SVS Ultra Bookshelf wide sound-stage

Superb clarity, classy looks, a wide sound-stage and an unbelievable low end. The SVS Ultra is the Best Bookshelf speaker.

It might be one of the least expensive in the group, but it promises a lot for the money Sporting a gloss black cabinet that’s been crafted into an unusual and interesting wedge shape, the Ultra has a single 25 mm aluminium dome tweeter and 165mm composite glass fibre mid  bass driver bolted flush to its front baffle. Meanwhile, its Sound Match two-way crossover employs premium grade capacitors, air-core inductors and heavy-trace printed circuit boards. The cabinet’s use of non-parallel panels is said to reduce standing waves.

 It’s an attractive look and comes in a choice of white or black piano gloss or real black oak veneer. Our black review sample seems extremely well finished at the price, although the cabinet is a little more resonant than most when you rap it with your knuckle. Still, it’s a neat design – even down to the classy looking grille. The bass reflex port around the back means you can’t ram the Ultra as close to the rear wall as you’d like, although it’s the second easiest to drive after the JBL. Its 87dB/1W/1m sensitivity ensures you shouldn’t have any issues matching to any amplifier offering over 50W RMS per channel. Sound quality Although the joint cheapest here, the Ultra quickly shows its big heart, wide sound-stage and ‘get-up-and-go’ attitude from the off. It’s less detailed than most and a bit more colored, yet still gives away little in terms of fun.

 Cheap and cheerful is a useful epithet, but it’s certainly not meant in a negative way. The designer has voiced this baby box very carefully given the limited budget, with the aim of making an involving and sunny sound that will work in a wide range of lower end systems.

- Reference bookshelf speakers with flawless tonal balance, stunning dynamics, unveiled highs and amazing low frequency extension. The Ultra Bookshelf speakers perform in the echelon of the world’s finest audiophile and home theater loudspeakers, yet cost a fraction of the price.

- 6.5-inch mid-bass drivers feature composite glass-fiber cones that yield excellent stiffness to mass ratio for enhanced sensitivity and voicing that’s transparent and completely faithful to the source material. 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter is light, efficient, and rigid, and plays crystal clear at high volumes. The clarity offers a sense of transparency, while offering an ‘airy’ presentation so vocals, dialogue and musical content always sound crisp, smooth and natural.

- A proprietary SVS Sound Match 2–way crossover enhanced by expertly refined topology ensures accurate frequency response and silky-smooth transitions between drivers as well as pinpoint imaging and phase coherency.

- Every feature on the Ultra Bookshelf speaker cabinet is designed with a sonic purpose in mind. Tapered edges on the cabinet’s front baffle, known as chambers, minimize edge diffraction for clear and precise sound-staging. Internally, each cabinet employs separate sub-enclosures of the mid-bass driver and tweeter to optimize performance and minimize interaction between drive units.