Buying SVS directly from the manufacturer.

Ian J

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Buying an SVS sub directly from the manufacturer started to take off last year when it was realised how much money could be saved by cutting out the middlemen and buying direct. As an example the 20-39 PC Plus that I paid £740 for last June would probably cost over double that if bought through retail channels in UK as both the importer / distributor and retailer want a slice of the action.

The popularity of this make started to increase with more and more people buying direct and reporting how good they were and now that the dollar is so weak the prices to us are even more of a bargain as my £740 sub would now only cost me £650 if bought today.

Buying is simplicity itself as the website is setup for online ordering. After you have placed your order, you will receive an email from the company giving the shipping options and quoting prices for collection by yourself from the airport and slightly higher for door to door delivery which is the sensible option as that means no red tape or paper work to worry about.

When the unit is ready for despatch, (hopefully within days) your credit card will be charged with the cost of the subwoofer plus shipping and you will be sent a tracking number so that you can follow the progress of the sub on the website of Bax Global.

On arrival in UK and once it has cleared customs, Bax Global will telephone you to arrange a time of delivery and to tell you the amount of import duty and Vat that will be payable. When they deliver the sub they will ask for a cheque and the buying process is complete. There may be other payment options for the Vat but I didn't check. I was lucky when I ordered mine and received it exactly 9 days later but there are occasional delays as these great subs are in huge demand and the factory is normally working flat out to keep up with demand.

The advantage of buying this way is that you can buy a highly desirable 20-39 PC Plus for £650 - £700 which would cost you in excess of £1,500 in the shops and is therefore a huge saving. The downside is that the company don't have showrooms in this country so you can't wander into a dealer for a demo and you have to either beg a demo from a friendly forum member or rely on the posts of the many satisfied owners over here and in the American forums.

Due to the cost of returning a defective unit, SVS spend more time on testing units bound for destinations outside USA. The cylindrical subs are of fairly simple design and replacing faulty drivers and amps is a simple and quick matter. The company is one of the most customer focussed in the AV business as their reputation is of prime importance to them. There have been a couple of instances of subs arriving with a fault and in both cases, the spare parts were flown out straight away with full instructions for fitting leaving two customers amazed at such customer service.

The only other point worth mentioning is the stories put about from time to time about SVS not being CE approved and that this would invalidate the household insurance.

This old chestnut has surfaced again this weekend in an attempt to frighten someone off buying one.. These subs are not CE approved for the simple reason that they don't have to be. If you look at the website they are quite upfront about what parts are used in the manufacture of their subs (unlike some others) and every part is made either in USA or Canada. USA is the most litigious nation in the world and no-one in their right mind would use components in the manufacture of consumer electronics that would be of poor enough quality to invalidate insurance in USA as the lawyers would have a field day.

A UK forum member and SVS owner has contacted his own insurance company to be told that if non CE compliant electrical goods invalidated household insurance policies there wouldn't be many people insured who had been on holiday to the Far East and brought something back with them. Perhaps others might like to contact their own insurers and post the results of the conversation here so that we can kill this one stone dead once and for all.

Anyone interested in reading why these subs are so popular should read the reviews at "Secrets of Home Theater and Hi Fidelity" where many of the reviews have been written by John Johnson who is one of the most respected reviewers on the planet. The subwoofer review index is here

25-31 PCi $549 or £470 delivered

I am not sure why I am writing this review. So many people are already purchasing the 25-31 PCi, maybe I am just wasting space. OK, let's assume there are a few of you out there who don't know how good a sub this is. That way, I can justify the effort. However, if you just want to hurry out and buy the sub, I can summarize here by saying that I have never seen a sub less than $1,000 - from any company other than SVS - that performs like this.

The really important thing is how much distortion the subwoofer produces, and the 25-31 has less distortion than some subs costing several times its price. Frankly, it is almost beyond belief what this thing does for $549.

B4-Plus taken from SVS website $3499 or £2,500 delivered

Dr. John Johnson is one of our favorite, if torturous, reviewers. Why? Precisely because he's not one to baby your product, nor does he spare words. When he got one of our B4-Plus subs with a Crown K1 for power, we actually caused him some problems. See, despite the fact that a pair of Velodyne ® 18" subwoofers had been his previous benchmark, he had to completely change his test regimen with the arrival of this SVS. At no point could he come close to stressing it in his house. He was driven instead to come up with procedures to test outside. The depth, the power and the clarity of the B4-Plus was more than he bargained for in other words.

Still, despite all the trouble this caused Dr. Johnson, we feel his comments tended towards praise?

"...the B4-Plus, it is obviously the most powerful subwoofer ever constructed for consumer use."

In case that was too subtle for some folks, he wrapped up with this:

"SVS has done it again. For anyone who wants to have the Darth Vader of subwoofers, the B4-Plus is it. With almost unlimited power and low distortion, the B4-Plus is definitely one of the Masters of the Universe."

I will make this post a sticky for the convenience of all forum members
 
Norwich Union have their home contents policy wording online here
and it says nothing that could even imply that a policy would be invalidated by having any electrical equipment not covered by the CE mark.

Direct Line's home contents policy is here and yet again no mention of any exclusions. In this policy Home Entertainment equipment is specifically mentioned but nowhere does it say that all electrical equipment has to have been purchased from Europe.
 
Just to add tiny bit of input.
I had a 25-31 PCi last year which cost me around £500. I wasn't happy with the look of the cylinder and wasn't too convinced that it was right for my flat, so I sold it in the classifieds and purchased a B&W ASW-675 for £649.
While I was happy with the B&W I have always felt that something is missing from the LFE. Sure it goes low, probably lower than my Pci did, but it misses the same gut wrenching feel that flaps your trousers and shakes your sofa.
I have in the last week spoke to Ron at SVS with an intrest to replace my B&W with a PB1-ISD, which is sonically very similar to the 25-31 PCi but in box form. With the current exchane rate this $599 sub would cost me around £400.
Unfortunately I have had no luck so far in persuading my wife to replace my small compact sub with the large bulk of the SVS box.

What I am trying to say is; I owned two Mission subs before I purchased an SVS. I changed it for one of the most highly regarded subs available in it's particular price bracket. I now want to change back to SVS!
 
You should checkup and see whether the various electrical extended warranties would apply to this..... it might sound daft but someone might appreciate it

ad
 
Good info guys, well done
 
Just to clarify buying one of these will NOT invalidate your home insurance, I know this as I am a property Insurance broker and will be buying a SVS 20-39 PC+ this afternoon....would not do that if it would invalidate the my insurance :)

NO fear on that as it is internally fused....if you were getting some dodgy eastern european/russian electronics which were not fused then you may have problems should a fire break out due to faulty electronics...but not this.

Anyway I will keep updated on how much it costs and hos longs it takes to get here....also just how great it will sound :)

If anyone wants to hear it and they live close enough, once it is hear I would be happy to demo for you.

Paul
 
How much would a 25-31Pci cost including delivery and VAT charges as i am seriously interested, it would have to outperform my RelQ201E which i'm not entirely happy with as it distorts with certain films like The Haunting DTS (( can the 25-31PCi handle this film without distortion ? ))

Any info much appreciated.
 
It would probably cost between £460 and £520 all in, dependant on delivery charges and there is just no comparison between a 25-31 PCi and a REL Q201 as the SVS is far superior

email [email protected] and ask him to get you a quote for delivery
 
Hey people,

Has anyone, or does anyone know of anyone, who has taken delivery of anything from SVS over the last two or three weeks?

I ordered a 20-39PC+ on 18th Feb and i KNOW it hasnt been that long (they said new orders ship in 10-15 days) but I was wondering if anyone has had a recent delivery and could give me an idea of current order-to-delivery times.

I dont want to seem impatient so dont intend to email SVS at this stage but I havent even received an email with the shipping number yet.

Kev
 
call them mate,

There customer service is second to none...don't forget they don't open until 3:00pm over here though

I am sure they will tell you what is going on.

Paul
 
Originally posted by ~Kev H~
I ordered a 20-39PC+ on 18th Feb and i KNOW it hasnt been that long (they said new orders ship in 10-15 days) but I was wondering if anyone has had a recent delivery and could give me an idea of current order-to-delivery times.

It''s only been 12 days and you obviously won't receive the email with the tracking number until it has finally been shipped.

email [email protected] and ask him for a progress report.
 
Regarding delays to despatch from SVS I have been reading a Home Theater Forum thread where Ron & Tom contributed with specific details about supplier delays and despatch information.

Not only have they moved into a new factory. But it would seem the incredible demand is constantly outstripping their supplier's ability to truck in enough drive units to meet demand. They try and run a lean manufacturing "just in time" system. But it must inevitably lead to delays if their own suppliers can't deliver on time.
Then there is the extra workload of starting production runs on new, more powerful sub designs. They admitted that they have been fighting a constant battle matching supply to demand since their very first offerings.

The AV fora are overflowing with almost universally glowing praise & reviews by happy new owners. Which constantly fuels demand by word of mouth recommendation. The <ONLY> form of advertising you can't buy at any price.

Since Erik's last message I am just sitting back and relaxing until I get the despatch information and tracking number. NOT!! :D

Nimby
 
Can someone tell me what plug will come on the end of a powered cylinder sub? I know that we can specify a 220V amplifier, but what plug comes with it?
 
The lead is a reasonable quality/length US one, I just cut the US plug off and wired a UK one, there's only L & N wires as the amp doesn't have an earth pin.
 
I used an old PC lead that I had lying around. One of these days I will upgrade it.
 
Ian,

Your Plus amp 550 watts (?) is presumably sucking a fair bit of juice out of the mains and the lead should ideally be a rather hefty.
I would be interested to hear whether you can tell the difference if you uprate it to something more along the lines of a 3KW electric kettle lead. I would imagine improved transients from a thicker lead.
Not that I want to get into comparing mains cables. Far too anoraky for AV? :D

Nimby
 
Kev,

I took delivery of a 20-39pc+ yesterday. It was ordered on the 10th of Feb. Shipped on the 25th. So looks like the 15 day back order is accurate.

Been working nights so have only unpacked it for a quick check. Can't wait to fire it up later...

Ian
 
Originally posted by MrT
Kev,

I took delivery of a 20-39pc+ yesterday. It was ordered on the 10th of Feb. Shipped on the 25th. So looks like the 15 day back order is accurate.

Ordered my PB-2 Plus on the 9th Feb, and it still hasn't shipped, so some of their orders are further behind:rolleyes: .

I wouldn't have minded if they'd said that initially, but every email I send which asks "Any eta on despatch?" is met with the reply, should be "early next week" or "you just missed this batch"; think they've failed 3 times so far to despatch it when they've indicated, which is not managing their customers expectations imho.

I understand there are delays and supplier problems sometimes, but it's getting on for a month since I placed my order:( [might be a Godsend in this case as I might be cancelling the order now anyway]
 
Cheers MrT, something to look forward to indeed. Let us know to what extent it meets/beats your expectations, what is it joining forces with?

Although they are renowned for good customer service, maybe going and checking the progress of every single order some-one inquires about is a bit too much to ask, I just got a reply late last night from Erik at SVS saying my 20-39PC+ would be shipping "early next week".. the exact same thing Smurfin has been told.. hmmm

The business must be going from strength to strength though, there seems to have been an explosion of new orders from forum member on here and elsewhere! but if the product turns out to be as good as I expect it to be then good luck to them!
 
Originally posted by Smurfin
Ordered my PB-2 Plus on the 9th Feb, and it still hasn't shipped, so some of their orders are further behind:rolleyes: .

I wouldn't have minded if they'd said that initially, but every email I send which asks "Any eta on despatch?" is met with the reply, should be "early next week" or "you just missed this batch"; think they've failed 3 times so far to despatch it when they've indicated, which is not managing their customers expectations imho.

I understand there are delays and supplier problems sometimes, but it's getting on for a month since I placed my order:( [might be a Godsend in this case as I might be cancelling the order now anyway]

And they've failed again:(

11th March today - over a month, and their last statement of "it should ship within the next 3 days" has passed the 3 day mark now:(

Very disappointed.
 
Hi Matt
I know how you feel i was subless for 6 weeks because of driver shortages but it will be worth the wait.
Cheers Gonzo.
 
I'm not subless (running dual Servo 15s), I'm just a bit annoyed that they've not sent it when they've said they would - I'm away in Germany from the latter part of next week, so timing is crucial. Oh well, looks like it'll be here when I get back:)

I'm consoling myself by reading some of the PB-2 talk on AVS:) Looking forward to finally trying this beast out!
 
I did express my concerns about this sort of thing, after I got my sub, to SVS. You canny change the laws of physics! ;) Once something becomes too big by it's own merits there's not much you can do to control it. At least they have proved from the past that there intensions are good towards customers but alas economics of scale makes this impossible to manage on a larger scale. Eventually somethings going to break and from all reports it appears to be the supply of parts, specialist custom parts at that from I'd guess not a huge manufacturer.

To improve supply they'd probably have to sacrifice quality somewhere (or maybe increase prices) and that's probably something that neither they nor us would want. :(

Hmmm should I order a 2nd now or wait for things to calm down? ;)
 
Originally posted by MrT
Kev,

I took delivery of a 20-39pc+ yesterday. It was ordered on the 10th of Feb. Shipped on the 25th. So looks like the 15 day back order is accurate.

Ian

Do you mind me asking how much it cost all in?
 

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