PSB B6 Initial Impressions

[blackraven]

The pair of PSB B6's came in today and after 1 hour of listening it appears to be a winner. We are using them with a vintage 1976 technics 55wpc integrated amp and a Maverick Tube DAC.

The sound is very coherent and clean, with good air and transparency but not too laid back. Bass is tight, crisp and controlled with good thump. It does not go down as deep as I expected but that will come as the speaker breaks in. The speaker is very smooth sounding with an very good midrange. Vocals are true and clear sounding. My only criticism is that the treble is a little laid back and could use a bit more resolution. I'm hoping that it improves with break in. I will also get a pair of bluejean cable IC's. I have found that with their low capcitance that treble seems to improve some what compared to other cables I have used. Currently I am running a pair of Audio Quest Corals which don't have the high end that the BJC's have. We will eventually be upgrading the amp to a Class D Audio CDA 254 or 258 later this year and use the Maverick as a DAC and Preamp. That should help the sound as well.

The speakers are a huge improvement over the B&W 602 S2's that we bought and returned.

[frenchmon]

Glad to hear about the new speakers. Do keep us informed after the break in.

[blackraven]

Even after playing for about 2 hours there is much deeper bass and more depth to the sound. I am amazed at how liquid the sound is at this price point.

[devuonoste]

Haven't listened to any PSBs myself but I have read many great reviews.

Glad you are enjoying them.

[blackraven]

Well we have about 15hrs of play time on the PSB's and my son and I could not be more pleased with the speakers. The bass is tight and well controlled and has gotten deeper with time. The midrange has come alive. Initially the mid range was a tad pushed back but it has really come into its own with good depth, air, transparency, smoothness and warmth. Treble still could use a little more resolution and detail, its also recessed slightly but not too much. Cymbals sound natural and have good decay . The treble markedly improves as you turn up the volume however. Over all the speakers lean to the warmer side of neutral but not too warm and they image well . It is a very forgiving speaker with poorly recorded music. The forte of these speakers are the bass and smooth midrange along with its transparent slightly warmer sound .

A good friend of mine has a pair of PSB Synchrony 1's and you can tell that the B6's are related, because the Synchronys have a similar sound including the the recessed treble which comes alive at high volumes. There definitely is some trickle down technology being used in the B6's.

[LeRoy]

Congrats on the new speakers. Good to hear that PSB got the tweeter right. I used to have a pair of 1B and 4T speakers and those tweeters had plenty of distortion when I cranked up the volume. I think PB has consistently done a good job of passing down the new technology. Congrats again and enjoy.

LeRoy

[Feanor]

Well we have about 15hrs of play time on the PSB's and my son and I could not be more pleased with the speakers. The bass is tight and well controlled and has gotten deeper with time. The midrange has come alive. Initially the mid range was a tad pushed back but it has really come into its own with good depth, air, transparency, smoothness and warmth. Treble still could use a little more resolution and detail, its also recessed slightly but not too much. Cymbals sound natural and have good decay . The treble markedly improves as you turn up the volume however. Over all the speakers lean to the warmer side of neutral but not too warm and they image well . It is a very forgiving speaker with poorly recorded music. The forte of these speakers are the bass and smooth midrange along with its transparent slightly warmer sound .

A good friend of mine has a pair of PSB Synchrony 1's and you can tell that the B6's are related, because the Synchronys have a similar sound including the the recessed treble which comes alive at high volumes. There definitely is some trickle down technology being used in the B6's.
Being a tad on the warmer side, the PSB's might match will with one of the Class D Audio SDS series amps. Then you'll know how good their resolution actualy is.

[riker1384]

Has anyone compared them side by side with the B25? The frequency-response measurements in Stereophile don't look as good as the B25.

[blackraven]

Being a tad on the warmer side, the PSB's might match will with one of the Class D Audio SDS series amps. Then you'll know how good their resolution actualy is.

Bill, you are a mind reader. The plan is for me to buy one of the Class D Audio kits for my son for christmas. Later this week we are going to hook the B6's up in my system and really see what they can do. I will post the results then.

[firebook23]

Has anyone compared them side by side with the B25? The frequency-response measurements in Stereophile don't look as good as the B25.

I have listened to both the B25 bookshelf speaker and the B6 bookshelf speakers

They sound similar but I would give the win to the B6's

[blackraven]

The B6's have the edge in bass and midrange compared to the B25's from what I have read and what the guys at Saturday Audio (http://www.saturdayaudio.com) relate. My only negative comments about the B6's are that they could use a better tweeter as treble is a little laid back and it could use more detail. But even the high end PSB Synchrony's have laid back treble.

When I hooked up the B6's to my reference gear, they really came alive but still lacked some detail. But that's what you get for $400-500pr speakers. I compared them directly to my Monitor Audio S1's (which have finally broken in) and the S1's had more spacde between instruments, tighter bass (less deep though) and much better treble, resolution. detail and air, but they cost $650. The B6's had deeper bass, smoother midrange and an over all warmer sound and they were more forgiving to poorly recorded music.