Some of the lack of depth may have had to do with the setup, as Ron noted. When seated off axis and closer to them, the depth seemed to be there, and there was definitely a sweet spot in the room where the front three blended as if they were one speaker; a bit of a disappearing act
. Part of the issue in this room is the owner really is pretty much limited in where he can locate everything and that didn't allow for ideal placement. The left front speaker was too close to the wall and for the listening position, they should have been pulled further apart (not really an option due to a door on the right side). The sweet spot was about 2 ft in front of the listening positon, which sort of made them sound further away than they were; this seemed to make the room sound larger than it was.
I walked around the room and one thing that impressed me about them is they remain very clean off axis. The center stood out in the fact that it was very good at this price. The center is often the weak point in a lower price package, IMO, but this isn't the case here.
I don't think the Micra 6 package is a fair comparison because even at MSRP, it's half the price of this package (including the PB-10). I haven't heard the Micras in a complete setup, so I won't comment on them directly, but I bought a pair of B1s just to listen to them. The B1s are very similar in size, though the SBS sats feel a bit more solid and the finish looks cleaner - same as the PB-10, nice black texturized covering. The B1s, which should be close in price for a pair, have a relatively similar midrange, but the SBS's implementation of the soft dome is an improvement from the B1s, IMO. Bass extension was better with the B1s without sacrificing the midrange clarity, they only got a tad boomy when fed something that was much lower than they could handle. The SBS, when given something too low did not exhibit any boom when fed with low stuff on their own, most likely due to their higher tuning and the fact that they are sealed.
Next comparison would be the Paradigm Atoms and Titans, both of which I've owned a number of versoins of, and both of which are pretty close in price. The SBS have about the same bass as the Atoms, meaning I wouldn't normally run them without a sub, but the midrange is definitely more clear with the SBS. The Titans have much more bass, but display a similar trait that the B1s did, they get sloppy when you play them with stuff that is too low for them. Crossed over properly with a sub, this isn't an issue for the B1 or Titan. The highs are more "crisp" if that's what you like (titanium tweeters), but I prefer the smoother highs of the SBS again. Build quality and appearance is a toss up, with the 'digm cabinets feeling just a bit more solid with recent generations. Color options and nice veneers might win over for the 'digms, but the SBS will still have respectable WAF in size and quality appearance.
My 902s wouldn't be quite a fair comparison either, as they are MSRP $400/pr. The midrange is exceedingly clear, but ever so slightly colored by the aluminum midbass. Vocals, female in particular, are rendered very clearly though, and they seem to have more depth than most small speakers I've heard. They have adequate bass (-3dB @ 55Hz) in a package about the same size as the SBSs. The cabinets are very well built, and the solid aluminum front baffle with the tweeter waveguide built in is quite unique, and they have dual binding posts. The veneers look cheap though. Here I prefer the tweeters of the 902, which have a bit livelier presentation, but not so much so that I'd call them bright. I had Studio 20s in this setup previously and they sounded bright.
I'd like to hear a pair of the SBS sats in my setups for comparison (so I can set them up in an environment I'm familiar with) and I'm very curious to hear the upcoming next step up from these guys later this year when SVS releases them.
I think these guys would do adequately with a low cost receiver (probably opt for the Onkyo over the Sony), meaning I don't think a receiver like that would struggle to drive them, though I can't say if they'll give you ref level. Though they don't seem power hungry per se, they do seem like I could have kept turning them up without distortion; IMO they are better suited to something with a fair amount of power, but not necessarily looking at a 4 Ohm stable amp or anything; at least a mid level receiver.
