Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers Floorstanding Speakers

Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers Floorstanding Speakers 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 57  
[Nov 08, 2020]
flaco 69


Strength:

I didn't find anything good about them

Weakness:

The sound quality was not very good all the way around and not built very good the box started to come apart

Price Paid:
150
Purchased:
Used  
OVERALL
RATING
2
[Dec 30, 2018]
pike28457


Strength:

Simply amazing..the engineering that went into these can't be touched by anything under 3k. I have a set for sale for 400 call me 910 859 3166

Weakness:

The only weakness these have is not being able to crank em up.

Price Paid:
1350
Purchased:
New  
Model Year:
2010
OVERALL
RATING
5
[Jan 29, 2016]
JJ
Audio Enthusiast

As an audio enthusiast, I have owned and listened to many speakers. Vintage JBL, Thiel, Vandersteen, Dunlavy, B&W, Merlin, Silverline, Meadowlark, Martin Logan, Acoustat, Magnepan, Usher, Definitive Technology, Infinity, Polk, Bose, and recently PSB Gold and Pinnacle CGT. For the money that I spent, this is the best value, period.

Among all above speakers, I currently have the Dunlavy, Merlin, Magnepan, and CGT at home.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 05, 2006]
lenhoffcpa@yahoo.com
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Vocals, precision, dynamic range, staging.

Weakness:

If you like wood you have to learn to like vinyl. Redecorate around these beauties.

So I discovered EBAY has stereo equipment and bought a pair of Bose 601's Meanwhile I bid $120 on these and nobody else bid. I really didn't know them but saw good reviews. This is an incredible speaker. I am using an 18 year old NAD amp with 50 watts and only turn the dial to 9 o'clock. The bass is very nice althtough I'm experimenting with other amps for the first time in 18 years. Vocals on these from Mick Jagger to Chrissy Hynde and Natasha St. Pier are fantastic. Horowitz's violins are beautiful as are Niel Young's guitars. The fullness of sound without harshness is amazing at the price. (see the Julian Hirsh review on the Pinnacle web site).

Similar Products Used:

Go find them under $2000

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 25, 2002]
Steve in Az
AudioPhile

Strength:

- get better with age - deep, distortion free bass - intricate highs/mids

Weakness:

- cheesy finish

After having these speakers for more than a year, I can suggest some set-up ideas. Try placing them at least 24" from any side obstruction and 8" from the back wall with 1" of toe-in on each side. Place them around 8-10' apart for best soundstaging. The longer I own these speakers, the more I like them. Try Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable and bi-wire them. This is a perfect combination of cable/speaker. Try the Type 4 with the CGT's, you'll be glad you did.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 22, 2002]
Udo Dirkschnieder
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Bass, even though the woofer frames aren't cast, It's tight. High's stay "airy" even at high voulume, which I is where I usually am.

Weakness:

Could be just a tad more present in the midrange. They are sensitive to room placement. They need to be away from the wall. (Not really a weakness, just an observation)

This is an update to my previous post. I've now had these speakers for about a year and in 3 different listening areas. I've decided I like them more now than I did before. I still think the midrange could be better, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why Pinnacle put the awesome Audax mid in with the dual 6.5" but NOT in the dual 8" CGT's. Despite the isolation cones, mine sounded best when I had them elevated. I didn't think bi-wiring would help, but I just built cables yesterday and though I haven't had a chance to fully exercise them...I noticed a difference. The highs went the direction of a soft dome sound, and the bass "seemed" to be a little less muddy. I recommend about a foot of elevation and bi-wiring. I'm happy I bought them, I just wish they'd put the Audax in em! I haven't heard the Wharfdale Vladus 500's, but they seem to be the latest hot cheap floorstander, and from all I've read I'll bet these Pinnacles blow them away.

Similar Products Used:

None similar

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 19, 2000]
Chaz Kelvin
Audiophile

Strength:

Sound is balanced and full at low and loud listening levels. Bass is stellar. Easily $2000 plus sound Beautiful black wood cabinets and great workmanship

Weakness:

None

First of all, any speaker will sound its best only with great receivers. Use a midrange or cheap receiver and great speakers will sound good and good speakers will sound bad. I am a Harmon Kardon lover and that's it. find the clean high current signal does a speaker justice. I just received a new pair of towers from ubid at 179 each and it is a great steal. Home theater is much more forgiving in sound than music in traditional stereo. I believe average speakers can carry most movies well with a descent receiver. The real test is putting a CD on and really listening. These speakers reproduce music, soundstage, and placement of instruents as well as I have heard in any speaker under 4000 a pair. One tip
get a good sub and cut at 40 crossover.
You will have heavenly balanced rich base and the rest of the speaker will carry mids and highs. I give 5 stars for delivering above and beyond.

Similar Products Used:

Too many to mention

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 15, 2000]
Eric
Casual Listener

Strength:

excellent base, clear, clean sound, exceptional value.

Weakness:

Only style is black.

I bought these through Egghead a couple of weeks ago, and must say that I was quite impressed with these speakers right out of the box (and look forward to listenng to them after the break-in period). I have them hooked up to a Kenwood K-9600 receiver (160 watts per channel), and the sound is fantastic. I was concerned by the comments relating to harsh sounding highs, but have not noticed it. I have played everything from Rock, to Jazz, to Classical, and each style has been showcased by these speakers.

I am nobodies audiophile, but these are the best sounding speakers I have ever owned, and I would definitely reccommend them.

They are pretty big, so beware if you are putting them in a small space.

Similar Products Used:

Dhalquist

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 05, 2000]
Ryan Fajardo
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Imaging, good reproduction of all frequencies, construction, brass feet.

Weakness:

Bass can get out of control if tone controls are used (I use a tone bypass and have found that the bass reproduction is excellent). The finish - the vinyl is OK, but come on, wood veneers would make these look stunning.

I can't believe Pinnacle is giving these speakers away at $400 per pair at Egghead. I paid $850 for mine (shipped to my door) in 1998, and I thought that was an incredible value. I sure hope that there is a model change or something in the works to explain this, because this price is really degrading to this speaker's quality.

I had a great experience with Pinnacle's Arctic 2's, a pair of bookshelf speakers that I bought in 1995. Not many people have heard of these, but they are excellent (and with a beautiful high gloss black finish). When I went looking for a floor standing speaker, I made sure to check the Pinnacles out. After comparison to the above models, I found that the CGT's outperformed the Paradigm models in about every way. Their soundstage and imaging were as good as the B&W's (the ones I looked at were about $1800 per pair) and bass reproduction was better defined and more powerful (you have to be careful with your tone controls with these speakers because bass can get away from you in a hurry - use a tone bypass if you have one to really see what the bass response on these speakers can be - tight and accurate power). Similarly, bass was superior to the NHT 2.5i's, however, in this case I felt the NHT's to be superior in high frequency clarity and imaging (their price was also quite superior!).

For what these speakers are - a $1000 per pair list speaker that can be had as low as (gag) $400 - they are truly excellent. The finish could be better, and there is no question that there are better speakers, you'd just have to spend a lot more to get them.

My system consists of:
Yamaha CDC-735 CD player (right now as a transport)
Yamaha DSP-A2 (pre-amp - I'm currently using the DAC's in this unit, which are fairly good)
Rotel RB-985 mkII (amplifier)
Bettercables speaker cables
Straightwire Encore II interconnects

My Pinnacles have been good enough to allow me to hear each subtle change I've made to this system over the years, including speaker cable, interconnects and the addition of an external amplifier. Also, as with any speaker that uses a metal tweeter, the Pinnacles will sound a touch bright until they are broken in (once done so, however, you'll find that their high frequency reproduction is as good as the bass.)

Similar Products Used:

B&W 600 series (two years ago), NHT super one, NHT 2.5i, Paradigm Monitor 5 and Monitor 7

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 20, 2000]
David Arthur
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

I listen to everything from metal to jazz and these speakers do it all very well.Also fantastic as fronts in surround mode. bottom end is tight and very expressive.

Weakness:

none

I purchased my set over three years ago and i glad to see a lot of other people are starting to jump on the pinnacle band wagon. when i bought these i auditioned them against everythig under the roof at "incredible universe" and simply put they went heads up with much more expensive speakers and blew away everything in their price range, case closed. No problem with the high end either? my set up includes : denon avr 3300 reciever
denon dvm 3700 dvd player
pinnacle wide screen center four - 4inch drivers
and one 1-inch tweeter(great sounding too)
polk rt35's for rears.
here's a little trick (espically for denon users)go to set up change the setting (fronts and sub) -- (sub only) , to sub only and set crossover to 70hz on sub. now put your favorite music cd in and listen. dont try this in surround mode. drop me a line and tell me if you think this sounds as good as i do , or i'm tone def. welcome aboard new pinnacle fans.
ps: egghead.com have these up for bid at 199.00 each and the center channel for 99.00. could be the best 500.00 you ever spent!

Similar Products Used:

bose and polk.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 57  

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