The Sound
For the listening tests, I
used a Denon DVD-5900 DVD Player, Sony BDP-S1 Blu-ray Player, Toshiba HD-A1
HD DVD Player, Lexicon MC-12B SSP, Classé CA-5200 Power Amplifier,
and Final Sound Speakers.
Cables were Nordost.
I placed the PB13-Ultra out
several feet from the front wall. I did not use any room compensation
setting or PEQ. I set the Subsonic Filter to 10 Hz, and placed two port
plugs in the subwoofer. I used a 50 Hz crossover setting from the Lexicon
SSP and set the crossover switch on the PB13-Ultra to Off.
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In Star Wars: Episode I, the "Pod Race" is one of
my favorite scenes for testing subwoofers. And, now, I
have it in HD on my satellite box DVR.
Particularly, when Anakin is right behind the engines of
one of his competitors, the rumble of those engines will
shake the house . . . that is, if you have a good
subwoofer.
Well, let's just say that the glassware on my coffee
table made enough noise against the table top that I
moved them onto a napkin. |
What
would a good subwoofer do if there weren't any war
movies? Even though this is an old one (like me), the
tanks haven't lost any of their crunch over the years,
and they were a piece of cake for the PB13-Ultra. |
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Ah, yet another war film, but this is a new one, with
much deeper sound effects.
The attack scene here is the best I have ever found in
any movie, and it is even better in high definition.
I decided to move the glassware onto two napkins at this
point. |
Chapter
3 of this destined-to-be-classic is used by a lot of
exhibitors to show off high definition projectors,
surround sound, and also subwoofers.
When
Mei (Ziyi Zhang) dances and thumps her robe against the
circle of drums, it is really something else, even
without a good sub. But, with a really great one like
the PB13-Ultra, it is an experience that will leave you
breathless. |
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I also used the PB13-Ultra when playing a number of CDs, and the 28 Hz
fundamental of the lowest note on a classic grand piano was so easy for the PB13-Ultra, I am not
sure I even had to turn it on for it to reproduce the sound. Gone are the
days of having to talk about a speaker or subwoofer made for movies vs. music. An
excellent product like the PB13-Ultra works for everything.
Go to Part III.
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