Pinnacle Speakers, renowned for their quality-built speakers and subwoofers, have never managed to capture my interest when it came to appearance and styling. Not until now. Their recent introduction of the Black Diamond Series speakers in smooth lacquer finish are sure to grab anyone's attention.

The black lacquer piano-finish takes a full week to produce and looks absolutely stunning. The rounded edges and corners of the cabinets as well as the combination of the black, gray and silver colours give the speakers a very classy look that could easily complement any space. Protecting the bookshelves, the black cloth grilles carry the Pinnacle logo, while the speaker cabinets themselves are kept simple and clean with nothing on them. The BD500s combine a 1" liquid-cooled silk dome tweeter with a 5-1/4" polycone woofer in a cabinet that measures 6-3/8" wide by 9-1/2" high by 8-1/8" deep. Each driver features a rubber surround and a silver-plated zinc-magnesium phase plug. The cabinets are rear ported, where you'll also find conveniently-angled silver binding posts. If you prefer, the bookshelves are also available in a high gloss white lacquer finish.

Connected to our Onkyo TX-SR701 receiver and a Pioneer DV-563A DVD player, the speakers performed very well. Placed on 24" stands with the tweeters right at ear level, the small speakers sounded a little larger then they looked. Giving them enough time to break in, I began the listening tests. Listening to the horns in Archie Shepp's Blues for Brother George Jackson, the BD500's reproduced the sounds of the sax, cornet, trumpet, flugelhorn and trombone very distinctly with amazing detail. The sound reproduction was clean and accurate. Listening to some tracks from Pink Floyd's The Wall album, the speakers displayed great detail and depth. The beginning of the song "Waiting for the worms" showed off excellent imaging from the Pinnacles, where the sound of the creaking door was as real as an actual creaking door. For the most part, during my listening session, the speakers disappeared and transported me to the musical stage. They managed to reproduce the mid and high frequencies accurately, and provided just enough bass.

Given their small size, good looks and impressive sound performance, Pinnacle's BD500 bookshelf speakers make a perfect companion for a stereo in a smaller room or as surround speakers for a Home Theater. Matching floor standing (BD 1000), center channel (BD 300), and 2 different subwoofers are also available.