Tight, Power, Breathtaking. CAN YOU SAY SUPER SLAM!

Very large cylinder about 5 feet high. Not sure its a weakness but it takes a lot of power to get these bad boys to really shine.

I have owned Velodyne, M&K, AR and HSU Subs and I was looking for a sub that had tighter (NON-bloated) and morepowerful bass that could play LOW! I did about a months research on the internet and kept coming back to this American company SVS. I found a B-Stock 16-46CS for $425.00 and ordered it immediately figuring that if these subs were this popular it wouldn't be there for long. I received the sub 2 days later and took some time to unpack it (packed really well. I had purchased a Samson 550 amplifier just for the sub so I hooked them all up and let her rip. The first DVD I played was U571 the depth charge scene. WOW! I felt like my ears were going to explode from the pressure it literally felt like they were dropping the depth charges on my head! Then I ran the sub through it's paces with the usual suspects (The Haunting, Saving Private RYan, Fifth Element, Armageddon etc.) it never failed to amaze me, so tight but so powerful at the same time. SUPER SLAMABILITY! Then to music (lots of Pink Floyd) just as amazing! Suffice it to say that you cannot go wrong purchasing one of these subs.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne, M&K, HSU, Acoustic Research, MacIntosh

Great HT lows

HT-only sound quality

Purchased the SVS16-46CS with the Samson S1000 and Better Cables connect for my HT system about 14 months ago, and at the same time I purchased a Velodyne FSX12 MKII for my two channel stereo system. I was originally very disappointed with the 16-46CS+. The FSX's sound was much more crisp, fast, and believe it or not, deep, compared to the 16-46CS+. Though the 16-46CS+ indeed went low, it's sound was boomy and of poor quality. I had eliminted the loud hum I originally experienced with the 16-46CS+ by using a cheater plug as recommended by SVS, and knew I was losing a lot of potential as a result. I purchased a JPS Lab Power AC+ power cord and upgraded wall outlet (which I did not ground (I know this approach is not recommended by any manufacturer, can be dangerous, and would probably void my warranty))after about ten months, and the JPS Lab Power AC+ power cord in fact transformed the 16-46CS+ into a very good HT subwoofer. The sound became more dynamic, bass throughout the range increased to the point that I now use a lower volume setting on the Samson amp, and for the first time I did not regret not sending the sub/amp back during the 45 day trial period. The 16-46CS+ still cannot compete with the Velodyne for quality of sound or strictly music listening, but as a HT subwoofer, its pretty darn impressive. Special thanks to Joe at JPS Labs for his time and assistance helping me get 16-46CS+ to live up to its reputation and potential.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne

Clean deep bass with the right amp,Fast enough to play with music,Brings the movies to life,Great customer service at SVS!

None as of yet,wish I could afford another one!

Let me start by saying, I have a CS-PLUS 16/46 but there was no where to post the review. I bought my sub on the reviews of this web sight!This is an AWESOME sub.It took me some time to get it set up the way I wanted it,but it paid off.The bass of this sub is so viscous you can only feel it!I'am running it with a Mackie M-800 which pumps out 800 watts into 4 ohms.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood sw,JBL sw,Cerwin Vega sw,DCM dual 12 sw,Infinite sw,DefTech BP 2002 with built in subs.

Excellent subwoofer, very tight, authoritative bass, and very musical

None

A superb unit. I have used the NHT sub together with an NHT system. NHTs are known for their neutrality and revealing nature when paired with a decent set of amps/receiver. The NHT sub certainly is an excellent unit by and of itself, but it does not reach the lowest registers.

This sub does all that and more. The 16Hz design point means that I can listen to almost any note normally generated by a musical instrument. With people in the house who have perfect pitch and play several of these instruments, getting that and meeting with approval is not easy.

The 16-46CS can.

It handles pretty much anything with aplomb, whether organ notes or depth charges. It doesn't break a sweat, but you might - it can send out a tremendous concussive wave...!

I ran it through its paces, as it is difficult to find a speaker at this price point that will handle both music and home theater. This one does.

I cannot say enough good things about it. It is a perfect match for my system.

Similar Products Used:

NHT SW2Si powered by same amp.

Flat, tight, DEEP bass. Doesnt take a lot of power (I'm using 250 watts but many people have had success using 150 or less!!)

Takes a while to get used to the missing bloat and "boom" of conventional subs.

Well, to start with, I have only ever used one other sub, an "older" B&W sub. That sub wasn’t mine, but my college roommate's, although I lived with it for 2 years and was the one that did all the setup and calibration of the home theater in the apartment. I am not sure how good of a sub it was supposed to be, but judging by its size, construction, knowing the store it came from, and knowing my roommate, it probably wasn’t a cheapo one.

So, going from there, the first thing I can say is that sub is not even in the same league as the 16-46. The B&W was very unnatural in comparison to the SVS, and was always very hard to calibrate for this reason: if you set the sub so that it gave good impact, it would be overbearing, and would bloat and overhang in louder passages (both in music and movies) and if you set it any softer, you would be below the proper calibrated level and you would lose any bass. The B&W was also prone to distortion. I have never experienced any distortion with the SVS at all. When something explodes onscreen, you feel the deep shockwave as the room pressurizes. This is more natural to me.

Having grown up on a farm, I have experienced explosions, collapsing buildings, herds of large animals running nearby and the rumble of heavy equipment. The SVS is much more convincing than my previous sub, and is as good or better than some of the "yeah-keep-dreaming" subs that I have demoed. When a caterpillar or tractor drives by near you, yeah its loud, but you can feel it too. It vibrates in your lungs and you can feel the mass. This is the kind of effect you get when similar things happen onscreen with the SVS in my system.

Another advantage of the SVS is that that tight, pressurizing bass actually feels louder and creates better effects, but it doesn’t have that boom that makes the neighbors reach for the phone to call the cops. On one of the forums I participate in, it is a pretty common question to ask if these subs are “too much for apartment dwellers”. I can answer with a definite no. I used to live in a college apartment where my neighbors where pretty tolerant, but I still got bangs on the wall every now and then. Now I live in a real apartment building with families and people who actually sleep. I have done some testing walking around outside my apartment unit, and I can assure you that flat, clean, undistorted, non-bloated bass is much less intrusive and disturbing.

To close with, I would like to plug the company too. The first sub I ordered arrived damaged, through the fault of the shipping company, not SVS. I would have to say that SVS went above and beyond the call of duty, but even that requires some more explanation. They did exactly what I would have done if I were running the company (or any of us who fell like we have been dumped on by big companies), but that is not the norm any more, we have such low expectations about customer service these days that SVS is more than a breath of fresh air.

It would be VERY tough to beat SVS from a product performance standpoint, and impossible to beat them in a price/performance match up. Throw in knowledgeable employees that CARE too, and there is nothing better out there. If I could I would give them 6 stars overall, and 7 for value. They are truly a remarkable phenomenon in the industry.

Similar Products Used:

Only other sub ever used = B&W AS6

Bass, Bass, and more Bass. Very tight sound, no boominess.

May be too much for some.

The Looks: Once we unwrapped everything we had a tall black cylinder wrapped in velvet-like material. My wife really liked the looks and my kids(7 and 4) started hugging the sub because they liked the soft feel of the cloth. It looks slender and although it is not going to disappear in the room visually, it doesn't draw undue attention to itself visually.

Hook-up, system: I have PSB Stratus Goldi's, an Altec Lansing THX center channel speaker(would like Stratus C-6 but cannot sell a single THX LCR speake so it stays). I have THX dipole surrounds mounted 6 1/2 to 7 feet high to the sides and slightly behind my listening position.
Pioneer VSX -27X receiver and Pioneer 525 DVD player.

Other subwoofers in the system: THX Altec Lansing powered subwoofer, a Citation 7.4 passive sub powered by a bridged Kenwood THX amplifier. Both subs stacked in the left front corner of the room. Sub EQ provided by an ART 351. With this setup I can get really good power to about 31.5 Hz. At 25Hz there is a significant drop off in power. My room is about 6500-7000 cubic feet.

Hookup: Connected the SVS and the Citation(crimped the pos of both and neg of both and connected to bridged output of amp) easily. The SVS was then stacked on top of the other subs(a tower about 7-8 feet tall). My wife said it looked good that way(bless her heart)
After hook-up was complete, took the trusty Radio Shack sound meter and Stereophile test CD-1 that has low frequency sweeps to see if any eq was necessary. At 40 Hz there is a nasty room peak(easily 13dB with mains set to small and about 18dB with mains set to large). With all 3 subs connected and mains set to small(after EQ ), there was no peak-so far so good. The mains were set to small for all listening. At 31.5 Hz there was tremendous output but this is nothing new in my system. At 25 Hz there was moderately increased output than before(did not quantify with meter). At 20 Hz there was a tremendous gain in output and I felt the room pressurized. The door leading to the playroom behind the theater room started rattleling and our couch started shaking(our floor is concrete).
Then I matched all levels with Video Essentials and put on The World is Listening sampler DVD and Independance Day.
Following is my subjective evaluation(finally huh?) The music tracks(esp bass guitar) sounded solid without being boomy, in fact I had to walk up to the sub(s) to make sure they were working--a brief scary moment.
The Dolby Digital trailers sounded phenominal. On the Train it felt(not sounded) like the train was in the room. With ID4, the bass could be felt and there were pulses of bass throughout the movie which I had not heard/felt before. There seemed be a limitless reserve of output that was too scary to try to fully tap.
I was not listening to anywhere near reference levels but there was a solidity to the sound and bass that really increased the enjoyment of the movie(which I feel is the reason for hometheater and not soundeffects). I have not had a chance to try Jurassic Lunch yet but will update this thread when I listen to it and some organ music.

If any one is considering buying a $2000 sub, try a used amp or even a receiver and a SVS 16-46, get better performance and save up to $1300. Like I said, the SVS team is great to do business with.

If anyone has any questions email me. I do not work for SVS or benefit in any way from their sales(I did benefit significantly from the sale they made to me as I am getting great bass now).

I unhooked the other subs and had a chance to listen to the 16-46 by itself.
Of course I took the sound level meter and eq levels and the frequencies as much as possible.
On went the Dolby Digital trailers. All the trailers sounded exceptional with great low bass and a solidness to the sound.
On the DTS DVD demo 4, I listened to the SPR clip, the Antz clip and the Haunting Clip.
The ANTZ clip basically shook the whole room including the concrete floor and the couch. Remember, this is one sub in a 7000 cubic foot room.
The tank in the SPR clip was truly awesome and scary.

The one scene that I did trip the sub a bit was in the haunting scene just before the woman falls off of the bed(I haven't seen the movie so I don't know the names of the charcters) At very high levels(cringing, scared that the house is going to vibrate itself to pieces levels), with the meter almost to 110dB, I did hear a couple of sharp taps or clicks from the driver, I don't know if this was due to amp clipping(370W into 8ohms) or due to the driver reaching its limits. Turning the level down just a hair(105-106dB) eliminated that sound. After that sequence, I felt my head was still vibrating.
After that I put on Naxos' Bach DVD with DD and DTS sound to test for upper bass with music. The bass in the music sounded well integrated and there was no boominess that screamed "listen to that subwoofer man".

Then I turned everything off, rehooked the other 2 subs, re eq'd everything and turned the system off.
My kids then came home from shopping with their mom and wanted to see the rest of Independance Day. About 45 min after I started the movie, I thought the bass wasn't as good as it had been the previous night. I looked at the receiver and it was in stereo mode so I switched to THX mode and also noticed that the amp and eq were off(hence all the subs as well)
Turned everything back on and everything fell back into place, truely awesome bass, the nuclear explosion on the mother ship was unbelieveable.
If you think that I am truely impressed with the sub you are absolutely correct. The only other negative that I see is that you cannot stack the subs on top of each other. Maybe you guys can construct something that will allow stacking so that the ports face each other(will this be good or bad Tom V?)
I have 2 other subs and am contemplating selling the Altec powered subwoofer so that I have 2 which I think is enough even for my large room.
If I did not have any subs I would get 2 16-46 or 1 16-46 and one 20-xx for my very large room. In any room 5000 cubic feet or less, one would be more than enough.
Highly recommended. If you are considering buying a $2000-$3000 sub, get one of these, get better performance, and save $1200-$2200.

Similar Products Used:

Citation 7.4, Altec Lansing THX sub

Build Quality, appearance, no boominess, crisp clear bass, a steal at this price compare to Velodyne and M&K, 45 days tom listen for a full refund if not satisfied

large size

Bought this sub at the recommendation of SVS owners at Hometheaterforum.com. This is a quality built, professional sounding subwoofer. II was fortunate it was delivered sooner than expected, due to the sheer popularity of the product. I had no cables yet or adequate amp but was dying to get a listen so I used parallel runs of cheap #16 lampcord type speaker wire I had on hand. I then connected to my old SAE 2200 amp which puts out 100 watts rms into 8 ohms. I was sure this wasn't an adequate setup but I just couldn't wait. I set up all the parameters using Radio Shack sound level meter as recommended.

I popped in my favorite Matrix movie into the DVD and sat back. What I heard next could only be classified as a religious experience of sound. Deep full, hit you in the chest bass filled in the lower level of my 4 Dynaudio floor standing speakers. The helicopter/machine gun scene literally took my breath away! WOW!.. was all I could say to my wife sitting next to me. We just looked at each other and smiled. This was awesome home theater! Explosions hit you in the chest. The dishes in the upstairs cupboard rattled at the other end of the house. I experienced no boominess as I had when I demoed Velodyne servo subs as well as M&K subs at literally 2 or 3 times the price of this unit. What a steal these subs are at this price. Customer service is class A. I sent countless e-mails to the tech support line and all I ever got was courteous helpful responses answering all my questions. Move over you big "fair traded" overpriced sub companies, there's a new kid on the block and he's kicking some serious b...ass!! Highly recommended. Would purchase from them again and I probably will pick up a second 16-46CS at this price! I wish there were a higher rating for value because 5 is not enough. I have never demoed a sub that even comes close to this and I have demoed quite a few top of the line subs. I can't wait to get a bigger amp, becuase I'm sure I'm not tapping all the potential of my sub with my 100 watter. With appropriate cables and amp it can only get better and I'd be satisfied if it NEVER got any better. This sub does not need a huge amp however, to get very loud and move a lot of air. Try it for a month with a money back guarantee....how can you lose?

Similar Products Used:

velodyne, M&K

Incredibly tight, musical, extended, flat and powerful bass, down well past what I had test tones for.

As tall as a 6-year-old child. No weaknesses, acoustically!

There are no words able to describe the sensation of experiencing flat, tight infrasonic bass for the first time. I've heard loud bass and I've heard low (~22Hz) bass, but I have never in my life been able to harness the ultra-low "feel it in your joints" infrasonic bass that comes out of a pair of SVS 16-46CS passive "tube" subwoofers coupled with the recommended Samson 700W dual monoblock professional amplifier.

The word "breathtaking" is accurate in two regards. First, hearing sound that's always been locked inside my favorite Dolby Digital or DTS soundtracks is breathtaking. Equally impressive is the fact that two SVS 16-46CS subwoofers can vibrate such a volume of air in your listening room that it can literally take your breath away. Those who are pregnant, have heart conditions or are incontinent need not apply! They should come with a warning akin to the "Space Mountain" ride at Disney World.

One final note I have to give is about Technical Support, both pre-sales and post-sales. NEVER in your life, I guarantee, have you experienced such excellent, professional and personal technical support from any company! Ron, Tom and Erik give you such a feeling of friendliness and technical prowess that you'd think you were buying speakers from a college buddy who just happens to be a world expert in designing subwoofers. Hats off to this team! I hope you never grow so large as to lose this personal touch that IMHO is priceless in this era of mega-companies and "Press 1 for Support; Press 2 for someone who gives a crap" technical support.

I am absolutely satisfied and will recommend these monsters to anyone who has the room and the heart for them.

- Dave

ps. The $1,400 quoted price includes TWO 16-46CS subs plus
the two-channel 350+350W Samson power amplifier.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha YST-SW150, REL Storm III

Good output in 30hz range

Not really that good at 20hz levels

Purchased one of these because of good reviews on some of the Home Theater Forums. Well Finished and attractive but It really could not match My Hsu Research for low bass performance. I sent It back and got another Hsu and am very happy.. Overall, It's not bad but ignore the hype, Hsu came up with the cylinder subwoofer design years ago and is a superior product and a better bargain to boot.

Similar Products Used:

Hsu TN1220HO

Clean tight accurate gut punching bass.

None

I purchased two of these subs for my HT in my family room. 24' x 24' with 16' cathedral ceilings. Over 7,000 cubic feet. My previous subs could never fill the space with enough sonic energy.

Since I purchased the unpowered subs I needed a suitable amplifer so I mated these subs to a Crown K1 amplifier to power the pair. Equalization is provided by a Behringer Feedback Destroyer.

Placement. I placed one sub in the left front of the room and the second sub in the left rear. Best placement for this room. I used 12 gague superflex cable to wire the subs to the K1.

Even before equalization there was a dramatic increase in the sound of my system. The bass I have been longing to find was there. I was hearing things I never heard before. And everything was good.

I did some room measurements using the Radio Shack SPL meter and found I had a couple of large peaks centered around 42hz and 72hz. I was able to set filters on the BFD to pretty much null these peaks out of the room.

These subs can play very loud. I have run them through the battery of demo DVD's and they can take everything I can throw at it.

Very highly recommended for anyone looking for a truly great sounding sub. If you are thinking about spending $2000 on a sub get a pair of these and save a bunch of money. You won't be sorry.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KSW-15, Sunfire True Subwoofer, PSB Subsonic 7