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Stereophile Guide to Home Theater Reviews Image
3LR Home Theater System
In the September issue of SGHT, Thomas J. Norton does an in-depth
review of a home theater system comprised of Image 3LRs in front, the Image
9C in the center, a pair of Image 10S in the rear, and an Image SubSonic
6. His verdict? "The Images' performance was remarkable for the price and
impressive even without considering cost." For further details, please
click here.
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"Indeed, the Alpha B is a ridiculously good speaker all around for
its low price of $249 a pair, and I like the light cherry finish."
First Review Praises the New Alphas
In the new (July-August) issue of Sound & Vision, Daniel Kumin gives
a warm welcome to the new Alpha B, Alpha C, and Alpha T in their review
debut. Besides calling the Alpha B "a ridiculously good speaker all around
for its low price," Kumin praises the Alpha T: "Right from the start the
Alpha T impressed me as an unfailingly smooth accurate vocal reproducer."
"The T's treble balance was neither recessive nor spitty but just about
spot-on. Highs were clear, crisp, and detailed." "The Center Speaker (Alpha
C) sounded articulate and clear, with just a hint of midrange emphasis
— which actually enhanced intelligibility a bit." "The PSB Alpha suite
is a really good home theater speaker system — and an even better
value."
The July-August issue is now on the newstands, and as soon as the review
appears on Sound&Vision's web site, we will provide a link.
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Hometheatersound.com Applauds Alpha Intro Home Theater
System
The welcome from critics for the Alpha Intros has intensified with a new
review from Hometheatersound.com, one of the web's most knowledgeable
audio/video sites, which has some great things to say about the Intros.
Please click here for the details.
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And New Zealand's Tone Loves the Image 2B
 In further action from the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand's Tone
magazine, which recently praised our Image 6T tower system, has just given
a rave review in its April 2001 issue to the Image 2B bookshelf model. For
the details, please click here.
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$ensible Sound Puts Three PSB Speakers on Its Newest $ensible
Choice List
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The $ensible Sound has had praise for many years for the
performance-per-dollar delivered by PSB. In its newest selection of
$ensible Picks, delineated in the April-May 2001 issue, it lists the
Stratus Gold , the Stratus Mini, and the Alpha A/V. Details here. |
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The Newest Stereophile Recommended Components
The latest lists from Stereophile and its sister publication
Stereophile Guide to Home Theater have plenty of PSB from which to choose.
Please click here for the specifics.
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Image Small-Tower Home Theater System Gets Praise from Down Under
 Australia's Home Theatre magazine, in its April 2001 issue, has
given a major thumbs-up to our Image Small Tower Home Theater Speaker
system, built around the Image 4Ts. For the review, please click here.
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The March/April 2001 edition of The Perfect Vision awards an
Editors' Choice Award, to a home theater system consisting of four
Image 3LRs placed both as main and surround speakers, the Image 9C center
channel, and the Image SubSonic 6 subwoofer. We quote: "PSB Speakers hit a home run with their new Image series. Using economies of scale to
manufacture shared woofer and tweeter modules throughout the line, the
Image series delivers outstanding performance for the price. Two pairs of
Image 3LRs, the 9C center channel, and an Image 6 subwoofer put many more
expensive 5.1 systems to shame. The Image 6 subwoofer deserves special
mention because of its surprising bass extension and dynamic impact at a
relatively low price."
Info on the Image Series, Image 3LR, Image SubSonic 6 and Image center channels here
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"The Image 4T's bass performance was uncanny, with a bottom-end
extension I didn't think possible from a speaker of this size and price."
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In the February 2001 issue of Stereophile, Robert Reina undertook
long and pleased listening to our Image 4T. Saying, among many other
enthusiastic things, that "its bass extension and high-level dynamic
performance set new standards in the under-$1,000 price range," and that
"the 4T revealed a window of extraordinary naturalness," Reina's review is well worth investigating. Please click here for the full review.
Info on the Image Series and Image 4T here.
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New Year, New Awards!
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We are happy to report that we have started 2001 with some new awards that
recognize significant achievements:
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Hi-Fi Grand Prix Awards
 The year-end (2000) edition of Audio/Video International gave us
four of its coveted "Hi-Fi Grand Prix Awards." Specifically,
The Image 5T received the award in the floorstanding tower speaker category.
The Image 8C was recognized in the center-channel category.
The Stratus SubSonic 7 received the award in the subwoofer category.
And the CustomSound M6x6.1, arguably the most innovative of all our
pathbreaking Custom Sound models, received the award in the custom, in-wall
group.
In recent years, models receiving the Hi-Fi Grand Prix have included the Alpha A/V, Alpha Midi, Alpha SubSonic 1, The Alpha Sub/Sat Combination (Alpha Mites/Alpha SubSonic 1), Century 300i, Stratus C5, Stratus Bronze, and Stratus Silver.
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CES Innovations 2001 Award
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There is always some pretty intense scrambling to be among the Consumer
Electronics Manufacturing Association's prestigious
Innovations Award winners at the annual Consumer Electronics
Show held every January in Las Vegas. So we are delighted that another PSB
speaker, the Image 7PT, has joined the several other PSB models given this
accolade in the past.
The Image 7PT, the inventive loudspeaker that adds powered bass to the
other compelling listener inducements of the Image Series, was honored with
the Innovations Award at CES 2001 not only for its particular powered
design but for the overall design breakthroughs of the Image Series, whose
runaway popularity has helped prove that meaningful innovation does
register with the audio/video public. Our thanks to CEMA for the award, and
to our customers for their overwhelming response to the entire Image Series.
The 7PT joins other winners of the award in recent years: The Stratus Gold and the Stratus SubSonic 3i in 1998, and the Alpha Series in 1997.
Info on the Image Series and Image 7PT here.
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Audio Ideas Guide Gives the New Alpha Intros a Rave Notice |
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In the latest (Winter) edition of Audio Ideas Guide, Andrew Marshall
describes his amazement at the performance of the small and inexpensive new
Alpha Intro LR and Alpha Intro CLR. For more, please click here.
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In the January 2001 issue of the audio/video successor to Stereo
Review, Daniel Kumin has nice things to say about a home theater array
made up of our smallest entries: Four Alpha Intro LRs (used both in front
and surrounds), an Alpha Intro CLR in the center, and an Alpha SubZero sub
made up the tested system. Please click here for the review.
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More Praise for Image Home Theater |
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Audio and Video Lifestyles, Australia's preeminent audio/video
publication, has just added (in its January 2001 issue) to the chorus of
praise for Image home theater systems. Reviewing a system combining the
Image 5Ts up front, an Image 9C center channel, Image 2Bs as surround
speakers, and an Image SubSonic 6, the magazine gave the system high marks
both on music and movie sound. For the review, please click here.
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| Image 6T Earns Five Stars |
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The Image 6T, which has been gaining tremendous word-of-mouth in the brief
period since it first appeared, now has a great review — from the
November-December 2000 issue of New Zealand's Tone magazine, which
chose the 6T for its first review of a PSB product. Details here
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The "Staff Picks" for 2000
We are delighted that the September/October 2000 issue of The $ensible
Sound, the most value-conscious of all audio/video publications, again
heavily features PSB speakers among its staff's choice of the best values
our industry has to offer. Various members of the magazine's staff pick a
total of six of our speakers, some of them several times. Here's the rundown.
Alpha Mini : "Revealing enough for differentiating the sound of amplifiers, but tolerant of many of the budget receivers it will probably be paired up with."
Alpha A/V : "Makes one wonder why anyone would consider spending more."
Alpha A/V paired with the Alpha SubSonic 5 : "So far as I'm concerned the best sound available for under a grand."
Image 1B : "Incredibly flat 5.25-inch 2-way speakers at $270/pair."
Stratus Mini : "The best affordable small speakers I've ever heard."
Our thanks to all for the honors.
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The Alpha Intros Are Shipping!
At the recent CEDIA EXPO 2000 in Indianapolis, which has become perhaps the
pre-eminent show for audio/video retailers in the United States and Canada,
no exhibit that was open without invitation seemed to stop more people in
their tracks than the entrance to the PSB/NAD booth. There, visitors
encountered a riveting combination of a plasma TV screen, an NAD DVD player
and home theater receiver, and a minimally-sized but audibly mammoth
speaker array combining three of our new Alpha Intro CLRs front and center,
two of our equally new Alpha Intro LRs in the rear (almost invisible at the
corners of a sofa), and two Alpha SubZero subwoofers. What was playing most
of the time was a DVD of the Dave Mathews Band, and people who walked into
our little entrance theater were almost all transfixed. They stopped, they
stayed, and they marveled. The sound was simply far beyond anything
expected for speakers of the size and price — turning the little
entrance room into the kind of "home theater" people dream of and seldom
experience, full of clean, wide-range, knock-your-socks-off sound. What
made it even more impressive was that this room was wide open at two sides,
so that the sound being cranked out by this minimalist-looking equipment
was effectively reaching a far larger space. The performance, and the
audience response, was everything a speaker manufacturer ever wanted.
The Alpha Intros are now available virtually everywhere PSB is sold around the world. For details on these remarkable products, please click here.
For info on the Alpha SubZero subwoofer, click here.
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