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Klipsch Palladium P-39F loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Measuring a speaker as bulky and heavy as the Klipsch Palladium P-39F is always problematic: the speaker can't be raised high enough off the ground to eliminate the bounce of its sound off the floor between the speaker and the measuring microphone. I therefore had to use more aggressive time-windowing than usual to generate the frequency-response graphs, which in turn means that these graphs' resolution in the midrange is more limited than usual.

Looking first at the Palladium's voltage sensitivity, my estimate was 94.8dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within…

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker

If you have more than six or seven bucks to spend, you might consider the Imagine T floorstanding speaker from PSB Loudspeakers ($2000/pair). A year ago, John Atkinson reviewed PSB's Synchrony One speaker ($4500/pair; Stereophile, April 2008, Vol.31 No.4). The Imagine series is the next line down, and also includes center, surround, and bookshelf models. John Marks flipped over the Imagine B minimonitor in his column in the February 2009 issue.

PSB stands for Paul and Sue Barton, the founders of PSB Loudspeakers, now owned by Lenbrook Industries Limited, based in Pickering, Ontario. (…

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker Kalman Rubinson

Kalman Rubinson reviewed the PSB Imagine T in June 2009 (Vol.32 No.6):

My first intimate experience with PSB loudspeakers was back in the mid-1990s, when I'd just began writing for Stereophile and found myself "between speakers." I'd sold off my Apogee Duettas and was not yet fully committed to something new. PSB designer Paul Barton graciously let me hang on to a pair of PSB Stratus Gold i speakers, which John Atkinson and Thomas J. Norton had reviewed in April 1997. With a smooth but somewhat recessed midrange, powerful and extended bass, but trebles that lacked sparkle, they sounded…

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker Playing With Ports

Sidebar 1: Playing With Ports

In the images of the rear of the Imagine T in PSB's literature and on their website, the upper port is shown stopped with a removable plug. Sure enough, the review samples arrived so plugged, along with a brief note explaining the situation: "the port cover can be used to adjust the bass tuning of the Imagine models where room problems at low frequencies (in the 100Hz region) occur....We invite the listener to try plugging any one or multiple ports to better integrate the system in their room.... Please experiment....Additional Port Covers can be acquired…

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 2: Specifications

Description: 2.5-way reflex-loaded, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter; two 5.25" polypropylene-cone woofers (lower woofer rolls off above 800Hz). Crossover frequency: 1.8kHz. Frequency responses: 38Hz–23kHz, ±3dB (on axis); 42Hz–20kHz, ±1.5dB (on axis); 42Hz–10kHz, ±1.5dB (30° off axis). Low-frequency extension: –10dB at 35Hz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.8V/m anechoic, 90dB/2.8V/m in room.
Dimensions: 36.9" (945mm) H by 8.2" (210mm) W by 13.5" (346mm) D. Weight: 40.7 lbs (18.5kg) net, 52…

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: Sony XA-5400ES SACD/CD player, Oppo DV-983H universal player.
Preamplification: Integra DTC-9.8 preamplifier-processor.
Power Amplifier: Bryston 9B-STT.
Loudspeakers: Paradigm Studio/60 v3, Paradigm Servo-15 subwoofer.
Cables: Interconnect: Kubala-Sosna Fascination (balanced). Speaker: Kubala-Sosna Fascination. AC: Kubala-Sosna Emotion.
Accessories: XTZ Room Analyzer, APC S-15 power conditioner.—Kalman Rubinson

PSB Imagine T loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 4: Measurements

The PSB Imagine T's voltage sensitivity was to specification, at 88dB(B)/2.83V/m. Its impedance with both ports open (fig.1) dropped to just below 5 ohms in the lower midrange, but averaged 8 ohms at higher frequencies with, as usual, the larger electrical phase angle occurring when the magnitude was high, which will ameliorate the drive difficulty this might otherwise have caused. The saddle centered on 56Hz in the magnitude trace in this graph suggests that this is the tuning frequency of the twin ports. With both ports plugged, which is what Kal Rubinson found…

Listening #78

A new integrated amplifier called the Lars Type 1, which made its debut at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, has given my notion of a dichotomy between mainstream audio and alternative audio a severe beating. In that sense, the Lars Type 1 has been a life-changing product, although the change took longer than expected for me to digest.

Designed by Lars Engström and manufactured in Sweden by E & E Ingenjörsbyrå (footnote 1), the Lars Type 1 is supplied in two halves, each of which comprises a single, monophonic integrated amplifier. But they're not identical: One chassis has…

Listening #78 Page 2

The Lars Type 1 also came closer than anything I've heard to having the ideal treble performance: apparently limitless detail and air, yet without the slightest suggestion of harshness or grain. The amp had the least artificial, most natural treble performance I've ever heard from a domestic audio product of any sort. If the Lars were a speaker instead of an amplifier, it would make even the Quad ESL sound sick.

The Lars Type 1's "great obligation to the beat," to use Wes Phillips' phrase, continued unabated with pop fare. The electronic percussion throughout XTC's Mummer (Japanese…

The Fifth Element #54

Back when there were bricks-and-mortar retail record stores to speak of in tenses other than past, I used to participate in new-release conferences. Retail-store buyers—the people who decided whether consumers would see your CDs as they browsed in the stores—would gather at a nice destination, such as Lake George, New York. The various labels would then make presentations about their upcoming new releases.

At one such conference, a classical buyer for Tower Records (remember them?) made a point of telling me that, when he'd received a copy I'd mailed him of violinist Arturo Delmoni's…