Pinnacle P5.2 didn't get a fair hearing -- Needed break-in
"Pinnacle P5.2 - These speakers caused a bit of good-natured ribbing at my expense when I admitted they were from my own theater system - just added to 'round out the field.' Even though I had recently replaced all the Pinnacles in my theater with a different brand, I'd always been happy with their performance and expected them to do well. The evaluation comments ranged from "Overly bright" and "Harsh" to just "ACK!." Even I rated them lower than their competition, and I had always thought them to be very detailed without being too bright. I still think that about the P6.3 towers, so maybe my satisfaction with the 5.2's as surrounds wasn't too far off the mark. The average overall rating was 2.64." (- Gene DellaSala, Audioholics)
I have the Pinnacle Platinum Performance P6.3 towers and P6.2 bookshelf speakers, and must point out that the excellent tweeters in these (and the P5.2 bookshelf speakers criticized in this review) did sound overly bright when new, but mellowed out after about 50 hours of use. I believe this is the only reason the P5.2 speakers fared so poorly in comparison to the other models here.
In a detailed review of tower speakers a few years before, Gene DellaSala recommended the Pinnacle Gold Reference series, which is basically the predecessor to the Pinnacle Platinum Performance series, except that the latter are made with engineered plastic-veneer cabinets instead of woodgrain veneer.
The proof is that I recently purchased the Pinnacle Aerogel Gold tower speakers, supposedly the apex (I hesitate to write the "pinnacle"!) of the now-discontinued Gold Reference line, and discovered that my Platinum P6.3 speakers are actually more accurate, though not as mellow or rich in the bass, and I am happy to continue using them for movie surround sound, while using the Aerogels for stereo music.
