SVS SB-2000 price increase? and vs XTZ 12.17?

rgledhill

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Hi all,
Am I going mad, or has the price of an SVS SB-2000 skyrocketed from about £659 to £799 in the last couple of weeks!? I know I can still get one for £659 while one company sells off their last 3, but £799 might put it out of my price range against an XTZ 12.17...
Just checking - did I get my prices wrong before Christmas when I was looking at them for £659?
I'd also appreciate any pointers for my audition of both sets of subs tomorrow, if anyone has any :)
Thanks
Richard
 
Hi Joel, thanks, thought it wasn't just me! The price increase can't be justified by exchange rate changes though; this is being used to mask all sorts of price rises in various industries. The rate has only dropped about 5% yet this is a 21% increase! :mad: I suspect SVS are using the exchange rate excuse to reposition the SB2000 slightly higher up against its competitors and close the gap to the next model up. This unfortunately puts it out of my price range unless HiFiX can match the previous price for a few days, which theoretically they might as their buy-in price was at the old price.
That of course is assuming that I don't get the XTZ instead which at £599 now looks good value in comparison!
 
The rate has only dropped about 5% yet this is a 21% increase!
This time last year it was $1.45 to the pound it is today about $1.2 to the pound. That's about a 17% drop.
Unfortunately we are going to see big price increases on everything sourced outside the UK this year.
 
It's the second time in a few months that prices have gone up. Bought sb 2000 in June for £594, how times have changed
 
It's the second time in a few months that prices have gone up. Bought sb 2000 in June for £594, how times have changed

Exactly - so that's £200 in 6 months, or 33% increase - way above inflation. There's definitely some re-positioning of the SB2000 and PB2000 in the line-up.

The auditions went well today, thanks (though not from your perspective ;)). I spent an enjoyable hour at HiFiX (Frank Harvey Hi Fi Excellence), listening to various material that I know well over the years, from Dolby Digital trailers, dts test tracks, a bit of Fight Club and so on. The set-up was Kefs all round, with an SVS SB-2000. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed by the SB-2000 - I thought it would have been more of a step-up from my old Q100E but it didn't give me the bass extension I quite expected. I briefly listened to the SVS SB-13 Ultra and that did give me what I was looking for, but sadly is completely out of my price range!

I then went down to see @Jag @ Epic Home Cinema, who was kind enough to give me an hour and a half of his time, going through all the same tests as before and a few more. The system was XTZ speakers all round, with the 12.17 sub. The 12.17 was tuned to match the room and demo'd with various different EQ settings and bung positions. This was much more like it, with a greater depth and slam than the SB-2000. Jag even took the time to do calibration while I was there, to set the dB level correctly for each of the 11 (yes, 11! in 7.4 format) speakers in the system.

Ultimately I think the SB-2000 was a tad cleaner, but the better extension and slam of the XTZ did it, together with the far greater flexibility for tuning, with the in-built three EQ settings and four bung combinations. Consequently I came away from Jag's with a lovely XTZ 12.17 :) :cool:

The visceral slam and low-frequency rumbles in the Fight Club in-flight plane crash scene were awesome, as was the depth and grating sound of the concrete pipe falling off the truck in Toy Story 2. The Lyle Lovett dts audio CD also really showed the quality of the system and left Jag wanting to get hold of the CD himself :)

Now comes the fun of setting it up - when the wife's out, of course ;)

Huge thanks to Kevin at HiFiX and Jag at Epic Home Cinema, and of course Jag's wife who supplied the tea and biscuits!
 
By the way HiFiX are currently honouring the £659 until their stock run out, or at least for another week or so, so if you have your heart set on one, now's the time to get one! (Or get the nearly new one from @JFK ).
 
@rgledhill Glad you had a nice time and found the right one for you. I ended up with the pb-2000 as I prefer ported subs and the real low-end grunt for movies at high volumes[emoji16]
 
Agreed, the port does give extra slam! I tried a PlayStation game, Warhawk, and the slam when firing the tank actually rippled through the sofa :)
 
SVS are living in cuckoo land. That's simply greedy price rise. There are so much more alternative for the sb2000 at this price, like an arendal sub1, xtz12.17, or even dual BK's. It is not worth £ 799 and svs will lose business to competitors in U.K. The price rise of sb13u is also laughable as the PSA 1500 is similar spec and so much good value for money.
 

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