The subwoofer didn’t become popular in our homes until the arrival of home cinema and the dvd. Explosions and low motor rumbles in movies have such low frequencies, that common speakers can’t accurately reproduce them. That’s why you need a subwoofer to do that properly. In fact, this also applies to music. Both with classical and with modern music very low frequencies can occur: so low, that only a subwoofer can reproduce them properly. In classical music, instruments like organs and double basses come to mind. In modern music, these low notes can come from synthesizers, bass drums and bass guitars.
Almost any all-in-one surround system comes with a subwoofer. Often, these small cubes are also available separately. These can deliver quite an impressive result when you first hear them with a dvd movie. Unfortunately, these small subs tend to be designed for movie explosions and rumbles only – not for music. They usually blow are, they don’t play actual notes. If you try to play music with a surround setup like that, that becomes painfully obvious. The bass notes sound muddy and boomy. Definitely not pleasing to the ear.
The brand SVSound
SVSound was founded by two real bass fanatics: Ron Stimpson and Tom Vodhanel. The first letters of their family names became the first two letters of the company name. The goal for SVSound was and is to make affordable subwoofers and since a couple of years high quality speakers as well. Almost all of the reputable speaker brands offer subwoofers as well, but only SVSound (that we know of) begun making subwoofers and added main speakers only years later. Another distinguishing feature of the SVSound subwoofers is that the brand doesn’t only cubes like all other brands, but cylinder shaped subwoofers as well. A cube shaped sub is not very high, but usually requires quite a lot of floor space. A cylinder shaped sub typically doesn’t need much floor space, but will be much higher than a cube. This way, SVSound offers you a choice. With respect to performance, there’s no difference in owning a cube or a cylinder. Typically, a cylinder will be a bit cheaper since its construction is much simpler than that of a cube. What one chooses will come down to personal taste. Me, I favor a cylinder because I like that fact that it takes up very little of my precious floor space. I don’t mind that it is more visible in height. SVSound has a lot of different models of subwoofers, both in cube and in cylinder shapes.
