PSB speaker quality ?

[greystoke144]

Any quick opinions on the quality of the Canadian made speakers - PSB - on the whole?
Anything to look out for in bad/good models? Great buys - Turkeys?
Thanx, Greystoke

[kexodusc]

They're not turkeys, that's for sure...I'm sure they have their share of defects, but everything will.

I mentioned recently about the PSB Alpha's...with the exception of Paradigm, I can't think of another, high-quality, decent sounding speaker below $300 that's been around as long, received as much praise, and remained as competitive as PSB. If you find the right dealer they can be a helluva good buy. And there's always lots of good PSB speakers on the used market.

You could definitely do worse...I don't recall quality being a major issue for them, but then again, I don't recall many speaker companies having quality issues.
Whether their sound characteristics agree with you or not...only you can decide that.

[JSE]

I listened to them several times back when I made my last speaker purchase. They are well made and well respected and offer great bang for the buck. They just were not to my liking in terms of sound compared to a couple of others that made my final list. But, that does not mean you or anyone else would not like them. In terms of quality, I would have no qualms about buying them at all. It just comes down to whether you like them in terms of sound.

JSE

[Pat D]

Any quick opinions on the quality of the Canadian made speakers - PSB - on the whole?
Anything to look out for in bad/good models? Great buys - Turkeys?
Thanx, Greystoke

PSB makes accurate, well-designed and well-built speakers. Whether you like them better than others is up to you.

I like the Stratus line and our Stratus Minis (plus a subwoofer) sound very fine to us, as good as several well-regarded speakers that cost up to 5 times the price. But the same could be said of speakers made by several other Canadian manufacturers.

[topspeed]

I dunno...

After this thread, I'd be looking at other companies. There are simply too many choices available to have to put up with what IamCanadian did.

[Lord_Magnepan]

Just hear them for themselves !! Many forums/threads praise certain speakers which to my ears sounds like complete trash. I once heard a small PSB and liked it, but then again i didnt compare them either.

Cheers

[RGA]

Well I had the PSB Alpha B on my short list several years ago and could have gone that way. They seem reasonably well built - the Stratus Silver sounded pretty good - so did a lot of speakers in that price range though. I don't remember saying wow this is the best in the class - but I've never heard one that made me say wow this is totl rubbish for the amount of money. The Stratus Gold (and this was circa 1996) I remember was expensive and sounded rather sloppy. But it's a fairly popular floorstander.

[Pat D]

I dunno...

After this thread, I'd be looking at other companies. There are simply too many choices available to have to put up with what IamCanadian did.

But Paul Barton solved his problems, and I see no evidence that the sort of service described is typical. Indeed, it is about the only time I have heard of bad service on PSB speakers.

The delivery on my Stratus Minis was efficient enough, and our local dealer doesn't even carry the Stratus line--special order. Unlike some, I do not tout my choices as better for everybody and diss other fine products, but it's a really fine speaker and a very good value. The Stratus Silver-i and Stratus Gold-i (I've never heard the Stratus Bronze) are also excellent speakers.

[topspeed]

But Paul Barton solved his problems...

True, but look what the poor guy had to go through! PSB may very well build some the best speakers at their respective price points (TAS seems to think so), I just think a company should stand behind their product with more confidence and compassion than they did in this case.

[kexodusc]

I haven't heard many bad examples from PSB, I have heard a few cases where Mr. Barton looked right after customers. I doubt you'd find a company anywhere that doesn't have at least ONE example of a customer case like IamCanadian...Still, this might be something to watch out for in the future.

[Peter Duminy]

I can certainly attest to Paul Barton being a highly respected Designer and Engineer in the Canadian Audio Industry, with many years experience. All Companies have service issues, and I am sure he will be watching his customers needs closely.

[Cumminspuller]

Just my $.02 worth and a newbie at that. But I listened to a pair next to some Bostons the other day. And much preferred the Bostons. Much cleaner and clearer.

Jason

[Pat D]

I haven't heard many bad examples from PSB, I have heard a few cases where Mr. Barton looked right after customers. I doubt you'd find a company anywhere that doesn't have at least ONE example of a customer case like IamCanadian...Still, this might be something to watch out for in the future.

I've heard a lot more and worse about, say, Sony.

We don't know the whole story with PSB. We only know Canadian's side of it, and in the end, he got some Stratus speakers out of it. As I said, this is the only story of bad service from PSB I have ever heard about and we have no idea that this is more than an isolated case.

[Lensman]

Just my $.02 worth and a newbie at that. But I listened to a pair next to some Bostons the other day. And much preferred the Bostons. Much cleaner and clearer.

Jason

I was thrilled to finally have a dealer in my area carry PSB. I'd read many good things about them and went to audition the Image B25 bookshelf and Image T55 floorstander the dealer had on the floor. They were some of the worst speakers I've ever heard and I had to stop the audition after listening just a few minutes. I spoke with the salesperson, who informed me the speakers had just arrived the previous week. I asked how long they'd had a signal run through them and he told me I was the third person to turn them on.

It would appear they never broke the speakers in before putting them in their showroom. In my experience, all speakers need some amount of break-in to reach optimum output. With metal driver speakers this break-in period can be quite long.

Numerous glowing reviews and posts by owners over the years have indicated to me PSB makes products with excellent value for the money. As you've read, Paul Barton's philosphy on speaker design have earned him first name recognition among audio enthusiats. Given the choices of speakers PSBs are often compared with, I'd tend to think they'd be a level above the Bostons. So perhaps neither of us have heard a truly broken-in PSB speaker that's operating at its fullest potential.

[kexodusc]

I was thrilled to finally have a dealer in my area carry PSB. I'd read many good things about them and went to audition the Image B25 bookshelf and Image T55 floorstander the dealer had on the floor. They were some of the worst speakers I've ever heard and I had to stop the audition after listening just a few minutes. I spoke with the salesperson, who informed me the speakers had just arrived the previous week. I asked how long they'd had a signal run through them and he told me I was the third person to turn them on.

It would appear they never broke the speakers in before putting them in their showroom. In my experience, all speakers need some amount of break-in to reach optimum output. With metal driver speakers this break-in period can be quite long.

Numerous glowing reviews and posts by owners over the years have indicated to me PSB makes products with excellent value for the money. As you've read, Paul Barton's philosphy on speaker design have earned him first name recognition among audio enthusiats. Given the choices of speakers PSBs are often compared with, I'd tend to think they'd be a level above the Bostons. So perhaps neither of us have heard a truly broken-in PSB speaker that's operating at its fullest potential.

There's a billion factors that go into "what we hear" when we're listening to speakers.
An otologist friend of mine told me that there's been many tests confirming that the shapes of your ears can have as large an impact on sound characteristics (tonality, etc) as room acoustics, choice of equipement etc, and he even suggested to me that this could easily be more substantial than any differences in similarly priced and equiped products.

In short, hearing is like the other senses...we all have different tastes and preferences for different reasons. I like chocolate, you might not. No reason why this wouldn't apply to speakers.

That being said, as the population grows, you'll see trends shift to an average...PSB does have a large, audio-savy, loyal following, so they must be doing something right.
I bought Alpha's 2nd hand several years ago for my first HT...They weren't the greatest by any means, but they did the trick and could hold their own against most other similarly priced speakers. And I sold them for what I paid for them!!!

[Lensman]

There's a billion factors that go into "what we hear" when we're listening to speakers.
An otologist friend of mine told me that there's been many tests confirming that the shapes of your ears can have as large an impact on sound characteristics (tonality, etc) as room acoustics, choice of equipement etc, and he even suggested to me that this could easily be more substantial than any differences in similarly priced and equiped products.

In short, hearing is like the other senses...we all have different tastes and preferences for different reasons. I like chocolate, you might not. No reason why this wouldn't apply to speakers.

That being said, as the population grows, you'll see trends shift to an average...PSB does have a large, audio-savy, loyal following, so they must be doing something right.
I bought Alpha's 2nd hand several years ago for my first HT...They weren't the greatest by any means, but they did the trick and could hold their own against most other similarly priced speakers. And I sold them for what I paid for them!!!

The information on the ears is very interesting and I'm positive you're correct about different people preferring different speaker characteristics. I've never bought a speaker I couldn't hear first. In fact, I can't understand how people are able to routinely read posts from complete strangers, then buy speakers they've never seen from someplace online and be satisfied with them.

That said, I don't believe it's just my personal preference with the PSBs. I listened to about 8 other speakers in the same price range when I auditioned them. All the speakers had, to me, clear differences in sound. But the compared to the PSBs, the difference were slight. When I said the PSBs were some of the worst speakers I'd ever heard, I meant I've listened to no-name bargain speakers in Wal-Mart that sounded better. The highs were shrill, the midrange harsh, the bass weak and the imaging imprecise - not just a little bit, but to an extraordinary degree. Yet the speakers were brand new, and PSB has a great reputation. So I can't believe the speakers were playing as they should. Though I don't know the exact cause, the sound characteristics didn't seem out of line with of metal driver speakers that haven't broken-in. I've heard new Monitor Audios have similar issues. And the salesperson implied the PSBs had little more than an hour or two of play. But I don't know if PSB does any kind of run-in on their speakers before shipping them.

[kexodusc]

Lensman: That is about the worst review for a PSB speaker I've ever heard...don't know what to say about that. They're certainly not my favorite, but I put them right up there with Mission, Polk, Paradigm, Axiom, B&W, Boston Acoustics, Mirage, Energy, Athena, Wharfedale, JBL, etc...just another pebble on the beach. Just with their own little (subtle) twist.

I bought a pair of Axiom M3Ti's for my dining room based on magazine reviews, website reviews, and alot of curiosity...a friend of mine bought a lot shipment for his store (they do some dealer retail), so I thought I'd help him out.
They're okay, but no better than any comparably priced speaker I've heard, certainly not 2-3 times the performance of those speakers mentioned above...they do have a nicer build and finish to them though.
But I agree, don't buy a speaker unless you can hear it first.

[Lensman]

Lensman: That is about the worst review for a PSB speaker I've ever heard...don't know what to say about that. They're certainly not my favorite, but I put them right up there with Mission, Polk, Paradigm, Axiom, B&W, Boston Acoustics, Mirage, Energy, Athena, Wharfedale, JBL, etc...just another pebble on the beach. Just with their own little (subtle) twist.

Well I didn't mean for my comments to be taken as a review. Based on everything I know about PSB speakers (except hearing them), I agree with you 100% on what they should be comparable with. This is why I responded to Cumminspuller's comment about them sounding worse than Boston's to suggest he might not have heard an optimal setup. The views of the informed masses indicates they should be better. But clearly there was something wrong with what I heard. I don't know what, but I don't blame PSB for it. As I stated, it seems much more likely they just weren't broken in. But it's also possible the store had something hideously wrong in their setup (to NAD equipment).

I wasn't alone in my view as the guy at the store assisting me noticed it as well. We both agreed they sounded significantly worse than the Polk LS9s I'd played before them. I'll now say this store also had a fine set of Legacy Audio Harmony in-walls that didn't sound good. I speculate the problem there was that the shop had built a fake wall to put them in. The wall was free-standing, open to the left, right, top and behind. It was perhaps six to eight inches deep and only connected to the floor. An open space about two stories tall rose above is and the listening area. Imagine the acoustics.

So while the PSBs didn't sound anything like higher-end speakers, I still have more confidence in them then the shop that sells them. I think I didn't hear them as I should have and still consider them a contender in their price range. I hope I can give PSB another try in the future, though it may have to be somewhere else.

[MikeyBC]

I've owned a pair of Stratus Sliver for over 6 years and couldn't be happier with them. They are not the ultimate in quality but for under $2000 they are hard to beat. I've seen them used for around $800 USD. and for that they are a steal. Also...... When was the last time you saw a Paradigm model in their lineup that went virtually unchanged for 10 years? The stratus silver was introduced in 1994 and just had a minor upgrade to the silver "i" which the only difference is just a slightly modified cabinet and crossover....same drivers. While i like paradigm products i wish they wouldn't keep changing their linup ever other year with v.1 v.2 v.3 etc.

[kexodusc]

I've owned a pair of Stratus Sliver for over 6 years and couldn't be happier with them. They are not the ultimate in quality but for under $2000 they are hard to beat. I've seen them used for around $800 USD. and for that they are a steal. Also...... When was the last time you saw a Paradigm model in their lineup that went virtually unchanged for 10 years? The stratus silver was introduced in 1994 and just had a minor upgrade to the silver "i" which the only difference is just a slightly modified cabinet and crossover....same drivers. While i like paradigm products i wish they wouldn't keep changing their linup ever other year with v.1 v.2 v.3 etc.

I always liked the Stratus line too...I wouldn't be so sure about those speakers not getting an "upgrade" though, I know for a fact alot of drivers and crossover components change according to serial number, sometimes the performance specs change, sometimes they don't but there's almost always some modifications in long-running speaker productions...whether they advertise them in print or not is another thing.

Paradigm has a differnent strategy (as do more and more other brands these days)...every 2 years or so they do an upgrade and make it very well known. I think it's just easier to do a complete product line overhaul at once, rather than by piece-meal. Sometimes drivers change, sometimes it's just he diffraction ring/mechanism, sometimes xo's change...sometimes they redesign the cabinets for whatever reason. Usually it's something rediculously insignificant, but the fact that there's a v.2 or v.3 behind it helps them to sell better too...though IMO often does nothing to improve the sound.

I see nothing wrong with that, the market is quite competitive, they'll live or die by the "changes" ...it could mean they're responding to feedback, or in the relentless pursuit of improving audio quality...it could also mean they've found ways of increasing profit margin or reducing costs without hindering performance? It's probably a good mix of both.

[jrflanne]

I've owned a pair of Stratus Bronze for the last 1.5 years and find them excellent for the $$$ (<$1000/pr.). Granted, I didn't audition a whole bunch of speakers but I did listen to quite a few. Build quality seems very good. Then I went out and got a pair of Image 2B's and an Image 9C center for HT. I actually liked the Bronze's better than the Silver i's when I demoed them at the store. They paired up with my old Nad HT receiver, and not so good with my Lexicon DC-2. This setup sounds a bit harsh for some reason (the Lex, I do believe).

I guess I would like to point out that I listened to Polk and Boston Acoustics monitors, Mirage floorstanders and a whole bunch of others. I even listened to B&W 601's (I think) and absolutely hated those. It's all about personal preferences and value for the money. For that, PSB is hard to beat if they sound good to you and easy to beat if they don't.

What I really wanted were Vandy 2ce's but my room wasn't good enough and also want to go HT.

[bmw-k]

I rarely post here, not much need to with so many good posters here already. But since I do own a set of PSB Silver i's, the C5i center, and the Sub 7 15" sub, I thought I would chime in (a bit late though).

I compared the PSB's against B&W, Monitor Audio, Mission Audio, and Paradigm. My ears led me to buying the Silver i's even over PSB's own Gold i's. I found that the Silver i's with the Sub 7 had better dynamic range than the Gold i's and had better punch as well. Take that with a grain of salt as the Sub is crossed over at 40hz and therefore the AVR isn't powering the heavy low notes...

Now, this is the most important part of my purcahse. The Silver i's sounded great when I bought them. I brought them home and set them up on my then current Yamaha RX530 AVR. Previously I had a set of Bose 901's on them. The PSB's sounded increadible compared to the 901's. Still, something was missing.

I upgraded my AVR to an NAD T762 (100watts/channel, 6 channels vs. 55 watts per channel...). The PSB's simply came alive. The difference was nothing short of stunning. To be honest, I had no idea at the time that an AVR upgrade could make that much of a difference.

PSB + the NAD makes for a fantastically smooth combo. Not overly bright, and perhaps more important to me, very, very smooth in terms of crossover ranges.

It is very possible that Lensman listened to the PSB Silvers on the wrong amp. In addition, the PSB's I have did take about 40 hours of playing for the Tweeter to smooth out.

PSB is well worth a listen.

[Lensman]

PSB + the NAD makes for a fantastically smooth combo. Not overly bright, and perhaps more important to me, very, very smooth in terms of crossover ranges.

It is very possible that Lensman listened to the PSB Silvers on the wrong amp. In addition, the PSB's I have did take about 40 hours of playing for the Tweeter to smooth out.

PSB is well worth a listen.

I don't believe it was the amp. I can't recall the specific unit, but as I mentioned, it was a NAD. It may in fact have been a T762.

I do believe it's very likely the speakers I heard weren't run in. You mention it taking 40 hours to break in your set. This in fact confirms my suspicion that the metal drivers require an extended break-in period. The store I auditioned them in told me they "just got them in" and that I was the third person to hear them. I wouldn't be surpirsed at all if they'd been played less than 2 hours before I heard them.

I still believe PSB makes some excellent speakers. I just haven't had an opportunity to prove it yet and I don't wish my comments to prevent anyone else from giving them a listen.