Podcast #1143: SVS Officially Launches the Ultra evolution Line

On this week’s show SVS officially launches their Ultra Evolution Speakers, Amazon Echo Dot with LED Display is the best home automation device, and RTINGS.com is not impressed with the Formovie UST Projector. We also read your emails and take a look at the week’s news.

News:

One-in-ten borrow streaming passwords Warner Sets Rollout Date for Max in Europe Mediacom Launches Xumo Stream Box TCL Adds NFL FAST Channel to TCLtv Plus Streaming Service

Other:

Apple TV+ Is the New HBO | WIRED SVS Launches Ultra Evolution Speakers

We had Nick Brown and Smith Freeman on the live stream last Friday where we talked about the speakers and had a fun time. At that time we could not discuss all the details of their new Ultra Evolution speakers. Well this week SVS announced the availability and pricing.

From the Press Release:

At first glance, the most striking design feature is the acoustically centered time alignment cabinet architecture. A curve in the front baffle aligns the sound emanation point of the tweeter and each driver on a vertical plane ensuring sound from each driver arrives at a listener’s ear in the exact same instant. This maximizes phase coherence for a more convincing and immersive soundstage with pinpoint accuracy and imaging.

For the tower models specifically, midrange drivers and woofers positioned above and below the tweeter allow for seamless crossover blending to create an idealized “point-source” where sound flows from a single point in front of the speaker to optimize dispersion characteristics.

The diamond-coated aluminum dome tweeter is also completely new for SVS. Using a modern  technology called vapor deposition, a layer of diamond carbon is grown on the surface of the aluminum dome to improve rigidity and critical acoustic properties. This breakthrough in material science raises the frequency response well beyond the limits of human hearing resulting in effortless, airy, and unveiled highs with no measurable distortion. It also pushes low frequency extension of the tweeter deeper for more seamless blending with the midrange.

Details and pricing on the new models are included below.  

Ultra Evolution Pinnacle: 3-way floorstanding speaker - $4,999.98/pair Ultra Evolution Titan: 3-way floorstanding speaker - $3,999.98/pair Ultra Evolution Tower: 3-way floorstanding speaker - $2,999.98/pair   Ultra Evolution Bookshelf: 2-way bookshelf speaker - $1,199.98/pair Ultra Evolution Nano: Compact 2-way bookshelf speaker - $899.98/pair Ultra Evolution Center: 3-way center channel speaker - $799.99 Ultra Elevation: Versatile home theater speaker with multi-angle wall/ceiling mounting bracket - $899.98/pair  

Ultra Evolution Nano and Ultra Evolution Tower models will ship later in Q2.

Finish options will be limited at launch. All models will soon be available in Piano Gloss Black, Piano Gloss White, and Premium Black Oak Wood Veneer finishes.

All SVS products are backed by a five-year unconditional warranty, 45-day in-home trial, fast and free shipping, expert lifetime support, SoundPoints loyalty program, and all the guarantees of the SVS Customer Bill of Rights.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock Best Smart Home Device Overall?

I was reading an article on Tom’s Guide titled “The best smart home devices in 2024” and saw that they deemed the Amazon Echo Dot with Clock ($50) as the best smart home device overall. I wondered why? Once you dive in, you can see how they got there. From the article:

The name says it all: this is an Echo Dot with a clever LED clock built in its face. However, this seemingly simple addition adds a ton of functionality to the Echo Dot, making an even better smart home companion. In fact, we wish more smart home companies took Amazon's cue and make minor — yet effective — enhancements to already excellent devices.

I started searching online and found other reviewers saying the same thing. The Dot does everything you’d expect a device of this type to do but it's the LED that sets it apart from its competition. And if you read some of the 65,000 comments you’ll see a lot of others agree! The LED can display a clock, timers, weather, song titles, and more. 

So do you think a $50 smart speaker with an LED display is worthy of the title “Best Smart Home Device”?

Here is what some owners are saying:

Replaced my 20 year old alarm clock I was looking for an "Atomic" alarm clock which automatically sets the current time and found this. I bought this Echo Dot for our bedroom when the old alarm clock finally quit working. This is bright, lights up when you speak and shows the time in the dark. Love it! A great clock for any room RTINGS what are you doing?

Over at AVS forum a thread caught our eye titled “RTINGS what are you doing?”. The author of the thread was not happy with a review of the  Formovie UST Projector the site had posted. RTINGS gave the projector a 7.1 out of 10 for movies. Reading through the thread it was clear that owners of the Formovie were upset. One poster thought it was possible that the RTINGS methodology may be suspect. 

Question for our listeners. If you own a product and are happy with it do you seek out reviews? If they differ from your opinions does it bother you?

If you remember in 2023 Projector Central did a laser projector showdown where the Formovie UST Projector won best Best Ultra Short Throw Projector. So it may have been in the AVS forum posters mind that the Formovie was a really good projector. Projector Central did not say best projector but best ultra short throw projector. Most people agree that UST projectors are not as good as long throw projectors but they do have the ability to be viewed in rooms with plenty of ambient light.

RTINGS strictly looks at the measurements it takes objectively. When they did, the Formovie UST projector did not fare well. If you look at the scores from the shootout you see that it didn’t do much  better than what RTINGS said it did. If RTINGS did a UST shootout the F ormovie may have been the best one. It's just not the best projector.