. Again, comparing the PB-3000 to the PB-4000, the PB-3000 gives up very little to its bigger brother except below 30 Hz. Compression around port tuning does put a lower ceiling on deep bass output at higher levels on the PB-3000, but it can still produce over 110 dB continuously at 30 Hz and above, which is a lot of headroom. It even touches 115 dB from 40 to 50 Hz, and that is the range where the lower notes of electronic music hang out, so if you like to give your dubstep tunes some real oomph, the PB-3000 is a sure bet.

The SB-3000 also sports terrific output for music-range bass, although it does compress deep bass above the 95 dB sweep level. The SB-3000’s deep bass headroom is decent from a sealed sub of its size, and it did produce a surprising amount of mid-bass output. For music reproduction, I doubt most people would feel the need for more than one, at least for the purpose of headroom. 110 dB at two meters is fairly loud for bass frequencies, at least for home audio. 

The above graphs show the corresponding total harmonic distortion to the long-term output graphs. Essentially, they depict how linear the subwoofer remains for the corresponding drive level seen in the long-term sweeps. The quantity being measured is how much of the subwoofer’s output is distortion and is shown here as a percentage. Distortion remains very low on the PB-3000 to below 20 Hz. We can see port tuning is almost exactly 20 Hz from the dip in distortion there where the woofer doesn’t undergo much motion. Above that notch, we see a blip centered around 40 Hz that peaks out just above 10% THD, which is unlikely to be audible and only occurs at very high drive levels. At 50 Hz and above, total distortion hovers around 2% at maximum volume, which is vanishingly low. The SB-3000’s distortion levels are low at nominal levels down to 20 Hz, but when it is pushed, distortion will begin to rise on the low-end. Without the assistance of a port, the driver runs into far more stress in deep bass, and we can see the driver being pushed past linear excursion at progressively higher levels below 50 Hz. However, most music content doesn’t dig too much below 50 Hz, especially acoustic recordings, and the SB-3000 can’t be driven into distortion above that region no matter how hard it is cranked. One thing to keep in mind is that while it looks like the SB-3000 is running into major distortion below 30 Hz, its output is also declining, so the large distortion spikes that are seen here occur at much reduced loudness levels. Sub-20 Hz content isn’t really the SB-3000’s wheelhouse, but very few sealed subs are adept in that frequency range, and those that are tend to be much larger.

The above graphs depict measurements of the constituent harmonics from the long-term output sweeps and are what the total harmonic distortion measurements are composed of for the 2nd and 3rd harmonics. These individual harmonics can give us a clue as to what might be the cause of some quirk or non-linearity. We are only showing the 2nd and 3rd here because they more or less reflect the higher even-order and odd-order behaviors, although higher-order harmonics are much further down as a percentage of distortion compared to the second and third.

We can see from the harmonic distortion component graphs that the third harmonic is by far the dominant distortion for both the SB-3000 and PB-3000 subwoofers. This shows that the driver has been pretty well balanced so that nothing is restricting a particular direction of travel. One interesting detail that can be seen is an inverse of the second and third harmonics at the port tuning frequency in the PB-3000; this may be because the port is loading the rear side of the woofer more heavily causing a slight imbalance of travel, although it is well below anything that could be picked up by human hearing.

Group delay is the measurement of how much time it takes for individual frequency bands of an input signal to be produced by the speaker. It can indicate that some frequency components are developing slower than others or are taking longer to decay. It is generally thought that 1.5 sound cycles are needed for group delay to be audible at bass frequencies, although there is an argument that group delay should remain under 20 ms to be completely unnoticeable, but that is likely meant for mid and upper bass frequencies. We can see from these measurements that SVS seems to be targeting group delay of less than 1 cycle until very deep bass where larger quantities are permitted but would still likely be inaudible. Below 30 Hz, bass sound becomes too indecipherable for qualities like extra group delay to be audible unless they are massively lagged. One feature we can see is that the SB-3000’s group delay resembles that of a ported subwoofer, and that is due to the high-pass filters that protect the driver from over-excursion. It is relatively high for a sealed subwoofer in the low-end, but that occurs in a region where it wouldn’t be discernible nor is there a lot of output down there anyway. All in all, a good showing in the time domain with nothing of concern.

Conclusion

At the close of most of my reviews, I like to briefly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the product under review, and I always start with the weaknesses, but the SVS 3000 series subwoofers don’t really have much to complain about. If I had to nit-pick, I might say that the PB-3000’s Black Ash finish is a bit pedestrian for its $1,400 asking price, but that may be because I am so used to SVS’s gorgeous gloss black finishes. That’s basically my only complaint, and it is a trifling one at that. So let’s move on to discussing the 3000 series’ strengths…

The first and foremost strength of the SVS 3000 series subs is their performance. As was discussed in the measurements analysis, the PB-3000 mostly equals the PB-4000’s performance above 30 Hz. My guess is that the same is true in a comparison of the SB-4000 to the SB-3000 above 40 Hz. The PB-3000 and SB-3000 both have unexpectedly high output for their size. They boast performance that one would expect more from 15” subs rather than 13” subs (although, as was mentioned before the cone diameter is closer to 14”). Compared to the other large 15” subs on the market, they do give up headroom in the deepest bass frequencies in order to achieve parity above that range, but sound below 20 Hz is barely discernible as it is. That is a worthwhile trade-off, in my opinion, and the audible difference would not be huge.

ExtremeThe bottom line is that both the SB-3000 and PB-3000 sound great; they produce palpable bass sound with a very high degree of control. Performance metrics of the PB-3000 earns it our ‘Extreme Room’ Bassaholic room rating. The SB-3000 earns our ‘Medium Room’ rating, however I do feel that for the purposes of music that it would suffice for a large room on account of its very good mid-bass performance. 

Another strength of the 3000 subs is just how physically manageable they are. Having dealt with their much heavier siblings in the SVS product lines, I was prepared for another back-breaking, overbuilt cabinet, even after I had read the specified 82 lbs. of the PB-3000 on the product sheet. I suppose the SVS badge had conditioned me to expect heavy labor at this point after having reviewed the 153 lbs. PB-4000, the 120 lbs. SB16-Ultra, and the 176 lbs. PB16-Ultra. Even though I knew the weight of the PB-3000, I was still surprised that I could actually lift the PB-3000 without the need for assistance when it had arrived (nonetheless, I would still advise users to lift the PB-3000 with a buddy if possible). And the physical manageability of the SB-3000 was a comparative delight compared to SVS’s other boulder-esque subs. This is a real advantage, even for those who think it doesn’t matter much since they are only going to place the sub in one spot and never move it again. When moving the sub isn’t such a chore, it is much easier to find the best location for sound quality. The location of the sub in-room is going to be a far greater determinate of sound quality than any performance features or technology from any subs at this price point. Furthermore, outside of the luxury feel of these heavy-weight loudspeakers, there isn’t any real performance advantage to having such a massive cabinet. If there were performance advantages to having such massive, dense cabinets, it would be manifest in the measurements, but the measurements of the 3000 subs show excellent distortion performance and good time-domain performance. It’s still a well-constructed subwoofer with good build quality; it just isn’t absurdly overbuilt for an emotional effect.

Another strength that the SB-3000 in particular has is it looks great, in the gloss black finish. It’s not likely to be an eyesore to other household occupants, so those who need a sub but can’t have a large or utilitarian looking one do have a great choice in the SB-3000. SVS could improve matters by using a less industrial looking grille, but without the grille, the SB-3000 is just a nice-looking subwoofer and is certainly one of the slicker looking ones that are available. What is more, the smallish size of the SB-3000 will allow it to fit in a lot more places than larger subs, which can potentially net better sound quality by finding a more optimal placement.   

The SVS subwoofer control app is another nice feature. It makes some aspect of setup convenient, but, to be honest, it’s not as exciting for me personally, because many of the features you can use to control the sub is better done onboard the AVR, not the sub itself. However, for those with systems of limited bass management, it would be a major advantage since it allows for such fine control of the sub’s behavior. It is also a great feature for those who like to tweak their equipment just to see what happens. That is done so much more easily with an app rather than having to fiddle around with knobs on the back of the sub.

To bring this review to a close, I will say that the 3000 series subs are my favorite subs from SVS so far, and, in some ways, are their best subs yet. In a sense, they (mostly) put the performance of the 4000 subs in a package that is the size and weight of the 2000 subs (minus the cylinder subs). You get the best of both worlds. The 2000 subs were solid subs, but not quite SPL monsters, and the 4000 box subs, particularly the PB-4000, was an SPL bruiser but it was ridiculously heavy and large. The PB-3000 is not much more than half the weight of the PB-4000. And the SB-3000 is a small, light, great-looking sub that has absolutely smokin’ performance considering its size. My worry is that since the 3000 series is squarely the middle child in SVS’s subwoofer lines, they will get overlooked, as middle children often do- but that would be a mistake by any subwoofer shoppers. Of all of SVS’s subwoofers, the 3000s have the best balance of performance, size/weight, features, and pricing. Anyone looking for a subwoofer in this price range is encouraged to give these subs a try, and that is easy to do and risk-free since SVS allows a 45-day in-home trial in which they will pay for shipping both ways if the buyer decides not to keep it for any reason. My guess is that SVS will see few returns of these terrific subwoofers.  

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Features
Ergonomics & Usability
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value