SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed Review (Testing + Comparison)

In the field of audio, England is known for its amplifiers, and France is known for its headphones. However, Ohio is where you must travel to hear the finest bass on earth. Because SVS, a manufacturer of subwoofers and speakers, raises the bar with each product they create.

They are providing some big improvements to their flagship subwoofers with their new Pro line SB-2000 Pro, and they are doing it without raising the price. Their brand-new, entry-level subwoofer, the SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed, is outstanding.

SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed

When viewing films or hearing music with subdued bass tones, this sub shakes the room at 20 Hz. Highs, mids, and lows are evenly distributed, and the bass is of good quality and is not at all boomy. With just a 5.1 Yamaha setup and again setting of about 60%, it amply covers our sizable living room.

The speaker’s sound can be significantly customized using the app, making it simple to set up to work with your current speakers. Its volume, crossover frequency, parametric equalization, phase, and other settings can all be changed independently. Additionally, it has some helpful presets for music or movies, allowing you to start with their settings and modify them as necessary.

Design And Feature

SVS undoubtedly has a homey aesthetic, and the SB-1000 Pro’s design is comparable to that of the SB-1000. We’re talking about a menacing black box that measures about 13 inches on each side.

A tiny bit bigger than the initial all you require is that there haven’t been many alterations to the designs. We go into greater depth about the distinct differences between this model and the older one below. And that’s very great.

Overall, we believe the SB-1000 Pro’s design to be fantastic; despite being an entry-level device, an important amount of work has gone into ensuring that it has a nice appearance. Despite being lightweight (26 pounds), the frame has a tank-like weight and solidity.

We particularly enjoy the fact that there are no angled corners here since it makes it less likely that you will run around on one leg while bleeding profusely and wishing you had gone to SVS because you would have cracked your shin on it and gouged out a chunk of flesh. You’ve never done that; what? Oh. We neither.

A single 12-inch driver dominates the front of the subwoofer. Since it is sealed, there are no other open ports. If you think you would be interested in that, SVS does produce a ported version of the subwoofer, the PB-1000 Pro. These types of ports give you more power at the sacrifice of control and detail.

Although we haven’t tested this model yet, we can report that it shares the same look as its sealed sibling. Due to their size, subwoofers are frequently the center of attention in any area they are placed in, making them overly eye-catching. This is not the situation. The SB-1000 Pro has a good design that isn’t intrusive.

There is a black option in addition to the attractive white our subwoofer arrived in. Additionally, you can choose glossy or wood materials (ours was gloss). We’ve used SVS subwoofers long enough to know that the black gloss option does tend to attract fingerprints fairly readily. If that’s a concern for you, invest in the wooden model instead.

Controls And App

The controls on the subwoofer’s rear represent the biggest change, and boy, are they pleasant. Leave now, jutting dials tiny switches, get out of here. SVS switched to digital. You may adjust the subwoofer’s crossover, phase, and volume with a single line of blue lights. As well as controlling the auto-on setting, you can also toggle the DJ subwoofer on and off.

It’s an extremely effective technique that’s easy to use and intuitive. It’s wonderful to see this technology trickling down to the entry-level versions as the much more expensive SVS SB-3000 subwoofer (full review here) features an identical control layout. Furthermore, there is no price increase compared to the prior model.

For $500, you receive a new control scheme, a revised driver, and a few other quality-of-life enhancements. That is the same cost as the initial SB-1000. It’s remarkable and confirms our conviction that SVS is one of the most client-focused audio companies.

The SB-1000 Pro includes a set of speaker line level inputs, among other features. These are helpful if you have older technology that lacks a subwoofer output, like a heritage stereo or AV receiver. We’ll be upfront and say that we didn’t test these. The SB-1000 Pro has these inputs, but other subwoofers from the business do not say much about the rarity of legacy items nowadays. These are still good options to have.

Returning to the controls, The iOS/Android SVS app offers a wealth of additional features and full control over all settings. You may alter the polarity, the EQ, and the slope of your crossover and even add modifications for the size and form of your room in addition to the controls located on the rear of the subwoofer.

On the one hand, we believe this software functions flawlessly, with no noticeable dropouts or glitches. Additionally, it arranges everything in the expected location. On the other hand, the app’s tutorial portion needs a lot more development. Even though adding a room mode compensation parameter is great, you still have work to do if you don’t explain what a room mode is or how to adjust this specific slider.

It’s important to note that the app and subwoofer pair through Bluetooth, and we’ve never had a situation when this didn’t go smoothly. We had multiple SVS devices on our testing bench at the time, and we routinely switched out the subwoofers.

But whichever was available, the app connected without a hitch. However, to play devil’s advocate, once you’ve adjusted your subwoofer settings to your satisfaction and are happy with the sound, you’ll probably never need to do so again.

Accessories

Since this is a subwoofer, you don’t need many other attachments. You receive a grille, a mesh piece with a subdued SVS logo. We decided not to use ours since we believe anyone who adds a grille to an attractive piece of audio equipment hasn’t had sex in a long time and believes purchasing drugs is as simple as purchasing a newspaper. The subwoofer includes a set of pre-attached feet to safeguard your floors.

Sound Quality And Performance

Consider spending some time investigating what the SB-1000 Pro is doing. Given everything they’ve done to the insides, it’s impressive that SVS has enhanced the model for the new edition without raising the price, as we’ve already highlighted.

If you aren’t interested, you can move on to the next section. However, if hearing about magnets, fiber cones, and MOSFETs makes you feel warm and giddy inside, stay. Here, we don’t kink-shame.

The driver is brand-new, which is the first thing to notice. SVS created a rigid fiber composite cone and linked it to a motor assembly with two ferrite magnets. You’ll notice that this produces extremely good sound quality for a budget subwoofer. The machine’s brain is the Sledge STA-325D amplifier, which produces 325 watts of RMS output and 800 watts of peak power.

It’s a fantastic Class D amplifier, a highly effective design that balances output and heat. It generates electricity using metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), and as you’ll see when we discuss the audio quality below, it does so remarkably well. SVS has a great analysis of the internals on their website if you want additional information.

Before we continue a brief update on the subwoofer specifications; The SVS subwoofer isn’t the deepest they make, only going down to about 20Hz before stopping. Other subwoofers they produce, like the gargantuan PB16-Ultra (full review here), may go as low as 13Hz, which will sufficiently rumble your ovaries. Of course, the sound quality suffers as a result, but to be honest, the depth is more than adequate for the kinds of settings that this subwoofer works best.

Operation In Movies

We put subwoofers through rigorous testing, which includes evaluating how they perform in challenging movies and video games. The SB-1000 Pro performed remarkably well after we gave it the full test, including integrating it into a sizable Dolby Atmos home theater setup.

The subwoofer’s 325 watts of power aren’t very much, and spaces larger than 250 square feet won’t be suitable (you can see some alternatives for bigger rooms here). However, it’s perfect if you have a bit smaller room. The audio was crisp and clear at all times. It punched us in the ribs, clearly showing how many bones it had fractured.

It was forceful without compromising detail. The lack of distortion, even at loud volumes, also impressed us. Despite not being the loudest subwoofer we’ve tested, the SB-1000 Pro performed admirably when we turned the volume up.

No matter how many speakers we used, it never got lost in the mix, which greatly impressed us. The SB-1000 Pro effortlessly conveyed the strength and profundity of a dinosaur’s scream in a straightforward 2.1 channel setup while we watched the unending lunacy that is Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

We’re not sure which one, though; we lost track halfway through. It was large and had many teeth. Nothing wrong there. However, we were a little warier when we tried the subwoofer in our large Dolby Atmos system. How would the tiny person perform if he had to communicate the Battle of Blackwater’s punch while speaking with seven other speakers?

We were pleasantly astonished to learn how nicely the subwoofer worked. It made up for its lack of volume and power with expressiveness and assurance. It effectively filled out the bottom end, never letting us forget about it and never infringing on frequencies that weren’t in its place.

It might indeed have trouble in spaces that are bigger than ours, but a second subwoofer might be added to form a 7.2 system. The SB-1000 Pro delivered excellent results with video games and movies. You will get the same feelings as long as your room is not extremely large.

Notable: SVS offers several top-notch home theater bundles, including the Satellite 5.1 system we test. As expected, they began incorporating the SB-1000 Pro in these packages to replace the previous, no longer supported SB-1000. You may trust that if you get a home theater bundle from the business, you’ll receive the most recent subwoofer model.

Star Rating

4.7 out of 5 Stars

Testing

To help with the setup, I used the SVS app. It rapidly recognized that my Denon AVR and sub were linked through the LFE connection, and it immediately turned off its internal bass management. None of the proposed default settings in the app are things I want or need to modify. It is placed 11 inches from the front wall of my living room, just behind the home entertainment center.

My brand-new POLK Legend L-200 front speakers are connected with the sub. This union, so to speak, was made in “heaven.” The several drivers are each given the correct frequencies by the Denon base management system.

There is no longer the boominess I used to have with my old sub and speakers. This SVS sub produces the finest bass I’ve ever heard without sacrificing the higher frequencies. I haven’t had a single criticism or complaint.

Product Comparison

Fortunately, the SB-1000 Pro and its larger brother, the SB-2000 Pro, were both available simultaneously, allowing us to make a side-by-side comparison. The main distinction is power, to put it simply. Five hundred fifty watts RMS are offered by the SB-2000 Pro as opposed to 325 by the SB-1000 Pro. It is perfect if you need to fill a bigger room because it has a lot more punch.

Beyond that, the only notable differences are the pricing ($799 against $500) and the absence of speaker line level inputs on the SB-2000 (which are useful when you have older equipment). Ultimately, these two subwoofers are two variations on the same thing; neither is superior to the other. The size of your room and how much power you require should guide your decision.

Final Summary

Are you a music fan? Own a TV? Is the area of your home or office less than 250 square feet? The SVS SB-1000 Pro Sealed is then required. It’s one of the most capable, assured subwoofers on the market. It sounds fantastic and has some of the best designs, controls, and usability we’ve ever tested. We heartily endorse it for just about everyone. As of this writing, in our opinion, it’s the top subwoofer on the market.

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