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
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