Audio Video News

SVS PC-13 Ultra Subwoofer

(November 2012)

Exceptional home theater sound requires an exceptional subwoofer, and SVS’s PC-13 Ultra was easily the best one we tested in 2012. The imposing (it stands 4-feet high, though the diameter is just 16.6 inches), cylinder-shaped PC-13 Ultra packs a beefy 13-inch driver powered by a 1,000-watt amp. Loads of controls, including a two-band parametric EQ, are present so that obsessive types can tweak endlessly for best performance. But perhaps the best thing about SVS’s sub is that it can also sound great if you simply hook it up to your receiver and adjust the volume.

In his review of the PC-13 Ultra, Brent Butterworth commended its versatile tuning options, which in combination with advanced DSP capabilities allowed him to tune it for a fatter, more powerful sound, or a tighter, punchier one. Musing on the SVS’s performance with movies, Brent described how its handling of the intense sound effects in a scene from The Grey “absolutely terrified” him. As for music, when he played a reference disc of Saint-Säens Organ Symphony, it “played the deepest 16-Hz notes of the pipe organ effortlessly.” If you think there are a lot of subs out there that can do that, think again.

svsound.com