PSB Speakers & NAD receivers

[jlettie]

I'm planning to build a Home Entertainment Center in my home. I started auditioning speakers about 3 months ago. My first choice was the Polk LSI series. They sounded great and well built. I live in Ma and no high end store will stock there speakers. The only store who plans to carry them is Best Buy. The only way you can purchase Polk speakers is on line which I think is crazy.Best Buy stores or Magnolia will not have Polk speakers on display for a customer to listen and make comparisons.
My second choice is PSB speakers and NAD receiver. I did audition the PSB Synchrony One and NAD T775. The speakers have excellent base. My only objection is the PSB speakers and NAD receivers are made in China. I have read reviews on both items and all were excellent. The PSB Symphony One's retail for $5,000 a pair and the NAD T775 for $3,000. Both PSB and Nad are ownwd by Lenbrook Industries. Why do these items warrant such a high price, if they are made in China? Labor costs there are very minimal and I assume the parts are also made in China. Lenbrook is making an extremely high profit on these items. I sent an E-mail to the parent company and they never responded.

[Ajani]

I think you need to do some research on the prices of 'high-end' audio products. Once you do that you'll realise the NAD and PSB gear is quite cheap relative to many other brands.

Also, manufacturing in China will certainly bring costs down; PSB's previous flagship speaker range - Platinum (not made in china) - cost nearly double what the Synchrony does and by all accounts did not sound as good...

Finally, you shouldn't expect a response from a letter to the parent company about the price: I doub't they'd send you a detailed breakdown of the costs of material, labour, shipping and overheads involved in the production/sale of their products...

[Hyfi]

I have heard the Polk LSI-15s and 25s driven with Cambridge 840a and NAD master series 3 and can say they are not all that great a speaker. Bass is muddy and mids and highs are quite limited. Hardly any real detail.

Personally, if PSB and Polk were my only two choices I would go with the PSBs. The older Silver and Golds were kickass and the Golds rival my Dynaudio 82s.

[blackraven]

My good friend has a pair of the Synchrony one's and they are worth the money. They have great bass, and sound great from top to bottom. They blew away the Paradigm S-8's we looked at. He paid about $3500 on sale. The Polks should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as the PSB's. I think the Synchrony's were a Stereophile Class A recommendation.

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/p...chrony_one.htm

A few other speakers you should consider are the Thiel CS2.4's, Monitor Audio RX8's or RS8's, Salk Song Towers (online only, and custom made), Canton's. B&W's.

[blackraven]

Here's a discount site for the PSB's-

http://www.soundseller.com/index.php...sort/5a/page/3

Also take a look at the Platinum's-

http://www.soundseller.com/index.php...sort/5a/page/2

If your worried about them being chinese made than you will eliminate 90% of audio gear!

[rob_a]

I have listened both Polk and the PSB's and I would go with PSB, their over all quality is good (not great) for Chinese built. They do price high on their higher level products but if you can find a deal, go for it. Their Synchrony series I think sounded very nice. I would check out other brands like Shwan, Emotiva, B & W, Axiom, paradigm. Find what YOU like.

[markw]

That's like test driving a Hyundai Accent and then complaining about the price of Audi's.

If you really expect to find NAD and PSB* at prices comparable to what you saw at the big box stores then you better keep looking. Asking them to justify their pricing did give me a good laugh, though.

* Both good brands and a good combo, BTW

[Feanor]

...

My second choice is PSB speakers and NAD receiver. I did audition the PSB Synchrony One and NAD T775. The speakers have excellent base. My only objection is the PSB speakers and NAD receivers are made in China. I have read reviews on both items and all were excellent. The PSB Symphony One's retail for $5,000 a pair and the NAD T775 for $3,000. Both PSB and Nad are ownwd by Lenbrook Industries. Why do these items warrant such a high price, if they are made in China? Labor costs there are very minimal and I assume the parts are also made in China. Lenbrook is making an extremely high profit on these items. I sent an E-mail to the parent company and they never responded.

The price of a product is not determined by its cost but by the price of compeditive products and, more generally, by "what the market will bear". If Lenbrook were to deign to reply to your email, they would tell you that their products represent "good value" -- and they would be right.

[blackraven]

You should also consider the new PSB Image line, it used trickle down tech from the Synchrony line. It's much cheaper and still better than the Polks!

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series

or the Imagine series-

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Imagine