I recently purchased a pair of PSB 800's and am extremely happy with them. I had actually originally purchased Mirage 390's but found that these had far to little bass and sounded "tinny" in our apartment. The PSB 800's are quite the opposite. These speakers have ample bass as well as nice balance and a crisp, comfortable sound. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a set of full sounding speakers for all types of music.

nice crisp highs ,powerfull bass , very nice sounding

none

THE PSB 800i's ARE A ECELLENT SOUNDING SPEAKER WITH NICE CRISP HIGHS AND POWERFULL BASS , THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY . THEY ARE DISCONTINUED , AS PSB CAME OUT WITH A NEW LINE , THE IMAGE SERIES , YOU STILL MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIND SOME 800i's AT A PSB DEALER IF YOU CAN YOU WILL MORE THAN HAPPY WITH YOUR PURCHASE .

MY SYSTEM ICLUDES THE FOLLOWING

MARANTZ AV-9000 PRE/PRO THX ULTRA
MARANTZ MM 9000 5CH/AMP THX ULTRA
MARANTZ DVD 18 PLAYER THX ULTRA
MARANTZ CC65 S.E.
PSB 800i's fronts L/R
PSB 500i's rears L/R
PSB 200i's center C
CERWIN VEGA SUB /with NAD 214 BRIDGED MONO AMP .

Similar Products Used:

paradigm,

WOW!!! Great sound. highs, mids, lows. PSB did one heck of a job!

So good, my son is trying to take them to college :-)

I bought this product slightly used pretty cheap. The person that was selling them completely upgraded to PSB Golds. He said he loved the 800i's but wife would only tolerate so many tower speakers aroung the house. When I hooked it up to my Yamaha 2092, all I could do was say "wow". No wonder he was sad to let them go. It enveloped me in sound. THe highs were incredibly crisp and the bass was very tight. I have quite an eclectic collection from my daugher's mariah and celine cds to my son's beetles and heavy metal (he has quite diverse tastes) to my classical and opera. It handles all of the music extremely well. I have read the posts under this and can not understand why all the poor reviews?? They are an absolute steal even for the full price. I have had speakers over a $1000 and they don't sound this good. I also tried the 600i's from psb which are good but not NEARLY as good as these. If you can find these, grab them, it is absolutley criminal for the price (and even if they were a few hundred more).

Keith

Similar Products Used:

PSB 600i, MANY B&W's, Paradigm, Atlantic Technology, Pinnacle, Infinity Deltas

Just had give a final review after I received my Paradigm Monitor 9's for a comparison. (Made a review below before). I was complaining about the build quality. In the end the cabinet on the Paradigm was actually only a little better (maybe another step up) not a biggie though. What I liked better with the Century 800i's was their midrange. The Monitor 9's are lacking there a little bit. All in all, both speakers have their negative sides. You cant lose with either of them. I'm kind of glad I went with the Paradigm though. I'll give this speaker 4 stars (1 more star then before because I was pissed before because of the damaged speaker cabinets).

I've had these speakers for about a year now and I must say that they are probably the best speakers I have ever heard anywhere close to this price range. I think they are attractive speakers and to tell you the truth sound means a lot more to me than construction, color, size, or whatever. When I have my music on, these speakers are just beautiful. I don't understand the complaints about the build. I think they are built well. I've never noticed anything wrong. I must admit that it's not the best built speaker but I am not dissappointed. All the drivers and port are flush with the baffle and it's sufficiently stuffed.It's capable of plenty of bass, clear midrange, as well as super smooth highs
What are you complaining about? That the netting on the grille is glued funny???
That's like saying you give a singer a thumbs down because she has a big nose despite the fact that she has an unbelievable voice. I've A/B the paradigm monitor 9s and they do NOT sound as good as the 800is in my opinion.

I really wanted to like these speakers. I'd heard good things about PSB and thought it was about time to replace my old Spendors SA-2s. I liked the idea of an affordable floor-standing speaker. I listened to them through some moderately priced NAD equipment.
Alas, I was not impressed. The speaker sounded smooth in a Technicolor way -- everything was a little too prettified and not very sharp. Instruments were indistinct -- not blurred, but not well-defined, either. Bass was particularly unattractive -- flabby is the word I would use, but that's slightly exaggerating it. I listened to others in the PSB line -- from the 500 up through the Gold. When moving to the Bronze, the sound got better, but not a whole lot better. The Golds and Silvers were more like what I was after, but they'd better be for their price. Listening to the Spendors again I think I've got a far better thing going than the PSB alternative. I'll give it Two Stars not because it's so terrible, but somebody needs to balance out these overly laudatory reviews.

Frank, I agree with you 100%! When I was shopping for speakers the Century 800i's were on my list, as were the Paradigm Monitor 9's - I was very impressed with the 800's sound during my demo. However the 800's were bi-wired and in a separate listening room (at the, ughh, Sony Store), while the Monitor 9's weren't bi-wired and out on floor against a wall (at a different local stereo shop). The demo favoured the PSB 800s. The price of the 800i's was $850 CND, while the Monitor 9's were around $675 (I LOVE my local dealer!). Since I only wanted to spend around $600 in the fisrt place, to my dismay, I kicked the 800i's off my list and went with the Monitor 9's. I'm VERY happy with my purchase. After bi-wiring, breaking-in time, and a little fiddling with placement, the Monitor 9's sound better than the 800's I listened to at the Sony Store. I didn't notice the AMAZING job Paradigm did on the build quality of thier speakers until I got the Monitor 9's home. No faults ANYWHERE, tight fits, solid construction . . . I'd put Paradigm's built quality up with the best in the industry, and for less than $700 that's a huge compliment.
A couple of weeks after getting the Monitor 9's, I went back to the Sony Store and looked at the 800i's again. The build quality (which I didn't pay attention to during my demo) was abysmal! The bass port wasn't flush with the speaker (it had a plastic dimple too), the finish had a few small chips around the bass port and the grill inserts - the cabnetry didn't have nearly the tight fits that the Paradigm's did, and the overall finish wasn't so great either. I was really suprised at the cheap look of the PSB's.
For sound, the 800i's are great tower speakers. But for anyone looking to buy these - make sure you're happy with the build quality first. Or better yet, pick up a pair of Paradigm Monitor 9's instead. With a *little* work, they can sound better than the 800's.

Later!
mike s
v7q2@unb.ca

Just received these speakers by mail order (Costsheets for $500). After getting them out of the box I realized how cheap these speakers are made. Reminds me of K-mart speakers. I'm surprised that PSB can make their cabinets so thin. After listening to them for awhile I was very happy with the sound but couldn't get over how cheap they look. Even the way the grills are glued on looks funny. For sound quality I'd give these speakers a 5, for looks and quality I'd give these a 1. I'm going to return them for Paradigm Monitor 9's.

Equipement;HK AVR30 reciever used as a preamp.
Carver TFM-25 power amp.
Radio Shack 14 guage speaker wire.
Hk 8450 5 cd changer.

CDs;
Best of Joe Cuba
Steve Miller Band
Soundtrack from Crooklyn
The Jimi Hendrix Concerts

These speakers are not constructed with the best materials for thier price, $800 MSRP, but they sound really good.
The sound they produce is more forward then laidback, but not too forward. Highs, mids and lows are all produced clearly throughout a widerange of music. In addition the highs are not too high or sibilant, the lows are deep and musical and the midrange is clear and open.
I would not recomend them at $800 but at $400 to $500 they would be a good deal.

In all a good speaker that handles all types of music pretty well.
In addition you won't need a sub with these speakers, they can go loooow...

This speaker is not the best in its class but more along the lines of the second tier.
Four stars for the sound.
Two stars for the build quality. ($800 dollars is a lot of money.)