Pinnacle Black Diamond BD 1000 Introduction

Pinnacle isn't a name that's been on the Audioholics radar for quite some time.  In fact, it's been nearly 13 years since my love affair with the Pinnacle Classic Gold Aerogel Tower system that at the time impressed me so much that it served as my reference speaker for many years.  Pinnacle says that since 1999 its core market direction has been providing a wide variety of speaker products (over 100) primarily through accredited Custom Installers.  Their line up including speaker bars, ultra compact, high performance powered subwoofers, 3 lines of architectural in-wall/in-ceiling product, 2 lines of speakers in cabinets – all ranging in price from highly affordable to prices for people with virtually unlimited budgets.  Pinnacle proudly points out that they are in their 34^th year and claim to be the 2^nd oldest independently owned and operated speaker company in the United States.  Now, we have rediscovered them through their new Black Diamond series.  This new speaker line developed by Pinnacle is said to offer similar performance characteristics of their older Classic Gold series but in a more modern, compact, elegant cabinet.  Curious to see how Pinnacle progressed over the years, I requested a pair of their entry level towers - the BD 1000's for a formal review and inclusion into our annual speaker face off.  Unfortunately timing wasn't just right for the face off, but I have had plenty of time to focus my attention for this dedicated review. 

Design Overview

The Pinnacle BD 1000s only come in high gloss black, but that's not a bad thing -  especially since they look so elegant.  They feature a non-removable plinth which adds stability to the speaker to prevent tipping and also provides for accessory feet - though only theirs will fit as the threaded holes are larger than I've seen with most accessory items.  Pinnacle supplies solid brass feet with a ball tip on the bottom to prevent damage to hardwood flooring.  They seemed to make the speaker extremely unstable on carpeted floors, so I don’t recommend installing them in those cases.  Pinnacle did inform me that the actual production models have the holes spaced out further than my prototypes to add stability in such cases.  I recommend using the feet when placing these speakers on hard flooring to potentially enhance system bass response by better coupling the cabinet to the floor.

The BD 1000s I received are engineering samples, and the finish wasn't perfect upon close inspection as evident in visible seams across the cabinet. Pinnacle assured me this is not the case with production units.  The Pinnacles are quite a nice looking, unobtrusive speaker, especially with the grille off with the four drivers staring at you.  The grille frame is constructed of MDF instead of the cheap thin plastic you find on many more costly speakers.  The pegs are metallic and grated for a more secure and stable connection.  I hope Pinnacle will eventually move over to magnetic grilles like you see in many of their competitors these days.  The speaker looks much more attractive with the grille off without visible threaded holes.  On the flip side, pegs do offer a more stable grille connection which is an important consideration when the grille is too large or heavy for magnets to properly secure them.

The BD 1000 is considered to be a tower system standing a mere 40" tall.  Because of its slimline profile, it's less imposing than some bookshelf speakers.  Sitting in a listening space, these speakers will likely go unnoticed by most casual observers entering the room.  The back of the BD 1000's are unremarkable.  They have a simple pair of 5-way binding post connections with no provisions for bi-amping or bi-wiring.

The BD 1000 is rated at 8-ohms and has a claimed frequency response of 34Hz to 20kHz (+-3db) with a sensitivity rating of 88dB 1 watt/meter.  This system is a three-way, four element, 4th order front vented design consisting of two 5-1/4" polymer woofers, one 5-1/4" polymer midrange with phase plug, and a 1" horn loaded silk dome tweeter with neodymium magnet.  I'm not a huge fan of neodymium tweeters because they are often thermally limited, but Pinnacle was obviously well aware of this limitation and hence chose a high crossover point (5kHz) to reduce system strain and preserve dynamics.  Though, I couldn't help to wonder if the system would have blended better with a 3/4" dome tweeter instead of the 1" horn loaded dome they chose.  To pull this high crossover point off correctly, Pinnacle would have to use a small enough midrange with high enough usable bandwidth to ensure a seamless blend.  Small drivers require a larger motor structure and add cost.  Large drivers don't do well here but the phase plug does helps to extend bandwidth.

The midrange has a real phase plug and not the fake knock off (quasi-phase plug) popularized by some of the budget European speakers. Those quasi-phase plugs serve no purpose other than cosmetic and can actually hinder performance by providing an inconsistent surface area while also increasing cone mass. Typically, this yields poorer frequency response and linearity.  A real phase plug driver like the one found in the Pinnacle BD 1000's doesn’t move with cone excursions as its not directly connected to the cone.  This allows the driver to extend its usable frequency response by reducing cone mass and decreasing beaming.

    

The woofers are all stamped metal baskets and magnetically shielded though my samples were prototypes and unshielded which is a moot point in this day and age with virtually everyone tossing their bulky CRTs for flatpanel displays.

The crossover consists of a combination of air core and iron core inductors, ceramic resistors to pad down tweeter sensitivity and electrolytic capacitors.  Nothing here stands out as high end or specialty but, as I've found in the past, Pinnacle has a knack for designing good sound with budget components.  The resistors being so closely spaced causes me a little concern with regards to heat but I've seen many speaker manufacturers do this to cut down on PCB board space and cram the crossover into the enclosure.  The cabinet appears to be 1/2" MDF with a 3/4" front baffle and is stuffed with egg carton type foam.  The midrange is in its own enclosure to ensure optimal performance and employs a first order high pass filter.  The midrange still contributes to the overall upper bass output of the system without causing the system impedance to drop at low frequencies.