PSB Speakers Owners thread - Page 136

Originally Posted by Torqdog 

I once had a pair of B&W floorstanders, the DM605 with active bass and Nautilus tweeters. "Brassy" vocals is an understatement as the whole soundfield just sounded harsh. Got rid of 'em with no regrets. I think that if you are truly interested in B&Ws, the 8xx line is a good place to start.........of course they come with a prohibitive pricetag.

I suggest that you simply do a google search by posting "B&W 683B reviews" or "B&W CM9 reviews" into the search bar and see what other who own them have to say. You might even try something like "B&W 683B vs PSB Imagine" and see what comes up.

As far as myself being able to compare the two, I have not heard the PSB Imagine line.

Good luck and good hunting.

BTW; I had the same problem trying to audition the Synchronys. Living in Carson City is at least a 200 mile drive to the nearest dealer and even still, none had 'em setup for previewing(wassup wid dat?!!!). That's one of the reasons I figured it was worth taking a chance on secondary market Stratus Golds as referenced in my post up above. If they didn't work out, I figured I could easily sell 'em on A-gon or e-bay and not be out anything more than a trip to the shipper.

Originally Posted by BroncoAZ 

I am still trying to decide on speakers. Unfortunately there are no PSB dealers with a showroom in Phoenix (the fifth largest city in the US) for me to go listen and compare the PSB speakers. I have listened to the T6 at Wilson Audio in Tucson last month. When listening side by side to the PSB T6 and the B&W 683B I slightly preferred the 683B as it had a slightly wider sound stage and warmer midrange. I would like to listen to the PSB Imagine T and T2 before I make my decision. I read so many good posts about the T2 that I am tempted to spend the extra on them, but they are $1100 more each than the T6, since I can't hear them side by side I don't know if it is worth it.

I have done a couple more hours of listening on the B&W speakers that are at Best Buy. For most material I find the B&W 683B speakers more pleasing to the ear than the B&W CM9 speakers. The CM9 does have a wider sound stage that I prefer, but the CM9 sound too forward in the upper ranges, my wife described high female vocals as "too brassy". I have a concern that the difference in the PSB T6 and the T2 towers could be similar. I would appreciate input from those who have heard both.

Originally Posted by LIKEAUDIO 

About one week with my Imagine T2'S and let me tell you no regrets that I went with these speakers, they are great! Went from Definitive to PSB big difference how the T2s fill my room. Right now i have about one month doing research and comparisons no auditions. Revamping my set up, I need some power amp and a better AVR/AV. I narrowed it down to the following: DENON 4250CI, MARANTZ SR7007, or MARANTZ AV7001, power amplifier Outlaw 7200, Parasound HALO A51, ATI 1800, I want good sound at low and high volumes no distortion just clean and steady power. What you guys think?

Originally Posted by Torqdog 

Ok, I realize that most folks who post here have mostly newer PSB offerings and may not be interested in this but I want to tell you of my new purchase (new to me anyway). First let me state that I have been a VERY happy PSB owner since 1996 when I bought my first "real" loudspeaker, the Stratus Silver. At the time it was all I could afford and the extra $600.00 for the much desired and coveted Stratus Golds was beyond the budget. But that didn't stop my interest and last weekend I finally got ahold of an excellent pair of the Goldi for $700.00. Now that I've had them in the system for a week I can honestly say that they are well worth the money. Before buying, I poured all over various forums for any info I could find on these speakers and it all came up VERY favorable. They even received a "class B" rating from Stereophile magazine back in the day. I came across a few threads where they were compared to Synchrony Ones by folks who had owned both and where-as most all claimed the Synchrony's were a more detailed speaker that image well, they also said the Golds were a warmer speaker that were also quite detailed, image almost as well with a very wide soundstge and a better bottom end when put side by side. More than a few posts indicated remorse for selling their Golds.

I can personally attest to the fact that in my situation, the Golds have much more bottom end than the Silvers. It only figures considering that the Golds have a 10" woofer compared to the Silver's 6.5" woofer. Another surprise was the fact that the upper mid range seems more robust but not at all abrasive. Vocals really stand out now and things like cymbal decay is more prevalent and piano sounds fuller and more natural. I'm now able to run my front speakers set at "large" and the difference is jaw dropping when watching boisterous movie soundtracks. These are my first pair of what I would classify as "true" full range speakers.

The Silvers are now being utilized as my center channel and that is a story in and of itself. Dialogue never sounded better and pans across the stage are so smooth you really can't tell where one speaker stops and the next one starts. Perfect!

The Bronzes which have been serving as center speaks may find themselves relegated to side surround duties. I haven't decided yet as the Stratus Minis are doing just fine.

The Golds are paired up to my Parasound Halo A-31 which has plenty of watts (400wpc-4ohms) for these power hungry monsters(they weigh 90lbs each!), the sound is finally something I can truly say is at the point where any improvements beyond here are gonna be cost prohibitive. After almost two decades of searching I think I have finally found sonic nirvana.

Just thought y'all might be interested to know that a decent, "audiophile" quality PSB speaker setup can be had for less than what you might think if you just shop around a bit.

Stratus Gold, I paid $700.00 but I've seen 'em for less.

Silvers, I've seen for around $400.00

Bronze, I paid $200.00

Stratus Minis; 1 set cost $260.00, 1 set cost $300.00

Total = $1860.00

Eliminate the Bronzes and we're talkin exactly $1660.00 clams for a better than awesome 7.? surround system!
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Originally Posted by VicTorious1 

So I picked up a B&W 683 5.1 setup from a local HT store a week ago and have two weeks left in my demo period. Below is the package deal that I got. I've been thinking of swapping out the speakers for the CM9 or the PSB T6.

_______________Reg. Price____Package Price
Marantz SR6007__$1199.99_____$799.98
683 pair_________$1,499.98____$1,349.98
686 pair_________$479.99______$407.98
CMC2___________$1,249.99____$1,061.65
Total____________$4,027.96____$3,618.62
Total w/ tax___________________$3,894.35
Savings_____________________$409.35

I think my ears are more partial to the PSB T6 sound (or if I want to step up in price the Imagine T2s or CM9s). I found the following deal for PSB T6s via an online retailer, which I think is a much better deal. But I generally don't like dealing with the hassle of returning or servicing electronics purchased online. Below is the deal for PSB T6s.

______________Reg. Price____Package Price
Denon 3313ci___$1,199.99____$899.99
T6 pair_________$1,299.98____$974.99
S5 pair_________$899.99_____$674.99
C5_____________$399.99____$299.99
Total___________$3,799.95___$2,849.96 (no tax b/c online sale)
Savings____________________$949.99
Savings vs B&W Package______$1,044.39

I know most people here prefer the PSB T6s to the B&W 683s, but I felt I would ask nonetheless. I am using two SVS PB-1000s for my subwoofer.

Originally Posted by Tacklebary 

Hi Guys

Question for the group. I have a 5.1 setup with Image T6's, C5 and B5 surrounds and a Deftech supercube II sub. I am powering the group with a Denon AVR-890 which is supposed rated at 105 watts per channel I believe. I recently was watching the Dark Knight Rises on bluray and had it turned up to close to reference levels. Now I have noticed that one of my T6's isnt sounding right. A closer inspection of it showed that the glue that surrounds the cone in one of the woofers appears to have a hairline crack. I checked all of my other speakers and there is nothing remotely like that in my other speakers. The middle woofer is now giving an electrical static sound.What are your suggestions and what could have possibly caused this?

Originally Posted by Tacklebary 

Hi Guys

Question for the group. I have a 5.1 setup with Image T6's, C5 and B5 surrounds and a Deftech supercube II sub. I am powering the group with a Denon AVR-890 which is supposed rated at 105 watts per channel I believe. I recently was watching the Dark Knight Rises on bluray and had it turned up to close to reference levels. Now I have noticed that one of my T6's isnt sounding right. A closer inspection of it showed that the glue that surrounds the cone in one of the woofers appears to have a hairline crack. I checked all of my other speakers and there is nothing remotely like that in my other speakers. The middle woofer is now giving an electrical static sound. What are your suggestions and what could have possibly caused this?

Originally Posted by Kini62 

I doubt that possible distortion from your amp caused that type of failure. Seems like a manufacturing defect to me..

Over driving your amp or any amp will more than likely damage the electrical components of the speaker.

What do you have the crossed over at or are you running them as "large"?

Originally Posted by Tacklebary 

I believe that they are classified as small speakers and the crossover should be 80hz. What is a safe recommendation for power ratings especially if I wanted to get into 7.1 with the addition of a set of Image S5's?

Originally Posted by Brian Fineberg 

fraction of their capabilities. Those numbers are only with 1 or 2 channels driven at any given time. Since they all pul from the same power supply the numbers are more realistically 75-95 watts per channel. The only true way to get the most of your speakers is going with an external amp that can drive all channel at the same time at the same wattage

Originally Posted by firebook23 

I would invest in a AVR from a company that gives you their specifications when all channels are driven simultaneously (ie. 7 not 1 or 2) into full bandwidth at rated distortion.

Originally Posted by Torqdog 

With all due respect, I have to disagree. Just lookee HERE

As I stated earlier, that movie has a very AGGRESSIVE, LOUD soundtrack. If he was already playing it at "close to reference levels", I could easily picture the receiver/amplifier getting pushed way beyond it's capabilities when all hell started breaking loose. Where-as overpowering a speaker will do things like melt voice coils and the like, clipping will destroy a speaker in other ways. The symptoms sound like the amp was getting pushed into some pretty serious clipping and having watched that movie and having heard the soundtrack, I'm not at all surprised.

Also, one other thing to consider is that, unlike a quality, dedicated amplifier, a receiver/amp combo is quite often rated higher than what it actually puts out. The Denon is, as he said, rated at 105wpc and the T-6 is rated at 200 watts program so it's really not possible that the receiver was overpowering the driver. Quite the contrary, if he was pushing the limit, the limit was exceeded big time in those big time loud passages.

They should probably put a warning label on the cover of that blu-ray.


ETA; I looked all over the place and couldn't find whether the AVR 890 can handle 4 ohms properly. All the specs I saw only list the wpc which makes me kind of suspect that the 890 is most likely an 8 ohm amplifier, especially at the price they charge. Those Image T-6 speakers, according to specs can get down as low as 4 ohms.
.

Originally Posted by firebook23 


A lot of companies do that.
NAD is my favorite but there are many others Rotel, Cambridge or on the cheaper end Anthem, that are more truthful about their products

Originally Posted by Torqdog 

80hz is pretty much the standard. Your T-6s spec down to 32hz (+/-3db) and 45hz(+/-1 1/2db) which means that they could handle a lower x-over point of say 60hz. When I had my (similar to your T-6s) Stratus Silvers doing FR/FL duties, I would switch x-over points dependent on source material..........music I'd play at 60hz and movies at 80hz.

As far as amplifier power, it is a general rule of thumb that you want an amp that is capable of providing at least 50% more power than what your speaker's input power/program rating is, ie; the T-6 is rated at 200 watts so you would be fine with an amplifier rated at 300wpc or even higher. Keep in mind that when you're looking at power ratings for amplifiers, the power output increases as the ohms go lower. Case in point, my Halo amp is rated at 250wpc @8 ohms and 400wpc @4 ohms. My speakers are rated at 300 watts program and they are 4 ohms so they are quite happy with what the Halo amp is feeding them.

A good analogy I read when I conducted my research was the Corvette. That car has a heck of allot of horsepower but you don't go flooring it at every stoplight. Nope, you just go about accelerating but well within the power band and the car barely exerts much effort to get moving. But you do have plenty of "reserve" power. That reserve power in amplifier speak is called headroom.

I recently in the past 2 months changed out my amp and front speakers. The older Parasound amp it replaced was rated at 200wpc into 4 ohms and the Stratus Silver speakers that I just replaced 2 weeks ago were rated at 250 watts/4 ohms. With that setup the way it was, loud explosions and the like didn't sound all that good even though I wasn't pushing the amp anywhere close to reference levels. When I replaced that with the new Halo 400wpc amp, those 250 watt speakers suddenly sounded like they got turbo-charged. Those same explosions now sounded very real and even though the volume was at pretty much the same level, those speakers just sounded now like they were cruisin and not even breaking a sweat..........kinda like the Corvette at the intersection.

Originally Posted by Solo man 

Hi Torqdog, so my amp is probably way too underpowered right? I didn't know about the general rule of thumb that the amp should be capable of providing at least 50% more power than the input/power/program rating form my speakers( Imagine T2) which is 300watts. My Halo amp which is the A23 is only 125 watts and the store told me that it is enough for my speakers. My system sounds really good in 2 channel but I am probaly not getting the proper sound I am supposed to be getting with my amp being too weak. I connect my amp to my Marantz SR6007 for 7.1 and the system sounds really good. I listen to music from about 14 feet away at about -10db to -5db.

I am just wondering if I should return the amp and get the A21 but thinking is it worth the extra 1300.00 for the improvement in sq?

Thank you for your input.