Introduction

SVS is now a well-established manufacturer of killer subs. In fact, they gained notoriety the first year they released those cylindrical subs that shook the walls.

They have come a long way since those days, first turning to box subs (spouses don't particularly care for the cylinders, even though it is probably the best way to design a subwoofer), then to speakers, releasing the MTS series, of which we reviewed the MTS-01.

It was a great speaker, and yet, they fine tuned the crossover shortly after the initial release, and upgraded it, having owners send the speakers back to have the crossover replaced.

The MTS-01's are $1,499/pair, which is a bargain for the quality of sound. Their secret was the very expensive tweeter that they put in the speaker, leaving the enclosure to be very plain (keeping the cost down so they could put in that tweeter and deliver remarkable sound quality).

So, now comes the STS series, and we review here the STS-01's, which like the MTS-01's, are floor-standing models. They also have a center channel speaker and rear surround bookshelf speakers to complete the 5.1 system.

With the STS-01's, SVS sent me a pair of PB10-NSD subwoofers.

Last, but not least, they included their new AS-EQ1 equalizer, which uses Audyssey processing technology to apply thousands of correction points to the netherworld of low frequencies. As you are probably aware, most subwoofer companies have been adding one or two EQ dials on the amplifier panel, assuming that you would probably only have one peak or dip to deal with. It has not turned out that way, and good EQ for the bass just has to have more EQ bands. The AS-EQ1 has lots of them.