PSB Speakers Owners thread - Page 101

Alright this is driving me nuts.... I decided to get Image B6 + C5 + B5/S5

From PSB Website for Image Series...

Image B6 Mains - 89dB sensitivity / Nominal impedance 6 ohms Minimum impedance 4 Ohm / Input Power Recommended 20 -150 Watts / Program 150 Watts RMS power handling

Image C5 Center - 88dB sensitivity / Nominal impedance 6 ohms Minimum impedance 4 Ohm / Input Power Recommended 20 -150 Watts / Program 150 Watts RMS power handling

Image B5/S5 Surrounds - 87dB sensitivity /Nominal impedance 6 ohms Minimum impedance 4 Ohm / Input Power Recommended 20 -150 Watts / Program 150 Watts RMS power handling

My 5 yr old Yamaha RX V450 6.1 AVR Manual says.....

Speaker Front - Impedance of Speaker must be 4 Ohms or higher.

Speaker Center - Impedance of Speaker must be 6 Ohms or higher.

Speaker Surround & Back - Impedance of Speaker must be 6 Ohms or higher.

Also....

Minimum RMS output power

(0.06% THD, 20 Hz - 20 KHz, 8Ω)

Front: 85 W + 85 W
Center : 85 W
Surround : 85 W +85 W
Surround Back : 85 W

1. Does my AVR have enough power/watts to run the Image combination ?

2. What really bothers me is that the C5 center has Nominal Impedance of 6 Ohms and minimum of 4 Ohms but my AVR Center channel say " The impedance of Center Speaker must be 6 Ohms or higher ".

So is can AVR run the center channel ?

Experts please help.... Thanks

I make sure to time my AV shopping with visiting friends

I have a yamaha 765 receiver with my T5's, a new C5 centre (replacing my old alpha CLR1) and sadly two puny LR1's for my back surrounds. It's a small room though in my well insulated basement, so my fronts and centre do most of the work.

I also have two LR1's connected to a second zone in the pool table area to play my ipod on. They actually sound great for casual music in the background while racking them up.

rana, unforunately, I would suggest that receiver won't get the most out of those very good speakers.

As I mentioned, I have a RX-V765 running my C5/T5's and personally, I wouldn't go any lower.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio..._u/?mode=model

If it was out when I was making my purchase, I would have bought the 1065. The 450 is likely too weak.

Well, as you saw the surround say the same thing. But basically it's nominal impedance you should be looking at. Well, this is a generalization, but if the amp says it can run 6ohm, and your speakers have a nominal impedance of 6ohm, you're good to go.

Of course, that doesn't mean you're necessarily getting the most out of your speakers compared to higher-impedance speakers that the amp has an easier time driving. However, with my previous surround amp I used 4-6 ohm speakers when it was meant to be used with 8ohm speakers, and it worked fine as long as I didn't try to break down the house with overt loudness levels. Would I still have been better off with an amp capable of driving lower ohm loads though? Yes.

cork,

i'm planning to move upto RX V1000 or 2000 in a couple months. So that should take care of it. Or do you feel i'm good enough with a 765 ? I'm not too bothered by other features. Any benefits going from 765 to A1000 as far as sound is concerned...?


tvih,

i'm gonna upgrade the avr in 2 months so that i can get the best out of the Image speakers.... but in the meanwhile...

You are basically saying is that although my avr say the center speaker must be atleast 6 ohms it is still able to deal with a speaker if it goes down to 4 ohms. Is that correct ?

1. How long does this going down to 4 ohms last ?

2. Can it damage the speaker or the avr ?

Thanks

It should be able to handle it. When the nominal impedance is 6 ohms, sometimes the actual impedance fluctuates, so it can temporarily be 4 ohms... or 8 ohms for that matter.

1. It's impossible to say. It believe it depends on what kind of output is happening at any given time. With the nominal impedance being 6ohms, it shouldn't be at 4ohm all that much... but that's just me guessing.
2. With a reasonable-quality amp, there should be no damage. If the output demand exceeds what the AVR can handle, its protection circuit should kick in. With my previous amp, this sometimes happened when I was running tests at higher volume levels (usually high enough that normally playing at that volume would've ended up with ear damage). So basically no damage should occur unless something goes seriously wrong - and that can happen regardless of impedances and output loads, after all :P

rana, you'll be fine short term and it's massively unlikely that an underpowered amp does damage to speakers.

As for the 765 vs. higher models. That depends.

a) budget
b) do you like LOUD or just moderate HT viewing
c) bells and whistles.

The 765 has some decent little features, is fairly strong, good video capabilities. No complaints on my end, and I bet you could get it for about 500 CAD. Not bad at all.

Tell you what, anyone interested in a set of Synchrony One Towers, please PM me and I will make you one hell of a deal!!

I have underlined the most important statement. A properly working receiver set to the lowest volume should never damage any speakers or itself for that matter! It is as the proud owner start turning volume knob clockwise , the problems present themselves in all the unpleasant details.

In case of modern movies on DVD or BD, it is hard to use moderate volume, unless some kind of compressor or night mode has been activated. You either hadly can hear the dialogues, or the explosion unpleasantly hit your ear drums. Particularly, if you have good set of speakers with a sub or two.

In case of a weak receiver, the one measure you can think of, is to set the subwoofer crossover frequency high, even if you have floorstanding speakers. Set it to at least 80Hz (THX) or even to 100Hz. This way you reduce the load for receiver's amplifiers, and let the sub work a little bit harder.

The commom rumor about weak amps -they burn tweeters, if you push them too hard. I have heard it many times, and I have seen tweeters burned. I have hard time understanding why, so that I present it as a rumor.

Can't seem to find those. There are c40 and c60 speakers, as well as Image 9c and Alpha C1 center channels on eBay. Would those also match? Or is there another place I can look?

Klockner- these speakers are around 10-12 years old now, they can be hard to find. You can try www.canuckaudiomart.com as some of the older psb speakers come up for sale from time to time. I looked online at the C40, and it looks like a good match. I've never heard it, but should have the same timbre as the older Century's.

I just added 2 Emotiva XPA-1 amps to my PSB Synchrony Two Mains the XPA-1 rated at 500 watts b@ 8 ohms and 1000 watts @ 4 ohms. I aim using XPA-5 200 watts @ 8 ohms and 300 watts @ 4 ohms to power the PSB Synchrony Two Center and the PSB CW-260 in the wall Surrounds Pre-Amp Emotive UMC-1. This equipment replaced an older Denon 4802 125 watt X 7. Let me say the PSB’s like the power, the amount of clean bass and the increase in dynamics coming out of the L/R sparkers is unbelievable. I find I do not have to turn up the volume up as much to get more impact from the system that’s for HT or just two channel CD’s. I loved the PSB’s before but this power has taken then to a different level. I know I will never use all the power available but sure is nice to know I will always have enough.

What's the best place/price to pick up a pair of PSB Synchrony S?

I currently have some Synchrony One Mains, S surrounds, and the center, but want a 7.1 setup. It kills me to spend anything close to retail on my surround backs, since they're hardly used. I was debating using a single Synchrony S as my surround back for both channels, but you can't buy them solo. My existing S is not cherry so it doesn't match, and I wouldn't mind moving them to the surround back, but either way I need 1-2 more speakers. Thoughts?

I'm up to three Emotiva XPA-2's and I watch predominately blu-rays and basketball games.

Check DMC-Electronics

Thanks, I'll email them.

I just bought two PSB alpha CLR1's on ebay for under 1 hundred dollars for both including shipping. They are said to be new and in the original box. The add said they had 5 total so there should be three remaining if anyone is interested.

I plan to use them as surround speakers for a few years untill I up grade my system.

They should arrive by the end of the month, I'll updated to let everyone know how they work out.

Any one playing the Alpha B1's through a low watage (50 watt) reciever similar to the Marantz 1501. This is the set up Im looking at getting but Im unsure the reciever will play the 6 ohm speaker well.

Thanks for any help.

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a set of Synchrony bookshelf & center speakers to replace my aging Klipsch RB-25/RC-25 combo. Here's my question: Will a Synchrony Two C center be able to keep up with a pair of Synchrony One B mains?

I'm willing to pay the extra $450 for a pair of Synchrony One B's over a pair of Synchrony Two B's, but I'm having a hard time swallowing the thought of paying $700 more for a Synchrony One C than I'd have to pay for a Synchrony Two C. I prefer the smaller size of the Synchrony Two C as well. Will the Synchrony Two C be a decent match for the Synchrony One B's? Will I even notice a difference in timbre at all, given that the tweeters are the same between the One B's and the Two C, and the only difference is the woofers?

Any help is appreciated.

As a point of reference, I own the Synchrony One Towers, the Synchrony One C, and a pair of Synchrony Two towers for surrounds. I think you will be (more than ) fine with the Two C. The timbre matching between the Synchronys is terrific, you CAN mix & match. Having said that, the One C is an outstanding center channel - you should at least listen to it if you have a chance. Besides the difference in size of the woofers, the One C also has a dedicated 4" midrange driver (the same as the Synchrony One Towers.)

Don't cheap out on the CC speaker, arguably the most important one for movie soundtracks.

If it's an actual 50W per channel instead of imaginary watts, you should be quite fine. After all, the Alphas have decent sensitivity. I tested them with my stereo amp that is 2x40W, and it's not like I was ever using more than maybe 2x2W when the volume was already more than enough. Though my room is smallish and as such my listening position is only 1,5-2m from the speakers. But regardless, I'd say 50W is plenty.

When it gets here, the amp for my PSBs in desktop use will be a 2x15W tripath unit, instead of the current Onkyo TX-SR308. Quite enough in near-field use!

---

On a different note, in Facebook PSB was "advertising" some sort of warehouse clearance in Toronto where there's PSB, NAD etc products at big discounts. Too bad I don't live there

Thanks, TL5. I think that's the route I'm going to go, then. I really don't think the wall-mounted glass shelf I'm using for my center speaker would support a Synchrony One C anyway.


Only on this forum could spending ~$1,300 on a single speaker be considered "cheaping out."

That should be a "Killer" system, what will you use for an amp & surrounds?

The amp for FL/C/FR is an Emotiva XPA-3, with a USP-1 preamp.
The surrounds are driven by my Yamaha RX-V863 receiver.
For now, I'm going to leave my Klipsch RS-25's as the surround speakers. They're hardly a sonic match with the Synchrony One B mains, I know, but they're easy for the Yamaha to drive, being 8 ohm, 96 dB-sensitive speakers.

Are the Synchrony center-channel speakers (One C and Two C) both rear-ported? That may be a problem, since I currently have my center-channel speaker sitting on a wall-mounted shelf, less than an inch from the wall...

Yes, both the One C and Two C are rear ported. You can order a rubber port from PSB or your dealer to plug the port; these come standard on the Towers, but I didn't get one with my One C. Make sure that wall mounted shelf is strong, the Two C weighs 22 lbs....

guys,

what would a cheaper alternative bipole option to the Image S5 from another brand that will also timbre match with the image B6/T6 fronts ?

Thanks

Really there's no such thing. You might try finding a pair of the older S50's. Won't be an exact match, but for non-critical surround duties you should be ok.

Thanks

Guys any idea where I can find the S5 for the best price either online or a walk in store ?

;-)

The Image T5 would be a closer comparison to the Imagine T. (It does share the same driver size and layout and crossover points, after all)

The T6 is more of a rock music/party speaker for people who like extra grunt.

If you are going to audition an Image tower against the Imagine T - try the T5.

Well.... you can always check ebay and obvious options for used, like audiogon. Visit your local dealer and ack for a good price. There might be more than one dealer within your reach. The online retailer dmc-electronics.com have a reputation of being low priced.