h1>PSB Speakers

PSB; Paul and Sue Barton calling

Its amazing how the price of a complete 5.1 system has dropped in recent years. Once upon a time you would have to pay well in excess of a thousand dollars for a decent set of speakers that included a subwoofer. Subs tended to push the price of a speaker system through the roof when you put together a set of the six required for 5.1 sound with a timbre match. The complete 5.1 packages started arriving and, outside toy speakers, you couldnt touch a complete kit for a under a grand. Now it seems that manufacturers in the middle to upper end are touching base with the mainstream consumers and putting out complete packages at less than a kilobuck.
Even though these might be by notable names like Energy/Athena, Polk Audio and Klipsch its a little out of their area to make less expensive equipment. A Canadian speaker manufacturer named PSB has been making budget speakers for years and theyve had a lot of experience squeezing every bit of goodness out of a low cost speaker. It should come as no surprise that their offerings in the realm of complete 5.1 speaker packages priced below $1000 are among the most sought after.

PSB stands for Paul and Sue Barton, the names of the owners of what started off as a small business by Paul Barton who designed the first speakers for PSB. Todays PSB product contains higher end speakers from their Platinum line. These have achieved notoriety from critics and consumers alike. For a pair of speakers that MSRP over 6,000, we would expect them to be good. But PSB has a particular commitment to achieving a balance between performance and dollars spent on that performance, and the Platinum line speakers have even been called a great value.

On the other end of the scale is the Alpha line; this is without a doubt PSBs most popular line of speakers. The Alpha lines price range is perhaps most revealing of their ability to achieve this balance between price and performance. A deep inspection of user reviews (check audioreview.com for real user reviews) shows raves for their budget offering which would indicate great customer satisfaction with the products.

Product comparisons in this price range are a must; if youre willing to spend approximately $300- $500 on a subwoofer for instance, the one that goes with the rest of your PSB kit might not always be the right choice. At times you can find closeouts or high end gear deeply discounted because theyre last years models going for around this price. It always pays to shop around, but especially at this range, the difference between a $300 sub and $600 sub will be significant if you put them through testing. This is why you should always check the hi-fi shops even if youre looking for budget gear. You never know what youll find.

PSB had a sub they called the SubZero, PSBs bottom of the line 8 sub that goes for $300. At this price there are many other subs willing to compete with it. Give offerings by Polk, Athena or Hsu Research a try; you may be pleasantly surprised.