PB13-Ultra

SVS Ultra-13 High Output Subwoofer Driver

The "driver" (or "woofer") inside our subs is the heart of what has made SVS so famous in the audio world. The entirely new "Ultra-13" (as it's called in-house) seen here is arguably one of the finest you can own, at any price, and its only in our PB13-Ultra and its "Powered Cylinder" brother, the new PC-Ultra. This truly amazing woofer is built exclusively by us, exclusively for you. Virtually every part was designed by our Ohio based crew with an eye towards the best performance possible. We don't even ask the price till we're happy we've met the demanding standards we know you will demand yourself. Beautiful, bullet-proof, and with high-tech features the most tech savvy audiophile in your home will envy.

For starters, check out the stunning SVS die cast "basket" which holds the rest of our painstakingly researched parts. Also prominent are materials from the aerospace industry such as the front "cone", and superior USA made" voice-coils" deep inside. Many critical parts are invisible, yet vital to long life, not to mention the brutal yet subtle demands your movies and music will place upon this gem. Many features are innovations virtually no other brands will use even if you do spend far more, often thousands more. It's the advantage of buying factory direct -- we spare little expense when it comes to ensuring the core technology runs strong and deep today, and will humble far more expensive products on the market for many years to come.

Features:

• Custom SVS exclusive 13.5" (edge to edge) die-cast aluminum frame in SVS metallic blue
• High-temp, flat-wire, 3" US-built aluminum voice coil for optimal power handling
• Costly Polyimide impregnated fiberglass "former", the core of woofer electrical precision
• Nickel-plated 1008 low-carbon steel components
• High-tension chrome plated binding posts keep power flowing
• Copper "Faraday ring" for enhanced frequency response
• Aerospace derived stitched foam-core/glass composite cone (polymethacrylimide)
• High-excursion parabolic SBR synthetic rubber "surround" with integrated gasket for long life
• Vented pole piece with chrome back plate keeps things cool when your sound heats up
• Dual linear 9 inch "spiders" with sewn-in tinsel leads for smooth operation at extreme levels
• Low-distortion, FEA optimized "motor" assembly ensures maximum efficiency
• Dual-stacked, select-grade, textured finish ferrite magnets (Y-35) for permanent beauty inside

750 Watt RMS Built-In BASH Amplifier

It's an old song if you've followed SVS's rise to prominence in the audio world, but here's yet another high output full-featured digital switching amp born our of the partnership between SVS and Indigo Manufacturing, one of the most capable and largest original equipment manufacturers in the world. Built in Canada to exacting standards seldom seen in this price class, its rugged, clean layout and construction serves as a perfect complement to SVS Powered Boxes. Quite literally, thousands of man-hours are expended dialing in performance that perfectly matches the new PB13-Ultra woofer and its enclosure. As always, we even made sure our own logo graced this amp as a reminder that no other subwoofer manufacturer has it. And since you can only get one on your SVS, you won't see them floating around the various "do it yourself" web sites either. Isn't it nice to know your amp was made just for your sub?

Power ratings are perhaps the least reliable way to judge a subwoofer's performance in the real-world, but don't let the conservative real-world power rating deceive you. Given our latest woofers and the exceptionally efficient SVS box designs, the SVS PB13-Ultra can embarrass other subwoofers touting many thousands of watts (often based on "peak power" or other misleading terms). You can rely on our powerhouse Canadian built amps to provide the foundation for that amazing Ultra-13 woofer profiled above.

Features:

• Variable crossover with bypass, for use with any sort of audio system
• Auto-on, or "always-on" settings with power LED ensure you are ready to roll
• Continuously variable phase and gain controls make basic setup a snap
• Extra heavy detachable power cord and main power breaker with fuse
• Variable extension switch with 20Hz, 15Hz, 10Hz and sealed settings, for your choice in depth
• Single band Parametric Equalizer (PEQ), for advanced customized sound
• Defeatable high-pass filters on all outputs, allow easy setup of twin subwoofers
• Room-size compensation control, to tame the bass for your room
• Stereo, low-level RCA and XLR inputs and outputs, no surround sound processor needed
• Lead-free world-standard amp design
• Aluminum control knobs and heavy black anodized panel for durable stylish looks
• Modular design allows easy servicing by anyone
• Light, cool running design means years of trouble-free performance

This is one amp you can count on to provide years of accurate, deep and powerful bass. Get the BASH advantage on your SVS now. Contact us for more details on any amp feature, the staff that designed it will be the same which respond to your questions.

More on BASH®

BASH® is a proven class of amplification, answering the market needs for efficiency without compromising sound quality. BASH® is a patented "High Efficiency Linear Amplifier" circuit topology that has taken the best of Class D and Class AB and created a new Class of its own. By combining a fast response power converter with a linear amplifier, BASH® is able to maintain both class AB sonic performance and class D efficiency.

BASH® can produce high power levels without cost penalties typically associated with conventiaaaonal amplifier designs. A linear amplifier rated at 100 Watts should be able to deliver 20 Watts continuously. If the same amplifier is to play musical transients that are 10dB louder than its rated power, the amplifier must be able to deliver 1000 watts dynamically. To deliver such dynamic power would require the internal power supply rails to be 300% higher, and the resulting power dissipated at 20 watts output to be 350% higher resulting in increases to heat sinks, power transformer, bulk capacitors, output devices and ultimately increases the cost.

BASH® provides customers new solutions, opens new markets, offers greater flexibility, and ultimately reduces the cost of amplification.

To read more on BASH® technology click here »

Front firing woofer with stylish removable grill

No matter how your rock rolls, or how low your organ goes, the shockwave's emanating from that high efficiency woofer propagate out from the front of the PB13-Ultra. Whether you prefer the "grill-less" for no-holds-barred "look at me" styling, or drop on the alluring custom black accent protective grill. Just because a subwoofer might be large (for maximum performance as this one is), doesn't mean it can't fit in with your decor.

And we don't make you mess with fussy plastic fasteners prone to breaking or ruining the look of our cabinets. Hidden under the surface of our finishes are small but powerful magnets that match with precisely located pairs in our grills so that the sub looks great in either configuration, with no visible means of retention at all. It might seem like magic the first time you put yours on, or take it off. But folks in the know have come to expect this sort of thing from SVS.

"Tri-Power" High Flow Ports

As always, ordinary ports won't do to vent the intense pressures and frequencies of our ported subwoofers. These new PC-Ultra flares are an SVS exclusive, whopping 3.5" inner diameter (ID) and still heavily flared (both inside the sub and the outer flare, too) needed to allow the massive Ultra-13 woofer to belt out music or movie audio and still keep that tiny "footprint" of the Powered Cylinder shape. You can rest assured they are costly, but just because some makers skimp by without them doesn't mean any of your SVS subwoofers ever will.

Precision machined to mount flush with high-density seals, and flanked by enhanced hand laminated black finished Baltic Birch end-caps (a whopping 1.5" thick). You will want to keep peeking under our specially damped 15" black mesh grill just to see them.

If you think these look like highly engineered bass tuning ports... you'd be right, only our new Ultra models come with them. How they work, when coupled with an SVS driver, is something Ultra customer often can't quite believe even when they hear it. Want even deeper bass?? Take just a few seconds and Insert one of the included "port blockers" (one is inserted into a port area photo below) and you have taken your subwoofer nearly 5Hz lower in "tune". Drop it another few Hz by inserting two. Great for those intent on tweaking their sound as they want it in their room.

Resonance Free, Protective Top Port Grill

No driver to damage up top there, but who needs the kids dropping their toy cars into your sub? Specially modified for total resonance damping, these stylish grills are as good looking as they are functional. Did we mention that the special damping features were added because we once detected a hint of harmonics emanating from the grill (on a special test tone)? Yes, someone did sweat the details on the performance of each component in your next sub. We're the largest user of these grills in the entire industry. Some OEMs have people buy their own grills.

We can't figure that out either.

Precision Tuned High-Flow Port

Computer-designed, the new SVS 3.5" ports are stylish, have no visible screws the detract from the elegant curves of this simple but critical component. This new subwoofer needed something this special to fine-tune its performance. The high-flow, low noise ports are made exclusively for SVS, and update an industry standard found on our other products (the standard 3" flares).

Inside our cabinets we actually bend the port tubing so you get incredible deep and clean bass, but without a larger cabinet or unsightly added parts. Our CURVE vent system is just one of many hidden aspects of our cutting edge design which might never see the light of day in your home. Yet, not including expensive parts like this simply isn't an option if you want to wring out every bit of performance for the customer. Built to accept the foam port plugs we include with each PB13-Ultra of course. Not one, or two, we slip in three of these into the large PB13-Ultra, and inside are the same sort of flares, helping your sub flow the air needed to make the famous SVS sound.

Hand-finished hardwood construction

Thousands of hours go into optimizing the materials, finish, bracing, and layout of every SVS, box or cylinder. Using state of the art computer assisted design (CAD) and our relentless regimen of simulations and extensive real-world measurements, no other manufacturer makes a more robust and acoustically inert subwoofer enclosure than SVS. Using a 1" medium density fiberboard (MDF) core with extremely high grade clear real wood veneers or high-tech, high-fashion black finishes, these subs make a statement before you even switch them on. Carefully rounded edges, invisible seams, hidden threaded metal fasteners are all standard fare for us. Our PB13-Ultra cabinet panels are meticulously assembled by experienced craftspeople as they would any fine furniture. Hand built, and finished with a multi-step process that's sure to catch your eye each time you walk in the room. With one of four stunning finishes this is as much art for your home theater or music room as it is a subwoofer!

Colors to fit nearly any decor

Some companies give you few, if any choices on colors for your subwoofers. With the PB13-Ultra we give you two stunningly beautiful imported natural wood finishes, plus immaculate "piano gloss", or tough and practical beauty in our industry-leading USA made fine textured black. Select yours at the time of purchase and we'll have one on the way quickly.

Multiple extension design

Multiple depth or "extension" options allow you to easily create "lower than low" bass in seconds, with just a flip of a switch and use of specially designed foam plugs which are included with each sub. As it is, the PB13-Ultra is configured to run exceptionally strong down to 20Hz and even lower (with all three ports firing). This is already far deeper than most subwoofers on the market, and since typical rooms will "gain" deep bass in this region, the standard "out of box setting" will provide strong response to around 15Hz with the preferred corner placement. This is extreme bass. Clean and powerful audio this deep is already exceptional and verges on the point of "subsonic" sound (which is that point where the ear is less an influence on your senses, yet you can still "feel" the bass). Above this point is where nearly all music and movie bass is centered, no matter if you are watching DVD's or listening to CD's or other forms of music. It also is the most efficient mode for the PB13-Ultra , with amazing "sound pressure level" capacity, and incredible accuracy to the source material at all sound pressure levels, low or loud, even in larger rooms.

Want deeper still? If you are willing to give up a few decibels in SPL capacity above 20Hz (and the PB13-Ultra has more "headroom" than most folks will use), then insert one, or even two port plugs, click over the subsonic filter knob to the corresponding 15Hz or 10Hz position and you are ready to move your home. Most users would experience strong output to around 15Hz with good placement in a typical room with a 20Hz setup. This is the sort of sound that's literally frightening when done with clean power and low distortion.

Frequency response charts

Technical notes: Smoothed, quasi-anechoic frequency response: Measured with high resolution instrumentation via "ground plane" technique, outdoors, at two meters' distance, a minimum of 70 feet from reflective boundaries. 20 and 15Hz, 10 and sealed modes indicated.

15 Hz, 10 Hz, and sealed FRs are deliberately over damped in order to provide a gentle roll-off when measured under quasi-anechoic conditions. This increases available system headroom, and also makes better use of available "room gain" (i.e., the acoustic transfer function of the room) to achieve a flatter in-room response.

In-room extension, with corner placement, will typically yield 3-5Hz greater linear extension than shown. Results will vary based on room size, seat distance from your SVS sub, and subwoofer location in the room. Chart does not depict maximum output of this model and is not directly comparable to other SVS models except for frequency response.