I have had these speakers for over a week now. I decided to summarize my impressions in one post:
PACKING: The SBS-01 5.1 set comes in 2 boxes, sub in one and 5 speakers in the other. The packing is very good and all arrived safely
APPEARANCE: The speakers are finished like the sub. The Black textured finish looks professional with no seam lines. A nice touch is the woofer has a trim ring that hides the screws making for a nice look with the grills off.
CONSTRUCTION: These are very solid cabinets. At all listening levels, I detected no hint of a boxy sound. The sub is heavy and well built. The speaker grills are nicely formed and feel sturdy. The pins are substantial. The tweeter's dome material is clear and presents an unusual visual of the magnet. I keep the grills off as: 1) I like the look, and, 2) they are high enough not to be disturbed. The binding posts are heavy plastic and feel strong. They come with a key hole and threaded speaker mount screws.
SOUND: If I had to use one word to describe these speakers it would be "clear". When listening to these speakers, I get the feeling that the actor is in the room. The male and female voices are as clear as I have heard. There is no sibilance in the female voice, and, no beefy, chesty mid-bass overemphasis in the male voice. What there is is an amazing balance of sound that presents a flat, neutral, even sound front. As voices pan from left to right, there is no noticeable differentiation of which speaker is carrying the sound.
MUSIC: My, how fun it is to have the speakers disappear in the room! The stereo imaging is top notch. The sound stage is completely dependent on the quality of the source. And, yes, there is a 3-dimensionality of the sound. Nuances of sound are clean and clear. Breathing, stage, background, music shuffling, and other extraneous sounds are heard along with the realistic sound of the music. They especially convey the human voice. The balance between the sub and the mains is seamless with not a boom in the bass. It is easy to distinguish which instrument is playing and where it is on the stage, left to right, and, front to back. Even off-axis listening is great.
HOME THEATER: Do whatever you can to listen to these speakers reproduce the lightning strikes at the beginning of War of the Worlds! What you will hear is a bone chilling event that will stay with you a long time. Then listen to the alien tripod coming out of the ground. When the SUV gets blown out of the hole and onto the top of the car, you will hear each and every sound the editors put in the sound track, and, you will duck for fear of getting glass in your eyes! As you play your usual DVD testing movies, you will hear a balance that is uncanny and lots of fun. The evenness of these speakers, and, their smooth transition with the sub, is going to make these the speakers of choice in their price range. My only question is: how is SVS going to improve on these speakers?
CONCLUSION: It has been my great joy to be the first customer to own these speakers, and, I will without hesitation recommend them to all. SVS has a great return policy, so, go ahead, buy these and test them in your home. Are they the best speakers on the planet? I have no idea, I haven't heard every speaker on the planet. I have, however, heard a fair amount of speakers in the home theater environment, some less expensive, and, some more expensive, and a few that cost over $20,000 for the front two speakers. How do the SVS's compare, well, let me put it this way: The law of diminishing returns applies here. Do the $20,000 speakers sound 20 times better than the SVS's. Not in my opinion.
You will have to make the decision to purchase these speakers yourself. I am fronting my opinion, others will give their's. Time will tell if these are as good as I have reviewed them. I can wholeheartedly recommend these speakers.
Dennis
PACKING: The SBS-01 5.1 set comes in 2 boxes, sub in one and 5 speakers in the other. The packing is very good and all arrived safely
APPEARANCE: The speakers are finished like the sub. The Black textured finish looks professional with no seam lines. A nice touch is the woofer has a trim ring that hides the screws making for a nice look with the grills off.
CONSTRUCTION: These are very solid cabinets. At all listening levels, I detected no hint of a boxy sound. The sub is heavy and well built. The speaker grills are nicely formed and feel sturdy. The pins are substantial. The tweeter's dome material is clear and presents an unusual visual of the magnet. I keep the grills off as: 1) I like the look, and, 2) they are high enough not to be disturbed. The binding posts are heavy plastic and feel strong. They come with a key hole and threaded speaker mount screws.
SOUND: If I had to use one word to describe these speakers it would be "clear". When listening to these speakers, I get the feeling that the actor is in the room. The male and female voices are as clear as I have heard. There is no sibilance in the female voice, and, no beefy, chesty mid-bass overemphasis in the male voice. What there is is an amazing balance of sound that presents a flat, neutral, even sound front. As voices pan from left to right, there is no noticeable differentiation of which speaker is carrying the sound.
MUSIC: My, how fun it is to have the speakers disappear in the room! The stereo imaging is top notch. The sound stage is completely dependent on the quality of the source. And, yes, there is a 3-dimensionality of the sound. Nuances of sound are clean and clear. Breathing, stage, background, music shuffling, and other extraneous sounds are heard along with the realistic sound of the music. They especially convey the human voice. The balance between the sub and the mains is seamless with not a boom in the bass. It is easy to distinguish which instrument is playing and where it is on the stage, left to right, and, front to back. Even off-axis listening is great.
HOME THEATER: Do whatever you can to listen to these speakers reproduce the lightning strikes at the beginning of War of the Worlds! What you will hear is a bone chilling event that will stay with you a long time. Then listen to the alien tripod coming out of the ground. When the SUV gets blown out of the hole and onto the top of the car, you will hear each and every sound the editors put in the sound track, and, you will duck for fear of getting glass in your eyes! As you play your usual DVD testing movies, you will hear a balance that is uncanny and lots of fun. The evenness of these speakers, and, their smooth transition with the sub, is going to make these the speakers of choice in their price range. My only question is: how is SVS going to improve on these speakers?
CONCLUSION: It has been my great joy to be the first customer to own these speakers, and, I will without hesitation recommend them to all. SVS has a great return policy, so, go ahead, buy these and test them in your home. Are they the best speakers on the planet? I have no idea, I haven't heard every speaker on the planet. I have, however, heard a fair amount of speakers in the home theater environment, some less expensive, and, some more expensive, and a few that cost over $20,000 for the front two speakers. How do the SVS's compare, well, let me put it this way: The law of diminishing returns applies here. Do the $20,000 speakers sound 20 times better than the SVS's. Not in my opinion.
You will have to make the decision to purchase these speakers yourself. I am fronting my opinion, others will give their's. Time will tell if these are as good as I have reviewed them. I can wholeheartedly recommend these speakers.
Dennis
