PSB’s Synchrony Series Goes Big with the T800 Premium Towers

[gene]

A year after launching its new Synchrony B600 bookshelf speaker and T600 floorstander, PSB has expanded the flagship range with a new top dog. The larger Synchrony T800 is a chunky, 4-foot-tall tower with three 8-inch woofers, a 5.25-inch midrange driver, PSB’s go-to titanium tweeter and their most advanced crossover to date. It promises to play louder, deeper, and cleaner than any previous PSB speaker.

Read: PSB Synchrony T800 Tower Speakers Overview

Would you be happy using a skinny on-wall speaker as the center channel in a home theater system anchored by PSB’s beefy new towers?

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Those are bootyful. I'm glad I've been able to get my impulses under control!

 

[ryanosaur]

Cool. Nice preview! Thank you.

 

[mtrot]

Nice. Those T600's were already calling my name! Now, these...

 

[3db]

Here are the specs according to PSB

Synchrony T800 Tower - PSB Speakers

Prestigious Sound The flagship Synchrony T800 Premium Towers represent the most advanced application of True to Nature sound principles in PSB’s 50-year history. With the largest and most accurate performance envelope of any PSB loudspeaker, the T800 delivers a caliber of micro-detail and...

www.psbspeakers.com

 

[audiogod66]

Never really happy with the choice of tweeter used over the last few years ,it sucks for a high end speaker ok if you listen to ghetto rap . At the price they want for these ? Also very ordinary bass engineering in crossover design as shown in Sterophile measurements of T600 . In Australia they will sell bugger all of these just so overpriced . And yes before anyone says it doesn't matter what a tweeter is made of bla bla .I am very happy for you your probably deaf ,fired artillery shells all day long in Iraq etc . Why couldn't he have tried a decent Sb acoustics Satari beryllium in it and really give these expensive speakers some finesse . Instead they get a pile of the cheap tweeters used in there low cost models and test them and grade the better ones for the dearer range . I think Barton's best design days are well and truly over . Even cabinet resonance control is ordinary. Constrained layer damping ? Look at the results as evidenced by Q Accoustic Concept 500 and even the 50 really cut the extraneous noise down remarkably. Rant over ,maybe these are a step up from the T 600 other than just output. I hope after those Stereophile measurements they might have revised them a little . After your test of the Polk R 700 I am much more impressed with that engineering $3000 here and sold out so they must be damn good

 

[shadyJ]

Never really happy with the choice of tweeter used over the last few years ,it sucks for a high end speaker ok if you listen to ghetto rap . At the price they want for these ? Also very ordinary bass engineering in crossover design as shown in Sterophile measurements of T600 . In Australia they will sell bugger all of these just so overpriced . And yes before anyone says it doesn't matter what a tweeter is made of bla bla .I am very happy for you your probably deaf ,fired artillery shells all day long in Iraq etc . Why couldn't he have tried a decent Sb acoustics Satari beryllium in it and really give these expensive speakers some finesse . Instead they get a pile of the cheap tweeters used in there low cost models and test them and grade the better ones for the dearer range . I think Barton's best design days are well and truly over . Even cabinet resonance control is ordinary. Constrained layer damping ? Look at the results as evidenced by Q Accoustic Concept 500 and even the 50 really cut the extraneous noise down remarkably. Rant over ,maybe these are a step up from the T 600 other than just output. I hope after those Stereophile measurements they might have revised them a little . After your test of the Polk R 700 I am much more impressed with that engineering $3000 here and sold out so they must be damn good

You can not listen to speakers by looking at graphs. The tweeter that PSB uses for the Synchronys is very well controlled. If they had gone with Satori Be tweeters, the price would have went up by at least another $1k and probably wouldn't have made much of an audible improvement. The measured cabinet resonances by Steeophile are definitely better than average. Very ordinary bass engineering in the crossover design of the T 600? You mean that speaker that uses three different low-pass filters for the bass drivers? What?

 

[audiogod66]

Well I think JA was pretty honest in his assessment of the T600 its pretty ordinary and -so what a $1000 more to have a much purer sounding tweeter . I want some refinement this thing is over $20 000 in Australia and its got a $ 50 tweeter and is 100% made in China ? I have heard the T3 and others . The T3 has terrible resale value in Australia(the tweeter was singled out as very ordinary by several people who listened ) and it was much more reasonably priced than this new series - I cannot see 14 k of improvements over the T3 here sorry - nor engineering.
Love to be wrong however

 

[3db]

Well I think JA was pretty honest in his assessment of the T600 its pretty ordinary and -so what a $1000 more to have a much purer sounding tweeter . I want some refinement this thing is over $20 000 in Australia and its got a $ 50 tweeter and is 100% made in China ? I have heard the T3 and others . The T3 has terrible resale value in Australia(the tweeter was singled out as very ordinary by several people who listened ) and it was much more reasonably priced than this new series - I cannot see 14 k of improvements over the T3 here sorry - nor engineering.
Love to be wrong however

Have you sat down and listened to them or is this merely armchair speculation on your part?

You have your wish btw. You and JA are most definitely wrong. All PSB speakers are evaluated by a listening panel multiple times before they go into final production. Lots of R&D and lots of time is spent at the NRC tweeking the design. Look else where if you dont like their sound if you even have listened to them to begin with.

 

[JimBobTex]

Well I think JA was pretty honest in his assessment of the T600 its pretty ordinary and -so what a $1000 more to have a much purer sounding tweeter . I want some refinement this thing is over $20 000 in Australia and its got a $ 50 tweeter and is 100% made in China ? I have heard the T3 and others . The T3 has terrible resale value in Australia(the tweeter was singled out as very ordinary by several people who listened ) and it was much more reasonably priced than this new series - I cannot see 14 k of improvements over the T3 here sorry - nor engineering.
Love to be wrong however

Pretty ordinary? Here's what he said

The inclusion of the IsoAcoustic GAIA II isolating feet is a welcome bonus. The Synchrony T600 is a worthy successor to the Imagine T3, at a competitive price.

Worthy successor. something that is as good and deserves to be a successor. It is proving to be a worthy successor to to the T3.

Now JAs review of the T3

Conclusions
While more expensive than its predecessor, the Synchrony One, PSB's Imagine T3 offers superb sound quality for what is still a relatively affordable price. To improve on its combination of full frequency-range sound, clarity, and neutrality, you would need to spend almost three times as much. It is also a beautiful piece of audio furniture.

 

[3db]

Maybe audiogod66 should be renamed to trollgod666.

 

[speedr911]

I noticed that this can be tri-wired? Which set of posts go to which drivers?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Have you sat down and listened to them or is this merely armchair speculation on your part?

You have your wish btw. You and JA are most definitely wrong. All PSB speakers are evaluated by a listening panel multiple times before they go into final production. Lots of R&D and lots of time is spent at the NRC tweeking the design. Look else where if you dont like their sound if you even have listened to them to begin with.

NRC? If PBS is still faithful to their original research at NRC when Toole was there that also includes DBT protocol listening, I am sure they still do this, then it must be excellent.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I noticed that this can be tri-wired? Which set of posts go to which drivers?

Not knowing for sure, I would think the top binding post for tweeter, center for mid band and the low one for the low frequencies.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Never really happy with the choice of tweeter used over the last few years ,it sucks for a high end speaker ok if you listen to ghetto rap . At the price they want for these ? Also very ordinary bass engineering in crossover design as shown in Sterophile measurements of T600 . In Australia they will sell bugger all of these just so overpriced . And yes before anyone says it doesn't matter what a tweeter is made of bla bla .I am very happy for you your probably deaf ,fired artillery shells all day long in Iraq etc . Why couldn't he have tried a decent Sb acoustics Satari beryllium in it and really give these expensive speakers some finesse . Instead they get a pile of the cheap tweeters used in there low cost models and test them and grade the better ones for the dearer range . I think Barton's best design days are well and truly over . Even cabinet resonance control is ordinary. Constrained layer damping ? Look at the results as evidenced by Q Accoustic Concept 500 and even the 50 really cut the extraneous noise down remarkably. Rant over ,maybe these are a step up from the T 600 other than just output. I hope after those Stereophile measurements they might have revised them a little . After your test of the Polk R 700 I am much more impressed with that engineering $3000 here and sold out so they must be damn good

Oh man. @3db loves 2 things here- PSB and Yamaha. So don’t you dare talk trash about PSB or Yamaha.

I wouldn’t dare.

 

[3db]

Oh man. @3db loves 2 things here- PSB and Yamaha. So don’t you dare talk trash about PSB or Yamaha.

I wouldn’t dare.

Kinda but not really. Trollgod666 came across as such, misquoted and misinterpreted the reviews he read and sounded like an armchair quarter back. He deserved it for behaving like a kangaroo's ass.

 

[VonMagnum]

It's hard to believe anyone would still quote the King of Snake Oil (John Atkinson) these days. Even his relative over at AVS has disassociated himself from him.

Everything always seems to magically sound better than products costing 2x, 4x and even 12x as much. Sounds like a huckster to me. If they all sound better than their price, then what prices are being referred to that the sound better than?

Anyway, speaking as the owner of much cheaper T45 towers, the notion one needs a better tweeter on speakers rated +/- 1.5dB over most of their range is absurd. PSB has always stated most of the difference in the price lineups are higher end cabinetry as it's hard to improve on near perfection. I know a Trinnov Altitude-32 owner that mixed T3s with "lowly" CS1000s for overheads and are thrilled with them in their 13.4.6 system.

As for a matched center, the best solution is another T800. If you can afford $12k/pair speakers, you can afford to use an acoustically transparent screen or use a combo dialog lift system (send copies to front heights plus center height) if you're doing a TV instead. I use matched L/C/R and matching drivers everywhere else in a 11.1.6 system (soon to be upgraded to 11.2.10).

 

[Jonski]

In the photo it looks like the T800s are being driven by a NAD M33 and an M23 power amp. Assuming those two amps are connected up in bridged mode I believe this would mean 700W per channel. How does that work when the T800 are only rated for 300W? Would you have to be very careful with the volume control even on 100 pound speakers like these?

 

[shadyJ]

In the photo it looks like the T800s are being driven by a NAD M33 and an M23 power amp. Assuming those two amps are connected up in bridged mode I believe this would mean 700W per channel. How does that work when the T800 are only rated for 300W? Would you have to be very careful with the volume control even on 100 pound speakers like these?

I wouldn't be concerned about overdriving these speakers with that system; those speakers aren't even connected to any amps at all.

 

[Jonski]

I wouldn't be concerned about overdriving these speakers with that system; those speakers aren't even connected to any amps at all.

Well, I can see that, but if I buy them they will be connected to those two amplifiers.