Gidday,

As promised here's my review of the SVS AS-EQ1. I have just finished some 4 hours of calibration and testing with both music and Movies (BD). I also finally implemented Audyssey on the Integra DHC-9.9 so now all channels are level matched to 75dB reference and have Audyssey Processing in place.

The Unit/Box

You've seen the box pictures and contents in other threads so I won't belabor the point here. Suffice it to say all cables have excellent length, the most important being the Audyssey Microphone itself which is some 6+ meters long. The unit ships in an outer shipping box and foam packed inner box. It could happily be dropped from several meters with no adverse effects. Whilst the AVS review suggested it wasn't that heavy a unit I'd have to disagree. For a Non-Processor Non-Amplification unit I find it very well built and @ around 5 kg's I wouldn't exactly class it as being light for what it does. The magnetic (detachable) facia plate is really innovative and nicely covers the 2 Power/System Status lights to the Left/Right of the unit. With the facia in place these lights are not at all distracting and offer a subtle but informative indication the unit is both on and doing what it was designed to do.

Setup & Calibration

I'd have to say the Software is just excellent. It holds your hand with breakout boxes explaining in detail what step you're up to and what each one is trying to achieve. If you read it all carefully you'll find it hard to make any mistakes. I installed it on Windows Vista (Boot Camp on a Macbook Pro). Once plugged into the USB Port the SVS was found without issue and Calibration could begin. In my case I used the Bypass Patch cable bypassing the Integra's own Audyssey for the Subwoofer channel and looping it back to the Integra so once complete the SVS Calibration could then utilize it's own processing. Once Integra Audyssey had completed (About 1 hour 8 positions) the SVS Calibration Microphone was then plugged in and measurement could begin. I chose not to level match the Satellites as I'd prefer to use a Radio Shack meter for that purpose. Thus I skipped straight to measuring the Subwoofer. I did however use the program to achieve reference level for the Subwoofer which is really accurate (Red you're out of bounds and Green you're in the 75dB sweet spot). You modify the Gain on your Subwoofer to achieve this (In the Fathom F13's case you must switch the Subwoofer from "Reference" to "Variable" for the Gain to be active).

I performed the whole task twice so I could remove any doubt the procedure (Or User) did not color the result. The initial graph upon completion of run #1 pretty much made my eyes pop out of my head. The Before/After graph will really appeal to those HT aficionados who need/have to know everything about why they are hearing what they are. Every room offers unique challenges as we all know and in my case I had a huge +10dB peak between 20Hz to 30Hz and after that it dropped off sharply from between 40Hz to 80Hz tapering off to 100Hz. Obviously both node problems (Peaks and troughs) combined for fairly horrible Bass response in my room which explained why I could find only one real "Sweet" spot in my room. I then performed the whole run again (Run #2).

Both runs were measured for a total of 16 positions within the listening area. I measured 2 rows of 4 positions @ both ear level and about 2 inches below that for the 'slouch in seat' factor. This is the recommended approach as stated in the procedure/manual. This took around 30 minutes. You can measure up 32 positions for a large room. The calibration sound the SVS uses is actually quite subtle so no huge booms or massive 10Hz pulses here to scare the crap out of you. This is in stark contract to the Fathom's own (Primitive by comparison) A.R.O parametric system which threatens to shake your house apart at every opportunity during calibration. Once completed you can "View results" in an HTML style document (And can be saved in several document formats). You can then either choose to temporarily upload the result to the SVS or Permanently do so if you're happy with the results. You then input the Distance & Trim settings presented to you by the SVS tests into your Pre/Pro (Feet or Meters it's your choice). This is not just physical distance but electrical delay as well. I could tell little difference between the 2 runs looking at the graphs which means both Mic position and background noise were perfect. Once saved to the SVS it's says "Thanks - Calibration complete" and you can unplug the Microphone.

I then Calibrated Reference levels for all speakers (Except the Subwoofer as it's performed already by the program) to be certain everything was correct.

Looking at the Before/After graphs is of course only half the story. It was time for the "Taste Test" and to fire up the ASi OPPO DV-983H for some SACD action and the Sony BDP-S5000ES for BD.

Listening Tests

I don't want to appear too over the top here but seriously....FMD. Before calibration the Bass was boomy and bloated due to room acoustics (Or lack thereof), standing waves and node issues. It's like somebody had rearranged the room while I was out shopping or something and had installed a raft of expensive acoustic treatments. The Bass is now there - everywhere - but has a distinct "Evenness" that no amount of Fathom A.R.O or physical movement of the Subwoofer could achieve. In food terms the Bass is now as rich as a good Tiramasu. The Bass no longer tries to push itself to the front of the frequency range queue. It's like a 7 foot tall bouncer who's cool, calm and collected (And polite) who knows what he's capable of but prefers to deal with a situation with due respect. No matter where I stood in the room the Bass response is the same. The Bouncer was there, casting his careful eye across the crowd, only intervening when and if he had to.

Now for the true test - Movies on BD.

Transformers - As anyone would know this is a benchmark BD. At the time of testing the missus came home and sat next to me. She knows the soundtrack well and always commented how the Bass was "Overpowering". Not anymore. There was that even distribution of Bass again - right across the room. Midrange and Treble are hugely improved as the Bass is now perfectly controlled and those ugly Peaks are now gone. Had somebody installed a new Subwoofer while I was away? Was I in a different room? Nope. I could not believe what the SVS AS-EQ1 had done for room response. I simply cannot locate the subwoofer eyes open or closed - that to me is just pure heaven yet the Slam and Subtle Bass harmonics (Now clearly discernible) hadn't gone anywhere. There's a great scene that is a really difficult Subwoofer test. Just as Bumblebee kicks away the last 2 cars and fires off his last 2 rounds whilst being towed by Megan Fox there's a massive Bass moment which I'm sure reaches down toward 15Hz if not less. I had never heard this properly until now and it was a real eyebrow raiser. Wow!

I also tested Dark Knight, Cars, Master & Commander & Wanted. No change - the Bass was there as the supporting cast, the gestalt upon which all great HT sound rests but no longer drawing attention to itself. I soon forgot about the Bass aspect of the system and just started to enjoy the sound as ONE entity instead of 5.1. The AS-EQ1 had done it's job and how. Where have you been all these years? Where were you in 1992? The room is now completely energized with Bass but it's now everywhere and includes "Degrees" of Bass which I have not heard except in dedicated rooms and real cinemas. Even the missus was mesmerized and said "What have you done - that sounds amazing?". That's coming from a non-Audiophile.

Conclusion

The SVS AS-EQ1 is a no-brainer. If you're sick of concentrating on your Bass wondering how to improve it instead of enjoying the movie you need this unit. If you're sick of everything in the house shaking even when it's not supposed to you need this unit. For $1400:00AUD the SVS AS-EQ1 will save you a lot of mucking around and outlay on room acoustics which of course are not always (rarely) WAF ready. Sound-wise I am absolutely wrapped with my system. The Paradigm's are now singing, The Fathom is not being run hot (It's the porridge that Goldilocks found "Just right") it's there doing its job but now being beautifully controlled. Sure there's the Velodyne SMS-1 which gives the user a chance to tweak themselves to the nth degree but seriously do you want to tweak or calibrate once/twice and crack a beer and kick back to enjoy your system? I can only say adding a second Subwoofer would improve the situation even further but as it stands I could never go back to a system that didn't have this thing installed. There's a lot of Snake Oil solutions out there for HT - this isn't one of them.

Buy one

Cheers

Blade

awesome review blade I loved it looks like I might have to add this to the wishlist along with a new sub of course.

good to see of benefit blade, as an owneer of a velo DD with the sms unit built in, I can tell you even with tweaking to hearts desire when running audyssey on my pre-pro does take to another level. words like organic and textured come to mind in regards the bass. by the sounds of what you describe what I like about this unit is that you can let the pre-pro do its audyssey thing for the rest of the spectrum and have this thing do its business to get the very best from the bass yeah particularly helpfull as you say for the likes of us not really in the position to remodel the room for room issues or put in place heaps of treatments to try sort out inadequacies.

ps like the thread title, thank goodness not really got a empty slot in the rack or be wondering about one of these hehe

do wonder how this works with audyssey dyn eq and dyn vol and built in audyssey in the pre-pro. I imagine if you ran audyssey on the pre-pro once you had run audyssey using this thing. on the pre-pro it would hopefully see a pretty good bass response and only do minor touch up if anything ? and would be no different to audyssey on board the unit ?

Al,

Yep this is a great unit for those (Most of us) that are forced to have their HT integrated into their living space and can't plaster their walls with all manner of panels and Bass traps.

In regards to your question as to how the Pre/Pro sees the Bass component. When I setup the Auddysey on the Integra you see the Subwoofer light up in the pictorial view but the signal is fed back to it via the patch cable on the SVS AS-EQ1 so in effect it measures 'nothing' therefore Audyssey doesn't include this channel in it's final calculation (the 10Hz - 80Hz component is ignored). During the SVS setup you can level match the satellites by performing a level check (75dB reference) to the Subwoofer. You can do this for each of your 5 speakers but I chose to do this with Ye old faithful Radio Shack Meter. There's a Sat/Out port on the SVS which you connect to each of your Pre/Pro's Multichannel In's - you do this 5 times for each of your speakers or 7 for Ex. So the Pre/Pro Audyssey performs absolutely no adjustment to the Bass, sends the signal to the SVS where it is shaped accordingly with the filter you calibrated / uploaded to it. The patch cable effectively forces the Pre/Pro to 'ignore' the Bass since it's being fed back into the Pre/Pro (You don't even hear the test noise for the Bass channel - it just lights up in the picture). After the Pre/Pro the SVS is then free to perform it's magic in the 'Audyssey Pro' arena with the 'Sum' of the 2 calibrations essentially joined after it's all said and done. Final level calibration ensures everything integrates properly.

'Organic' and 'Textured' for sure - the Bass has now taken on it's own character whereas before it was simply a dull, lumbering beast walking blindly into walls.

Cheers

Blade

Great review. Despite our differences in the real world I do have 3 questions regarding your tests and in no way are they intented to undermine what you have done or dispute/question your findings:

1. Before implementing the SVS unit did you run Audyssey using the Integra (all 8 positions) and test the same material (SACD/BD's) that you used to test the Svs As-eq1 ?

2. Did you have to move the subwoofer at all to acquire the "Sweet" spot or was it left in the same postion?

3. What crossover did the Svs As-eq1 set the sub to? Is this adjustable via the OSD?

I appreciate as I'm sure all forum members will be for taking the time to report your findings for the Svs As-eq1.

Personally if your going to pick a scene in Transformers try the bit where just after Bonecrusher smashes through the bus there's a huge bass moment just before he clashes with Optimus. Also in the city where Ironhide flips trying to avoid the rockets being fired and the girl screeming and he flys overhead. 2 very bass heavy moments and is a great test for any bass junkie.

Enjoy

I agree, best moments in bass history.

Great review Blade!

I know you didn't much like the SMS-1 or didn't have great success with it mate - get one of these. Seriously. It supports dual subwoofers and more importantly EQ's them SEPARATELY including the time domain (Which very few EQ's do - even high-end ones).

Drop Peter @ Deep Hz an E-mail as he said his initial shipment is selling 'very well' and it will be another 2 months before he gets his hands on more units.

Those JL Audio F112's of yours will really deliver after hooking this puppy into your system

Cheers

Blade

Subs sound great now but then again...

Blade what are you doing to me mate. Well Im going wait until my scope screen is up and then will look at it. I don't think wife will be impressed at them moment coming home with something else. I had to buy a JVC HD350 because and edge the VP50pro was becoming a pain in the ass.

I e-mailed SVS regarding implementing one of these into a setup with passive subwooofer as I was unsure how to hook one up b/w the external power amp and the NAD pre-ro. I received a response and a link to this forum:


http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/svs...-goes-sale.html

Might help some others considering this unit.

HomeTheatreShack has a large thread in progress specifically for the SVS AS-EQ1 as well so you can also get USer impressions there:

HomeTheatreShack AS-EQ1 Thread

Cheers

Blade

Blade thanks for the great read.

I've decided to check one of these units out for myself, for the HT side; not the 2ch side of my integrated system.

It has been ordered, now just awaiting delivery.

Fantastic Spearmint I'll be very keen indeed to see what you think of it given your significant knowledge in this area. And your love of Subwoofers

I watched Bladerunner and WALL-E last night. The system is sounding just spectacular. Somehow a 24" Dell monitor doesn't quite cut it for picture though (Especially form 7 meters away!).

Cheers

Blade

Having a tweak tonight or tomorrow night

Blade, can you tell me if the outputs of the unit are muted during power off/on?

Yes I believe they are mate.

Blade

Thanks!

Hey Blade,
Just noticed that SVS have linked to your review(this thread) on their product page: Early reports from customers and reviewers around the world : Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, UK, USA

cheers

Well done Blade, just goes to show they do read the forums

Yeah Minty and Macca - I knew that over the weekend as Peter from Deep HZ asked me if I minded if SVS linked to my review

Of course I wasn't about to shout it from the rooftops but yeah...pretty cool, and does show how much stock they put in User reviews! After all - it's cheap advertising for them!

Cheers

Blade

Well done Blade, will be doing mine tonight and hope to feedback before Wave's Gtg

Well done mate. Perhaps you can answer my questions that I asked earlier a few posts back.

Enjoy.

Hi Simon,

Regards your questions

1. I was running Audyssey, but was also using some Behringer gear for EQ, Delays, Phase, etc.

2. No too big and heavy

3. No this is set by your AVR

I hope that helps to answers some of your questions

Thanks mate. How are you finding it compared to your initial setup? Any improvements?

I feel it has had an improvement in my HT system overall. How much is due to the AS-EQ1, and how much can be attributed to the AVR Audyssey not needing to EQ the subs I don't know. I watched a few more videos today, and yes there is an improvement. I need to recheck the setup as I've a null which I believe to be a phase issue.

Compared to the velodyne, which would you say produce better results overall in your ht?

I haven't done a direct comparison as yet between the Velodyne & SVS units, that will be left to another time.

Simon and Franin if you're interested in my thoughts I did post my impressions on SNA

Thanks for that Spearmint. Decisions decisions!!

Great review Minty and it's good to see your results and experience is commensurate with mine. If I had not purchased and implemented the AS-EQ1 myself I would not have believed the difference it made (It's that good).

I'm looking in to the Audyssey Sound Equalizer now (The Pro box which does everything). I'll wait until I have the Arcam AV888 before that though (Yes I have decided to buy it)

Cheers

Blade

Oh come on Frank you know you want to....

Besides it's chicken feed compared to what you normally spend on HT

Blade

any chance of posting the before and after graphs?

Yep getting around to that soon mate.

Cheers

Blade

I think Audyssey may be preparing to introduce their own version of this unit if this teaser is anything to go by:

On Thursday, June 11, Audyssey CTO, Chris Kyriakakis and VP of Business Development, John Hallman will give our installers a sneak peek at our latest innovation in bass calibration.

The new component from Audyssey uses MultEQ Pro and works with any AVR. It is our first standalone product with an MSRP under $1,000 and is sure to be a hit with your customers, providing you a new revenue stream.

Audyssey customers and fans have been asking for this product and we are happy to present it to our installers first. Sign up today.

lol: Tell that to my wife with renovations that are still going on. Im also trying to do scope at the moment which is taking its time. It's certainly something I will like to do later down the track.

Thanks Blade!

I've been looking on and off at the stand alone Audyssey unit, however with HT I'm more than happy with the current results, especially since I watch a movie maybe once a month in the HT room if I’m lucky. I would like to try Audyssey on my 2ch side of things though, and one of these days I will try the SVS unit on 2ch.

I had every intention of recalibrating my setup today, but some things have come up to keep me otherwise busy, so hopefully tomorrow I can redo it and will post the new graphs if there is any improvement.

One thing I have noticed though is discussion and people’s impressions of this product have basically stalled around the globe. With a fair number of these units out in the market place already and yet there is still not a lot of feedback, let alone some of the changes some have done to try and improve the results. If I get time tomorrow I’ll also do a sweep with either REW or ETF5 at one of the seating positions.

So whats the verdict ? Any REW plots to share or after thoughts from anyone else ? Its all gone very quiet. I hope the bass hasent gone very quiet too

There is still some activity on AVS. I redid my measurements over the long weekend to see if I could get rid of the null at 80Hz, but alas all I did was make things a little worse, so I’m back to where I was and that’s how it’ll have to stay because I’m not going to be shifting to many things at the moment. The interesting thing for me was, at least I had my system setup correctly in the first instance.

The wife wanted to watch ‘Australia’ (neither of us had seen it) and so I never got a chance to do much more playing after that.

Moving forward I would like to trial the unit with my 2ch setup, plus measure the in-room response with REW and/or ETF5. When I do this I will only measure one position with both programs so at least I’m comparing different styles of apples as opposed to apples and oranges. If I can get the unit to work well with the 2ch side of things, I will then consider my options.

There have been some great reviews on the AS-EQ1 here and overseas. Blade rnr's review was fantastic to say the least.
I have also ordered the AS-EQ1 through Peter at deep hz (great guy to deal with) and I am expecting delivery around late july.
I have a question for any existing AS-EQ1 owners, I have a home theatre room/family room which has double doors leading to a kitchen meals area. Sometimes we watch movies with these double doors opened and sometimes closed. When calibrating with the AS-EQ1 would it be wise to double up with the mic positions i.e. 1 set of mic positions with doors open and 1 set with doors closed. Any other advise would be appreciated! Oh! my subwoofer is a PB13 ultra and very happy with it.

Dayve, you've just figured out one of the shortfalls of the EQ1, no multiple profiles.

My personal opinion is just measure the way you think your room will be mostly setup. Don't forget these types of units aren't dynamic, so the results are only applicable to the time you do them, change the number of people in the room and the in room response changes, even the weather will have a bearing on the results.

Another thing you may have noticed, is the lack of owners actually posting their impressions let alone graphs on the EQ1, compare this to other products on the market.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy what it has bought to my HT setup, but it may not be suitable to all.

Thanks for your honest opinion minty,

It's certainly refreshing to hear an unbiased opinion on this product.

I had an inkling that the AS-EQ1 would be extremely sensitive to the make up of any given room and as you say just the slightest change,
even a couple more people in your room may corrupt that perfect calibration.

I feel in a way the AS-EQ1 is it's own worst enemy. Its too perfect which makes it a little pedantic and restrictive to owners.

I certainly agree with you that finding posts to this product in these forums is few and far between.

I hope I don't sound negative about the AS-EQ1, I'm sure I'll be impressed with it. Worst case scenario return unit before 45 day trial period ends.

Cheers

Dayve

I've no doubts you'll get benefits from the EQ1, you already have a sensational subwoofer, the EQ1 will be the icing on its performance.

I have some feedback from SVS and Audyssey to add to the general discussion.... I raise it because of a few comments made regarding use of onboard AVR Audyssey in conjunction with the AS-EQ1.

I asked whether AVRs have the capability to dynamically allocate the filters in the onboard Audyssey to achieve the best result where significant trouble-spots may occur. If this were the case then using the AS-EQ1 would allow more filters to be used above bass freqs and hence provide improved resolution of the system overall.

The SVS Response:


According to our Audyssey contact:

“The AS-EQ1 offers twice the filter resolution in the subwoofer channel than what is available in the MultEQ XT subwoofer filters in AVRs. That is because we can use the entire DSP chip for higher resolution filters.

The AVR can't be told to reallocate resources without reprogramming its firmware and that is not something that our licensees have chosen to support. The resolution in the main channels of the AVR remains the same whether the customer is using the AS-EQ1 or not. The improvement comes in the subwoofer filters when using the AS-EQ1.”

I just ordered one of these to tame my 2 subs I'll write how I go in a few days when I get it.

The first AS-EQ1 update is now available:

Dear SVSound AS-EQ1 customer:

This is to alert you that a new version of the SVSound AS-EQ1 software and firmware is available to current AS-EQ1 customers. Instructions on how to upgrade your AS-EQ1 from SubEQ 3.1 to SubEQ 3.2 (including new firmware) can be download from:

http://www.svsound.com/AS-EQ1/SubEQ3.2/AS-...hnical_Note.pdf

The updated software can be downloaded from:

http://www.svsound.com/AS-EQ1/SubEQ3.2/AS-...Q3.2_Update.zip

SubEQ 3.2 includes new features and bug fixes from SubEQ 3.1. These include:

· Support for Windows Vista 64-bit OS. This extends formal Windows platform support to include XP, Vista-32 bit and Vista 64-bit. Windows 7 32/64 is currently being certified however early tests indicate no issues.

· Updated Level Measurement Method. The Level Matching function now uses the “C-weighted Leq method” and supports a Reset button. Leq is essentially a running average of the sound level as calculated over the measurement period.

· New Level Matching procedure for MultEQ-equipped Receivers and Processors.

· Updated firmware for AS-EQ1 DSP.

· Filter resolution doubled over previous firmware.

· Certificate graphing bug fixed in Vista.

Please download and thoroughly read the AS-EQ1_SubEQ_3.2_Update_Technical_Note before beginning the update process as it requires a re-calibration of the AS-EQ1 and if using an Audyssey MultEQ-equipped receiver/processor, a re-calibration of that unit as well.

If you have any questions or require assistance with the update of your AS-EQ1, please email techsupport@svsound.com and we will be happy to help.

Cheers Blade

Finally got this setup, did the level check which were:
Sub 1 0.1db(green)
Sub 2 0.1db(Green)

FL : 0.0db

Did my 9 room pos and the ran the audyssey in the PRE/AVR with the mic going into the preamp not the SVS EQ. Things have changed the way its setup. What got my attention first was the pre amp audyssey shows 3+db and the fathom at off the dial is 7:00 but the gain is at 9:00 (thats for the both subs) anyway I decided to give it a whirl. The graph did show improvement etc.

But here is my dilemma I decided to put on movies that im familar with eg SW EP III the big cruiser in the beginning heaps of low bass. Before the EQ entered my life it was tight and smooth sound. With the EQ I thought the sub was going to blow. The flapping im thinking WTF is going on?

I then decided Transformers and the scene were the robot jumps over the screaming girl (good low end) same thing bass flapping etc.

Any idea why its running hot? im scared I did damage to my subs.

Thankyou

I'd email svs. their support is great, they reply back within 7-8hrs usually.

fwiw I have not noticed that problem.

There is not much that can go wrong it's not that hard. Will do. I'm curious I used my printer cable being that it's longer would that cause a problem? I noticed when turning the unit on my computer did not automatically start the program I had to double click it to get it started.

Hi Franin,

I see you've already given up on the As-EQ1 and have it up for sale. Good luck, I'm sure it will sell soon enough at that price.

Depending on how you've got your subs configured, and if you've got things like any inbuilt EQ, and/or THX modes disabled then it should only be a matter of tweaking back the LFE output of your AVR. When I first installed my unit the subs were on the hot side, this was using the centre to match the levels. I just tweaked the LFE in the AVR down 4dB and all is sweet. My centre channel runs hotter than my mains.

It should not of run them hot like it did with mine. On the manual states it has to be +-3db for the sub eq to be accepted by the avr.