SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer Reviewed

The SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer (buy at Crutchfield) might be small in stature but there is more bass inside this little sub than meets the eye. This subwoofer features two opposing eight-inch drivers and 800 Watts of class D power to ensure that it provides all the bass you might need. Not to be missed here, though, is that not only is there going to be enough bass to blow you out of the water, but the price might blow the competition out of the water. Let’s see how the SVS 3000 Micro holds up under scrutiny.

What Makes the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer Special?

• This powerful subwoofer has more power than you’d expect given its form factor and size (about 11 by 11 by 12 inches). You should have no issue with the SVS 3000 Micro getting loud enough for you (or your neighbors). It can reach 2,500 Watts of output at its peak.
• The SVS app is fantastic, as it will allow you to dial in the performance of your sub right from your listening position with ease. I don’t know how much time, money, and effort went into developing this app but it shows because it is one of the best of its breed. 
• The processing power of the SVS 3000 Micro is where the magic happens. In order to make the dual eight-inch drivers rock this hard in a cabinet this small, the designers at SVS needed to use a pretty fancy Analog Devices chip that allows them to get some raucous bass performance from a tiny sub cabinet. 
• The quality of the drivers that SVS uses is game-changing at this price point. Drivers are expensive. They are heavy. They are complicated to make really well, but somehow SVS delivers (twice) with beefy, well-constructed drivers that move some serious air and are controlled by a gigantic magnet. The result is bass that extends down to reported 23 Hz, which is very low for a small subwoofer.

Why Should You Care About the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer?

Most people would love to add a little more bass into their music, and the SVS 3000 Micro delivers exactly that in spades, with  a form factor that you could easily miss when you first walk into the room. The reality is that even very expensive audiophile speakers almost always don’t go as low as this modestly-sized, affordable subwoofer. The cost delta between buying this sub (or even a pair of them) and buying the largest-format audiophile speakers capable of playing anywhere near this deeply can be well into the five figures, so using a sub to support just the lowest octave of your audiophile speakers isn’t just good for sound, it’s good for your budget. 

Using the SVS SoundPath Wireless Audio Adapter (sold separately) allows you to place the sub anywhere in your room. One of the biggest issues you can have in a larger room is placing your subwoofer where you want it without having visible wires running around the perimeter of the room, so being able to connect the subwoofer wirelessly to your integrated amp or preamp really opens your options for you.

Some Things You Might Not Like About the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer

• In stark contrast with what I said about the SoundPath wireless adapter, the length of the power cord makes it difficult to move the 3000 Micro around the room to find the optimal listening position.
• There are no speaker-level connections. If you’re looking to run your speakers directly into your subwoofer or out from your speakers that won’t be an option. That wasn’t an issue for me, but if you have a stereo system without a dedicated setup or preamp outs that you can employ as such, the lack of speaker-level connections might limit your setup options.

Listening to the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer…

To test the depth of the bass put out by the SVS 3000 Micro, I listened to “Xtal” by Aphex Twin (CD Quality 1,440 Kbps). The sub, when configured with the SVS app, performed admirably. The song starts with a rhythmic bass beat, and when the bass goes lower around the one-minute mark of the track, I could physically feel the bass with the volume still at a reasonable level. If you’re into electronic music you likely know this one well, if you’re not and you want to test your subwoofer, you can check out the track below. 

There are not many three-piece bands that were able to match both the creativity and skill of Rush. I listened to “YYZ” (CD Quality 1,440 Kbps) from their Moving Pictures albums to test the clarity and tightness of the bass. Geddy Lee plays his bass with great pace, and the SVS 3000 Micro sounded tight throughout the performance. You could hear every strum clearly as he powers through an instrumental song about an airport. Many argue that there aren’t enough songs about airports and airport codes these days, but I digress. 

From one bass legend to the next, I listened to “Aquatic Mouth Dance” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Hi-Res Streaming 9,216 Kbps). This might not be the most popular track from this long-standing Southern California band, but on this 2022 release, Flea puts down a bass line that get stuck in my head every time. So, I wanted to see how well the 3000 Micro would handle the mid-bass that is being played here. The subwoofer kept the bass sounding tight, and I was able to follow every note without any issues. It sounded better than my floorstanding speakers alone without question.

Does the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer Have Any Resale Value?

This is a fairly new product from SVS, but their other subwoofers tend to hold their value nicely over time. There has been a few of them sold on eBay recently and they were amazingly selling used close to retail price. I wouldn’t expect that to change too much moving down the road, as SVS markets their product fantastically well. They have good online distribution and, in the United States, their speakers and subs are sold in Best Buy (Magnolia). Those are all good signs. Moreover, the cost to get into a product like the SVS 3000 Micro is so low at retail that there isn’t too much value to lose as compared to much more expensive competing products.

Who Is the Competition for the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer?

In a very similar space, the Monitor Audio Radius 390 ($1,150) is also a micro subwoofer that features two 10-inch woofers instead of the eight-inch cones that the SVS 3000 Micro employs. However, based on the info from Monitor Audio, it doesn’t play quite as low, reaching down to only 30 Hz. 

Another competitor in the micro subwoofer space is the KEF KC62 (buy at Crutchfield) ($1,499). The KEF seems like the closest competitor in this space, at least on paper. to the company reports a difficult-to-believe 11 Hz low-frequency extension, but that seems unlikely. It does, however, boast 1,000 Watts of power. Now, I haven’t heard this subwoofer yet, but from a specifications perspective, it seems remarkably similar to the SVS 300 Micro and nearly double the price.

The MartinLogan Dynamo 800X ($899.99 – buy at Crutchfield) is close to the price of the SVS 3000 Micro. It is compatible with ARC room correction, which is always great to have, as I learned in with my Anthem STR stereo preamp (buy at Crutchfield), and it even offers a similar frequency response at 24 to 200 Hz. However, it is doing this with just one driver instead of two, and much less power, with 300 Watts continuous, and a peak of 600 Watts.

Final Thoughts on the SVS 3000 Micro Subwoofer

I’ve had the SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer in my system for nearly six months, and through hundreds of hours of use it has performed just fantastically. Not only is it a supreme value in the micro subwoofer space, but in the general subwoofer space as well. The folks at SVS have outdone themselves with this product and it is one that I will likely continue to gush about for some time to come. Check out this product if you have the need for some extra bass, as it can deliver depths that you might not be able to believe from such a small box. You will be impressed.