Shown above are the eight speaker models in our new Image Series, the
outstanding range of imaginatively conceived and executed speakers that
bring very high performance to the medium price range in loudspeakers.
From left to right they are: Images C60, B15, B25, S50, T45, C40, T55, T65.
What has driven Paul Barton's design of speakers for more than 30 years
is his discovery, during long research and double-blind testing of speakers
at Canada's National Research Council, that not just individually
distinctive models but whole ranges of consistently satisfying speakers
could come out of the correlations made at the NRC between measured performance
characteristics and the sound that listeners perceived as pleasing and realistic.
Working outward from that realization, Paul and PSB have produced not only
legendary performers like the Alpha and the Stratus Gold ,
but the growing array of models that prompted Lawrence B. Johnson of Stereophile
Guide to Home Theater, to say: "From the top of the line to the bottom,
designer Paul Barton's speakers represent exceptional value and rare musicality."
Now we take another step — taking the design principles that work so
well and applying them to a updated range of speakers whose distinctive,
modular construction and elegant systems-engineering bring unmistakably
high-end performance down into the price range most people think of as "medium
priced." These speakers embody not just great performance and wonderfully
logical mixing and matching for home theater systems, but a further, typically
PSB leap in value for a whole series of speakers.
All of the new Image models mix and match supremely well. They use the same
5-1/4-inch or 6-1/2-inch Metalized polypropylene-cone
woofers with rubber surrounds, and the same new optimized 1" aluminum-dome
tweeter in all models. Whether you build a music/theater system gradually
or plunge in all at once, you can be sure they will sound like each other,
look like each other, and fit your decor. All have full magnetic shielding
to allow placement near TV and computer monitors, and their front-panel
ports maintain full low-frequency response when you place speakers close
to walls. With their slim frontal areas and their elegant "floating" grilles,
the Images all look as striking as they sound.
Using common components in different models helps ensure the 'family sound'
that's so important for matched home theater performance. And the modular
combinations of the four elements allow us to amortize the costs both of
the drivers and of the baffle moldings, all of which would be far more expensive
if produced in smaller quantities for just one model. This elegant systems
engineering is what makes the sound quality of the Images possible at reasonable
prices. The sound is as clear and "open" in the least expensive systems
as in the top models in the series, and what you get as you go up the line
is incremental improvement in low-frequency extension, power handling, and
subtleties of detail.
Image Compact Monitors
These versatile and unobtrusive monitors, which can be placed on shelves
or mounted on walls or on matching stands, are supremely easy to accommodate
and afford. Like our Image towers and center-channels, they all use the
same optimized 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter, combined with one of two sizes
of a new rubber-surround woofer and two modular baffle elements that come
together in various ways. If you are building a music/theater system in
stages, these room-friendly monitors do equally well as primary speakers
for music and/or as surround speakers for movies.
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The Image
B15
Just over a foot high, this ultra-compact monitor combines a 5-1/4-inch
woofer and the Image 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter. It is an ideally
convenient surround speaker, and as a main speaker or in a secondary
system, it delivers amazingly rich, detailed sound for its size and
price.Image
B15 Technical Specifications pop-up. |
The Image
B25
A slight step up in all cabinet dimensions and woofer size (6.5"),
This compact monitor produces full-weight sound down to a satisfying
point both for musical instruments and movie effects. The Image aluminum-dome
tweeter produces superb highs. Whether tucked into a bookcase, placed
on a stand, or mounted on the wall for surround use, it is easy to
use and enjoy. Image
B25 Technical Specifications pop-up.
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Image Towers
These gracefully proportioned floorstanding speakers will anchor any music
system and any home theater system. All are true full-range speakers with
full-weight sound that is also detailed and beautifully defined, thanks
in great part to the new 1-inch aluminum-dome Image tweeter that pairs smoothly
with the new Image rubber-surround woofers. All of these towers (as well
as the Image 3LR compact monitor) are "2-1/2-way" designs. This sophisticated
crossover design operates both woofers at low frequencies, for bass response
equal to that of a single, substantially larger woofer-but uses only one
of them through the midrange to the tweeter. The relatively small diameter
of the single driver that operates through the midrange provides better
directivity-more consistent on-axis and off-axis response-than a single,
correspondingly larger woofer. This makes for a very smooth transition,
avoiding interference between the three drivers.
The Image
T45
This imaginatively designed product combines two 5-1/4" rubber-surround
woofers with the new Image tweeter. Its 2-1/2-way design provides
bass impact equivalent to a substantially larger driver, in a much
slimmer cabinet, than a larger driver would allow, and with smoother
response. This small, highly affordable tower is a large performer.
Image
T45 Technical Specifications pop-up.
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The Image
T55
Coupling the Image tweeter with a pair of 6.5" rubber-surround woofers,
this speaker combines great definition with amazingly potent and extended
low-frequency response. The addition in enclosure size to accommodate
the larger woofers helps add power handling as well as deep bass,
for more performance in larger rooms. Image
T55 Technical Specifications pop-up. |
The Image
T65
This powerful combination of three 6.5-inch woofers and the Image
tweeter takes the impact of music and movies to peak levels. It is
hard to imagine any likely use in any likely home listening/viewing
room that will stress this speaker or cause it to lose any of its
"you are there" detail. This is a speaker for high demands, even in
big listening rooms. Image
T65 Technical Specifications pop-up.
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Image Center-Channels
These carefully designed center speakers use the same drivers as the Image
towers and compact monitors. Their tweeters are placed between the two bass-mid
drivers in each system, and both models are voiced for satisfying horizontal
placement below or above a TV monitor. Their crossover design optimizes
off-axis response.
The Image C60
In this larger center channel, the Image tweeter combines with two
6-1/2" woofers to provide full-range, high-output center-channel sound.
Its aptitude for clarifying even the most elaborate, demanding, many-layered
soundtracks includes the ability to handle very loud levels in large
rooms. Image
C60 Technical Specifications pop-up.
The Image C40
With two 5-1/4" woofers and the Image 1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter,
this system will produce great clarity-both of dialog and effects-from
even the most complex movie soundtracks. Image
C40 Technical Specifications pop-up. |
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The Image S50 Bipolar Surround Speaker
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This new and welcome addition
to the Image Series tackles the needs of surround speaker design in
a usefully different way. It is a bipolar design that combines two
identical panels that employ the Image 5-1/4-inch woofer and the Image
1-inch aluminum-dome tweeter. The angling of these two panels outward
creates a diffuse soundfield, and the connection of the two speaker
arrays in phase also aids localization of sound when sharply placed
effects are present on a soundtrack or a music recording.field.
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Over the past
few years, the growing dominance of Dolby Digital surround recordings
has created a need for a speaker on the surround channel that would
be neither a conventional direct radiator nor the dipole design that
came into being during the Dolby Pro-Logic era. The dipole created
a welcome diffusion of sound, but it was designed and placed to create
a "null" at listeners' usual seating position because there were and
are no directional effects in Pro-Logic's monaural surround channel.
This became increasingly unwelcome to most of us as Dolby Digital
took over, because the directional effects that appeared in these
recordings weren't sharply registered by the dipole design. And while
conventional direct radiator surround speakers do handle the need
for pinpointing some surround effects, many listeners miss the ambience
of the dipole's diffused surround field.
The Image S50 offers the best of both worlds. Its surround ambience
is very convincing, thanks to the way the two speaker panels are angled
to radiate indirectly. But because the speakers are wired in phase,
in a bipolar design, rather than out of phase in a dipole array, they
also provide all the localization needed for soundtracks with directional
surround effects. Surround recordings of music also profit greatly
from the soundfield of the S50, and small rooms sound much "larger"
than they do with direct radiator speakers. The more demanding you
are about surround sound, or the more demanding your listening conditions
are, the more we think you will appreciate what the S50 has to offer.
Image
S50 Technical Specifications pop-up. |
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Image Series Specs