SVS are a highly regarded brand. If you look around you can see that they often measure very well, and that is important because auditioning subwoofers in a shop is virtually pointless: what you are hearing is mostly the room. SVS have a good return policy, so you could try them at home for a far more realistic test. I would have three suggestions to make. The first is for music to also consider their SB16. Unlike the ported PB16 the SB16 is a sealed design. It will not go as deep as the ported model, but what it does will be cleaner. My second suggestion would be to always go for at least two subwoofers, to reduce the effect of roommodes. Two smaller subs like their SB13 will sound significantly smoother/clreaner/faster than one big sub, and over a wider listening area (unless one is into earth shattering HT explosions). Finally, and to reduce the effect of room modes even further, I would always use room equalization like the DSpeaker Antimode 8033.
SVS PB-16 Sub
A friend asked me to have a look at this Sub on line as he is considering a purchase. I'm not really into sub's, and I really couldn't find much in the way of reviews on-line. Lots of "direct to door" internet sellers, but no "Brick and Mortar" shops that I could find. I did look at a promo on You Tube, and was intrigued by the big 8 inch voice coil.
Anyone have any experience with these SVS subs? Just curious, and wondering what kind of quality this manufacturer puts into the build of their subs.