Hi folks. Just discovered this forum and though I'd chime in on my PSB experience.
In 99' I bought a Sony STR-DB840, I should have spent the extra $100 for the 940 but anyway. I thought that I would use my 2 pair of
Optimus Pro LX-5's as fronts and rears for movies. You know as bigger satellites than my co-workers cute little Bose cube speakers that sounded so good. I bet those Bose cubes couldn't touch that Linaeum ribbon tweeter. And they were OK for surround but seriously lacking for music even with a sub (Polk). And as much as I loved the Altec Lansing Capri's I'd bought in 73', they weren't going to hold up to the power the 840 put out.
So I went to the Sony store where I bought my receiver and explained to Larry my issue. "I have a great deal that just came through the FAX you need to see". Larry and I had been on a first name basis since I started my mini-disc collection a couple years earlier. We walked over to these narrow floor speakers all in black and he asked me if there was something I wanted to hear or if I had a CD in my car that I wanted to play. So I run out to the truck and grab a CD wallet and head back into the store. I hand him Tom Cochrane's "Songs of a Circling Spirit" and he slid it into the CD player. ( I prefer to audition speakers with acoustic and classical )
The clarity (to my econo speaker ears ) and the sound-stage was quite a surprise and I'm stuttering as I ask what the price is, "Just a minute, I have to re-read the FAX" is Larry's response. Shortly after Larry returns with a weird look on his face. "Sorry those are the wrong speakers. The deal is on these speakers here". He points to these PSB's that aren't exactly bookshelf but they aren't floors either. Don't remember the model. Give them a listen and they were better than anything I've ever owned but nothing like the floors. "$699.00" (CAD) you don't want to know what the first pair cost". After some humming and hawing I take a few laps of the store, check out some Sony speakers and finally convince myself that I can live with the PSB"s.
So I take then home and set them up and throw some Tragically Hip, Elvis Costello, Metallica, Rachmaninoff, King Crimson, Jethro Tull etc.. at them and they're better than any speakers I've owned. Put on the DVD 'Rules of Engagement" that night, I'm still using the Radio Shacks as rears, and when those Huey's come screaming from the rear speakers after this very quiet scene my 18 year old son jumps off the couch and we're just blown away by proper surround sound. Yet I just can't erase the sound that those floor speakers from my head.
The next day I call Larry and explain my quandary and ask if it's possible to exchange the speakers I bought for the other ones and just pay the difference??? "No problem Bill" So I re-box them and run my butt back to Barrie ( an hour away ) and do the deed. Another $500, oh well. I know I'm gonna be happy.
And that your Honor is how I ended up with a pair of PSB Stratus Bronze. Still love them. They've been augmented over the years with a pair of Klipsch Synergy 2's, a pair of Tangent RS8's and I was recently gifted a pair of Klipsch CF-3's in need of some serious refinishing. I'm still using the Shack Linaeum but as surrounds and rears for my STR DA-4600es receiver. Yeah I love Sony receivers and finally picked up a STR-DB940 for $90 on Kijiji! I love it when wealthy people just want to clear out old audio.
Every now and then I wonder if Larry played me letting me listen the the Stratus Bronze, but if so he started a love affair that's lasted almost as long as my marriage did, so far, (heh heh ) Anyway, that's my story. Thanks for reading this if you managed to finish it.
