Right-on tonal balance. Big, easy sound.

None that I heard on demo.

Heard the Gold's (the originals) on demo. I couldn't get them because of their size. Extremely natural and open sound. No hype. No B.S.. Like a good British monitor, but larger. A fine, fine value. If the Gold i sounds even better, well, then it's a great example of the speaker maker's art.

Full range speaker, no subs needed here...

Size (required for full range sound) and a cabinet resonance around 130 Hz.

Extrememly good speaker for the money. Mine are the older (non - i) version, and they have a pretty good cabinet resonance in the 130 to 150 Hz region. I've read about it in several reviews before, but was quite distressed when I first heard it myself (during music). I attempted to get rid of the sound, which is easy to find if you have a cd or dvd with a sweep that covers that frequency range. What I found was that my woofers were on the loose side, and tightening them reduced the vibration. I couldn't completely eliminate it, but on the other hand, I haven't heard it with music since.

They can also be quite hard to place in a room, because of the prodigous bass response. I took quite some time to find the right spot in my 20x16 room.

Overall, a very good speaker at a very good price, at some future date I plan on using them in my home theater with the Stratus C6 for a center and Stratus Mini's in the rear.

Similar Products Used:

Mirage M series, Paradigm Reference series and high end Mission.

Bass, Imaging

I found a speaker that will replace my C-8's with no problem. I love the new gold's, the reproduction of bass, and the imaging you cant beat for the price. All Energy C-8 owners take note, these speakers compare to the Veritas 1.8's, but half the price! This is anouther Canadian made product, you sure can tell, well built, high end product for the price you pay. If you need my Candian shipper for these speakers do email me, at babar@uniserve.com. I will connect you to a Candian suppler as I did with Energy speakers, you will not get better pricing!& will ship anywhere!

Similar Products Used:

Energy line

Listening to the PSB Stratus Gold speakers reinterates why the best quality speakers are produced in Canada! After all of the Years of listening to the U.S. magazines plug the over rated American made speakers it is about time a speaker received the recognition it deserves!! The overall performance of the speaker is excellent, the subwoofer performs excellently and if powered with an appropriate amp such as my Sunfire signature, you are immersed into a world of audio bliss. The only draw backs of this speaker is the at times cluttered midrange and anemic tweeter especially listening to music with electric guitars. While I feel these speakers are a step down from what is perhaps the most formidable speaker ever made, the Mirage M1si (500 watts, 185 lbs, 18hz) which due to their bipolar design encompass you in a warmth not seen with direct radiating speakers. As well the titanium tweeters on the M1s can fill any room with sweet sound. The PSB speaker line does, i agree suffer from being associated with the Sony store, The PSB Stratus Gold speakers are not part of this mass market hoopla and should be a top choice in a buyers selection for a pair of HI end speakers.

I listened to the original Stratus Golds in Cleveland in 1994 and really enjoyed them but I lived in an apartment at that time and did not have the money or room for them
Now that I have both I bought them(Gold i's) for about $ 1800. They are even better than the original. voices sound natural, bass is excellent and the high's are clean.
If the source is poorly recorded they will let you know. Overall a great bargain because now I can forget about equipment.

Recently moved up to these after years of NHT listening. The NHT was always a great speaker, but lately I was finding it too forward and exacting in its presentation. In other words bright. Using a sub with the NHTs gave them a more rich sound but didn't smooth out the top.
The Golds on the other hand have a liquid presence. Everything is there, no sub required, but less in your face bite. The sound is relaxed allowing higher than usual SPL within your tolerance. The room is far from ideal for these moniliths but they seem to adapt fairly well to a tight fit. The highs are real, not peicing but fast and precise with a defined difference in every musical addition. In other words, they take the signal rip all the separate parts away and present them separate instead of one large mass of noise.

All in all these speakers are great enough that a long time follower of NHT, has been reduced to thinking of them as an inferier product that are adequate for my parents, but not me. Paul S. Barton pulled out all the stops on this one.

Highly recommended.

Regis Poirier

Musical, accurate, neutral.

None

This review is of the original Stratus Gold. My goal was to build a system of quality used components which would reproduce the acoustic jazz, classical music, and choral music I like with minimal coloration of the sound, accurate timbre, a wide soundstage, minimum rolloff at high and low ends. I researched speakers for several months, reading the reviews here, as well as in Stereophile and Soundstage. A pair was offered at a reasonable $850 on Audiogon, and I took the chance.

The speakers are everything that the reviewers in Soundstage and Stereophile indicated: neutral, musical, accurate, voiced beautifully. I understand that these speakers are not as analytical or detailed as an Audio Phyic or Joseph speaker, but I love them. I'm a musician, and play weekly in a jazz group. The Gold plays acoustic bass, cymbal, sax, brass, piano, drums, guitar with great fidelity. They reproduce vocals beautifully. The Golds accomodate very dynamic orchestration (as in The Planets)with ease. If you are someone who uses music to play their equipment, perhaps you would prefer another speaker. If you want an opportunity to experience music very close to what it was live, try these. They perform well when used with quality equipment. My equipment: Onkyo 373 CD player as transport,Monster Toslink,(these are the remaining weak link in my front end) MSB Link III DAC, TMC White Label interconnects, McCormack TLC-1, TMC Yellow Label interconnects, McCormack DNA-1, TNT DYI speaker cables(biwired). Room size 20 x 13 x 7.5. No acoustic treatment.

This is a TRUE full-range speaker. I turned the sub off for stereo listening...not needed.

Heavy...but then thats a good thing too!

These speakers represent what I consider my first foray into high-end audio gear. After hearing, buying, and living with the Silveri, I felt I was missing that low-end presence in the soundstage. I considered the Goldi out of my price range when auditioning the Silveri, so basically I bought them based on what I have read here. I was lucky enough to find a pair of high-gloss blacks pre-owned for what I paid for the Silveri, so I was off and running...

I had read that these guys like lots of current, so I have them bi-amped by a Citation 7.1 amp, which is said to produce about 130 amps. Let me say up front that my room placement for these speakers is probably far from optimal. I have them only 2 feet from the back wall, and the right-front is less than 2 feet from a side wall. Knowing this to be my only placement option, I had a concern about the low-end response being boomey. My musical tastes run toward rock and roll, but I can sit in front of pretty much anything except opera. I have not heard one low-end note from the speakers that has been muddy, boomey, or otherwise ill-defined. The various bass instruments are clearly defined by these speakers, a key element that has been missing from my system in the past. These are true full-range speakers. I could never sucessfully integrate my B&W sub into my system with the Silveri up front, but with the Goldi, the sub has been turned off for stereo listening. The punch is there when it needs to be...enough said.
OK...maybe not. On James Taylor's Hourglass on the cut "Gaia", given the right volume, there is a drum passage that makes my sofa move with me on it...

I seek out recordings that have a lot of dynamic range, a element that is sorely missing in a lot of mainstream recordings. On Dave's True Story-Sex-Without Bodies from Chesky Records, I am definitely more in the room, or church in this case. The brass has an edgy lifelike quality, that I have heard only previously in live performances.

I have a AH! Tjoeb 99 CDP which recently got a tube upgrade for it's second Birthday (Amperex 7308), which replaced Amperex Orange Globe Hollands. These speakers deliver to me the differences between them, which for me is subtle, but says something of the abilities of these speakers. I am not "fryin bacon" anymore with the Goldi, and it's only going to get better with the tubes burning in.

I wanted to write a review with a placement scenerio that I believe to be less than ideal so one might appreciate the speakers' versatility. With a house on the way, (I live in a condo) these thoroughbreds will be given room to run.

Highly recommended

Upstream stuff:

Citation 7.1 amp-bi-amped Goldi
Citation 5.1 amp-amped Siveri, bridged center
Citation 7.0 pre-processor
AH! Tjoeb 99 CDP
Panasonic A100 DVD (early adapter)
RCA DSS Sat. system
PSB Goldi (fronts)
PSB Silveri (rears)
Paradigm CC350 Center (oops)

Similar Products Used:

PSB Silveri, Infinity RS 6000

I am adding this post script to my review dated 4/01.
I've recently replaced my PSB Gold i with a pair of Genesis APM-1, only because the deal was too good to pass up. The APM-1 retailed new for $9500 and is everything it should be at this price. However, what I'm most impressed with is just how good the PSBs are. They are without ANY doubt, pound for pound, dollar for dollar, THE BEST SPEAKER ON THE MARKET. I'll never part with them.

Midrange

Midrange clarity and presentation. Tight bass and smooth highs.

I too compared these against the Paradigm Studio 80 and 100.
All are in the same price range and can give complete full-range sound on a variety of music types. I was actually more impressed with the 80's than 100's (dollar for dollar) but felt that PSB's gave me something "extra" that was missing with the Paradigms. It's hard for me to say exactly what it was but maybe it's just a little better imaging and slightly smoother, clearer vocals from the Stratus Gold's.

I am very pleased with these speakers and have no regrets. The Paradigms might look more impressive with their multiple drivers but the PSB's shine with just 3. Please note that the Paradigms I auditioned were all version 1 and not the newer V2's. I would be curious to see how they compare to the PSB's now.

Similar Products Used:

Demo'd Paradigm Studio 80 & 100