SVS, The Prime Pinnacle & A New 13 – CES 2019

SVS Prime Pinnacle

A New Floorstander

It’s always a thunderous stop at the SVS room. Focusing on both monster subwoofers and audiophile 2-channel has been the play for the past few years, hence their presence in a Venetian listening room suite at CES this year. The big talking point: a new set of Pinnacle Floorstanders.

The product spread is getting progressively wider for the site-direct company, recently launching a range of wireless prime speaker options as well as filling out the sub line with a the new 3000 series a few months back. During my listening sessions only one of the two 13″ options was ever in play. The sound was plenty for the medium-sized room and both visceral and tight from the DTS demo they had running on a loop.

The New 3000 Series

The 13″ driver comes in two packages ported and closed, similar to some of the other size options from SVS. The closed SB-3000 ($1k) features and all new cone design and is only 15″ cubed in overall size. The ported PB-3000 $1.4k is slightly larger in physical realm, but is capable of lower reach. The internal Sledge amplifier for both models is fully discrete MOSFET with a rated 800 watts RMS, 2.5k peak output.

The upcoming Prime Pinnacle tower lands gingerly between the current Prime ($1k/pair) and Ultra Series ($2k/pair) at $1.5k/pair. Equipped with an all new mid driver, the 3-way design is also rounded out with an aluminum dome tweeter and three 6.5 inch woofers for the low end (prime regular utilizes two).

CES Showtime

A stop-and-chat with SVS’s reps is always welcome break from your typical day at CES, and the surround system on display helps keep the mind sharp to the idea that good sound can come from more than just two channels at a time. The location of sonic sources is always accurate from the multi channel demo, and provides plenty of surprise and dynamics from the fast response of both bass and full range. It’s worth checking out if you happen to attend any of the other (publicly accessible) audio shows across the US that SVS usually makes an appearance at.