They tried to deliver the speakers when I was out of town over Thanksgiving. When I got back, I had the "Tomorrow is the last chance before we send them back" notice (not a happy camper). I called UPS and arranged to pick them up the day after the last delivery attempt. On my way home from picking up my son, I saw the UPS guy driving away from my neighborhood and quickly flagged him down. It was raining but I gladly offered to pick them up from him right there and then... until I saw the size of the boxes. "Umm..." was all I could say as I contemplated how I was going to explain to my wife that I let my little one walk home in the rain just so I could get the speakers home one day sooner. Luckily, the driver must have caught what I was thinking because he offered to turn around and deliver them for me. Whew! Another potential "grounds for divorce" argument avoided.
After two delivery attempts, the boxes were pretty thrashed, but luckily everything was really well packed. The subwoofer was double boxed and the speakers were completely encased in Styrofoam. SVS was also kind enough to supply me with a couple of stands (the same as the ones displayed on the website with the speakers). This box had taken a severe beating as well, but once again nothing was really damaged.
Opening the subwoofer, I found it to be internally braced across the middle and corners and the box was lined with fiberglass insulation. The port was flared at both sides and extended over a foot into the enclosure. If you shine a light down the port, you can see the back of the amp. The sub is constructed out of 1" MDF at the front and 3/4" everywhere else with rounded corners. The fronts/surrounds are a sealed design constructed out of 15mm (close to 5/8") MDF and also possessing rounded corners. The woofers have a glued down trim ring giving the front a very clean look. Inside, the enclosure was filled with polyfill and seemed to be very well put together. Personally, I was surprised at the weight of the surrounds as they were heavier than I expected. The center was similar except for an extra woofer making it almost twice the size of the surrounds. The grills were all very sturdy and attached via chrome posts.
The subwoofer was equipped with six "compliant floor isolation points" aka - plastic spikes. They looked to be suitable for either short pile carpet or hardwood floors (they weren't sharp). In my longer pile carpet they just sank in. They are removable and threaded such that they can be replaced with more traditional metal spikes if one desired. The provided stands were black and easily assembled. They too were equipped with plastic spikes (also not sharp but much more tapered and longer). I imagine that they would have worked effectively if I could have installed them. I could fit none of the spikes (they were not threaded, simply push in) into the provided holes. The bases were large enough that they were plenty sturdy and I had no fear of them tipping over (even with a 2.5 year old running rampant). There was an installable plastic masking system to "hide" the wires but a hole in the front suggested that you not use brightly colored speaker wire. When I first assembled the stands I was sure they were too tall but even in a reclined position, they brought the tweeter to the proper ear height.
