Review – SVS 3000 In-Wall Subwoofer

The SVS 3000 is amazing, and once you’ve heard it, you can’t go backwards.

It feels like the never-ending battle between form and function flares up in places where great sound has the most to gain. I humbly submit the plight of the subwoofer. Long reviled by significant others and designers alike, the subwoofer just wants to make movie night sizzle and your parties turn into core memories. Physics has long intervened.

Low-end sound requires moving a lot of air around the room, and big boxes jammed with massive woofers have been the only way to accomplish that for a long time. The subwoofer has been shoved under coffee tables, banished to the corner of the room and, with the latest craze in mediocre soundbars, positioned as a (gasp!) optional piece of equipment.

In-wall subwoofer options have long been offered but besides the Bose BUILT-INvisible Acoustimass Module and a few others, in-wall bass has been a bit of an oxymoron. No one serious about good low end would ever cede that an in-wall subwoofer would ever be anything but the result of a pitched domestic battle between a warring couple.

If anyone could ever pull off the impossible and deliver us a killer in-wall subwoofer, it would have to be a specialist like SVS…

I attended a demo event with SVS a few months ago and listened to some pretty powerful low end coming from what I thought was a large subwoofer front and center in the room. “No,” said the SVS rep, “it’s all coming from right over there.” I looked and all I saw was a white grille seamlessly blended into the wall.

I laughed and did a double take. I pulled off the magnetic cover and saw two 9” woofers pumping their hearts out. The SVS 3000 was fully enclosed and no deeper than a stud bay. I appreciated the fully engineered sound chamber and dual driver approach. I asked SVS if they’d send me one to review. They agreed, and I let the anticipation build.

Unboxing and Installation

A few weeks later a few boxes arrived including the SVS 3000 subwoofer enclosure, grille, mounting hardware and outboard 800W Sledge STA-800D2C amplifier. I laid it all out and decided I might need a little assistance. Luckily a few technicians on our team were more than happy to help out with the installation.

After some sawing, wire fishing, and rack mounting, we had the SVS 3000 installed and paired with two in-ceiling stereo speakers. This was a perfect scenario for the in-wall subwoofer. Multiroom audio is typically a 2-channel affair, and 2.1 installations are the rare exception unless it’s pushed for by a client.

As with most of the SVS products I’ve reviewed, the STA-800D2C amplifier is configurable via the SVS app which uses Bluetooth for local connectivity. I connected to the amplifier and cycled through its various DSP modes which make scenarios like gaming, music or movies a cinch to configure.

I began playing some music, kicking off with “Time” by Pink Floyd. I love this test because the 6” in-ceiling speakers I used were nothing special (manufacturer names have been omitted to protect the guilty). Sure enough, the song began slow and soft with the LFE emerging even at low volume levels (the true benchmark of any subwoofer claiming to be top notch). I moved along in the songbook, stopping next at “Borne” from the Goose’s Live at Radio City Music Hall album. The bass drum kicked hard, and I felt it punching me in the chest as I sat right in front of the grille.

I ran through some more music with the same results. The SVS 3000 is amazing, and once you’ve heard it, you can’t go backwards.

Final Report

The SVS 3000 is priced at $1999.99 and only available from authorized installing dealers. That’s probably a good thing. I couldn’t imagine SVS had the DIY market in mind when they designed a passive dual woofer in wall unit with an accompanying rack mounted STA-800D2C amplifier. If you’re at the crossroads between design and performance in your home or maybe your poor box subwoofer was kicked out long ago, the SVS 3000 is for you. Kudos to SVS for another amazing painkiller in their quest for bass world domination.

Related: SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer Shows What’s New in the World of Bass Performance