SVS Ultra Tower Floorstanding Speakers Piano Gloss Black

Product Information

Below, you'll find a list of equipment we used in conjunction with the Prime Pinnacles while doing our listening tests for this review. It's all gear we are familiar with, which helped us evaluate the speakers’ audio quality. We mixed and matched depending on whether we were listening to music, or movie audio. Cast aluminum basket to ensure precise alignment of critical components and additional heat-sinking capacity It’s always difficult when you name a speaker something like Pinnacle. Not only do you have to deliver something that really does sound like it’s reached the heights of what is possible, but you also leave yourself open to the question: where the hell do we go from here? We can’t answer the latter, but we can confirm that SVS have definitely reached the former. The SVS Prime Pinnacle floorstanding speakers are arguably the best they’ve ever built.

In 2005 the company made its first foray into the surround-sound speaker market with the S series. In 2008 came the audiophile M series. In 2011 SVS decided to revamp their entire product line, luring Mark Mason, previous design team manager at PSB, to join them as new product management director. Mr. Mason brought with him extensive expertise, having created BASH amplifier technology during his stint at Blade Technologies in the early 90s, worked with the rigors of pro-audio speakers and subs with Adamson System Engineering as well a 12-year tour of duty designing for PSB. It was a potentially perfect mesh of team and evolutionary direction. SVS handed the talented designer a major challenge, a new line of loudspeakers targeted at specific next-tier price points with a blank slate. Once the acoustic design was set, team SVS swung into collaborative action. The result? The Ultra series. Reviewed here is the flagship Ultra Tower. Elevating high frequency performance, the Ultra Tower speaker’s aluminum dome tweeter is stunningly transparent and pinpoint accurate. Light, efficient, rigid and impervious to distortion, even at high sound pressure levels, the tweeter’s airy’ presentation of female vocals and effortlessly unveiled highs reveal as much or more than the finest loudspeakers in the world. The FEA-optimized diffuser ensures broad dispersion for an incredibly wide and convincing soundstage with perfect on- and off-axis frequency response so everyone in your room experiences the same pristine clarity and imaging. Innovative SoundMatch Crossover Design The Ai81 speakers utilize a 150-watt class D amplifier with high-quality neodymium tweeters and dual 6.5" woven glass fiber drivers, which makes for balanced, undistorted midrange sound. Additionally the MDF wood cabinets feature omnidirectional bass ports, making for a more fully-developed sound. This thoughtful engineering results in rich audio that promises to do your favorite content justice -- which can even be personalized with the adjustable EQ option. True, SVS did offer speakers in the past, but even though they were pretty good, the company always kept its attention on frequencies below 80 Hz. Now with the addition of Mark Mason — an ex-PSB engineer who does his testing in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council in Ottawa — SVS is getting serious about full-range sound.Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Since premium drivers require an equally capable crossover, no expense was spared with the intelligent SVS SoundMatch 3.5-way crossover. Its tapered array is designed so only the top midrange driver crosses over to the tweeter, while the bottom midrange is crossed over to the woofers to minimize the potential for beaming. This creates an expansive, yet focused and precise soundstage, with accurate frequency response and imaging at all listening positions in the room. The precise tuning of the SoundMatch Crossover also ensures pinpoint accuracy from sparkling highs down to subterranean lows, while maintaining pristine signal purity. SVS did a great job designing and building the Ultra Tower. It is a beautiful speaker in sound and looks. I would say this is probably my favorite speaker in this price range. You can confidently use it in a theater, two-channel music system, or a combo system. I think it is the ultimate dual use speaker for 2000 dollars a pair. Looking at the price point of 2000 dollars you have competition such as Monitor Audio Silver 200’s, the very entry-level Martin Logan 20i, and Bower’s and Wilkins 806. There are others as well, however, none of them offer the low end of dual 8in subs, as well as two mid-range drivers. Ultra Tower’s don’t need the addition of a powered sub like the Motion line up from Martin Logan does. I will say they sound good with a sub, but nearly as much as a requirement. I think the SVS has a sound more akin to higher-priced and larger floorstanding speakers. SVS’s whole line up really offers great value and quality. If you are looking to build a theater these need to be on your audition list, as well if you want an all-in-one audio room. For music specific rooms I think there are better options for not much more money but the Ultra Towers still deserve a listen. The height speaker channels should be placed in the upper left/right corners of the front stage. Typically, this will be 40-45 degrees off-axis and about 8 feet in height. A downward tilt of the speaker will improve mid/high frequency response and reduce ceiling bounce reflections. The optimal location for the wide speakers is about 60 degrees off-axis, relative to the primary seating position. Audyssey recommends that the wide speakers be placed at head level when seated. Height Speaker Channels

SVS Ultra Tower Speaker features: Subwoofer diameter: 5 inches | Dimensions: 14.2 x 11.6 x 40.2 inches | Weight: 10 pounds | Frequency response: 45kHz-50,000 Hz | Sensitivity: 88dB The center channel should be placed directly on-axis, relative to the primary seating position. As with the main front speakers, placing the tweeter at/near head level when seated is optimal. But depending on the placement of the video display or projection screen, this is not always possible. Me personally, and this is just my humble opinion, nothing more, nothing less, I'd prefer a system comprised of both Aperion and SVS speakers. I personally prefer the sound (and look) of the Verus Grand Tower but would love to augment its bottom end with SVS' SB13-Ultra subwoofer as it (the sub) is among the finest I've heard. Period. But it really is akin to asking someone if they prefer Coke or Pepsi. The two are very evenly matched.SVS are all about the bass. You only need to take a look at some of their subwoofers to know that. It’s a product category they excel in, and even in budget models like the SB-1000 Pro ( full review here), the low end is still phenomenal. That philosophy bleeds into their larger speakers, and it’s definitely the case with the Prime Pinnacle. SVS's customer service before and after the sale remains one of its strongest selling points. Still, I couldn't help but think that magnetic grills may have alleviated this issue, along with making them easier to remove and presenting a cleaner face. The drivers’ appearance is quite striking, and the tweeter is “branded” with the SVS logo, so it seems there was consideration for folks wanting to run these "naked”. We have a 45 day unconditional satisfaction guarantee and a 5 year warranty on all products. If there were even the slightest issue with any product, or component of a product, we would replace it immediately and without question.” Here’s something that the folks at SVS probably aren’t going to be too pleased to hear. They do, after all, make some mind blowing subwoofers, like the PB16-Ultra ( full review here). But we believe it, so we’re going to say it: the bass on the Ultra Towers is good enough that you could quite conceivably get away without ever having a subwoofer. Don’t get us wrong - we always recommend having one, because subwoofers are awesome - but with four angled 8” woofers pumping out ear-melting low-end, you could make a very good argument for spending the money you would spend on a sub on…we don’t know, whiskey. Beer. A Game Of Thrones box set and matching life-size Daenerys Targaryen statue. Because at top volume, the Ultra Towers put out some utterly magnificent bass. It didn’t have the volume or sheer power of a dedicated subwoofer, but it anchored the sound with the deep, roaring low-end, and was a titanic amount of fun to listen to.