Look
A/V Shielded
Home Theater Imaging

No major

I'll start by saying these are by far the best speakers I found for under $1000 (paid $600 US). They excel at home theater and are above average for music. They are one speaker that I think looks just as good without the grills as they do with them on.
I had read many reviews on these before I bought them so I was prepared for the break-in on the new aluminum Image tweaters. As people said, they were very bright when I first hooked them up but after a couple weeks with the treble set down I was able to set it back to 0 dB. They now sound very realistic. I bi-wired them and found that it helped the mids (not that they were that bad in the first place).
I was really up in the air between these and the Monitor 7's. A friend of mine let me borrow his 7's when I demoed the PSB's at my house so I could get a direct A to B comparison. I did enjoy the Paradigms but they just didn't sound as clean to me as the PSB's. Since I've broken the PSB's in I've taken them to his house to compare them again and we both liked the PSB's better.
I can't praise the overall sound quality of these speakers enough. I highly recommend demoing a pair yourself if you are trying to stay in the under $1000 range.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Monitor 7, KEF Q55

Deep bass, good imaging

None so far...

I was shopping to replace a pair of old Mirage M295 who died after more then 15 years of loyal services. The foam around the woofer just harden and slowly started to disintegrate, something fairly common on those speakers I was told .

I spent a few weeks looking on the web to get ideas on price and performance. I finally decided to look at Paradigm Monitor 7 and the PSB Image 4T. Both of them are made in Canada so they are cheaper to buy here in Montreal, then US or UK models. Mirage, which is also made in Canada is a bit to expensive for my budget now.

I almost went for the Paradigm Monitor 7v.2, but the salesman selling Paradigm was not very good and could not setup a good demo for me. One of those highend store where if you don't plan on spending an arm and a leg you are not really welcome. In fact Paradigm Monitor was the cheapest stuff sold in that store!

So I kept on shopping and found the PSB's at the Sony Store. I fell in love with the 4T. They sounded very impressive and my wife thought they were very nice. (Bonus!) The demo setup was done on a simple low end Sony Receiver, no fancy stuff here, but still they sounded amazing.

Then the salesman at the Sony Store switched to the 5T, I was amazed at how good the bass was; deep, clean, not overdone, but a bit more present then on the 4T.

So I just bought a pair of Image 5T and so far I'm very please with my choice. I spent part of the evening yesterday listening to Sarah Maclachlan and Tracy Chapman, female voices are natural and just soft enough. I also tried Hell's Bell from AC/DC, Ok they are not Cerwin-Vega, but they are still pumping a lot of good bass for serious Rock music.

Finally I tried a real speaker killer: J.S. Bach: Toccato and Fugue in D minor played by Micheal Murray (CD-Telarc) a very impressive piece of organ music! Trying to reproduce a 20ft organ pipe is not an easy task for any speaker whatever the price. The PSB made the organ seems believable, even on those very low notes.

For a speaker in this price range, I think they are doing everything pretty well.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Monitor 7v.2
Boston Acoustics ??

soft focus, still not hiding any instruments. good res, image placement amazing, weighty bass. cheap

maybe a LITTLE too soft

dont listen too Rob Babcock, this speaker is phenomenal at this price!!
iv done alot of testing on it with expensive receiver/cdplayers, placements, rooms...
and Rob Babcock saying the bronze wasnt better than the 5t hurts me. he realy couldnt have listened, the soundstage is even bigger than the 5ts, and the bass quality is better, (not amount)...
iv never heared a speaker sound like the image series. clear, soft, tight. paul barton got a winner!

Similar Products Used:

4t, subsonic6, 2b

Big sound in a not so big package, Gobs of deep tight bass, beautiful midrange clarity, A model of virtue(see summary)

No mercy for inferior electronics(not really a weakness, IMO)

First, about the virtue: The 5T's are extremely faithful to whatever is feeding them upstream. I had the chance to listen to them on a few different amps and they were incredibly revealing of the equipment's quirks and characteristics. This speaker is no fool.

First, on a NAD 350, the music was well presented but showed signs of blending and exhibited a sort of flat characteristic that some incorrectly attribute to the PSBs. Overall a very pleasing laid back sound that could go very loud without offending. However, that was the problem. I kept trying to use the volume control as a way to increase the detail of the music.(this didn't work too well, but it was great fun jamming the PSBs real loud in a little high-end audio store filled with stiffs) The 5Ts just seemed to turn and smile at the NAD as if to say "what else have you got?;)" -Wow, these speakers are great. PSB 1, NAD 0.

Next, I put them together with an Arcam A75. High hopes for this combination, but was flattened like Wile E Coyote after falling off a cliff. This is where the talk of the 5Ts being harsh comes from. The high end was ear-piercingly shrill and the low end was boomy and flabby like my '94 Infinity SM122s. Unfortunately, the beatiful midrange of the PSB was completely overshadowed by inaccuracies of the Arcam in the high and low spectrum. The PSBs held it together like a champ, but the Arcam was just spitting too many lies. PSB 2, Arcam 0.

Basically, this speaker can go anywhere most equipment can take it and still be willing to explore. I ended up going the warm route, using a Creek 4330mkII integrated with the Creek A42 amp for my dedicated audio and switching to a H/K AVR-510 for home theater. The 5Ts are magical with the Creek setup but seem to want a little more from the H/K. If anything the top end might be overly condusive to warm equipment, exagerating, in some cases, the rolloff in high frequencies. This detracts slightly from the crispness of the sound but emphasizes the entrancing mids. I just can't get enough of these speakers. They are clear, clean, and true with incredible depth and rare agility, but can be a little picky when it comes to placement. They cover a lot of ground and, when properly matched, can satisfy most any taste without sacrificing integrity. Not to mention the fact that the guys at PSB have some of the best and most responsive customer service I have ever seen.

If you couldn't already tell, I am extrodinarily happy with these sleek babies. Listening to the polks and the infinity's was a complete joke. I love my Bass booming 122's for parties but Infinity is just not up to par these days. The Klipsch were great party speakers as well but just didn't have the beautiful sound of the PSB's, although it did show signs of outperforming them in home theater.(not my major concern) The Dynaudios? Well, . . . amazing.
But they should be for the price.

When it comes down to it: for under $600 these are the steal of the century.
-only four stars overall because, hey, nothing's perfect although they seem to take a stab at it.

Derrick

Similar Products Used:

Infinity(ha ha), Polk(just sad), Dynaudio(great, but require that you take second job to pay for), Klipsch.

Dynamic, high output. Well made, nice appearance. Very solid construction.

Somewhat muted sound, veiled. IMOHO, voiced too darkly. Price.

I don't own these speakers, so my listening tests shouldn't perhaps be taken as completely definitive. I listened to these speakers maybe 15 times with a variety of different music genres. At the time I was shopping for speakers for a new home theatre. I read some positive press on the Silver i and Gold i; the Image series was just being released so I thought I'd check 'em out.

I really wanted to like these speakers, so I returned to the store repeatedly with different CD-Rs to audition. A few things sounded pretty clear, but overall I greatly preferred my then-current home system. The vocals seemed recessed, the "color palette" of the music seemed subdued. The best single adjective I can come up with is "veiled." The spectrum seemed too "dark", or down-tilted. The dealer also carried B&W, so the deficiencies of the PSB were glaring by comparison.

The sound of speakers can vary greatly depending on the environment, so as I didn't know the particular B&W's the store had, I told myself it was probably the acoustics, etc. Until they got a pair of Monitor Audio 5i's. At that point, all bets were off. The 5i's are a hundred bucks more, but actually a bit smaller. Even so, they smoked the PSB's in dynamic power. But it was clarity and articulation that truly sounded the death knell for the Image series. The 5i pulled the wet wool sock off of the musical presentation and let it breath.

Needless to say I didn't buy the PSBs that day. Incidently, I also auditioned the PSB Bronze that day as well. I was told that voice-wise, it matched the Silver i and Gold i, with less bass. For the reputation of Paul Barton, I hope the sales rep was wrong. I didn't feel the Bronze was substantially better than the 5t.

I have immense respect for Mr. Barton. He is a protege of Floyd Toole, a very respected pioneer in the field of anechoic testing and speaker design, and a gifted designer in his own right. I greatly admire his devotion to objective double-blind testing to arrive at good sound. That makes my judgement of the current line very painful for me to issue.

With great respect to the designer as well at to those who really like this speaker, I didn't much care for it. To those reading this with the hope of selecting a speaker system in the price range of the 5t, I would respectfully suggest that one would be better served by any Monitor Audio speaker regardless of size or price, any comparable B&W, the new Infinity line, any similarly priced Def Techs, the new Klipsch line (hard as that seems to believe), or even a couple of JBL's, and I don't say that to be mean. I believe Sound & Vision had similiar reservations regarding the voicing of this speaker line.

If you like this speaker, don't take offense. I can see that many voicings appeal to different buyers, and I'm not saying that the Image series is w/o merit. Hey, at least it sure as hell beats the Bose 901!

Hope this helps.

Clean, detail and price.

none

I had these speakers for more than 2 months already, the sound quality is excellent for the price. Sound great for both movie and music. Very impressive sound.

tight bass(although limited)/clarity/excellent imaging/
surprisingly musical for the money

highs a bit bright/mids at times slightly grainy

To Rob from SoDak:

Are you on crack? PSB is vastly superior to garbage audio
such as JBL,Infinity, etc. I agree with your sediments
about Monitor Audio but they are imported from Britain and hence the somewhat inflated cost (however they do have
that legendary warm Brit midrange which is addictive).
B&w is even more extreme price-wise and their entry level
models look great but sound "like oil cans." Open up your
corn-fed ears and smell the coffee!

Soundstage, Imaging, bass response

none so far

I was looking for a solid base for an ever evolving attempt at audiophile sound. I had anticipated spending closer to $1,500 for a pair of respectable speakers. While listening to several models in that range I came across PSB. I was unfamiliar with the name, but gave them a listen on several occasions. I first listened to the Stratus Bronze, I was impressed, and it was near my price range. I then auditioned the Image series, on a receiver (Marantz’s top model) as opposed to the Krell the Bronze was on. The 5T’s were wonderful. On this far inferior amp, the sound was near that of the Bronze with slightly more subdued bass. This was good for me as I have a relatively small apartment and was not looking for overpowering bass. Due to the price (paid $750) I was able to also purchase the 8C center (the matching 9C was too large to stay on top of my 32" TV).
These speakers are, for the money, the best speakers I have heard or within $300 -$500. I am pushing them with a Sony STR-G3 (competent stereo sound, dismal surround) and even with the inherent limitations of the G3 the stereo sound is clean, responsive and tight. On acoustic selections (e.g. Dave Mathews live at Luther Collage) the image and sound stage are very good. You can distinguish the different placement of each of the musicians and on other DM Cd’s you can even tell the depth of the stage as backup singers sing from far behind and to the left. The vocals come from dead center of the speakers and each instrument sound as if it has a separate speaker for itself, spread across the stage. With you eyes closed, the effect is very convincing.
If I had one complaint, it may be that female vocals sound a little “tinny”. I would quickly access this problem to my receiver, but it is a potential issue if you are going to listen. I thought I heard a similar effect while auditioning the speakers in loud theater sequences (again on a solid $2,500 Marantz amp) . It is not constant, but every now and then you can hear a slight harshness on some high frequencies. Again, this is only stated to try and be completely fair, this issue is not a “problem” but more of a characteristic.
I have spend many hours listening to all types of music. It represents classical very well, with the bass staying tight and responsive even on very deep passages. Again, on classical the sound stage is enormous. On hard rock, the sound is very good, maybe a little light on bass punch, but I honestly have not given it a good audition at appropriate volumes to a well reasoned opinion.
All in all, I have never been so pleased with an audio purchase. For the price these speakers are unbeatable. For 50% over their price they are very competitive. I compared them to the Polk’s and Infinity’s at the near $2,000 level, and found these speakers to fall far short on accuracy and simply the amount of sound and detail they produce.
I am looking forward to getting a new receiver soon (Denon 3300 most likely) but until them I am enjoying these speakers immensely. I would highly recommend them to any one looking in the $2,000 and under price range for a solid pair of speakers. For $750 I would say there are few if any competitors.

Similar Products Used:

Polk, Infinity, Mirage, other PSB's

Part of an excellent product line.
A/V shielded

Have not found anything.

With my purchase of these I now have an all PSB set up and the balance is delightful. The modular design of the image line allows you to buy a reduced edition of the fronts for the surrounds. For the 5T that would be the 2B.

I auditioned the Stratus Bronze but those were not video shield and I could not guarantee that the speakers would not be placed with two feet of the TV. These I found to be quite comparable and less $$$.

The primary audition CD was Sonny Rollins The Bridge and I was enjoying so much that I listened to most of the CD.

I found the 5Ts to be quite close to reality. The 4Ts that I auditioned had less bass and a more of a sparkle.

Speaker set up is: Fronts 5T, centre c200i, rears 2B, subwoofer alpha Subsonic 5. Using the Video Essentials walk around the room test tonal quality is very consistent. No obvious dips.

The plastic wrench is great for the connectors.

Great sound, terrific price. Integrates well with the rest of the series, since they all use the same components.

None noted thus far.

I purchased a complete PSB Image Home Theater System. The 5T's are my mains, 2B's for rears, 9C for center and a Subsonic 6. I drive them with a Rotel RMB-1095 with an RSP-985 Pre/Pro. This is a terrific setup for less than 5,000 dollars US. It took a while to save up for this and it was really worth it. The Rotel units are top-notch pieces of gear and the 5T's hang right in there. I don't feel like a made a compromise in choosing them, which of course, I did. It just doesn't feel like it. This speaker setup should hold me over just fine until I can save enough for what I really want (Think Nautilus or their followup). Actually, I really wanted to do a setup with B&W DM604S2 up front and 602's in back, but I couldn't swing it financially and I couldn't wait any longer to do something. I am so glad I found these! 80%+ of the sound for less than half the money. I'm happy. I actually think they outperform many more expensive speakers for movies. These things kick some serious bootie on movies. For music, they're great also. Highly recommended. Happy Listening!