[john hendrick]

i have been researching speakers for a new living room/5.1 home theater&music systemfor about 6 months and am about to commit to PSB's 4 image 2Bs image 8C and one of their alpha line of subs. the budget for this setup is about $1200. other speaker manufacturers in the running were B&W- which i liked but were more $ for comparable sound, def tech- which i liked for home theater but less for music, paradigm, klipsh, energy, and theal(spelling?)


i anticipate buying an amp in the $700-$1000 range- HK, NAD most likely.


i would love to hear some feedback from more experienced ears.!


please note- tower speakers are not an option, budget is

 

[Tex-amp]

Check the ascendforum.com site and see if there is an Ascend Acoustics owner in your area willing to give you a listen. Ascend Acoustics-www.ascendacoustics.com/main/intro/firstpage.asp

 

[thebland]

Nice plug Tex-Amp (didn't see Ascend on his list nor a request for other manufacturers)...... but back to the poster's running mates for his theater.


Now having horns in my theater, I like 'em and would certainly recommend you to take a good listen to them. I have never liked the sound of the B & W monitors as they have always had a 'tubby' character to them.


Thiel are probably the most articulate, nicest sounding of your list but lack that mega output you'll get from the Klipsch, for example.


PSBs are fine speakers and are a nice choice. I like 'em. Well built and solid sounding in my opinion.

 

[rnrgagne]

I had an all PSB system and I still have the 2B's and 1B's as my surrounds. With a good sub the 2B's will be very nice. I particularly thought the 9C was an exceptional center channel speaker. I'm not familiar with the Alpha subs, but it might be worth it for you to listen to a set-up with 1B's in the rear and a better sub. I know you don't want to consider towers but going with 6T's in the front and 1B's in the back without a sub might still be in your wheelhouse. The reason I say this is because the 6T's produce OUTSTANDING bass. All the Image Series speakers match up very well with each other so you can't go wrong mixing and matching.

I have an HK and the PSB's matched up very well with it.

I also thought the 2B's sounded exrtremely good with the Panasonic XR-25 I had for a while. I'd say even a bit better than my Paradigm Studio 100's in the top end.