SVS Prime Tower and Center Loudspeaker Review

SVS Prime Series Speakers Introduction

For the average consumer, a grand for a pair of speakers alone might seem a bit excessive when full "HTiB" systems can be had for the same amount; however, for the seasoned A/V enthusiast, the $1,000/pair mark is an important threshold wherein performance becomes a truly positive experience.

The Prime series are Ohio-based SVS’ latest entry into that price bracket, and represent a more budget-friendly product line from the company’s acclaimed Ultra loudspeakers. As was shown in the SVS Prime Series Preview, the lineup consists of a satellite, a bookshelf, a small tower, and a center.

Design Overview for SVS Prime

Available in either a Black Ash or high-gloss Piano Black finish, the Prime Towers are by most standards a diminutive tower speaker. SVS went with a TMWW design based around a 4” polypropylene midrange featuring an aluminum shorting ring a cast-frame basket. The treble is a beneficiary of trickle-down technology; the aluminum dome tweeter shares its diaphragm and diffuser design with the tweeter from the Ultra line.

The bass is handled by a pair of long-throw 6.5” poly woofers, which also feature aluminum shorting rings. SVS claims over 11mm of excursion, which I presume to be peak-to-peak – that’s really a ton of throw for a 6.5” unit. The Prime Tower utilizes an unusual 3.5-way crossover design – meaning that the lower woofer is rolled off early, effectively contributing in the bass without causing acoustic interference in the blend to the midrange. The tower is rear-ported, so it will expect a few inches of separation from the front wall.

The Prime series’ cabinet shares its aesthetic sense with the upscale Ultra line in its use of angled chamfers. These not only look sleek and futuristic, but along with the neat flush-mounting, serve to minimize edge-diffraction effects in the upper mid and treble frequencies. The midrange driver sits in its own sealed chamber so as not to be modulated by the woofers, and a knock-test revealed a satisfactory thud – a very good sign at this price point.

SVS Prime Front Stage in Piano Gloss

I was excited to give the full Prime front stage a whirl given that SVS has elected to feature a more complex WTMW 3-way design for the Prime Center. Budget oriented lines often use centers with simpler MTM designs, which tend to introduce off-axis response anomalies.

SVS implemented a robust 3.5” polypropylene mid unit to cover the critical midband. One might expect limited output potential from the small driver, but it performs with high linearity and great power handling as a result of its large motor structure. The midrange driver is flanked on either side by a pair of 5.25” mid/woofers, which according to SVS have 9.1mm of Klippel-measured excursion. The center is rear-ported, which might make it a question-mark for certain entertainment-center setups, but it’s an otherwise suitable speaker for typical home theater setups at just under 8” tall, and just over 8” deep.

When setting up the Prime Towers and Center, my biggest complaints regarded the center’s feet. Whereas the towers come with pre-attached adjustable carpet spikes, the included 3mm plastic isolation pads on the center seemed like a hassle to install “optionally”. The excellent piano gloss finish almost necessitated some kind of isolation as positioning a center on any entertainment unit generally requires a bit of “crooked portrait fixing” – I don’t think anyone would want to scratch the glossy underside so soon after purchase.

It really is a professional-grade finish, and deserves the dust-every-week / never-let-it-get-scratched treatment. In fact, I’d say fit-and-finish was spot-on – all drivers were perfectly flush-mounted, and the glossy finish was very consistent throughout.

SVS Prime Tower and Center Loudspeaker Listening Tests

I plugged my robust Crown XLS2000 amplifier into the towers, while my ever-trusty Marantz SR6003 AV receiver handled the center amplification, pre-amplification, and digital-to-analog conversion. All sources were HDMI-based, and all speaker cables were 12 AWG. Unless otherwise stated, all listening was done in “Source Direct” mode with speaker grilles removed.

SVS Prime Tower Top View

Having topped my playlist for the entire week prior to the arrival of the Prime Towers, I eagerly put on “Chikyuugi” from the Saint Seiya SONG BEST album. The Prime Towers really drew me in with their ability to render a cold silence behind the poignant and pristine vocals of Yumi Matsuzawa.

The sense of space was hauntingly convincing, and the width of the sound stage seemingly extended beyond the walls of my room. However, I found that the rolling bass had a slight mid-bass emphasis which was likely due to room acoustics and was only mildly distracting.  I decided to play the track again with the aid of my subwoofer and the towers set to small. This time, the same bass notes were a bit more distinct and in-check. I can’t exactly claim the speakers were the culprit, as room effects in the bass region tend to dominate what we hear, and standing wave modes will mask loudspeaker response.  If placing these speakers near a wall, I recommend experimenting with port plugs to address bass issues. I would have loved to hear these speakers in an acoustically treated listening space to really do justice to their extension!

One of my oft-played albums of 2014 was Saint Vincent, and I had a suspicion its percussive nature would be a nice fit for the bass-rich SVS speakers. “Rattlesnake” produced deep, layered imaging and the speakers revealed a lot of beautiful detail all-around.

The overall sound was nothing short of entrancing. “Prince Johnny” rendered the sense of acoustic space in a mesmerizing fashion – when closing my eyes, I felt as if I was drifting atop a deep ocean of musicality. In “Digital Witness”, the trombones sounded fantastic and were complemented by some of the most beautifully wide-and-tall stereo imaging at any price point. The tweeter seemed to add a certain element of sweetness to the sound that was by no means a negative.

Topping it all off was tactile, punchy bass that filled my large listening space very well. Finally, with “Severed Crossed Fingers” I felt the Prime Towers gave an excellent rendering of the lead vocals, as well as a sense of being in a very live and welcoming acoustic space. The bass in particular seemed to dig deeper than I expected from such compact floorstanding speakers. I was impressed that I was hearing all of this fantastic bass from a pair of towers costing under $1k/pair!

I then put on “The Unravelling” by The Roots from their latest album, And then you shoot your cousin. This track truly stood out on the Prime Towers as being haunting – the tweeter seemed to evoke an ethereal effect which seemed to float around behind the speakers. Now I’ll admit, usually when a specific driver draws enough attention to itself, I might begin to suspect there’s something wrong somewhere, but it sure didn’t sound offensive to me.

I next wanted to see how the SVS Primes could deliver an epic feel. There is a track which accompanies and defines perhaps the most epic opening sequence ever to grace a video game, and that track is Nobuo Uematsu’s “Liberi Fatali” from Final Fantasy VIII. I felt the midrange did begin to lose composure at high volumes, resulting in a loss of instrumental distinction. I guess that’s the limitation of a 4” midrange on a value-priced product. On the other hand, bottom-and-top-end crescendos surprised me greatly for the price point – these are a pretty dynamic loudspeaker regardless of their price point.

Considering the dynamics, I was excited to test out Chopin’s “Winter Wind”, as recorded in the soundtrack for Your Lie in April. The low keys on the accompanying piano were present with aplomb, but it was the violin which truly shone. Dynamics were incredible, with the tweeter seemingly never straining on even the most intense passages with crests exceeding 100dB. The violin wasn't without some coloration, but it was inoffensive at worst and in many ways highlighted a sense of acoustic space within the recording. It was easy to simply get lost within the enormity of the sound stage presented by the Prime Towers. The sound edged towards bright, but limited itself to just the threshold where "sweet" best defines the sound. And oh, how sweet it was. Every note was resolved without missing a beat.

When I listened to this speaker's sibling Ultra series last year, “Baf Baf – Do you love being so… fired up?” by Taku Iwasaki was one of the select tracks that failed to blow me away, but I decided to give it a go on the Prime Towers. What I discovered was that the track sounded pretty pleasant overall, but at the same time there were details and energy not quite present, which might be there on speakers costing five to six times as much. It's clear that SVS has done a fantastic job in making a speaker hit a key price point, but it's also clear where the limits of said price point lie. On the flip-side, the warm and soothing tonality was forever-listenable, seeming never to approach that threshold where detail becomes harshness.  Again, few speakers (if any) at this price point offer such well composed, and high output performance.

One issue I did however find was that with stereo television sources (notably an NHL/NBA games and Gotham’s “Harvey Dent” episode), the Prime Towers sometimes added a forward emphasis to them; however, it’s not atypical for quality loudspeakers to reveal flaws in poor recording material. This characteristic certainly wasn’t evident on well-recorded musical sources.  Do try to feed these speakers the best quality source material possible, especially when trying to impress your friends.

Having done a decent amount of listening to music on the towers in stereo mode, it was time to put the full three-channel front stage through its paces. This autumn, I’ve been following a series called Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. Its opening sequence was not only tight and punchy, but the center delivered awesome lead vocals coupled with a vivid guitar. As the episode began, the soundtrack was rendered gracefully, with instrument placement that only a discrete three-channel setup can provide. I decided to sit in the “far-off-axis seat” to see if the WTMW design worked as intended; and I found that I could barely, if at all perceive a difference in sound character at that seat. The center anchored clear vocals with a seamless transition from left-to-center-to-right. However, I did seem to detect a hint of upper-frequency emphasis at times.

I also had the pleasure of experiencing the DTS-HD Master track of X-men: Days of Future Past at near-reference levels through this front stage. Vocals kept a composed tonality and high level of clarity even at the high SPLs demanded by the highly dynamic mix and score. In the scene where Quicksilver was bouncing around the room, I felt the three SVS fronts had zero difficulty blending in with my EMP E5Bi surround speakers – a solid indication of good neutrality considering the difference in brand and design.

Watching sporting events on my HDTV revealed how the SVS speakers could render poor source material with less than stellar results.  While the sound of the puck, the slam of every hit, and even the gliding of skates were rendered superbly against a black background, every time an announcer would make an “S” sound, I found myself remembering the speakers. While some recordings have an inherently high level of microphone-induced sibilance, speakers should mitigate the effect where possible. Avoiding toe-in and making use of the included speaker grilles would certainly quell this issue and again, a poor source can often lead to lesser sound even through good speakers. 

SVS Prime Tower and Center Loudspeaker Measurements and Analysis

The measurements were taken as per the Audioholics Loudspeaker Measurements Standard.

  

SVS Prime Tower On-Axis Frequency Response

Sensitivity of the Prime Towers sits just around 87dB/2.83v at 1 meter which is exactly how SVS rated them. on-axis frequency response at 1 meter from the speaker shows roughly a +/-3db variation and exceptional extension all the way down to around 30Hz - which given the enclosure-size, driver-size, sensitivity, and price-point is quite an accomplishment. Overall the response appears linear, but with a slight peaking in the treble from 4kHz to 8kHz which may partly explain the occasional mild sibilance that I heard with certain program material.

SVS Prime Center On-Axis Frequency Response

The Prime Center’s sensitivity isn’t actually much lower than the tower, at about 1dB less, and the frequency response is free of the treble spike found in the tower. I think that with its extension, this speaker could probably get away with some port plugs for blending to a subwoofer where placement might be an issue.

Next, the listening window response was measured. This evaluates the frequency response at +/- 30 degrees horizontally off axis, +/- 15 degrees off-axis horizontally and vertically, as well as the on-axis frequency response.

SVS Prime Tower Listening Window Frequency Response

For a stereo speaker, rarely is the listener sitting directly on-axis. The listening window response shows the general response in the forward direction at angles correlating to typical seating positions. The top curve is an average of the seven angles and shows a mostly flat spectral response, with a somewhat forward emphasis overall. The horizontal response is symmetrical, as the loudspeaker layout is symmetrical. The crossover-induced response dip seen in the 15-degrees below-axis measurement is not only in the Tower, but the center as well – so if you need to place your center above the television, make sure to flip it upside down and tilt it towards the listening area.

SVS Prime Tower Polar Frequency Response

The polar contour map is an examination of off-axis frequency response at various angles 7.5 degrees apart. Since most rooms provide reverberant sound, it is preferable for late-arriving reflections to resemble the direct response. The Prime Tower shows good off-axis linearity, however the slightly elevated tweeter voicing is evident as the large red zone.

SVS Prime Tower Polar – Effect of Grille

In its spec sheet, SVSound suggests the grille being acoustically transparent and FEA-optimized to minimize diffraction. My observation based on this contour map is that the grille does appear to successfully reduce excess treble energy to an extent, but its frame does introduce diffraction effects. That’s not a knock on the grille design though; it’s just physics.  You can’t ever have a 100% transparent grille - or as Scotty would put it, “you can’t change the laws of physics”.

SVS Prime Tower Impedance vs Frequency

The spec sheet claims a nominal 8-ohm load - but the impedance of the Prime Tower does drop to about 4 ohms over portions of the bandwidth (100Hz to 250Hz).  As such, this speaker should be mated to a high quality AVR that is stable in 4 ohms or a separate power amplifier to perform its best. My XLS2000 did not appear to show any strain driving the Prime Towers, for what it’s worth. The saddle in the bass shows the port tuning-point to be roughly 36Hz

SVS Prime Center Impedance vs Frequency

The Prime Center is an easier load than the tower, but it does have ~3-ohm impedance dip just below 1kHz, but that shouldn’t give a high quality AVR any problems.   My receiver did not appear to strain driving the load at reasonably loud SPLs, which may be helped by the fact that the electrical phase angles are benign. The bass saddle indicates a tuning frequency of approximately 46Hz.

SVS Prime Tower Harmonic Distortion @ 90db @ 2m

Harmonic distortion components are well under control with the correct ordering of predominantly lower order components and progressively less higher-order. It’s clear the aluminum shorting rings in the woofers are doing their job throughout the range, and the crossover is well-implemented for superior power handling. This relates well to the speaker’s ability to render a clean and resolving reproduction during dynamic passages.

SVS Prime Tower Cumulative Spectral Decay

CSD, or Cumulative Spectral Decay, is a three-dimensional plot derived from the loudspeaker’s impulse response which can highlight issues. The towers exhibit an almost picture-perfect “waterfall” graph free of any ringing or other anomalies. This indicates quality driver design and selection, solid cabinet construction, and smart crossover design.

SVS Prime Towers Group Delay

Group delay is the rate of change of the slope of phase. As a rule of thumb, values below 1.6ms in the mid-to-high frequencies will likely not affect sound quality perception. Increasing group delay in the low frequencies is not as objectionable as it is in the mid to high frequency ranges.

SVS Prime Tower and Center Loudspeaker Conclusion

SVS joins a very competitive budget-driven market with its Prime series loudspeakers. Between the perceptually huge soundstage, a 45-day trial period, furniture-grade aesthetics, and clean reproduction, it’s tough to fault anyone considering them, and I expect them regularly show in forum recommendations.

SVS Prime Towers (Grilles Removed)

As with any speaker in this price class, they’re not quite flawless but they do get more things right than virtually any of their competition at this price point. They have gobs of bass extension, can play ungodly loud and remain clean in doing so. They need a quality A/V receiver to sound their best, but that’s virtually a given with high-performance tower systems.

I highly recommend the SVS Prime speakers for anyone looking to break into the first true threshold of fidelity-driven sound reproduction without breaking the bank.  It’s reassuring to know you have well-engineered loudspeakers that are built with quality components, from a company with unparalleled customer support and service.

You will enjoy many years of problem-free performance from SVS, and it would be a safe bet to say that the Prime series loudspeakerrs will have no difficulty keeping up their famous subwoofers.  Remember, if you let anyone know of how little you paid for these high-quality towers and center, they’re going to sell their “HtiB” too. This level of performance is no longer the domain of boutique brands costing two to three times as much!

SVS Prime Tower & Center Review
MSRP: $499.99/ea and $349.99/ea

 SVSound
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The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value