PSB home theatre speaker

Your movie from Canada

By Tony Davey

November 2003

PSB 3LRHT home theatre speaker package, consisting 3LR, 8c, 10s and Subsonic 5i. System price: $3999.

PSB Speakers is not a brand I am immediately familiar with, being one of those ones that you have heard before, but can’t immediately place. A quick check on the internet shows that it is a Canadian based company and has been around for approximately 30 years.

The speakers auditioned were part of their middle range, including the 3LR main speakers, the 8c centre speaker, the 10s surround speakers and the Subsonic 5i subwoofer. The look of the speakers is pleasant, if not awe-inspiring finished in a fairly standard black ash veneer with black grille cloths. A cherry finish is also available.

The main speakers aren’t floorstanding or bookshelf speakers, they are a mid-sized speaker standing only 56cm high. The main speakers are the same size and configuration as the centre speaker (two 130mm drivers, one tweeter and two ports) with only the tweeter placement, binding posts (the main speakers can be bi-wired where the centre can’t) and port placement being different.

The 10s surround speakers are a bipole configuration, again with the same sized driver as the main/centre speakers and a tweeter firing forward and aft. The speakers are designed “in phase” enabling both localisation of surround activity when required, but also with an angled front/rear firing drivers, allows for an expansive sound field (this proved most effective as the speakers had a wonderful immersive character about them, yet you could still get the benefits of bullets and such whizzing past your ears)

The 5i subwoofer is a compact unit, with a 25cm driver and 150 watt amplifier. The connections are standard for a subwoofer and the controls are located handily on the front of the unit.

At a shade under 15kg, the sub doesn’t feel like it would be a heavy-weight performer in the world of sub-woofers but plug one in, turn it on and run a test tone through it, then tell me if you don’t think it is a heavy weight performer! Make sure you do not have the sub volume set at 50% when running the test tone through it – whoops, this sub shifts some serious amounts of air (pleased the kids weren’t asleep) and had me quickly reaching for the volume knob to tame the beast.

One advantage to the PSB "I" range is that the front three speakers for all intents and purposes are identical, meaning perfect tonal matching across the front sound stage (not mandatory in home theatre but it should be).

Given that this is a home theatre oriented package that is what I mostly tested it with. Sure, you can listen to music through it, but you will need to run the sub with the main speakers, as the main speakers lacked oomph when playing music on their own. Combine the sub properly and you get a very pleasant result, capable of faithfully reproducing the full spectrum of sound and greatly enhancing the musicality of the main speakers (including a solid mid-range, often a failing of the smaller sub/sat systems).

Home theatre is certainly where this package excelled, with the series aptly handling any modern soundtrack thrown at it. From the sounds of bullets whizzing past your ears in James Bond’s Die Another Day and Swordfish to the near inhuman bass levels in the opening scenes of Arnie’s End of Days, the PSB speaker range handled it all harmoniously. Voices were captured well, even Travolta’s character in Swordfish portrayed its natural southern raspy characteristics and the gruff aggressive voice of Gene Hackman in Crimson Tide came across well.

Crimson Tide remains a great example of an orchestral score, with a mix of heavy brass, light percussion and everything in between. The PSB range captured it all well with a rich full sound across the front soundstage and wonderful emersion into the score provided by the surrounds.

The pricing of the package puts it above of many sub-sat systems on offer from other companies, but with the larger drivers in the main and centre units handling frequencies as low as 50Hz there is more overlap between the front speakers and sub and therefore the PSB range is less susceptible to holes in the sound through a weakened midrange.

The PSB “I” range offers a viable alternative to sub-sat systems for a discrete home theatre speaker set. Home theatre is where the set feels most comfortable with my theatre filled with full clean sound and plenty of bottom end kick that immerses you into the soundtrack.

For your nearest PSB dealer