Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.

When I moved from my one-bedroom apartment in Ottawa, Canada, to a detached house in the suburbs of Toronto several years ago, I was excited by the prospect of having a large unfinished basement where I could set up my stereo system. I figured I’d be able to enjoy bigger sound, which I could crank up from time to time without irritating my neighbors. That first part didn’t go quite as planned. As fellow SoundStager Jason Thorpe once told me, it can be difficult to fill a large room with sound, and that’s exactly what I found.

Even listening to fair-sized speakers such as KEF’s R11 floorstanders, or my current Monitor Audio Gold 300 5Gs, I could never reproduce the fullness of sound I had enjoyed in my apartment. Adding an SVS SB-4000 subwoofer ameliorated this to some degree—especially for movies, where the subwoofer was better able to approximate the visceral impact of a movie theater.

Although my listening room can accommodate big speakers, my budget cannot. When I reviewed Bryston’s Model T10¹⁰ loudspeaker last year, I was hopeful. The review pair offered the best sound I’ve heard in my basement thus far, at a price reasonable enough ($20,000/pair, all prices in USD) for me to aspire to own them one day. When I read SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider’s glowing review of the Arendal Sound 1528 Series Tower 8 ($10,900/pair) late last year, I was even more encouraged. Like the T¹⁰, the Tower 8 also features a quartet of 8″ woofers in each speaker, but retails for just over half the price of the Bryston tower. Unlike Bryston loudspeakers, which are manufactured in Canada and sold through traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers, Arendal speakers are designed in Norway but manufactured in China. Furthermore, they’re sold directly to consumers through the company’s website, a practice that helps to keep costs down.

Imagine my surprise when I found out I’d be reviewing another big floorstander—this time, SVS’s flagship Pinnacle tower from the US company’s new Ultra Evolution range. Like the Arendal, the Pinnacle is manufactured in China and sold directly to consumers. This means you can have it shipped to your house, try it out for 45 days, and send it back if you don’t like what you hear. Similar to the Bryston and Arendal, each speaker boasts four 8″ woofers; and at $4998 for a pair, it’s even more affordable than the Tower 8. I was eager to hear how it would sound in my room.

Design

The Ultra Evolution Pinnacle debuted at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and showed up the following month at the Florida International Audio Expo in Tampa, where Doug Schneider wrote enthusiastically about it. Six other models joined the Pinnacle in the Ultra Evolution series, offering a complete range of tower, bookshelf, and surround speakers.

Measuring 50.2″H × 11.8″W × 18.1″D and weighing 96.7lb, the flagship Pinnacle is the largest model in the lineup. The speaker’s cabinet is mostly constructed from 0.75″ MDF but boasts a 1″-thick front baffle. Viewed from the back, the Pinnacle looks somewhat boxy and unwieldy. However, the deep, chamfered sides of the front of the cabinet soften its appearance, helping to make the tower less obtrusive. In combination with the flush-mounted drivers, the chamfered design also reduces diffraction at the cabinet’s edges.

The signature aesthetic element of the Pinnacle is undoubtedly the shape of the cabinet itself. The front baffle flares outward above and below the tweeter, in what the company not-so-succinctly refers to as an acoustically centered time-alignment cabinet architecture. Its purpose is to align the output from each driver on a vertical plane, so that the sound waves from each driver arrive at the listening position at the same time. In a conventional flat-baffle speaker, the drivers aren’t equidistant to the listener, so the sound from each won’t arrive simultaneously. The point of time-aligning drivers is to give the impression that all the sound originates from the same point in space, with the goal of producing a more coherent presentation.

The review pair came in piano gloss white. Contrasting with the black drivers on the front of the speaker, the gloss-white finish has a modern flair. Piano gloss black and black oak veneer finishes are also available.

The sizable cabinet is necessary to accommodate the quartet of 8″ composite glass-fiber cones that deliver the SVS’s prodigious low-end output. These woofers feature cast-aluminum-alloy baskets to help dissipate heat. Furthermore, the vented aluminum voice-coil former is claimed to improve thermal handling while also reducing air-compression artifacts during high excursions.

Two of the woofers are mounted on the front baffle and two are mounted in the equivalent position on the backside of the speaker, in what the company describes as a force-balanced array. The woofers are in phase, but radiate sound in opposing directions. Not only does this produce bass in front of and behind the speaker, but the opposing movements of the woofers cancel out vibrations generated by the motion of the drivers themselves; energy that would otherwise excite the enclosure. Fitting two drivers on the front and two on the back also means the speaker doesn’t have to be nearly as tall as a speaker such as Bryston’s Model T¹⁰ to accommodate four woofers.

The Pinnacle’s 1″ aircraft-grade-aluminum dome tweeter has a diamond-like coating on its surface, bonded by a manufacturing process called vapor deposition. The coating material is evaporated at high temperature and condensed across the surface of the aluminum dome. The increased rigidity provided by this coating allows the tweeter to maintain its shape—and therefore, its pistonic movement—beyond the upper limit of human hearing.

This increased cone stiffness also permits a lower crossover point, and in this case the tweeter hands off to the midrange at 1.8kHz. The tweeter is protected by an “organic cell lattice” diffuser. The design across its surface has a semi-random pattern said to be inspired by cellular structures, and according to SVS, the diffuser improves off-axis response. The tweeter is flanked by 5.25″ glass-fiber composite midrange drivers above and below it. These cross over to the woofers at 140Hz.

The pair of speakers came with magnetically attached cloth grilles to protect the drivers from prying hands, but I never used them. I generally like to see drivers, although the mounting screws used to secure them are visible and detract from what could have been a cleaner façade. Many companies hide these unsightly screws, and I wish SVS would do the same.

The speaker has factory-installed elastomer feet screwed into the base of the cabinet, and I appreciated this element of its design. The material is a bit squishy and certainly seems like it could help to absorb at least some of the energy transferred from the speaker to the floor. If you have carpet, metal spikes can be installed instead.

SVS reports 88dB sensitivity (2.83V/1m) and 6-ohm nominal impedance for the Pinnacle. I’ll see what our own measurements show when the review is published, but I had no issue driving the pair with a 135Wpc (into 8 ohms) Bryston B135 SST² integrated amplifier. Specified frequency response is 24Hz–40kHz (±3dB), suggesting an incredibly wide-bandwidth speaker. Dual sets of binding posts permit biwiring or biamping.

Setup

The SVS Pinnacles replaced a pair of Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G speakers in a system driven by the aforementioned Bryston amp. I used Nirvana Audio Royale or AudioQuest Rocket 88 speaker cables to connect the towers to the amp. An NAD C 565BEE CD player tethered to a Bryston BDA-2 DAC using an Esoteric Audio coaxial cable permitted CD playback. Digital content was also sent wirelessly from Apple Music on my iPhone to a Bluesound Node 2i streamer. The Node was linked to the BDA-2 with an i2Digital X-60 coaxial cable. The BDA-2 was connected to the B135 SST² through Nordost Quattro Fil RCA cables.

Vinyl playback was provided by a Thorens TD 160 HD turntable equipped with a low-output Sumiko Songbird moving-coil cartridge mounted on a modified Rega Research RB250 tonearm. A Pro-Ject Audio Systems Connect it RCA-CC cable linked the Thorens to Pro-Ject’s Phono Box DS3 B phono preamplifier (powered by a Pro-Ject Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply). The DS3 B was linked to the B135 SST² by Kimber Kable Tonik interconnects. All electronics were plugged into an ExactPower EP15A power conditioner.

An SVS SB-4000 sub was connected to the B135’s preamp output using generic RCA cables, but I never used it for music during my review.

Sonics

I began this review talking about how even fair-sized floorstanding speakers have struggled to fill my basement listening space with sound, but the Ultra Evolution Pinnacle had no such trouble. After spending several weeks with the pair, I’d be hard-pressed to think of another speaker that’s able to produce the same level of scale and dynamics as the flagship SVS at anywhere near its price. If you’ve got a large room but a limited budget, this tower deserves an audition.

Owing to the Pinnacle’s ability to excite large volumes of air, the SVS pair brought a sense of scale and space to everything I played through it. Still, the Pinnacles were equally at home rendering a collection of solo piano works performed by Khatia Buniatishvili (LP, Franz Liszt, Sony Classical MOVCL070) as they were the pulsating rhythms and complex orchestrations of Björk’s Homogenic (LP, Björk Overseas Ltd. / One Little Indian LC 00309).

The Ultra Evolutions did a fine job conveying the dark, brooding atmosphere of Low + Dirty Three’s cover of Neil Young’s “Down by the River” (CD, In the Fishtank 7, Konkurrent LC6110). The tune is unrecognizable at first, taking several minutes to build a reverb-laden cavern of sound. This song culminates in the arrival of Mimi Parker’s haunting vocals, the power and tension in her voice more a function of the restraint she exercises in her delivery. What makes the vocals haunting is how calmly she sings Young’s lyrics, offering a stark contrast with the subject matter.

I’ve made no secret how much I love this version of Young’s classic. What helps to make it special is when a pair of speakers is able to produce all of the space in the track, which is critical to conveying its mood. The big Pinnacles did this effortlessly. Good bookshelf speakers can recreate a stage as wide and deep as the one produced by the SVS towers, but you’ll need to add a subwoofer to match what the Pinnacles could do in terms of their ability to fill in that space. I own a subwoofer, but, as I said, I never bothered using it during my time with the SVS speakers. A listener might assume the subwoofer was already on, such was the depth and volume of the low frequencies they reproduced. It’s perhaps no surprise, considering SVS is a company that cut its teeth designing muscular subwoofers.

I spent time early one Sunday morning listening to A Feather on the Breath of God (LP, Hyperion LPA66039), a collection of 12th-century chants composed by German Benedictine abbess Hildegard of Bingen. The CD version was the first release I ever purchased from Hyperion, and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve bought from the British classical label since. Released in 1982, A Feather on the Breath of God wasn’t reissued on vinyl until last year, and I grabbed a copy as soon as it became available.

For people who enjoy early vocal music, A Feather on the Breath of God is sublime stuff. One of the pieces I most enjoy is “Ave, generosa,” featuring contralto Margaret Philpot. It’s a gorgeous, ethereal piece of music. Part of its allure is how it can evoke the sense of being in a cathedral (or in this case, the Church of St. Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead, England, where the album was recorded). Being able to create the ambiance and serenity of such a large space requires the ability to move some air—something the Pinnacles achieved effortlessly. I had a sense of Philpot’s voice soaring to the domed ceiling, seemingly rising to the heavens. It’s easy to lose one’s sense of time and place listening to something so transportive, and with the SVS towers I found little imagination was required to “see” the performance. Philpot’s low pitch sounded clean and natural, and stable and well-focused at the front of the room.

“Louis Collins,” from Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s Shady Grove (CD, Acoustic Disc ACD-21), a collection of traditional bluegrass and folk music, sounded clear and well-sorted through the Pinnacles. The music was vivid, as the guitar, banjo, and mandolin occupied precise locations on a stage that extended beyond the width of the speakers. The notes coming from the mandolin especially seemed to “pop” on this track. The neutral midrange of the Ultra Evolutions made Garcia’s voice sound organic, and it was easy to “see” him performing at the front of the room. The drums provided some depth to the stage, as did the upright bass that underpins the tune.

Moving on to “Rose Parade,” from Elliott Smith’s Either/Or (CD, Kill Rock Stars KRS 269), the acoustic guitars sounded open and clear through the Pinnacles, emerging from both speakers to create a wide stage, with Smith’s soft vocals positioned solidly between the towers. The whack of the bass drum had a pleasing thump, placed some distance behind the plane formed by the front baffles of the Pinnacles. Switching over to the same album on vinyl (KRS 269), the SVS towers were helpful in spotlighting the differences between digital and analog playback. On the LP, Either/Or was a warmer, more enveloping affair. The bass was fatter and the strings on a song like “Angeles” were fuller, lacking the precision of those same notes played on CD. The drum kit on “Rose Parade” was farther back on the stage on the CD, where the lower noise of digital playback unveiled a deeper soundstage with better separation between instruments.

Comparison

I compared the Ultra Evolution Pinnacles against my Monitor Audio Gold 300 5Gs ($9500/pair). This three-way British speaker features an air-motion-transformer tweeter that Monitor Audio refers to as a Micro Pleated Diaphragm. This crosses over to a 2.5″ midrange that in turn hands off to a pair of 8″ woofers.

I started by listening to some bass-heavy music from Massive Attack’s third album, Mezzanine (CD, Virgin Records 8 45599 2). Hearing “Angel” through the Pinnacles was a pleasure. There’s abundant low end in this track that’s best heard with the help of a subwoofer, but it was still more than ample through the American towers, which had no problem energizing my room. Higher up the frequency range, the rhythm of what sounds like a cymbal to the inside of the right speaker was lucid and easy to pinpoint on the stage.

In contrast, through the British floorstanders, “Angel” was an exercise in clarity and control, especially down low where their sound was decidedly drier than the Pinnacles. The Gold 300 is the antithesis of a bloated or fat-sounding speaker. Clean, clean, clean is the order of the day, but a song like this really benefits from the ability to deliver the deep bass required to conjure its murky atmosphere. On this track, I preferred the SVS towers.

Listening to “Your Rocky Spine,” from Great Lake Swimmers’ Ongiara (CD, Nettwerk 30691 2), provided another example of the scale and authority rendered by the American speakers. The sizable stage created by the Pinnacles gave room to render the acoustics of London, Ontario’s Aeolian Hall, where this track was recorded. The banjo on the left, acoustic guitar in the center, and autoharp on the right were spread across a wide stage, with Tony Dekker’s reverberating vocals placed front and center. However, it wasn’t until the upright bass and drums kicked in that “Your Rocky Spine” really filled out the front of my listening room with sound that seemed to expand in every direction, most notably toward the front wall, conjuring a compelling sense of depth. The Pinnacles had a pleasingly full sound as they pushed low frequencies from the front and back of the big towers. On “Backstage with the Modern Dancers,” the drum enters 35 seconds into the track with some serious heft, giving the tune a rounded, warm demeanor against which the strings emerged, each instrument creating a distinct outline on the stage that was easy to visualize with my eyes closed.

Switching over to the Gold 300 5Gs, there were a couple of notable differences. The most obvious was the inability of the Monitor Audios to match the scale of the SVS towers. When the bass kicks in on “Your Rocky Spine,” it hit me in the chest through the Pinnacles. They produced far more weight in the low frequencies, which in turn made them sound bigger and more visceral. For their part, the Monitor Audios were more incisive. The assorted strings on “Your Rocky Spine” were crisper and more tightly focused through the British towers. This, combined with their reduced bass output relative to the Pinnacles, gave them a cooler character.

The grander scale of the SVS towers relative to the Monitor Audios was again evident on “Glory Bound,” from Martin Sexton’s Black Sheep (16-bit/44.1kHz ALAC, Koch Records). The reverb of Sexton’s acoustic guitar and voice gave the impression that the song had been recorded in a larger hall with higher ceilings, particularly with Sexton’s soaring falsetto. Overall, the American speakers displayed a fuller character—the acoustic guitar sounding a touch warmer—than the leaner-sounding British towers.

Conclusion

Based on my time with the Ultra Evolution Pinnacle, the designers at SVS appear to have crafted another outstanding line of loudspeakers. I was impressed by the flagship’s commendably clean sonics, natural-sounding midrange, and deep, authoritative bass. However, what sets the Pinnacle apart in a fairly saturated loudspeaker marketplace is how much speaker you’re getting for the price. To my knowledge, there aren’t too many loudspeakers from established manufacturers that can boast true full-range performance for $5K. There are even fewer that allow you to return the speakers after 45 days if you don’t like what you hear. With extraordinary value and accomplished sonics, the Ultra Evolution Pinnacle deserves an audition if you’re in the market for loudspeakers to fill a large listening room with sound.

. . . Philip Beaudette
philipb@soundstagenetwork.com

Associated Equipment

• Speakers: Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G
• Subwoofer: SVS SB-4000
• Integrated amplifier: Bryston B135 SST²
• Digital sources: NAD C 565BEE CD player, Bryston BDA-2 DAC, Bluesound Node 2i streamer
• Analog source: Thorens TD 160 HD turntable, Rega Research RB250 tonearm, Sumiko Songbird MC cartridge
• Phono stage: Pro-Ject Audio Systems Phono Box DS3 B and Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply
• Speaker cables: Nirvana Audio Royale, AudioQuest Rocket 88
• Interconnects: Nordost Quattro Fil (RCA), Pro-Ject Connect it Phono RCA-CC, Kimber Kable Tonik (RCA), generic RCA
• Digital links: Esoteric Audio (coaxial), i2Digital X-60 (coaxial)
• Power conditioner: ExactPower EP15A

SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle loudspeaker
Price: $4998 per pair
Warranty: Five years, parts and labor

SVS Inc.
260 Victoria Road
Youngstown, OH 44515
Phone: 1-877-626-5623

Website: www.svsound.com