Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

PSB Synchrony T600 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25.4mm) titanium-dome tweeter; 5.25" (133mm) woven carbon-fiber–cone midrange unit; three 6.5" (165mm) woven carbon-fiber–cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 450Hz (B3), 1.8kHz (LR4). Frequency response: 24Hz–23kHz ±3dB on-axis, 30Hz–20kHz ±1.5dB on-axis, 30Hz–10kHz ±1.5dB 30° off-axis. LF cutoff: 20Hz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB anechoic, 91dB room. Power handling: 20–300W recommended, 300W program. Supplied accessories: IsoAcoustic GAIA II isolating feet, port-blocking plugs.
Dimensions: 41.25" (1048mm) H × 9" (228mm) W × 13.5" (343mm) D. Weight: 77lb (34.9kg) each.
Finish: Walnut or high-gloss black.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: V211T600001129 & '1135. "Designed and Engineered in Canada. Made in China."
Price: $7999/pair. Approximate number of dealers: not disclosed. Warranty: five years.
Manufacturer: PSB Speakers International 633 Granite Ct. Pickering, Ontario L1W 3K1 Canada. Tel: (905) 831-6555. Web: psbspeakers.com.

COMPANY INFO
PSB Speakers International
633 Granite Ct.
Pickering, Ontario L1W 3K1
Canada
(905) 831-6555
psbspeakers.com
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
TomS's picture
Submitted by TomS on October 29, 2021 - 12:09pm

JA, no preamp, really? where was volume control happening? I would think your listening notes might be different if there was an active preamp in the chain. which brings me to the second point, the treble response of these speakers seems to be deliberately shelved down above 10khz, though with a large peak over 20khz. You commented at length about getting the bass right, but you said little about treble detail in the listening section (except to note the Cantons sounded more detailed). Is the fact the the crossover to the treble is relatively low (1.8khz) somehow related to the fact that the FR is so tipped 'down'? Again, I would have thought that using an active preamp in the chain (the parasounds are presumably designed to be used with a preamp) would have changed the total sonic signature. Of course, I am well aware that a truly transparent active preamp is hard to find and expensive. Etc.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on October 29, 2021 - 12:58pm
TomS wrote:
JA, no preamp, really? where was volume control happening?

I controlled volume with Roon.

TomS wrote:
I am well aware that a truly transparent active preamp is hard to find and expensive.

Yes indeed. The excellent but expensive MBL, Audio Research, and Pass Labs preamps I have used in the last year or so have all gone back to the manufacturer or to other reviewers.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

Duck851's picture
Submitted by Duck851 on November 2, 2021 - 4:40pm
Quote:

I controlled volume with Roon.

Digitally, or "analogly" ?

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on November 3, 2021 - 4:13am
Duck851 wrote:
Digitally, or "analogly" ?

Control in the digital domain.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on October 29, 2021 - 9:59pm

... is "the widest-bandwidth, widest-dynamic-range, lowest-noise, lowest-distortion preamplifier I have encountered."

According to KR, the Benchmark LA4 preamp is "probably the most transparent and revealing audio component I've ever used. It does not seem to leave any fingerprints on the sound."

The price of the Benchmark LA4 preamp is (only) $2,499.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/benchmark-la4-line-preamplifier

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on November 1, 2021 - 11:37am

Benchmark also offers their HPA4, which includes a very good headphone amplifier, but is otherwise similar to the LA4 preamplifier that you mentioned.

These seem to be a good choice for use with a pair of loudspeakers using conventional passive crossovers, and include an additional summed mono output which might be useful for connecting a subwoofer system, but without any facility to reshape the satellites' high pass response for better integration with a separate subwoofer system.

Sadly, while either of those preamplifiers might be a good choice for use with a pair of conventional loudspeakers with passive crossovers, these are not very useful with more advanced systems using DSP active crossovers in multi-way loudspeakers, or in other playback setups requiring use of more than two channels of audio, because they lack any facility for slaving more channels to the one master volume control.

Kal Rubinson's picture
Submitted by Kal Rubinson on November 1, 2021 - 3:23pm

Sadly, while either of those preamplifiers might be a good choice for use with a pair of conventional loudspeakers with passive crossovers, these are not very useful with more advanced systems using DSP active crossovers in multi-way loudspeakers, or in other playback setups requiring use of more than two channels of audio, because they lack any facility for slaving more channels to the one master volume control.

See:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/benchmark-la4-line-preamplifier-multichannel-application

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/la4x3small-jpg.55706/

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on November 2, 2021 - 10:50am

Yours was a creative solution. Thank you for posting that.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on November 1, 2021 - 3:12pm
Ortofan wrote:
According to KR, the Benchmark LA4 preamp is "probably the most transparent and revealing audio component I've ever used. It does not seem to leave any fingerprints on the sound."

I did write about the sound of the Benchmark LA4, along with that of the MBL N11, in my review of the Pass Labs XP-32: www.stereophile.com/content/pass-laboratories-xp-32-line-preamplifier-page-2.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

Ortofan's picture
Submitted by Ortofan on November 1, 2021 - 8:12pm

... "a truly transparent active preamp is ... expensive".
The Benchmark was intended to be an example of a truly transparent active preamp that was not particularly expensive.

One would then have to audition the preamp to see if it does indeed offer improved sound quality over no preamp at all.

Also, if you already had these ($8K) speakers as part of a preamp-less system, and have about $17K (which is the price of the Pass XP-32) in the budget for a system upgrade, would you be likely spend that entire sum on a preamp, or might a greater improvement be realized by spending part of it on a preamp and the balance on upgrades to other system components?

Jonti's picture
Submitted by Jonti on October 30, 2021 - 6:55am

...for "Student Demonstration Time"! Surf's Up is a near-perfect album without that track. I always have to remind myself to lift the tonearm as soon as "Disney Girls" (the penultimate track on side one) ends.

Incidentally, do you approve of the modern remasters of Surf's Up? I've never heard a version anywhere near as lush as the original vinyl pressing.

Oh and on the subject of the extraordinary closer, the title track, I would urge you to search out David Thomas & Two Pale Boys' fascinating elongated reinterpretation from 2001. It's on their album of the same name. Not so much a cover as an homage. Enjoy!

dcolak's picture
Submitted by dcolak on October 30, 2021 - 10:38am

Are we looking at the same graphs? There is nothing excellent in that frequency response. Twitter dropping like a stone at 15Khz? Uneven all over the place? What's excellent?

Axiom05's picture
Submitted by Axiom05 on October 31, 2021 - 4:36am

But at least the tweeter response goes higher in frequency than the Magico M2's. Haha

What I find interesting is that for the longest time designers tried to push the tweeter resonance higher and higher in frequency, getting further away from the audio band. However, recent trends seem to be the use of tweeters that have their resonance just about 20KHz resulting in "poor" performance in the last octave.

John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson on October 31, 2021 - 2:08pm
dcolak wrote:
Are we looking at the same graphs? There is nothing excellent in that frequency response. [Tweeter[ dropping like a stone at 15Khz? Uneven all over the place?

It appears that you are looking different graphs. Mine show that the T600's farfield output is impressively even from the midrange through to 15kHz, with small dips balanced by equally small peaks. (The ear is insensitive to this behavior, as long as the departures from flat are small.)

The drop in the tweeter's output above 15kHz is, I believe, relatively inconsequential given the ear's relative insensitivity to energy in this region, even for those with hearing that extends above 15kHz.

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

krahbeknudsen's picture
Submitted by krahbeknudsen on November 1, 2021 - 3:00pm

I often wonder how such a sharp upper resonance/ringing of a metal dome tweeter affects the rest of the response. I would be interesting to excite the peak while measuring response and distortion in the rest of the tweeter's spectrum if that is possible? Think a NOS dac throwing an alias of a cymbal up there for instance.

tonykaz's picture
Submitted by tonykaz on November 2, 2021 - 5:17am

Dear John,

I wonder if a proper piece on living without a PreAmp would be helpful to we readership at large ?

I would love to read the opinions of our Leading Authorities ( like you and even Mr.HR ) on this significant concept.

I've been without a Pre for some time now while feeling rather liberated.

Your clarity is refreshing.

Tony in Florida

Jazzlistener's picture
Submitted by Jazzlistener on November 3, 2021 - 6:00pm

…is a real let-down. Could you have been any less enthusiastic? Were you late for an appointment?

JimBoboTex's picture
Submitted by JimBoboTex on October 23, 2022 - 7:56pm

A worth successor to the T3

JA conclusion T3.

Conclusions
While more expensive than its predecessor, the Synchrony One, PSB's Imagine T3 offers superb sound quality for what is still a relatively affordable price. To improve on its combination of full frequency-range sound, clarity, and neutrality, you would need to spend almost three times as much. It is also a beautiful piece of audio furniture.

TomS's picture
Submitted by TomS on November 4, 2021 - 1:55pm

I found some discussion on the Roon user's group about where the digital volume control occurs in the signal chain inside the unit (as DSP?); I am actually somewhat surprised that JA considers this a better solution all around, especially if one is losing resolution by attenuating in the digital domain. Correct me if I'm wrong but I read the earlier review of the Roon and there's no analong volume control there. Be that as it may, there are advantages and disadvantages as always. Still think using an active preamp might benefit the overall result with a speaker that is somewhat reticent in the treble.

Kal Rubinson's picture
Submitted by Kal Rubinson on November 4, 2021 - 2:34pm

"I am actually somewhat surprised that JA considers this a better solution all around, especially if one is losing resolution by attenuating in the digital domain."
It depends on how it is done. The better ones work at 64bit resolution.

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