Looks,power handling,diversity

Turbulence in the 3" port of the Golds at high volume levels

This is my second review on these speakers. In my first review I mentioned that I bought a second pair of goldis to go with the origional golds and ran them in series on a nad 218 thx amp. I also mentioned that I would purchase a second nad 218 thx amp and I did. I also made myself some good quality speaker cables to reconfigure different wiring scenarios. The following are the reviews for the different setups that I've tried. All of these setups are in biwire. 1.I ran one amp with just one pair of speakers and found that the power sound ratio was quite good. I did find however,at higher listening levels turbulence could be heard on the 3" port on the golds. The goldis have a 4" port. 2. Another conriguration consisted of both pars of speakers run off one amp in series. The power sound ratio was a little better than the previous because the sound stage was larger and I found little to no loss of imaging. I will also mention for all but the last configuration,#5 that the sweet spot is larger for 4 front speakers instead of 2. 3. Next I added another amp and ran the amps in mono and the speakers in series. The power/sound ratio was fantastic. I couldn't believe the conserthall that was in front of me however, I still felt something was missing. Mind you 780watts rms into 8ohms what else is there? I called up psb and asked them what they think and they said that I may have filtering of the sound as it runs through one crossover before it it gets to the other. In otherwords some frequencies in the signal may not get to the speaker furthest from the source. So they recommended the next scenario. 4. This configuration consisted of running the amps in stereo with each channel of the one amp running a left gold/goldi and the right channel a mirror image. I found this to be dissapointing because I lost volume but I did gain a little more imaging. Great for home theatre. I would rate this way slightly better, but not much better than #2. 5.Finally I have found the best bar none configuration. This is for either the golds or the goldis. I biamp only one set of speakers. I have chosen the Goldis because of the bass turbulence that I experienced with the Golds and not to mention they are still under warrenty. Still I beleive that the Golds are sonically identical to the Goldis. In this array I found that I get all the volume and clarity possible coupled with a huge sound stage and exceptional imaging. I highly recommend that you biamp these babies because they need losts of power to show their true potential. I was also told by a audiophile that if you biamp, the amps are more precise in their reproduction because one channel of the amp is dedicated to bass and the other to the mids and highs. I believe this to be true. In closing I would like you to know that I've owned these speakers for 5 and 2 years consectivly and have had the time to experiment. Please note that these are just my findings because someone elses ears may tell them different.

Bass (decent).

Poor upper mid (edgey) and treble quality (bright). Cheaper build.

Overall, I did give this speaker a real chance but came away quite disappointed. It could not get me exited at all. Bass was actually quite decent but the mids and highs left me scratching my head (upper mids especially). The midrange at concert-like levels had a kind of an "edge" to it and the treble of this speaker seemed to be a little on the bright side. Pretty unbalanced midrange and treble extension. Off-axis listening was a real disappointment as well. Stand up and move out of the sweet spot an inch and the soundstage and imagery collapses. That was quite surprising and probably has something to do with the mid over tweeter design of this speaker being aligned only for sweetspot listening. I finally decided on the Energy Veritas V1.8's. They had the bass response, mid and upper mid power handling with the treble extension I was looking for. Build quality of the Veritas also was light years ahead of the golds as well. The golds just didn't perform up to their price level.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Studio 100's (very much better than the golds for cheaper), B&W Nautilus 804, 803. Dynaudio Contour 3.0. Martin Logan Aeon.

Sound for the buck

Honest reviews

Any person with an ear for music, and was not just trying to bad mouth these speakers, would tell you that the Goldi's are one of the finest sounding speakers you will find. "for your money" Granted there are better speakers out there, but like some other reviewers said "at twice the price" The most important thing to remember about these speakers is they draw alot of currant. I drive mine with a 200 watt luxman power amp. Anything less than 150 watts would be like trying to lift the shuttle without its rocket launchers. Good cables can also help a little.

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy Windsor, Arden ,Berkeley.

Great full range sound and imaging. My black laquer finish is beautiful.

Picky about quality of components and cable used. I wish they provide a recommended list.

I have had these speakers for awhile and one thing has become abundantly clear, the quality and character of the source will come through in spades. I wanted to share some experience in hopes helping those like me who are trying to fine tune these speakers to get them where you want. My first source that really showed the capability of theis speaker is with CREEK 4330. At $495 this little integrated will give you the depth, imaging, bass detail etc. that we are all looking for. It just runs out of steam if played very loud. Wires are really crucial. I have found the best results for a reasonable price with Straighwire Octave II. Amazing what they did. Recently I bought a Van Alstine 5 tube pre-amp mated to a Parasound John Curl designed HCA1500. This with an older California Audio Labs DX2 and a Rega Planar3, I have found a dynamic, detailed music field in which to enjoy my various musical tastes. Anybody who has a bad experience with the sound of these probably has an equipment or wire problem. I have tried on loan the following brands with much less success than the above mentioned combinations: Classe, VTL, Audio Research, Krell and another CREEK. I recently went to a hi end audio show in SF and found one other spearker that compares and is actually much better but, at $30,000/pr. The Joseph Audio flagships. Have not listened to the rest of the line but, if you like full range speakers with great soundstage and imaging, listen to these. Hope this helps.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha NS670's, Paradigm 100's, Pro Ac Response (my 2nd choice, Linn's

Very efficient Fantastic frequency reponse Great headroom Don't need a subwoofer Good imaging Non-fatiguing

Could be faster Some speakers do image better (just cost a lot more or sacrifice lots of headroom) Not very pretty

I've had these speakers for a number of years now and am still very happy with them. I went through a fairly extensive shopping process to find them. In my $2,500 price range, I listened to speakers from Linn, NHT, Meadowlark, Hales, B&W, Von Schweikert, Totem and ProAc. NHT, Hales and Von Schweikert got ruled out very quickly because their highs were waay to agressive and led to serious listner fatigue. Despite their reputations, I found Totem, ProAc and B&W imaged about the same as the PSB's with much worse low-end response due to small enclosures. Meadowlark and Linn had some great sonic characteristics. They tended to be faster and have better imaging, but their $2,500 versions sacrificed major bass response for these improvements. For the "upper mid fi" price range, PSB Gold i's made the right comprimises. If you had the scratch to move up to the $6,000 level Linns or Meadowlarks, I might suggest that, but for 1/2 that price, PSB's are the only answer.

Similar Products Used:

Linn, Meadowlark, B&W, Hales, NHT, Totem, Von Schweikert, ProAc

Everything

NONE

This speaker is well represented here but I felt the need to throw my two cents in because of the two previous reviews. first off, let me say these speakers are well known for their imaging. This is a statement of fact, but the two previous reviewers would have you belive otherwise. Belive me, they image great. You can stand well to the left or right and get great imaging unlike many speakers, especialy ribbon speakers which the last reviewer has. Maggies are very hard to place, read the reviews! The PSB's on the other hand are extremely friendly. You can place them just about anywhere which makes them an excellent choice for those who have limited options on placement. I won't get technical here but, these speakers image like few speakers can, are very dynamic, transparency is excellent, Bass is solid and acurate, the voice comes alive, the air factor some refer to is just right not to airy or thin. In other words, the goose bumps potential is of the highest order, and that is what we as listeners strive to attain. Goose bumps are the drug of choice among audiophiles, and the PSB Gold I is among the cheapest highs one can lay their hands on! At under $2000 for blems, you would be hard pressed to equal the quality of this 90 pound dynamo. Build quality is also of the highest order. Weighing in at 90 pounds each, be sure to have some help handy when unpacking these! I am of the persuasion that believes cables can in fact change the sound of gear, for the better, and for the worse! Therefore, I allways listen to gear with plain 10-12 gauge high quality wire which is inexpensive, and readily available from your home center. Doing this gives an accurate representation of the equipment you are listening to. Once you decide you like the sound, then play with the cables/interconnects to alter the minor anoyances that may creep into the soundstage. Many will say I am crazy, and don't know from where I speak, but I use 10 guage speaker wire on my PSB's, and am perfectly happy with that setup. I also use 15 year old interconnects form Monster which obviously are not top of the line, but my system sounds great the way it is set up so why would I want to change? I will try some more esoteric cables when funds allow, but unless I win the lotto, I will not be spending over $500 for the entire system as I think cables are subjective at best, and worthless at the least. I am a very picky consumer when it comes to my system, so take my word for it the PSB Gold I's are an excellent choice. With my limited funds I need to make the best purchase for my dollar. I auditioned many speakers in the $1k to 5K arena, and settled on the PSB's. Sure, their are better speakers, but at what cost? Anything under 5k the PSB's will compete admiraly. My system consists of the PSB Gold I's of course, an Audible Illusions M3a preamp, a Rega Planar 25 turntable, A McIntosh MC2205 amp, and the crowning glory???? A 12 year old JVC CD player which I have done double blind listening against the Rega Planet, Anthem tube cd player, and a few others. I realy wanted to like the Reag as it has the cool factor in appearance but it sounded horrible in my system. The Anthem sounded great, but at $800 I couldn't justify the purchase over my free, equaly great soundiong, JVC. Listen for yourself, if you like it, that is the important part of the purchase, not what others will think! I can here the Audiophiles now about my choice of cd player! HAHAHAHEHEHE It sounds great to me, and until something else chills me to the bone, it will play a pivotal role in my setup, despite it's cost and age! HAPPY LISTENING ALL

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Von Shwikert VR4 I know, the spelling is wrong. :)

Great cherry finish, fair imaging, good efficiency.bi-wireable(although it made little difference).

chuffing and tubby bass, binding posts in back difficult and chincy,not lg. gage friendly. cheap grill. Poor overall sound for a speaker in this price range.

I have read all the reviews regarding these speakers, so i picked up a pair. P-U. I thought that they may have needed extensive breaking in but did not improve after long sessions with very good equipment. I used solid state amps and tube amps.Very disapointed-so i took them back. I ordered a pair of Magnepan 1.6s at half the price. They are four times the speaker placed right. The golds did have pretty fair imaging. When pushed hard also had signifigant chuffing. You recieve that on occasion with ported speakers. I am back into planer speaker sound and should never have deviated. Shame on me as i will never purchase a boxed lunch again. The electronics used are vtl wotens, Carver silver seven tubed amps. Levenson solid state mono blocks. C-J art 11 preamp, Moon and Lynn cd players. A host of highly touted interconnects and speaker cables. Room size 14 x 26 with 10 foot ceilings. Some acoustic treatments and bass tube traps in the corners.One other note-This is the home of meadolark audio and Pat Mcginty is a good friend. I have listened to his line extensivly and for half the money his speakers far outdo the PSB golds. If a dynamic speaker is the way to go for you, try meadolark audio. The hot-rod versions are a very good value. For me-its ribbons all the way baby. I also had a tough time returning these speakers. It was promised to me that there would be no hasseles, the the dealer did an about face. He finally did take them back after my wife entered the fray, He admitted he had been having a hard time pushing the psb line out the door-I fully understand why.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, Snell. Vandersteen, Dunleavy, Meadowlark Audio,von-swikert. Non-similar products-Apogee, Magnepan, Eminant tech. and Carver als series one.

Good for a block party!

To many to even put down!

Well I gave these a listen and was very dissapointed.I'am not sure if the gear had a little to do with it or not.The gear was a VTL intergrated tube amp and a Rega planet cd player.The imaging was completely off with these speakers.I like a speaker to dissapear in front of me these couldn't do it.Not even a little bit.The tweeters were tingy and called attention to themselves.Build quality is extremely poor,especially for a speaker that cost this much.If you want block party speakers these will fit the bill.But some one looking for audiophile musicality forget about it!Not even the new Reference models for 2003 sounded any better.

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Soliloquy,Paradigm,NHT,Beethoven,Meadlark and a few others

warm, articulate, musical sound.

none so far

There's not much to say about these speakers. As so many said before me,they have a warm uncoloured mid-range, great detail and high quality sound for a great price. I got these in high gloss black. To me that's the only way to go, of course there is a price increase. The amount depends on who you go to buy them. I got these from superaudiovideo for $1850.00 w/ shipping included. I started out with a yamaha htr5460, jbl s312,s26 and s center. Was ok in the begining, but after a while the bright, harsh sound started getting fatiguing. Don't get me wrong I mean what do you expect for $880 shipped for the whole speaker set, you can get a htr5460 for $360. So for the price they were good performers, but I finally got some cash, and the first thing on my mind was blow it all on my stereo. I sold what I had, and began the long search. To make the long story short, I auditioned my speakers for a 1 1/2 months. I compared the psb gold i's against the nht vt 2.4, monitor audio silver,and energy veritas vt 2.8(a lot more expensive). After this I decided to go with the gold i's. Reason, great warm sound, something I was looking for in a speaker, uncoloured mid, sweet highs, great detail and soundstage. Also it's the best speaker psb makes. Unlike the nht's and the monitor audio's. The energy sounded great, but for around $4400 a pair, I coulden't bring myself to spending that amount for the little difference in sound quality in my opinion. The monitor audio's sounded pretty nice with a sub, but without one they sounded bright, and harsh. It came down to the nht's and the psb's. For a lot less around $1090 online for a pair of nht vt 2.4's it seemed a good deal over the psb's. The nht's sounded pretty good, there more on the warm side then I expected from a nht speaker, it had a more foward and in your face type of sound. Not that it sounded bad, I liked the nht's, that's just my opinion. The gold's had sweeter mid-range then the nht, a better musical sound. I think the nht's are a little better in the movie department, but I was looking for music first and movies second. I now can listen to my music for hours without getting fatigued by the brightness of my old jbl's. I can crank these speakers up and woulden't really notice how loud it was until the house started shaking. Great build quality, good looks what more can you ask for.

Similar Products Used:

my system: Marantz Sr18ex 140x5 200x5 into 8 ohms Psb stratus gold i's Psb Stratus Mini's rears Psb Stratus C6i center Nht SUb two I Subwoofer Infinity Hps-1000 Subwoofer Nad T571 Progressive s

Price/performance ratio, build quality, ultra clean midrange, tight bass, soundstaging ability

Size. They are BIG...my wife went EEK!!!when they came through the door.

When I went looking to upgrade speakers the Goldi''''s were not under consideration as I wasn''''t familiar with PSB. Literally a million speakers were auditioned & while listening to much more expensive KEF 3''''s at a local hi-fi shop it was suggested that I give the Gold''''s a try. Well, they totally blew the KEF''''s (too dark sounding) away with their midrange purity & authoritative bass. Down the stretch it came down to NHT 2.9''''s & the Gold''''s. I thought the 2.9''''s had a more esoteric/high tech look to their cabinetry, which I really liked, but they were also a little more foward sounding. In the end I went with the Gold''''s because of what I feel is a more honest sound. There are no regrets. These speakers definately let you know about the crap factor on any associated equipment. They are very, very revealing. 1st, don''''t cheap out on cable. Trying to keep wire costs down, since there was 20+ foot run to my amp, I started with Phoenix Gold 12 guage OFHC (lousy wire)& was rewarded with mediocre sound. Went to Audioquest Type 4 (much better) & wound up with Audioquest Slate bi-wire (bingo!). The Gold''''s were,for about a year,hooked up to a NAD 340 integrated with good results. Even better was a vintage Fisher tube amp which gave a much smoother sound than the NAD. However, with maybe 25 w/ch it didn''''t have enough juice to drive them to satisfying levels. For a lark my cousin''''s 110 w/ch JVC receiver was hooked up. Jeez, what a bad, edgy, 1 dimensional sound emanated from the speakers! They were subsequently powered by a Musical Fidelity A300 (250 w/ch @ 4 ohm) & Anthem 2 integrated (145 w/ch @ 4 ohm). The last 2 combos, especially wtih the Anthem, were audio nirvana. You get what you pay for & the Gold''''s let you know it. When you use the right equipment you are rewarded with thunderous tight bass, a clear natural sounding midrange & non-fatiguing highs. When you crank up a CD that is well recored they image wonderfully & the sense of depth they portray is stunning. Alot more money can be spent on speakers & many of them won''''t give as good an account musically. You can''''t go wrong with these.

Similar Products Used:

NHT 2.9''''s, Martin Logan Arieus I, Monitor Audio Silver 9''''s