Whatta Ya Think About Hsu Research Subwoofers?


I’m in the market to add one or possibly two subwoofers to my stereo set-up.  I would like to spend $1,000 or less per unit, and that puts some of the higher-rated units out of reach.  I came across an ad for Hsu, which I had not heard of before.  I didn’t want a Chinese product and it turns out that Hsu Research is based in California and founded by Dr. Hsu, who has a Ph.D from MIT.  Audio reviewer Steve Gutenberg gave one Hsu product a positive review.  I was wondering if any of you have experience with Hsu and could share your impressions/recommendations with me.

My existing set—up is:  Parasound P5 pre-amp with Parasound A21 amp;  Martin Logan 60XT tower loudspeakers.  Thanks!
bob540
Hello Bob,

     Okay, it seems like you have a good plan for routing the required  single rca cable from your P5 preamp's Sub Output 2, past both the doors to the line level input on the 2nd of your SVS subs.  The 1st SVS sub, positioned to the left of your equipment rack, will also require a single rca cable run from your preamp's Sub Output 1 to the SVS sub's line level input. 
     As I stated earlier, I have no doubt that you'll be able to attain good quality bass performance at a single listening position in your room utilizing 2 good quality subs like the two SVS subs you bought.
     But it's very important you understand that just plopping down each sub where it's convenient, you have the space or where you prefer them being located, is a highly unlikely path to success. Ideally, the best process is to use the crawl method to determine the exact position in your room for SVS sub#1 at which the bass sounds the best at your designated listening seat.  Then with sub#1 optimally positioned and playing, the crawl method is used again to determine the exact position in your room for SVS sub#2 at which the bass sounds the best at your designated listening seat.  The final step is to optimally set the volume, crossover frequency and phase control settings on each sub.
     By determining that you only have one possible position for SVS sub#1 in your room which is to the left of your equipment rack along your front wall, however, this ideal locating process has already been compromised.  It's possible you still might be able to attain good bass performance at your listening seat but I think this would definitely require you to use the crawl method to optimally position SVS sub#2 in your room.  The exact optimum position in your room to locate sub#2, however, will probably not be on the ledge that is part of your fireplace. 
     I suggest you buy the longest rca cable you can because the optimum exact location for sub#2 could be anywhere along the perimeter walls of your room; further down your fireplace wall, along your rear wall or even your wall opposite the fireplace.  Using the crawl method, it will be fairly obvious when you find the optimum room position, the bass will suddenly improve in its quality and become more solid, smooth, fast, detailed, realistic and natural.  
      In the meantime, it would be useful to reread your preamp manual's sections on about how to connect a pair of subs beginning on page 10 of the attached P5 maunual below:

https://parasound.com/pdfs/P5Manual.pdf  

Tim   
Tim, I saw that you mentioned the “crawl method” for determining best position for subs. Does that involve moving the subs a little at a time and listening to the sound each time?  i.e., being on my knees crawling about with them til I find the sweet spots?

Good advice regarding the RCA cables.  Oddly, I have the subs coming but don’t have the cables ordered yet.  
Hello Bob,

     The subwoofer crawl method is just a simple but very effective method to determine the optimum position in the room for each of your subs without using any expensive equipment, just you and your ears required. Here's a  a link to a video explaining how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV3oLLMgS-M

     If you'd like to learn more about utilizing dual subs in a room, along with the typically most successful room positions, I suggest you use Google because there's a lot of info on this subject.


Tim