Price Paid:  $379.00 from svsubwoofers.com

Summary:
I started my home theater research over a year ago and a subwoofer was the last item on the list to get. i spend a good 5 months deciding which to go with and i decided on an SVS, chose the 25-31CS because my bedroom is 12'x12'x8' (only about 1200cu.ft. and because i'm 19 so i and in college so i cannot afford the CS-Ultra as i would love to. I also e-mailed Tom V. from SVS and he was great on advice for which sub to get and what to power it with. he never took more then 12 hours to repond to me(which is impressive) and he patiently answered about a dozen meticulous, annoying, and forward questions from me. again i bought this sub unheard so it was a risk, but with a 45day return policy, i figured why not. week later it came in, pretty big box and it was their smallest model sub too. it was packaged securely with foam pieced bracing on the walls of the inside box to conform to the cylinder shape to keep it from moving. i also bought a 5 meter BetterCable interconnect with it for $32 instead of $85 at bettercables.com. Even though this is only good from SV sub owners and buyers, its a great value for an amazing cable. I use a PartsExpress subwoofer amp, 200 watts. Tom suggested it since he knew i was on a budget, its a good deal at $120. Also i opted for a 22hz tuning more for the movie aspect. I have yet to calibrate it and my system, but i have to say this is a very impressive sub. I had my doubts even with all the reviews i read, but the bass really is as deep and as clean as they say it is. it has blended very well with my setup(below) and i am not disappointed. I probably could have gotten the 20-39, but i wanted to make sure not to lose the high freq capabilities of the sub, the 80-100 range. i am completely satified with my decision. Since i listen to about 70% music and 30% movies, I used my major listening cd's to use as a sort of reference for my taste. worked beautifully with rockish sounds (Tool A Perfect Circle) as well as the jazzy styles i listen to(Sigur Ros). stayed tight and very musical. i need an equalizer to make the response more linear, but i can't imagine it being more accurate then it is. I played a few of my action/drama DVDs including From Hell, Saving Private Ryan, Fight Club, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cast Away(all that i have for bassy movies). Sounds awesome, i can hear no audible distortion and this thing plays loud. I really can't stress enough how well this sub plays music and movies.

Strengths:
expressively deep and solid bass. tight musicality. well built. great shipping. customer service is great. the price is astonishing! Highly recommended

Weaknesses:
boring looking sub, until you friends come in and say "what is that?!"... then you get to show them the goods and they understand.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, JBL, DIY w/Alipine sub. (i think it is important to list the setup, because i hooked it up to my brothers Sony STR-DE485 that i gave him for his birthday, and his amp made the bass extremely muddy! that even he, at 16yrs old noticed. i used all the exact equipment you see below except with the sony receiver, i had a little problem with my DTS decoding on my onkyo and tried the sony, found out later when i unplugged by DVD player it was on PCM not DTS, novice mistake) Onkyo TX-SR500 (Receiver) Klipsch SF-2s (Mains) Klipsch SC-1 (Center) Cambridge Soundworks S300s (Surrounds) SVS Model 25-31CS(22hz tuned) PartsExpress 200watt amp Sony DVP-NC655P DVD Changer Microsoft XBox + Nintendo 64 Sharp 27U-F500 Flat-Screen TV Better Cables Silver Serpent Cobalt Cable Interconnects Acoustic Research Component + Optical

Price Paid:  $329.00 from svsubwoofers.com

Summary:
Bought this as a 'B' stock item from the SVS website. I use this in my second theatre room (Living room). I have the 16-46PC+ in my main room. This sub is used mostly for Xbox games and occasionally DVD movies. I am only running this with an old JVC Prologic receiver rated at 100w x 5. It trully shakes the room. It certainly does not produce the super deep bass that my 16-46PC+ does as evident by playing the same scene on both of them, but it is not supposed to. I had SVS tune it to 22hz and could not be happier. It is in a corner of my living room and looks quite good. I would like to have gotten the larger models, but since it was out in the open, I needed to get the shorter version.

Strengths:
Great deep powerful bass, can be powered with a relatively week amp, shortest SVS sub, $329 B-stock price.

Weaknesses:
None!!

Similar Products Used:
Paradigm PS-1200 SVS 16-46PC+

Price Paid:  $329.00 from SVS online

Summary:
I ordered my unit tuned to 22hz thru their customer service. ( great service dept.) I'm powering it thru an Acurus amp at 300W@4 ohms. The sound at first takes getting used to because it's clean deep bass. My previous encounters with other manufacturer's subs was a boomy bass. But now I can appreciate the real differences in tonal qualities in both Movies and Music. I have my sub in a fairly large hometheater room, but if you pop in a heavy bass driven action flick this baby will rock the foundation from under you. End of Story.

Strengths:
Fantastic bass reproduction

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Various manufacturers subs.

Price Paid:  $329.00 from Online

Summary:
I have owned both the original driver and the new improved standard driver versions of this model subwoofer. Both are excellent performers but the current version has several enhancements combined with a lower pricetag that makes this far and away the best bang for your buck sub available. The original sub was good at $400.00 . The new improved sub at $329.00 is unbeatable. The driver has been beefed up signifigantly larger voice coil, much heavier magnet. You could bottom the old one on certain bass heavy dvd's.The new driver has headroom to spare. The tubing and endcaps have been signifigantly improved in quality. The new grill damping system gives a much cleaner look as well as the ability to quickly remove the grill if needed. The binding posts are now recessed and I can now fit bannana plugs into them. Overall fit and finish and attention to detail is improved . I don't see any of the grooves of the tubing under the fabric covering. Customer support is exceptional.

Strengths:
Highest performance vs. cost ratio of any subwoofer available.

Weaknesses:
The only trade off I see is the enlosure sizes might be considered large if your accustomed to traditional box subs.

Similar Products Used:
Many commercial subs as well as DIY projects.

Price Paid:  $1049.00 from www.svsubwoofers.com

Summary:
The above price reflects their Dual 25-31CS with Samson S700 amp package.

I am totally amazed by what the smallest sub in their line up can do. This is an incredible company with an incredible product.

Setting everything up was easy. Instructions were well written and not confusing. Their customer support is beyond reproach. This is how customer service should be!

The package consists of two 25-31CS subs (I opted for the 22Hz tune instead of the 25Hz. Roughly 22-31CS subs) a BetterCables cable and the Samson S700 amp rated at 350w p/channel @ 4ohms. All contents were packaged very very well.

I got them set up in a corner, ran them through an AVIA setup disk test and then proceeded to try out some movies.

First up was the "Phantom Menace" THX beginning scene. My little Klipsch sub did OK here but the SVS website said there was some pretty low bass in this logo scene. Well they were very correct. The thunder clap shook the whole house! It startled me because I wasn't expecting it. By the way, my room is 4500cu.ft. House is 2400sq.ft.

Next up was the Ice Field parts 1 and 2 from Titan AE. The wow factor kicked in big here. It was shaking the couch like bass shakers. No muddiness. No boominess. Just pure clean, very low bass.

And just for grins I tried out an old "Techmaster PEB" CD that I have from the early '90's. Again unbelievable. They sounded phenomenal.

I chose the 25-31CS's because of the slightly higher SPL in the upper freq's as compared to the other SVS subs. I listen to a lot of music so this was a major factor in my decision. And I chose the 22Hz optional tune because I wanted it to go as low as they possibly could without sacrifing to much up top. Of course the 16-46CS will go quite a bit lower but you have to give up some of the higher SPL's in the upper freq's. For a pure HT setup I probably would have gone 20-39 or 16-46.

Two big thumbs up!!

Strengths:
Very clean, non muddy, non boomy bass. Great customer support!

Weaknesses:
None so far.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch KM-S (8" sub)