Power Sound Audio XV15 Subwoofer Listening Session
For all of the listening sessions the XV15 subwoofer was placed in the front right corner of the room with the port about 5 inches from the wall. This places the subwoofer about 4 meters from the primary listening position. I have determined this to be the best available single subwoofer placement in the room for most units. Audyssey was run on the system to allow it to integrate the XV-15, which was then followed by a check and recalibration of the subwoofer and speaker levels prior to the listening sessions. It is assumed that the majority of purchasers would utilize some form of automated room correction system to integrate a new subwoofer hence running the auto equalization routine. The XV-15’s internal low pass filter was defeated in favor of a 100Hz internal one inside of the Onkyo PR-SC886P processor.
Editorial Note: I have recently moved into a new home and have a listening room that is significantly different from my previous one. The new room is a smaller 3150 cubic ft but open to a large hallway connecting to the rest of the basement with a shorter ceiling and more complex shape. Additionally it is a cement slab floor with 3 walls of brick as opposed to the larger, wood frame and floor constructed room I had been in previously. This room is easier to drive than the old space but has much less tactile transmission so I now use a higher -10 master volume setting for movie playback instead of -15.
Music Listening
As
usual I started off by listening to a variety of music once the XV-15
was integrated into the system. I like to start with familiar music
to get a feel for how the subwoofer is blending with the rest of the
system and how linear its response is. Filter’s
2002 release Amalgamut
is a
well produced pop/rock album which I know very well having a hefty
dose of sub 40Hz content and the occasional synthesized bass tone
underneath of the drums and bass guitar. On tracks such as "Where
Do We Go from Here"
and "It
Can Never Be the Same" the
XV15 produced a palpable kick drum fundamental with a clean attack,
and the weightier than average tone of the bass guitar mix on this
album, with fantastic presence. The definition of individual tones in
the upper bass region were, clear, distinct and it was difficult to
tell where the XV15 trailed off and the main speakers took over. The
occasional synthesized bass effect was reproduced with ease and no
sense of strain at spirited output levels that were vibrating the
furniture. Listening to Clockwork
Angels
the latest release from Canadian power trio Rush
with
the XV-15 run quite a few clicks hotter than the mains (For that
authentic concert feeling.) only further reinforced the impression of
power and neutrality. Having just attended a live Rush concert where
this album was performed in its entirety, I found the XV-15 capable
of producing a fairly convincing impression of the bottom end of the
massive concert PA in my much smaller domestic sized room. I would
give the XV-15 the edge on pitch delineation and neutrality versus
the live event though. I also ran a few tracks from the N.I.N.
album The
Slip
at house party levels to see how the XV15 would cope with loud
electronic bass. It did not disappoint. The kick drum was
satisfyingly big and room filling during Discipline
and when the upwards sine sweep comes in during the break towards the
end of the song the XV15 produced it powerfully and with the deep
bass at the start of the sweep intact indicating response to below
20Hz. This was further confirmed on The
Four of Us are Dying which
has content down below 20Hz throughout much of the track. Many subs
either miss this deep content or are overdriven trying to reproduce
it, not the XV15.
Blu-ray Movies
Having
satisfied myself
that the XV15 was suitably neutral and refined without major
acoustic issues listening to music, it was time to test the XV15’s
metal with a dose of over the top Hollywood style bass. With it being
close to Halloween I decided to go with movies that were appropriate
for the season. Monster
House
is an animated film intended for younger audiences that has long been
one of my favorites of the genre, in large part due to the excellent
surround mix. Throughout most of the film there is bass that is
sprinkled in as needed for scare factor, feelings of dread and
background music, in between the usual bumps and slams of doors, etc.
Whenever the house starts to transform is a different story and is
accompanied by prodigious bass content that is quite taxing for many
subwoofers. The final climactic scenes involving the house are
incredibly bass heavy and involve content extending to below 20Hz.
The XV15 easily handled everything through the first half of the
movie with and when the final sequence got underway it produced room
filling, thundering bass as the monster lifts off of its foundation
and attacks the kids. There was enough bass that I paid a little bit
of extra attention to the XV15 to make sure that it wasn’t
distorting or in danger. It was not but a glance at it revealed that
the driver was going crazy. If the XV-15 was hitting its limit during
this I do not know, but if so there was nothing audible to indicate
it, as all I heard were impressive amounts of deep bass output. There
was even a hint of the underwater pressure on the ears sensation that
sub bass at loud volume will give. Movie number two on the viewing
list was the horror/suspense movie Pulse.
This is
admittedly not my favorite movie but it does have fantastic amounts
of bass useful to demo any sub system. Once again the XV-15 was
equally up to the task of providing ominous background rumbles, the
low register of music in the soundtrack and abrupt bass transients
used as queue’s to go with the on screen action in an effort to
make you jump out of your seat. The server room scene in this movie
is notoriously difficult for most subwoofers to handle as it contains
a loud, sustained, pulsed 16Hz signal with not much masking content
going in on the rest of the speaker channels. Most subwoofers will
either not reproduce the signal at all by filtering it away or they
will be overloaded badly at a loud playback level. The XV15 proved
it is capable of output this low in room and managed enough output
during this scene to shake some things in the room while not being
obviously over loaded. However there was some accompanying audible
port noise during this scene. This was the only time during the
listening session that port noise was heard. One XV-15 is quite
capable and will probably be sufficient for many rooms, however with
the bargain pricing one will likely start to wonder how much more fun
a pair would be. I know I did.
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Recent Forum Posts:
billy p, post: 1048418
Yeah… the standard finish is quite nice, I've seen it in person….much nicer IMHO than the traditional flat or faux black finish you often get on competitors products. Curious to hear read your thoughts once you have it all set up.
Just a FYI, we can send out samples of the wood veneer AND the Black Satin free of charge. Just send me a note to one of our email boxed.
Tom V.
Power Sound Audio
Well I got the sub (very fast shipping BTW!) Here are some photos of the unboxing. While it was not double boxed it seems to have travelled well.
13899.vB13900.vB13901.vB13902.vB13903.vB
Congrats on the new sub…
Anyhow I was greatly impressed with the knowledge from the Chat person (can't recall the name).
Looking forward to picking my PSA sub, receivers (Denon AVR X-4000 and X3000) and my Panasonic projector (PTAE8000) up from the local Fedex store tonight!