This review began when I ran into Gary Yacoubian, president of SVS, in a crowded hallway at Las Vegas’s Venetian Hotel, during the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. He smiled and introduced himself. “Larry, I enjoyed your review of our SB13-Ultra. If you liked that subwoofer, we have something coming soon that should really interest you. I can’t say anything more now.”He’d gotten my attention. But it wasn’t until the next year’s CES that I learned about SVS’s newest and largest subwoofer, the SB16-Ultra, which deploys a 16″ driver and a radically different magnet structure, voice-coil design, and control interface. On paper, its greater power and bass extension seemed a good match for the demands of my large listening room. I requested a review sample.

What it is
Yacoubian’s infomercial on YouTube about the SB16-Ultra ($1999.99) lists the three design features that enabled SVS to build a subwoofer with so large a cone and still meet the design goals of extended, low-distortion bass output and fast transient response: an 8″ edge-wound voice-coil in a new motor, a 1500W RMS (>5kW peak) Sledge amplifier with fully discrete MOSFET output (each output device is rated at 200V and 64A), and control and bass management via a smartphone app.

Yacoubian claims that the SB16-Ultra’s 8″ voice-coil is the largest used to date in a consumer subwoofer. Most large subs have voice-coils 2″ to 4″ in diameter that sit inside the permanent magnets; the SB16’s 8″ coil sits outside the magnets. SVS found so large a coil necessary in order to: avoid the cone flexing and the resultant boomy bass produced in and by subwoofers that have cones 15″ to 18″ in diameter but voice-coils of only 2″ to 4″; maintain linear control over so large a cone; better dissipate heat, which lessens thermal compression and so increases a sub’s power handling; provide better centering of the voice-coil, with less tilting during large excursions; and to use the permanent magnets most efficiently. The SB16-Ultra’s voice-coil is wound with copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW); CCAW has a number of advantages: it’s lighter than pure copper, for lower moving mass; it’s stronger than pure aluminum; has higher electrical conductivity; and is more easily soldered, for more durable and reliable connections.

The SB16-Ultra’s voice-coil and four large, toroidal magnets are housed in the motor structure that drives the 16″ cone, which has a “premium glass fiber laminated dustcap and reinforced composite cone sub-structure [to] ensure a light, rigid, and neutral radiating surface.” The cone is held by a deep basket of die-cast aluminum; the motor alone weighs 56.2 lbs, the entire drive-unit 63.9 lbs.

The SB16’s Sledge STA-1500D class-D amplifier is specified to output 1500W RMS, or 5160W peak dynamic. Featuring 64A, 200V MOSFET output devices and a switch-mode power supply, the Sledge delivers significantly more current than the 1000W class-D amplifier used in SVS’s SB13-Ultra. The Autostart and Green standby modes can be used to switch the amp on quickly when a signal appears at the input terminals. The equalization and all app settings, including the parametric equalizer, are managed with a 50MHz Analog Devices DSP chip with 56-bit filtering.

SVS’s smartphone app, available free from iTunes and Google Play, uses a bidirectional Bluetooth wireless link that, unlike an infrared signal, doesn’t require that the control device and the device controlled be in each other’s line of sight. This means that, via the app, the SB16 can be hidden behind a couch and still be fully controlled from the listening position. The app lets you set the sub’s phase, polarity, volume, and room-gain compensation (to reduce bass bloat), and even includes a three-band parametric equalizer that controls the strength and width of the filter (the filter’s “Q”) over a range of 20–200Hz. Settings can be stored in three presets.

The SB16-Ultra’s rear panel is uncluttered—most of the controls are included in the user-friendly app. On the rear panel are only the unbalanced (RCA) and balanced (XLR) inputs and outputs, a trigger input, a Power switch, and an IEC inlet for the detachable power cord. The tilted front-panel LCD display, four directional controls, and tiny IR remote can also be used to set up and control the sub. Because the display uses a larger font than other subs I’ve reviewed, I could more easily read it from my listening seat.

Setup and use
When the SB16-Ultra arrived, I was impressed by its solidity, mass, and size. At 20″ high by 19.5″ wide by 22.9″ deep and 122 lbs, it’s 2.6″ taller, 2.1″ wider, 5.5″ deeper, and 30 lbs heavier than the SB13-Ultra, and costs $400 more. SVS’s packaging is smart: The SB16 can be slid out of its carton on its packing skids, rather than having to lift it out from the top. After unboxing the sub, I slipped my own Super Sliders under it to protect my hardwood floors, then realized I couldn’t move this sub without them.

My listening room is large—about 25′ long by 13′ wide, with a semi-cathedral ceiling 12′ at its highest—and opens onto a hallway and into the kitchen; the total volume exceeds 5000 cubic feet. On their own, my Quad ESL-989 speakers sound best when they’re 8′ from my listening seat, 57″ from the front wall, and the centers of their front panels are 8′ apart and toed in toward me.

Optimally positioning a subwoofer in my room is critical for attaining smooth integration of its output with the Quads’ output. I first installed the SB16-Ultra next to the right-channel ESL-989, lining up the subwoofer’s driver with the speaker’s front panel. I played a brief musical selection and found the sound disjointed—I could easily hear differences in character between sub and satellite speaker. Moving the SB16-Ultra into the room’s right front corner, where subwoofers usually go, raised the bass impact and greatly improved the subwoofer’s blend with the Quads. This put the sub’s cone 10′ 8″ from my listening chair and 2.5′ behind the right Quad’s front panel.

SVS’s four-page quick-start guide made the rest of the setup process easy. I plugged the SB16’s power cord into my Torus Power RM 20 power conditioner. As in many of today’s freestanding subwoofers, no high-pass filter is built into the SB16-Ultra to limit the deep-bass signals sent to the main speakers, so I used my Mark Levinson No.526 preamplifier’s 80Hz high-pass filter to drive the Quads. When I used my Bryston BP-26 preamp, I also used the high-pass outputs of a JL Audio CR-1 outboard electronic crossover for the Quads. I used balanced interconnects for all connections, and never used SB16’s heavy metal grille.

I then downloaded SVS’s free app from iTunes to my iPhone 6. Making sure that Bluetooth functions were enabled on the iPhone, I tapped the app. It opened, immediately found the SB16, and paired with it. From my listening seat, I set the sub’s low-pass filter to 80Hz, 24dB/octave, and the volume control to –19dB. I then matched the outputs of the sub and the Quad ESL-989s at the crossover frequency, 80Hz. Then, playing a digital track of uncorrelated pink noise, I adjusted the preamplifier’s volume until the Quads delivered 75dB at my listening chair, per the SPL meter of Studio Six Digital’s AudioTools app. Then I turned off my Mark Levinson No.536 monoblocks, turned on the SB16-Ultra, played the pink-noise track again, and adjusted the sub’s volume until it, too, delivered 75dB at my listening seat. Then, with Quads and subs both playing, I confirmed that the SPLs of the pink noise above and below the crossover frequency were equal.

Sound
My first impression of the sound of the SB16-Ultra was tremendous bass solidity and weight—with no muddying of the clarity and transparency of the highs. But there was more improvement to be gained.

As I listened, I found that the soundstage was shallower, and voices had more bass emphasis, than with the Quads run full-range by themselves. In the Kyrie of Ariel Ramirez’s Misa Criolla, conducted by José Luis Ocejo (CD, Philips 420 955-2), José Carreras’s soft, lyric tenor was now too full and rich, and the separation of his voice from the chorus disappeared. The conga drum that begins “Hotel California,” from the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over (CD, Geffen GEFD-24725), was blurred, bloated, and less solid. The final pedal note in organist James Busby’s performance of Herbert Howells’s Master Tallis’s Testament, from the compilation Pipes Rhode Island (CD, Riago 101), failed to pressurize my room.

SVS’s Merlin—a portion of the company’s website that offers loudspeaker-specific recommendations on SVS subwoofers and settings—recommends low-pass filter settings of 60Hz (high-pass) and 40Hz, 12dB/octave (low-pass). Because the CR-1 couldn’t use different slopes for high- and low-pass filters, I set its high-pass filter at 60Hz, 24dB/octave for the Quad ESL-989s, and the SB16-Ultra’s internal low pass filter to 40Hz, 12dB/octave. I then used the SVS app’s parametric equalizer to reduce peak room modes at 43 and 160Hz, and played the same recordings as before. The integration of the sub’s and Quads’ outputs now seemed seamless, and the soundstage was markedly deeper.

I checked the lowest-frequency bands of the half-step–spaced chromatic scale on Editor’s Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2). These sounded sharply defined, as did the 40, 31, and 25Hz 1/3-octave warble tones on that CD. The 20Hz band was not audible as such, though the track pressurized the room.

Other recordings confirmed this setup. Keith Jarrett’s light, lyrical “True Blues,” from his The Carnegie Hall Concert (CD, ECM 1989/90), revealed no discontinuities between subs and main speakers when he stamped his feet on the floor while playing high in the right hand. Using the JL Audio CR-1 crossover’s bypass switch, it was easy to switch between the Quads run full-range alone and the combination of Quads and SVS. Either way, the soundstage depth remained unchanged, the highs were fully transparent, and there was no hardening of the sound.

I discovered the advantages of adjusting the subwoofer volume to optimize the sound of each recording. Reducing the SB16-Ultra’s output removed a slight droning quality in the final organ-pedal note of Master Tallis’s Testament without lessening the bass extension or the note’s ability to pressurize my room. As I increased the sub’s output while playing John Rutter’s “Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace,” with the Turtle Creek Chorale and Dallas Women’s Chorus conducted by Timothy Seelig (CD, Reference RR-57CD), the pipe organ’s deep pedal notes became more distinct, and the differences between the ranks of choristers were enhanced. Playing Don Dorsey’s “Ascent,” from Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops’ Time Warp collection (CD, Telarc CD-80106), the SB16’s imaging let me better distinguish the positions of the synth beats that move from side to side. The dynamic ranged from soft murmurs to a thunderous rumble as the synths blend into the sustained 31.7Hz organ-pedal note that begins the next track, the introduction of Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra. Similarly, the 32′ pipes in Gnomus, from Jean Guillou’s recording of his own transcription for pipe organ of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (CD, Dorian DOR-90117), pressurized my room while delivering full, thunderous chords. When I played a digital file (AIFF, 24-bit/88.2kHz) of the Toccata of Widor’s Organ Symphony 6, performed by Jonas Nordwall and recorded by John Atkinson, an unusual sense of the recorded space occurred as the sub reproduced the deepest pedal notes with mass and solidity. It was clear that a single SB16-Ultra could produce more than enough bass extension and slam in my large listening room.

The Quads and SVS sub rendered clean, solid, full bass reproduction of the sounds of many different instruments—kick drum, bass drum, timpani, and synthesizer. For a review I wrote for the October 1989 issue, I listened to Velodyne’s ULD-18 subwoofer with a recording of John Williams’s Liberty Fanfare, from Lowell Graham and the National Symphonic Winds’ Winds of War and Peace (CD, Wilson Audiophile WCD-8823). The downfiring Velodyne remained silent for the first 55 seconds of this track, then burst into life with the bass drum’s first notes. The bass-drum whack had no unnecessary overtones, no overhang, and disturbed no midrange or treble sounds. The SB16-Ultra delivered the same dense, solid punch with no added sustain, but revealed more of the bass drum’s timbre.

Comparisons
I compared the SB16-Ultra ($1999.99) with three other subwoofers: SVS’s own SB13-Ultra ($1599.99), Revel’s Ultima Rhythm2 ($10,000, discontinued), and JL Audio’s Fathom f212v2 ($7000). I used the same Quad ESL-989 speakers, and the JL Audio CR-1 crossover when appropriate.

I began with SVS’s SB13-Ultra, which I reviewed in January 2015, and used the CR-1 crossover, as I had with the SB16-Ultra. Both SVS subs excelled at pitch definition, speed of bass, and the ability to suddenly halt the bass output when needed. The SB16’s smartphone app made setting it up easier, and the sub delivered greater solidity, mass, and power, and did a better job of pressurizing the room with sustained pipe-organ pedal notes.

I reviewed the Revel Ultima Rhythm2 in February 2015, and I didn’t need to use the CR-1 with it because the Revel has its own high-pass filter. At five times the SB16-Ultra’s price, the Rhythm2 has a number of features the SVS lacks: a 2″-larger woofer cone, an internal system for blending the responses of the subs and satellites, and a parametric equalizer with seven more bands. However, the Rhythm2 wasn’t controllable with an iPhone app via Bluetooth. As with the SB16, setup and calibration can be carried out from the listening seat, but the Revel must be connected to a computer via a USB link, and you can’t make changes on the fly as easily as with the SB16.

What most impressed me about the Rhythm2’s sound was its bass power, ability to pressurize the room, the quality and speed of bass, and pitch definition, each of which was somewhat superior to the SB16-Ultra’s. Yet both subs were well able to fill my large room with deep bass and slam, and pressurize it during long-held bass notes. The Revel Rhythm2’s internal crossover did a better job of smoothing the integration of the satellites’ and sub’s outputs, perhaps due to its ability to match the sub and the satellite speakers to a pre-determined room-response curve. But, again, the Revel costs five times the SVS’s price.

Turning to JL Audio’s Fathom f212v2 ($7000), which I reviewed in the November 2016 issue, I found similarities in its heavy cabinet and front-panel controls. Its two 12″ drivers offer more driver area than the SB16-Ultra’s single 16″ cone. However, it costs three-and-a-half times as much and weighs 100 lbs more. For its higher price, the Fathom f212v2 offers more: auto-optimization to smooth room modes, a calibration microphone, white gloves, and a built-in test-tone generator. The SB16 came close to matching the f212v2’s deep-bass extension, solidity of bass, and ability to pressurize my room with sustained pipe-organ chords. Two Fathom f212v2s ($14,000) and JLA’s CR-1 electronic crossover ($3000) let my Quads deliver a much wider, more three-dimensional soundstage and deeper bass in my large room than could a single SB16-Ultra—but at more than eight times the cost. And, as with all of the other comparison subwoofers, the JL Audio’s level couldn’t be adjusted on the fly from my listening seat.

Conclusions
Once I’d identified its optimal placement and crossover settings and experienced on-the-fly subwoofer control, I became convinced that the SVS SB16-Ultra is one of the finest, fastest, best-controlled, most powerful subwoofers I have reviewed in my large listening room. Like the SB13-Ultra, it delivered pitch-perfect, detailed, fast bass, but with greater deep-bass extension, and enough power to function within my large listening room. It doesn’t offer auto-equalization, doesn’t come with a free calibration microphone or white gloves, it has no internal high-pass filter, and it’s heavy for its size, requiring Super Sliders under it for easy movement. But it’s the first subwoofer to come with its own Bluetooth smartphone control app. And its on-the-fly control of output level from the listening seat has opened for me a new door that goes way past the awkwardness of having to set up a sub by darting back and forth between its front and/or rear panels and my chair.

A Class A component if ever there was one.