Urgently Need Sub! SVS or Polk or BIC America?

[ChauhanSaab]

Current Setup: 5.0
Front: Wharfedale diamond 9.5 Floorstanding Speakers
Rear: Wharfedale diamond 9.1 Bookshelf
Center: Wharfedale Diamond 9.CS
AV Receiver: Pioneer VSX-522
Before this, I had Logitech Z906, so quite a big jump for me personally as far as my budget goes.
Now looking for a decent sub in the budget (40K-50K INR - $500 to $650). I have shortlisted 4 subwoofers, and need your help to get the best out of these:

1. SVS PB-1000 (51K INR - $681 USD)
2. Polk Audio DSW 660wi (41K INR - $548 USD)
3. Polk Audio HTS 12 (38K INR - $508 USD)
4. BIC America PL 200 ii (42K INR - $561 USD)

My room dimension: 13.5 ft width x 14.5 ft Depth x 10 ft Height
My preferences are Movies 60% Music 40%

I purchased all these(speakers & receiver) last year from a dealer for around 53K INR - $700 USD. Is my current receiver is good enough for these subs or do I need a better one (Currently I don't have a budget to buy both receiver & Sub at the same time)?

Note: Someone is selling his SVS PB 12 Plus (7 yrs old) for around 75K INR - $1000 USD. Should I consider this one or go with PB 1000 Dual down the line (not any time soon for dual).

 

[jmp1975]

Current Setup: 5.0
Front: Wharfedale diamond 9.5 Floorstanding Speakers
Rear: Wharfedale diamond 9.1 Bookshelf
Center: Wharfedale Diamond 9.CS
AV Receiver: Pioneer VSX-522
Before this, I had Logitech Z906, so quite a big jump for me personally as far as my budget goes.
Now looking for a decent sub in the budget (40K-50K INR - $500 to $650). I have shortlisted 4 subwoofers, and need your help to get the best out of these:

1. SVS PB-1000 (51K INR - $681 USD)
2. Polk Audio DSW 660wi (41K INR - $548 USD)
3. Polk Audio HTS 12 (38K INR - $508 USD)
4. BIC America PL 200 ii (42K INR - $561 USD)

My room dimension: 13.5 ft width x 14.5 ft Depth x 10 ft Height
My preferences are Movies 60% Music 40%

I purchased all these(speakers & receiver) last year from a dealer for around 53K INR - $700 USD. Is my current receiver is good enough for these subs or do I need a better one (Currently I don't have a budget to buy both receiver & Sub at the same time)?

Note: Someone is selling his SVS PB 12 Plus (7 yrs old) for around 75K INR - $1000 USD. Should I consider this one or go with PB 1000 Dual down the line (not any time soon for dual).

Whilst I can't really comment on which sub to buy new as I haven't experienced the other 3, I have a PB1000 in a room similar sized and I am more than happy with it, I wouldn't spend the money on the used one. 7 years old will have no warranty and whilst it may last for many years, the risk on something that is over your desired budget for me would be too much. Better to buy new with 5 year warranty in my view.

 

[Gasp3621]

Not sure what you meant with the receiver not being good enough. It won`t eq the subwoofer like more expensive ones do (room correction). But other than that you will just plug it to "pre out subwoofer" and run the autosetup with mic on the seated position ear height to get the levels correct.

The used PB12 Plus would be quite awesome, it`s heavy large beast and would do things two PB1000s wouldn`t but i`m kinda in the same boat as @jmp1975 with the product being old. If you are going to take the risk then you need to accept that amp change may be happening at some point. It seems you have good support at India for SVS as i remember it´s quite popular there. But the amp may not be cheap. And lastly adding 2nd would be quite hard as those are not available often i can imagine.

From those 4 models SVS PB1000 would be best pick considering performance, support, build, warranty.

 

[ChauhanSaab]

Whilst I can't really comment on which sub to buy new as I haven't experienced the other 3, I have a PB1000 in a room similar sized and I am more than happy with it, I wouldn't spend the money on the used one. 7 years old will have no warranty and whilst it may last for many years, the risk on something that is over your desired budget for me would be too much. Better to buy new with a 5-year warranty in my view.

Yes, the same thing in my mind, actually I bought used Polk audio DSW 550wi late last year, and just a couple of days after purchasing there is some distortion sound coming out the of driver something like continuous electrical noise. so I sold that sub at a cheaper price.

 

[ChauhanSaab]

Not sure what you meant with the receiver not being good enough. It won`t eq the subwoofer like more expensive ones do (room correction). But other than that you will just plug it to "pre out subwoofer" and run the autosetup with mic on the seated position ear height to get the levels correct.

OK and what about for the mentioned HT set? Does this give enough power to these speakers or if I upgrade my speakers with Polk Audio Rti A7's in the coming months, Do I need to upgrade the AVR then?

The used PB12 Plus would be quite awesome, it`s heavy large beast and would do things two PB1000s wouldn`t but i`m kinda in the same boat as @jmp1975 with the product being old. If you are going to take the risk then you need to accept that amp change may be happening at some point. It seems you have good support at India for SVS as i remember it´s quite popular there. But the amp may not be cheap. And lastly adding 2nd would be quite hard as those are not available often i can imagine.

Yeah it's kinda popular here but the prices are way too high ($1800 USD for single PB 2000 Pro)
I've asked him for the demo and might go on the weekend as he lives nearby. Any way to find if the sub is been repaired before?

 

[Gasp3621]

OK and what about for the mentioned HT set? Does this give enough power to these speakers or if I upgrade my speakers with Polk Audio Rti A7's in the coming months, Do I need to upgrade the AVR then?

Yeah it's kinda popular here but the prices are way too high ($1800 USD for single PB 2000 Pro)
I've asked him for the demo and might go on the weekend as he lives nearby. Any way to find if the sub is been repaired before?

Just from reading owners thoughts i remember the Polk RTI range is quite bright sounding which might suite to movies bit more depending of taste, where as Wharfedale is more warm & laid back easy to listen. We can use peoples opinions/reviews as starting point, but you still need to listen them cause you might find them overly bright example. While Polk might be better choice for movie use, you have 40% of 2ch listening where the Wharfedales are often loved by many. What ever you do, don´t buy blind. Even short demo with your favourite music with you at the shop and some movie clips to find out is the top end too bright/fatiguing cause it should sound quite the opposite to what you have now! Notice the RTI A7 are large rear ported speakers and they need plenty of space so pushing them forward from boundaries should be done or otherwise the bass quality suffers. For movie use you don´t really need tower speakers (rather large dual woofers), but as you listen music so much i understand you want strong low end running them full range. For movies you would be running them speaker size set to "Small" and crossover at 80hz cause you have very cheap receiver and giving more workload for subwoofer (with it`s own amp) is recommended!

Keep in mind that you need to change the center channel too. Some might say it would be even more important cause it handles over 60% of the soundtrack of movie. CSi A6 model would be the correct one. Always get the best center channel available for X range.

I don`t think there is any way to find other than the seller if he says amp has been swapped or not. They won`t last forever so it´s bit risky. But the PB12 Plus beats PB2000 Pro performance wise just by comparing some data. It´s a good sub you can run it as sealed or ported (3ports) there is 16hz mode too for very deep bass. Here is 4page professional review with measurements. It´s risky to buy 2nd hand electronics as new SVS subwoofer should have 5year warranty! SVS PB12-Plus DSP Subwoofer Review

 

[rccarguy3]

I wouldn't buy a old sub like that, it's good quality however class d amps so probably end of life...svs bash pc plus just died that is similar age