I've joined the HSU club!

[Hans Gruber]

Not only have I joined the HSU forum club, I also purchased a brand new HSU VTF-3 MK2. My VTF-3 MK2 arrived today. I must say the VTF-3 (matte black) is certainly a handsome unit. I will be posting questions/comments soon. I would just like to welcome myself to the HSU club.

I didn't go the cheap route buying anything less than the VTF-3 MK2. My only exception was staying away from the glossy wood case.

From the onset my goal was simple. I wanted a sub woofer that could provide sound below 20hz. I'm a huge fan of organ music!

That last statement is not true. But the statement right before that is completely true. With the VTF-3 MK2 I now hear sounds that I've never knew existed. I'm quite confident that with 2 weeks worth of tweaking and hours playing with my SPL meter. I should be able to get the VTF-3 to sound as if my home is actually taking mortar stikes during war scenes.

[Sorny]

Congratulations on your new sub. You've picked a good one, for sure.

FWIW, the TN1220HO (of which I have 2), is what is **really** good for the organ music and subsonic bass. Of course, some have a WAF issue with a 51" cylinder...

I think you'll find the VTF-3 to be more than adequate for movie watching, and an excellent performer for music. If my TN is any indication (Dr. HSU says they are very much alike in sound), it will definitely open up the sound and provide it with a solid foundation. Like you, after I got my HSU subs, I found much more enjoyment from my existing music collection.

Once again, Congrats!

Sorny

[Michael Bain]

Great name, Hans Gruber! I love it :D

[Dudley]

Keep us updated on how it sounds.

[tgrisham]

Welcome! I look forward to hearing your comments.

[Ddavidson]

You will get years of pleasure out of it. I have had and loved my VTF-3 since 2002 along with my other growing collection of Hsu subwoofers (Tn1220Ho, VTF-2, and Hrsw12va). Unlike the typical down your throat marketing push you get from other companies you will find that Hsu Research are the quiet achievers. Dr Hsu is also one of the nicest and most natural design talents you will find in consumer electronics. This is a refreshing change especially if you look at the situation with several brands who are little more than spec sheet marketeers with heavy promotion on certain forums and review sites.

Another great but somewhat overlooked issue is that when needed Hsu offers first rate support. Welcome to the Hsu club.

Ddavidson

[Hans Gruber]

Something else I've noticed about HSU owners/customers. HSU customers seem to be very happy with their purchases. At the AVS forum I've received numerous posts from SVS owners critical of HSU subs. If SVS subs are superior, why do SVS owners need to monitor HSU posts?

I bought the HSU VTF-3 specifically for its ability to hit 16hz. On top of that, most every reviewer commended the HSU for it's clean tight bass. I did look at SVS and decided that HSU VTF-3 MK2 was a much better fit for me.

One additional comment regarding SVS subs. It seems as if the prices of SVS subs are inflated when compared to HSU. Buying directly from the manufacturer eliminates the middleman. The savings are passed onto the customer by purchasing directly through the manufacturer. The SVS products seem to double dip on the consumer via higher prices and shipping charges. I do not doubt the quality of SVS just the pricing of their repective products.

HSU seems to follow the same business model that Oulaw Audio incorporates. Top quality products, straight from the manufacturer, over the internet. I think Dr. Hsu designed the Outlaw sub as well.

[tafguy]

Now, I'm jealous!

I'm pretty sure that you pick the right one!

I can imagine that because I know how good the VTF-2 Mk2 is?

One tip from my own experience :

Get Pearl Harbor DVD, there are a lot of things why people hate this movie but forget the love story which plays a major focal point of the film, check out for the battle sequences on the scenes from track 22 to 29, few movies that can rival these scenes in scope and grandeur, but just for the sound from these scenes, you will know if you get the right sub or if your sub runs out of steam with intense bass with nice velocity. If the first 3 tracks get you hooked, you will probably seat back to go up to 29.

This is one of my favorite test DVD that will measure how powerful the sub is like how good room shaking is, and how you feel like your couch is shaking hard, mine don't have seat belt ???. And may be I'm imagining but you feel like your are in the real theater is in your home, I have to find some red curtains!!!.

Expect to take a break after that, it shakes pretty good the body through these excellent intense action sequences .

If someone has experienced the same thing, let me know but these scenes rock.

22 First Strike
23 Airfield attack
24 A call to arm
25 Trapped
26 Hospital chaos
27 Take off
28 Airborne
29 Shooting back

Look no further and make no mistake, HSU's subs affordable price and quality design blow the competition away if you compare them on the same scale with the ones which are on your pick list !

[Michael Bain]

If SVS subs are superior, why do SVS owners need to monitor HSU posts?

It is insecurity really. And trust me, many of them monitor this forum as well, including the co-founders of the company ;)

If you carefully read the reviews, Hsu products tend to have better objective measurements and subjective impressions from the pro reviewers (ie the reviewers that you can trust and who actually know how to handle an SPL meter). Hsu is also by far the greatest threat to SVS.

Historically, SVS has copied nearly every feature present in Hsu subs: tall cylinders with single 12 inch driver and single 4 inch diameter port, box subwoofers with single 12 inch driver and ported, box subwoofers with single 10 inch driver and single 3 inch diameter port, variable tuning. In fact, they have copied Hsu's entire design philosophy really. Tom Vodhanel of SVS used to email quite often with Dr. Hsu in the late 1990's (before anyone knew that he was thinking of starting his own company), and he learned a lot from Dr. Hsu on how to design a sub and on what made the Hsu subs unique. He took advantage of Dr. Hsu, posing as an innocent Hsu owner, by siphoning more and more information away from Dr. Hsu. Then he secretly proceeded to create new products (with marketing sidekick Ron Stimpson always by his side) using all of Dr. Hsu's main philosophy's and information. S and V realized that this was a potentially huge untapped market, because Hsu never aggressively marketed his products on the internet, the free medium that SVS primarily uses to market their products. The worst part of it all is that SVS started to market their products by speaking negatively and underhandedly of Hsu products! They spread this information on all the public audio forums, and also on their website, and soon most people were brainwashed because Dr. Hsu was too busy to spend all day on the internet defending himself.

Fortunately for Hsu fans, Dr. Hsu possesses much more knowledge about audio, physics, and bass in general than he passed off to his customers. He has much more knowledge and education and experience with bass than Tom V and Ron S put together, and I don't even think they would argue that (as far as I know, Tom V and Ron S have no formal education in bass, physics, electronics). So pure education and technical wizardry give Hsu some advantages. That is why he is able to personally design the Hsu driver, amp, port, and enclosure while SVS needs to purchase all these components from outside vendors.

Now do you see why the insecurity exists in that brand?

To make a long story short, I think that Dr. Hsu has learned much from these events. He has learned that you can't blindly trust everyone, and he has learned that you have to protect what is rightfully yours. If anything, this underhanded competition has lit a fire inside him, and he has a renewed interest in moving the industry forward with new and innovative designs.

[Retread]

My VTF-3 MK2 arrived today.

I'm quite confident that with 2 weeks worth of tweaking and hours playing with my SPL meter. I should be able to get the VTF-3 to sound as if my home is actually taking mortar stikes during war scenes.

If you become concerned about the room-response of your system, you might look at two of my posts having to do with using a parametric equalizer to even-out those responses. They are:

http://hsuresearch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1008&highlight=Rane

http://hsuresearch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1014&highlight=Rane

[r3Wind]

With the VTF-3 MK2 I now hear sounds that I've never knew existed.
The "Darla" scene in Finding Nemo is a perfect example of that, without a great sub you'd really have no idea what you're missing there...


FWIW, the TN1220HO (of which I have 2), is what is **really** good for the organ music and subsonic bass. Of course, some have a WAF issue with a 51" cylinder...
I went with the VFT-3 MK2 over the TN1220HO because of the CSF issue (Cat Scratch Factor) ;)