What is the forums opinion of SVS subs?

I never tried REL but an SVS micro and it was a mess in my system. Maybe more expensive models work great. 

I believe that if anyone were physically open up a SVS sub to inspect the internals; you’d perhaps have a different opinion on buying them.

The electronics were a huge disappointment to me as was the construction in my opinion. They do a very good job with outside finish, which of course is what sells.

Some 10 years ago I bought 2 of their tall round subs for my 2 channel system. I had them for some 8years and tried them with a variety of speakers but found them lacking, the MAJOR problem being the volume control which was very loud when barely cracked. I could not find a workaround and SVS was of no help. I eventually sold them at a huge loss to a guy who wanted them for his video system. Hopefully they are better now

I have had one SVS subwoofer long ago and didn’t have a good experience with the company. The unit needed service and they really didn’t want to do it. They wanted me to buy another subwoofer from them. Years later a local store in Ohio was selling SVS and stopped carrying the brand because SVS was selling direct, which meant the company could not make money??? I have Rythmik now and if I were to buy another subwoofer it would be Rythmik or Rel.

I had a total of around a half dozen SVS subs in succession with each one failing and being replaced under warrantee. One actually caught on fire internally and filled my room with acrid smoke which was choking. With each new sub, I tried a different offering paying the difference if needed so that I could see if there were better options to rounding out a muddy sound I kept hearing. Nothing I tried was satisfactory to me. I then brought home a monster Paradyme 15 inch power house sub which cost a small fortune and was lent to evaluate by a HiFi store. It was even worse! It was like SVS muddy sound on steroids and the dishes would fall out of the shelves in the kitchen due to excessive power.

I got my money back on the SVS subs, sent the Paradyme packing homebound and bought a couple of subs from Axiom who makes the Bryston speakers which I love. Voila! Perfectly balanced bass, musical, no nodes as they can easily be phased with the controls and best of all, no distortion at all with their DSP protection! I now have a total of 4 of their subs in my large room and the music is second to none. Keep in mind that I am all about music, not HT stuff; but if I do play a film, they are still fabulous. I actually opened up the subs to view the internals and they sport Bryston power amps inside :) massive linear power supplies with a huge toroid transformer. And very robust drivers all made in Canada.

I suppose this is all consistent as Axiom owns Bryston. The secret to great musical subs I found is to set the crossover frequency up high. I use the 150hz. setting and I cut off the lows at my main speakers (Bryston Model T Signature series) at around 80 hertz. I let the subs do the heavy lifting yet migrate up into upper bass/lower mids and have the big main speakers roll off below 80. It works very well. I find the most pleasing bass is in the upper ranges and this way the subs support it and the mains contribute.