Hey guys,
I'm looking at upgrading my HT as I move into my new house, and I've been looking at a couple of PSB speakers and was wondering what people on the board thought about them. I tested out the T6 towers, Imagine bookshelf speakers and the Image B5. I'm trying to keep my budget around 2k (CDN) for my FCL, and upgrade the rest later. I really liked the T6, and the Imagine B wasn't far behind, and was $300 cheaper; The Image B5 was a pretty big step down so I don't think I'l be considering it.
What do you guys think of these speakers? They seemed really nice to me, but I'm also wondering what else is out there. I know there are lots of internet brands, but I'd rather avoid them and go for something I'm able to listen to before I by. I've checked out Paradigm a bit too, although I haven't had a good chance to hear them yet.
I'm probably this site's biggest PSB fanboy. I have teh older T45s and I really like them. I would do some more shopping around looking at Energy, Paradigm, Axiom, etc just to make sure PSB offers the sound you looking for. Buying speakers is teh most subjective purchase in the audio chain.
What I would do is to take a pad of paper with you, write down the make and
model of each speaker you audition and what you liked and disliked about the
speakers you were auditioning. Was the bass tight and deep or was it boomy and loose sounding? Were the mids life like or were they hollow or just too pronounced? Was the treble irritating and harsh or were they dark and not revealing or were they smooththat made you want to listen for more? How was the imaging?
Bring music with you that you are very familiar with and know quite well. To
make it easier to audition HT speaker systems, listen to the main speakers in 2
channel mode with music. Music is much harder to reproduce accurately then a movie soundtrack so if the speakers do well with music, then they will do well with HT. Speakers that do HT well may not do well with music. When auditioning the center channel of the same brand and series as the main speakers, pick a difficult source like an announcer that mumbles alot. If you can understand what the mumbling announcer is saying, then you have a good center channel.
I would go to speciality stores first and start auditioning speakers first
instead of going to the internet first. The specality stores are better setup acousticaly then the big box stores which will make auditioning a little easier. It will give you an idea of what you like in a speaker.
Keep track of what amp or receiver is powering the speakers you're auditioning. Try to get a receiver/amp that closest resembles what you have or want to get. It just reduces another variable when audtioning speakers.
One thing to keep note off. When auditioning speakers, make sure the volume
levels are matched between the diiferent speaker pairs because the louder
speaker pair will always sound better. Listen to levels that you think you
would listen to most of the time because thats how you are going to be using
them most of the time.
