Randy,

Don't know if this is what you meant, as this is a sub unit, not just an amp. But I mentioned somewhere recently that I was going to try a SVS 1000Pro, and was interested in large part because of the ability to tune most all of its parameters from the seat, or anywhere in the room, with a phone app. I don't know if they sell just amps.

I had been considering trying an MJAcoustics sub for a few years, but my bass is good here so was dragging my feet. I liked the MJ because a friend who is a great listener really loves how they can be tuned/integrated and how good the sound can get once all parameters are very fine tuned together using a phone app. But they have gotten pretty costly, and need to be shipped from England, so I lost nerve, not having used a sub in forever, and not knowing if I can integrate it to my tastes with my current setup. Whereas the SVS is a pretty good value with similar software management, and has free shipping and returns including shipping.

Not sure how it is yet as it is not burned in, and I just made some better cables for it, also new. Along with the software parameters being new to me, lots of unknowns yet, but it seems sort of promising from my very green perspective. The software is pretty easy to use, though with the wide array of interrelationships between various frequency cut points and slopes, volume, phase, room mode cut, parametric EQ... For me, so far, it is a lot of new sound areas to figure how to optimally put together just so....

I usually don't love a lot of silver plated copper wires out there, but for this soft/slow low bass application, I thought mil-spec silver on copper might be good to clarify and speed things up... and so far, just a few days in, it does seem like it may be good for this application. Compared to a cheap stock power cable and CAT6 for speaker level signal (all I had long enough when I first got it) the silver/copper seems like a good move so far. More solid and more articulate, showing software changes better too.

I think I recall an Elac sub with software app configurations too, but not sure, and likely there are more, but SVS's smaller subs seemed like they might work here and not be very costly or space demanding, so I am trying it.

Hope this helps.

Will

Don't overthink too much. I'll bet using one of these Bluetooth cellphone operated control systems will seem like a third hand in a few hours.

I haven't been subwoofer shopping in a while, so I am not familiar with the SVS 1000 Pro, but that thing checks a lot of boxes in the  "must have"  column, according to the website.

That SVS 1000 Pro also looks like really good bang for the buck.
Thanks for the heads up.


If you just need a sub amp system, that Audio Control product looks amazing.

Eight band parametric? Wow. Slew of great features. Looks expensive.
I could not find the pricing, but it certainly has most, or ALL the needs met for an OB sub system.


Anxious to see what you guys decide on.
I think all subwoofers should be controlled from the listening position.

Good points all. I hope a few more thoughts based on my limited explorations might help make choices easier...

The RS 500 interface and setup seems a little daunting to me too. A biggish concern for me, perhaps mainly because I am ignorant of, and intimidated by networking: how well that network would work, especially if you need to add a phone? Not having wifi (we use only ethernet), seems an ethernet connection here could work, but then would I be tied to adjustments from my computer? Or maybe with knowledge of networking setup, could integrating bluetooth, or Wifi allow a phone or pad work???

Seems that if mobile tuning is known by users to work stably within this more complicated seeming initial setup, I like Old DD would imagine you might end up liking the adjustment parameters and find them pretty easy. The way the virtual buttons are laid out for switching to different pages that then show different adjustments, I guess this graphic design may make it look more tricky than it is.

The sonic adjustments seem pretty complete, mainly seeming to have your basic parameters of volume, phase, crossover, .... along with being able to use some pretty nice looking EQ choices if you wanted to explore them.... I am finding the parametric EQs with the SVS to seem useful on 1st impressions, using one or two parametric notches to cut low room modes mainly, but also playing with using them to tune nulls up a little.

Another part of what attracted me to the SVS software, is that it has similar controls that are pretty tight. Conceptually I like that the most critical adjustments of phase, volume and the main low pass frequency, are all in increments of 1... and in my current setup, those fine increments matter. I like that the phase adjustment with the SVS is tighter than that 5° increments of the RS500. But the RS also has a "delay" in 5 millisecond increments, which might help in some setups with less refined phase adjustments??? Don't know, and maybe you could get really refined with time based tone tuning and matching your speaker timing with this setup anyway???

Still learning, but now my phase on the three presets I have saved are 115° and 116°, and these sound better to me than say 110 or 120. One choice being 115°, not sure how important this would be with the 5° RS00 setup... but if I liked say 113... with this particular arrangement, I don't think I would like 110 or 115 as well based on my 1st experiments, at least "with this unit."

Another feature I like, once I get phase, volume, and the low pass frequency pretty good, being able to tune the slope on the low pass from -6dB to -12dB, -18dB or -24dB... this a nice fine tuning feature to me.

All by sound, still not clear where I might end up... but for my preferences I do like having a pretty complete tool set and being able to tune from anywhere around to help sort out imbalances based on room and sub placement.

That said, I started knowing I wanted to tune in a single sub that may or may not be in the best room position... hoping very fine adjustments could make OK setups integrate more like ideal ones. Also I am not going for extra strong bass. I want the sub to be "not there" across recordings, so it is tuned to do its thing without an obvious leaning toward bass that works its way into the mids, and also integrates seamlessly across recording styles. In this setup, tuning for more bass can be pretty nice on some recordings, but ones with strong bass... not. I am more about open neutrality and fast and complex bass though, so I prefer mainly having the sub work to liven up and articulate the bass a little, and doing that subtly. Whether this unit will "get there" for me, can't say yet...

Whereas, if I had a dedicated room with more flexibility, and the ability to have a bass baffle's depth adjustable and in the middle of the speakers, or use a pair that are symmetrically setup in ultimate locations, I can imagine what Geno is talking about working really well.

I do appreciate the refined tuning potential here though, and agree with Old DD's points also. If this RS500 stays interesting with more research, it does look like it has a useful adjustment set, and if it will work seamlessly with a phone or pad at the seat, once you play with it a while, I bet it would get relatively easy to use.

Good Luck!

Will

I hear you Old DD.

But on the other hand, seems there are a lot of variables depending on each of our rooms, gear, and needs, that I suppose could make the phone more important for initial setup, and perhaps beyond. Having the software/DSP able to adjust more useful parameters than most subs offer without software is nice, but it introduces more subtle balancing acts. Thinking that if we want to utilize these adjustments optimally, this likely makes the seat tuning that much more important... With more overlaying things, getting each to work well in unison could make fine tuning from the seat and other places in the room easier and more thorough.

Related, here, after the seat seemed pretty good, walking around the room areas with the phone and making little adjustments to find more pleasing balances and get rid of thickness that shows up more in some places, as well as to tune the whole room sound from down the hall.... pretty nice. Then fine tuning from the seat again is pretty handy.

That said, I can imagine the day I will put the phone down for the most part. But then again, my system and room are always shifting, and I guess that if this sub stays, it will be nice to use the phone software to fine tune as system/room sound changes require... or if I am tempted to try different sub locations.... or just to be able to easily tune as desired as I learn the sub sound and sound integration in the system/room better.

But that is me, and as I said... this is based on my preferences, my setting, and gear. I can imagine in other setups, with different gear, that I may not be as "in-need" for super fine tuning, the room and layout taking care of some of that? Don't know, but it is fun to play with.

Will

Yes, I can imagine the known Crown could be the best bet... and I am not sure about the SVS yet. It has a really nice setup interface... but not clear on how its sonic qualities will match my system's yet. If it would fit here, I would conceptually rather use a nice big bass baffle in the middle of the main speakers also.

That said though, if seat adjustable DSP still has some interest, there may be other answers. Maybe.

On a cursory glance around, this amp looks like it has a similar networked interface setup, and could be used similarly to the RS 500, but with a much lower price, and a better explanation about how to use it. Also, it appears that you can choose for it to do initial room EQ itself, while allowing several more EQ bands for fine tuning... and if that worked, that could be interesting... Or just tune it manually.

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-APA1200DSP-1200-watt-Power-Amplifier-...

No idea how it sounds, but if its features seem worth exploring, could be worth a call to partsexpress who also carries Crown, so they may be able to help with comparisons?

Wow, Will!

That is very interesting. It's definitely on my "possibles" list for when I'm deciding on how to set up my OB sub. Thanks for sharing!

Randy

It does look pretty good based on the writeup... wouldn't that be cool if it was good sounding and relatively easy to use!