Price, ability to perfectly match the center for perfectly balanced sound. A rear channel with excellent midrange and some bass.

PSB discontinued this speaker. Now you have to turn the Center vertical to get the same effects.

I actually gave my entire PSB set to a family member years ago, but recently got to hear them again. I must say that the 3LR was one of the best speakers PSB ever made. If you are really into Home Theatre then these are the speakers for you. They matched perfectly with the 8C. Some manufactures charge thousands for THX Matix sound. These speakers were able to produce the same type of effect. They are clear, open and musical. They really shine with HT. One of the configurations is to use 4 of them for your mains and rears. For some reason PSB discontinued this amazing speaker. They are now pushing Bipole speakers in the rear. Today the only option is to use 5 matching C60 or C40. It turns out that the specifications on the PSB Center Channel speaker was almost identical to the 3LR. Infact it was basically a center speaker turned vertical. I ended up going to Triangle Speakers, which were far superious in cost and musicality, but the PSB were somehow better on HT. I'm now back with PSB for the molement with the T55, C60, S50 & 6i. It's to soon for a full review of the newer image series, but I can tell you that a very, very long break in period is required (about 100 hours).

Clarity, good value, great sound stage with the 9C.

Black ash veneer finish is not to my liking. I prefer the textured laminate finish of the 10S''''s, but with this much value and sound for the dollar, who can complain.

I''''m running them as front mains with my Onkyo 898 set to "small". A 9C center completes the front with a HSU VTF-2 subwoofer and a pair of 10S surrounds. The 3LR''''s do not produce sufficient bass when set to "large" and sound much better with a sub.

Great sound from relatively small speakers. Biggest bang for the buck.

They will force you to buy more PSB speakers.

I purchased these speakers simply because they were the best sounding speakers I could afford. I was so pleased with them I stayed in the PSB family for my next purchase (6T & 9C). Even though they are now assigned rear duty I still enjoy them. They give a great warm clean feel to the music I like to listen to. All my acoustic stuff sounds like it''s live.

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Some older Yamaha speakers that didn''t come close.

Detailed, Excellent Imaging, Very Tight

Not exactly a whole bunch of bass.

I recently upgraded my HT/Music system to include my previous front PSB Century 400i's (now in surround duty), a new set of Image 3LR's, and a Image 8C.

The biggest difference between the 3LR's and the 400I's is the detail on the 3LR's. I was really missing something with the 400I's. Not that the 400i's were bad, but listening to the opening sequence of "Say Goodbye" by the Dave Matthews Band (Album=Crash), I was blown away by how fast and detailed these speakers are. Compared to the 400i's they are a much more "up-front" speaker. What this basically means is when I listened to Time Out by Dave Brubeck on the 400i's I felt like I was in the back of the studio. When I played the cd through the 3LR's I was in the front row with Dave sitting right there in front of me. I believe a lot of this performance is credit to their new aluminium tweeter and new xover. Fortunately, there is none of the associated harshness!

One comment I do need to make is that although these are listed as having the same frequency response as the 400i's they do not appear to go as deep. I probably need to let them break in a bit more. Time will only tell. Don't get me wrong the bass is still there, but not wall rattling. That's what a sub is for. I eventually plan to move these to the back and place a set of 4T's or 5T's in the front. Overall an excellent value for an EXCELLENT sounding pair of speakers.

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PSB Century 400i's

Price, quality is good, look fantastic, with a powered sub these would make an excellent stereo or HT system.

Bass is not as deep as my personal preference. They also are a bit bright in my opinion. These are not weaknesses if you are looking for a speaker to do just this.

I must begin with stating that a speaker can only be judged by one person and that is you. Nobody can tell you how good a speaker is, everything is personal preference.

My interactions with these speakers are excellent. I have had them for a while and they produce a good soundstage. I have them connected through Taralabs RSC 1000 bi-wire which did add a little more depth to them. I really enjoy watching movies and listening to music with these. When I do listen, of course I remove the grilles. These speakers look fantastic! I purchased them in cherry to match the rest of the components and they blend nicely.

However, my one warning is as follows, these are fairly "bright" speakers. Meaning that they tend to favor the highs. This gives off the effect that they really sing but, for some listeners this may be a caution sign. Also, this pair of speakers cannot get "down" as low as other speakers. But hey, they're only a bookshelf remember.

My overall experience,I would recommend these to anybody looking for a good pair of bookshelf's under $500. I beleive that these would be a good choice. Also, if you have the opportunty, bi-wire or bi-amp these. It does make a difference. I am the type of guy who beleives in getting the most out of what you have.

Value rating: excellent no problem.

Overall rating: I don't want to blotch the average rating so I will give a 5 star. I actually believe it around a 4.5!

I hope you enjoy these speakers but, always remember to audition other speakers before your purchase!

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B&W DM601 S2
Tannoy R1

addendum

excessive brightness

This is a brief addendum to my previous review. I unhooked my Monster Power HTS3500 line filter, a $400 item which has apparently acquired the reputation for masking the brightness in weak systems, and removing the life from higher-end systems. Indeed, it appears to have been masking the brightness that others have complained of, so I am mentioning this experience. The excessive brightness is now more apparent to me, and my ability to listen to my system for lengthy periods is lower. While the interim solution would seem to be to rehook the line filter, the longer-term solution would appear to be to buy some B+W's.

great imaging and realistic sound, build quality, they are able to be bi-amped and bi-wired

low frequencies are somewhat missing. i know they only use 5 1/4" woofers, but they seem to have less bass than they should

Over all, I think these are great speakers for their price. They have excellent highs, and clear mids. They have the best sound quality out of any speaker that I've owned except for my ARs. I like how they are bi-ampable and bi-wireable. The build quality is really good. The only complaint I have is their bass response. I know that they use two 5 1/4" woofers, but they should still have a much fuller sound to their low frequency region. I am very pleased with these speakers though. I dont think I could have been able to get a better pair of speakers without having a job and being 15.

My system:
Mitsubishi M-VR800 AC-3 receiver
Yamaha CDC-505 5 disk changer
some crap Sanyo VCR
PSB Image3LRs
Monster 16gauge XP series speaker wire
Monster Digital Interlink Lightspeed

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Polk R40

Imaging, balanced sound, resolution of complex passages...

Mone for the money...

I've owned these speakers for about 2 months now, and have had enough time listening to give my opinion. I purchased these speakers to temporarily serve a front mains until I can afford something a bit more full range. Upon the purchase of the Image 4T, 5T, or 6t, these 3LRs will go to the rear for surround duty.
So, for the time being these speakers have been serving as front mains on 16 inch stands about three feet between the back of the speaker and the rear wall, and about four to five feet from the side walls. I also use the 3LRs along with a 9C for movies.
Here is my review. First, the sound... The sound of these speakers is very accurate. The midrange compares to the Monitor Audio speakers that I've had in my system in the past. The highs are not harsh or excessive in the least, although a previous reviewer has expressed his concerns with the sound as overly bright. I must admit that his review gave me reason to pause, as I have hardwood floors in my listening room, and this environment is hardly forgiving to a speaker with overly enthusiastic highs. I went ahead with the purchase anyway, and was rewarded with refined treble that is smooth and not fatiguing in the least, even with hardwood floors. Now for the Bass... Well there really isn't much to speak of. The bass is flat to 60 Hz on my room, according to a RS sound meter and Stereophile Test CD test tones. Below 60, it drops off to almost nothing. Despite this lack of bass, I run the speakers full range unless I'm watching a movie. At for movies or bass heavy music, I simply enable the subwoofer. After all, that's what it is there for.
The day before yesterday a friend of mine brought over a pair of Monster Cable Z2 Bi Wire speaker cable as a birthday gift. Now I must say that I'm not a fan of Monster Cable in general, I think that most of the benefits are over hyped and over priced. I'm not sure if it was the cable it self or the fact that I went from a single 12-gauge wire to the Bi Wire, but the difference is simply stunning. The highs and sound staging are stunning now and the bass has a bit more punch to it. I would highly recommend the move to a Bi Wire setup if it were within your means.
Overall, I'm unaware of any bookshelf speakers that beat the balanced presentation and imaging present in the 3LR. If bass is what you want, look elsewhere or get a sub. The subsonic 7 works quite well... ;o)
.

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JBL Pro Audio, Monitor Audio,

Wish I'd brought these instead of the Klipsch Microtheater speakers im getting rid of.

I've owned these babies for 3 weeks now and I'm a little disturbed about the lack of reviews for these speakers. C'mon guys if your looking for bass buy a sub duh! These are excellent high end sound speakers that give great imaging, dynamic peaks and excellent highs plus there wall mountable if your into that sort of thing.

I'm using:
Denon AVR 5800 receiver (awesome)
Sony 9000ES SACD DVD player
PSB 10S bipole surround
PSB 8C center
PSB 1B for center surround
PSB subsonic 6 subwoofer (the bottom bass child)
THX monster speaker wire and cable galore

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none owned worth mentioning; but many tried

decent name, decent midrange sound, price

Not a true floor-stander

Sound: I have less basis for comparison-experience than others. The lack-of-bass-too-much-treble statement made by almost all others is probably true, but it hasn't bothered me quite as much. I tend to dislike too much boom-boom-boom bass. Post-purchase listening in stores to other speakers (B+W, etc.) doesn't make mine sound that great. On the other hand, I plan to live with these for a few more years. They're "ok" for my small space. Their purpose was to serve as an entry level to building a decent system. As such, I will replace them, eventually, having built the rest of the system better than the speakers. I will consider buying some of the "good" PSB's I've auditioned next time, along with several other brands. These speakers were sold to me more on dollar-value rather than overall performance.

Size: they're 23 inches tall... too short to be floor-standing, too tall to sit non-precariously on speaker stands unless the stands are very short. I don't have convenient shelf-space. I believe PSB corrects this by now selling a floor-stander that is, in effect, an Image 3LR with a foot or more of length added to the bottom. I'm not sure, but I don't think the Image 3LR is made any more.

Miscellaneous:

-I got an unbelievably great deal on Kimber 8TC wire with the purchase, by an accident of supply. The reader couldn't count on a repeat, since it was just because they'd run out of 4TC, etc., but I'm grateful. Thx Bruce.

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none