An upswept trapezoidal shape and horizontally-opposed dual woofer array are highlights of SVS’ flagship floorstanding speaker, which comes with an audition-friendly 45-day in-home trial.
SVS just released their flagship, Ultra Series Tower Speakers, which feature a performance driven trapezoidal form factor and countless sonic science-inspired design elements and materials. A non-parallel cabinet panel was used to reduce standing waves within the cabinet, effectively eliminating frequency response colorations. The wedge-shaped front baffle and flush-mounted drivers reduce edge diffraction and also improve on-axis high-frequency response. Internally, each cabinet employs two separate sealed midrange enclosures to optimize performance and minimize negative interaction between drivers.
While the unique trapezoid shape grabs attention immediately, the internal engineering of SVS’ Ultra Series Towers is what makes the Ultra Series an amazing audio experience. For low-frequency performance, SVS engineered the ForceFactor woofer array, with two 8-inch drivers horizontally opposed to eliminate cabinet vibrations, reduce distortion and provide cleaner, tighter bass response. Since the Ultra Tower’s trapezoidal shape results in non-parallel surfaces-which serves to reduce standing waves within the cabinets themselves-each of the four UltraSonic woofers also fires in different directions into the room, reducing frequency response deviations throughout the listening space, and ensuring more consistent, powerful and accurate bass performance no matter where listeners are seated.
Not to be outdone by the woofer’s bark, the Ultra Series’ dual 6.5″ midrange drivers feature composite glass-fiber cones yielding excellent stiffness/mass ratio which improves sensitivity and maintains pistonic behavior well beyond the pass-band of the driver. Other performance enhancing engineering techniques include: a vented voice coil former to minimize air compression artifacts when the speakers are being flexed, an aluminum shorting ring to reduce gap inductance, lower distortion and improve high frequency response, and a cast aluminum basket to ensure precise alignment of critical components and enhance heat-sinking capacity.
Since a driver is only as good as its transitions between lows, mids and highs, SVS’ SoundMatch 3.5-way crossover is another engineering win. With a tapered array only the top midrange crosses over to the tweeter, while the bottom midrange is tapered to minimize the potential for off-axis lobing at the critical midrange-to-tweeter crossover frequency. The result is a smoother in-room frequency response and enhanced radiation of total sound power, along with a more generous sweet spot in the vertical axis for a convincing and stable sound stage.
“Though they are not inexpensive, the Ultra Speakers deliver on the promise that world-class audio experiences can be had by a wider audience than ever before,” said Gary Yacoubian, SVS president and managing partner. “I keep coming back to what we experienced when we debuted the speakers at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. All these folks were walking around the show’s halls, experiencing ultra high-end systems they could never even consider purchasing. Then they walked into our room, where such wonderful experiences were actually available for normal people like them to acquire. This is the SVS vision and the Ultra speakers serve it beautifully!”
Specifications
- 1” aluminum dome tweeter utilizes an FEA-optimized diffuser
- 6.5″ midrange composite glass-fiber cone driver
- Dual 8″ side-firing horizontally opposed Ultrasonic woofers
- 3.5″ wide-flared rear-firing port.
- Rated bandwidth: 28 Hz-32 kHz (+/-3 dB).
- Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
- Sensitivity: 88 dB (2.83V @ 1 meter full-space, 300-3kHz).
- 3.5-way crossover with premium-grade capacitors
- Recommended amplifier power: 20-300 watts.
- Dual gold-plated 5-way binding posts.
- Piano gloss black finish.
- Dimensions: 45″ (H) X 13.8″ (W) X 16.25″ (D).
- Weight: 75.4 pounds.
Price and Availability
SVS Ultra Series Tower Loudspeakers are available now $2,000 per pair. SVS offers a risk-free 45-day in-home trial, with free shipping both ways whether purchased online or at retail
