Đánh giá Loa PSB Imagine T65 trong series SoundStage! Hi-Fi – SoundStageHiFi.com

Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.

Last summer, when I was asked to review the PSB T65 floorstander, from the Canadian loudspeaker brand’s revamped Imagine series, I accepted the assignment without hesitation. As a young undergraduate and a budding audiophile on a shoestring budget, I cut my teeth on PSB speakers. PSB opened my ears to high-end sound. I purchased the PSB Image 4T floorstanders, my first pair of “real” speakers, in 2002. Four years later I replaced them with the Platinum M2s, PSB’s flagship bookshelf model at the time. Several other pairs of PSB speakers have graced my listening room in the ensuing years, entrusted to me for reviews for the SoundStage! Network. (My last review, about the PSB X2T towers, was in 2015.)

I already had several products to review in the queue when I took delivery of the T65s. I intended to audition those first and therefore didn’t even unbox the new arrivals until several weeks later. Unlike with some other products that have come in for review, I wasn’t exactly dying to hear the T65s. But when I finally sat down to listen to them, I was reminded why PSB speakers excited me all those years ago. And as I was listening, reaching back to my audiophile roots, my initial blasé attitude towards them slowly gave way to pure, simple listening pleasure.

Background

Canada is home to a handful of prominent loudspeaker manufacturers, one of the most venerable among which is PSB, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. Its founder, Paul Barton, is the Canadian speaker industry’s equivalent to an elder statesman. Barton has worked closely with Floyd Toole, once a senior researcher at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa who, starting in the early 1970s, studied the acoustics of sound reproduction in small rooms and the characteristics of loudspeakers preferred by most listeners. To this day, Barton’s loudspeaker designs, from the least to the most expensive, have all been based on that seminal research half a century ago.

Specifically, the main design objectives behind PSB’s loudspeakers have been wide bandwidth, low distortion, and broad, even dispersion. The more inert the cabinet, the greater its power handling, and the more linear its drivers, the closer the speaker gets to fully realizing these objectives (and of course the higher its price). PSB’s research-based approach to loudspeaker design held enormous appeal for me, as a science major, 20 years ago. It still does. No less appealing was PSB’s pricing: I could reasonably aspire to own certain models even on my student budget.

The new Imagine series was launched in 2023. It now occupies the second rung on the PSB ladder, one step above the entry-level Alpha series, one below the Synchrony series. There are three models in the Imagine line. The largest is the T65, priced at $1999 a pair (all prices in USD), somewhat smaller is the floorstanding T54 ($1499/pair), and the smallest is the B50 bookshelf ($699/pair), which Dennis Burger praised in his April 2024 review on SoundStage! Access.

Design

The T65 is a three-way bass-reflex design, with a 1″ titanium-dome tweeter crossed over to a 5.25″ midrange driver at 2kHz using fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley filters. Typical of PSB designs, the tweeter is situated below the midrange driver. The midrange in turn hands off at 600Hz to a pair of 6.5″ woofers using the same fourth-order slopes. The midrange and woofers have woven carbon-fiber cones and rubber surrounds. Carbon-fiber cones first appeared in the PSB Platinum series two decades ago. The material seems to have found favor with Barton once again; it is employed in both the Imagine and Synchrony series.

PSB Imagine speakers all employ dual rear slot ports, a feature also found in the company’s Performance Wall Mount (PWM) series. In the T65, each woofer has its own port and its own individually tuned chamber.

Sensitivity is rated at 88dB (2.83V/1m), as measured in an anechoic chamber, 90dB in a typical room. With this sensitivity and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms that dips to a 4-ohm minimum, the T65 doesn’t demand much power. PSB suggests that as little as 20W is sufficient to drive the T65, recommending that no more than 200W be used. The most important criterion here is that the driving amplifier is comfortable with the 4-ohm impedance dip. My Bryston B135 SST² integrated amplifier, which is rated to deliver 180Wpc into 4 ohms, had no issue driving the T65s to higher volumes than I could tolerate.

The T65 has dual gold-plated five-way binding posts that accept banana plugs, spades, or bare wire, so it can be bi-wired or even bi-amplified. I did neither, choosing a single amplifier and single set of cables, with the gold-plated jumpers installed in each speaker.

Each tower measures 40.5″H × 8.4″W × 13.9″D (including feet, grilles, and terminals) and weighs 44 pounds. The T65 is available in satin black and satin white finishes. My review pair were satin black. Although in fit and finish the T65 was impeccable, I found its styling somewhat understated initially, if not boring (as I often do with black speakers). To my surprise, however, the T65 review pair grew on me over time, and I came to appreciate certain small details in its design: the metal accent rings surrounding the drivers, the rings around the caps that the floor spikes screw into, and the matching rings on the discs the spikes rest on when the speakers are placed on a hard surface. These subtle design elements add some flair to the T65’s otherwise subdued appearance. If I were buying these speakers, I’d probably opt for the satin white finish, but I’d want to see them in person first since those metal accent rings I’ve just described seem to blend in with the white cabinet and become indistinct, at least from the photos I’ve seen.

System

I connected the T65s to the Bryston B135 SST² integrated amplifier by Nirvana Audio Royale speaker cables. Most of my listening was sourced from a NAD C 565BEE CD player connected to a Bryston BDA-2 DAC by an i2Digital X-60 coaxial cable. The BDA-2 was connected to the B135 SST² by Nordost Quattro Fil RCA cables. I also sent music wirelessly from Apple Music on my iPhone to a Bluesound Node 2i streamer. The Node was linked to the BDA-2 by an AudioQuest Forest TosLink optical cable. Vinyl playback was provided by a Thorens TD 160 HD turntable equipped with a modified Rega Research RB250 tonearm mated to a low-output Sumiko Songbird moving-coil cartridge. A Pro-Ject Audio Systems Connect it RCA-CC cable linked the Thorens to a Pro-Ject Phono Box DS3 B phono stage, which was powered by a Pro-Ject Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply. The DS3 B was connected to the B135 SST² by Kimber Kable Tonik interconnects. All electronics were plugged into an ExactPower EP15A power conditioner.

Sound

As I mentioned earlier, listening to the PSB T65s was a bit of a homecoming for me. The audio equivalent of comfort food, they offered something familiar and reassuring. It’s difficult for me to say exactly how they differed from other PSB loudspeakers I’ve owned or reviewed—it’s been too long. What I can say is that they had what I’ve come to recognize as the PSB “house sound”: a full-bodied sound with fleshed-out bass, an open midrange that made listening to the human voice quite revealing, and clean and extended highs that weren’t fatiguing on long listening sessions. Sound has never really jumped out at me with PSB speakers, and it didn’t with the T65s.

Former SoundStage! reviewer Hans Wetzel regularly used the soundtrack to the film Gladiator (CD, Decca 289 467 094-2) in his auditions. I also own this disc, and I’ve started using it in my auditions as well. It is well recorded and contains big, powerful passages that are fun to test on new speakers. The opening piece, “Progeny,” sounded spacious and atmospheric through the T65s and laden with a sense of foreboding. The sense of impending calamity intensifies on the second track, “The Wheat,” where the rhythmic beat of drums evokes the specter of marching warriors. The T65s conveyed the percussion’s growing impact viscerally, heightening the charged atmosphere. They didn’t quite have the scale of presentation of some larger speakers I’ve had in my listening room, neither could they match their depth and weight of bass. In a listening space better suited to their size, however, with closer boundaries, the T65s’ bass would undoubtedly be more robust. But I’d also caution against placing them in too small a room, which they could overwhelm, resulting in muddied sound.

The next track, “The Battle,” begins with explosive sonics and proceeds in a rapid-fire pace that conveys a riveting sense of urgency. I found the sound surprisingly cinematic, given the T65s’ relatively modest size. And while rendering “The Battle” with power and grandeur, they didn’t overdo the bass and presented everything with such clarity I could easily dissect what I was hearing. It will be interesting to see how the T65 measures. There might be a slight bias towards the low end, which would explain the weighty sound, but I don’t expect an enormous mid-bass hump, which is thought to trick the brain into perceiving deeper bass than the speaker actually produces.

I then played Loreena McKennitt’s Nights from the Alhambra (CD, Quinlan Road QRCDDVD2-110-N). The still evening ambiance in the courtyard of the Alhambra Palace in southern Spain, where this concert was recorded, was palpable, lending much intimacy to the performance—I could feel the hush that had fallen on the captive audience. On “She Moved Through the Fair,” McKennitt’s ethereal harp accompanies her delicate singing voice, and though it was not as closely miked as her voice and did not command the stage in the same way, it came through perfectly clearly. I found the T65s’ presentation to be most balanced. Nothing about them stood out. And in not asserting any sonic personality of their own, the T65s allowed that of the recording to shine through.

Again, I was impressed by the bounty of bass the T65s’ modest cabinets could dispense, as I had been before with the Gladiator soundtrack. In a smaller listening room, I’d feel no need to add a subwoofer to these speakers—perhaps for movies, but not for music. They were open and transparent and depicted distinct sonic images on a broad and deep soundstage. On “Marco Polo,” I could easily envision the space on the stage in front of me. The musicians were well sorted, spread out to the outer edges of the speakers, and had plenty of space behind them. The percussion, imaged well back, strongly reinforced the perception of soundstage depth. Another aspect of the T65s that impressed me was how loud they could play without losing their composure. Listening to “Marco Polo” at high volume was very exciting. I could sense the mounting energy as the music builds up before coalescing into a big finish.

The soundstage was also most impressive on the title track from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Moanin’ (LP, Blue Note BST-84003). Like on “Nights from the Alhambra,” it was remarkably coherent, wide, and deep. Here, too, percussion congealed the sense of depth, with drummer and bandleader Art Blakey portrayed distinctly behind the right speaker. Lee Morgan’s brilliantly sonorous trumpet and Benny Golson’s rich-toned saxophone were spotlit with admirable clarity on their respective solos. The T65s’ front-to-back layering of sound sources in this recording was so convincing, I could just about see the musicians as well as hear them. On Jymie Merritt’s bass solo, one of several great solos on this tune, the bass had a huge and imposing presence—and impact and depth to match. Merritt’s playing is tight and dexterous, and the well-controlled presentation of his instrument by the T65s was too.

My listening room is spacious, allowing for good separation between left and right speakers and good distance from walls. The T65s were just under eight-and-a-half feet apart, tweeter to tweeter, about three-and-half feet away from the side walls, their baffles approximately four feet from the front wall. In this position, far apart and well out into the room, they were able to create large soundstages and produce sharp images, provided the requisite sonic information was present in the recording.

Listening next to the legendary performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Carlos Kleiber (LP, Deutsche Grammophon 479 3188), I was impressed once again at the T65s’ equanimity during high-volume playback. As the third movement draws to a close, the hushed plucked strings and woodwinds that softly drive the second half of this movement are joined by the other instruments in the last few bars, and the full orchestra then quickly crescendos as it transitions seamlessly into the loud, triumphant conclusion that is the fourth movement. This famous compositional transition between the third and fourth movements is also a steep sonic transition, an enormous dynamic shift that the T65s handled admirably, convincingly. They conveyed the sheer power of the orchestra fully and with excellent control even at the high volume level at which I prefer to play this piece of music.

Comparison

I pitted the PSB T65s against my reference speakers, the Gold 300 5G towers ($9500/pair), from the British loudspeaker brand Monitor Audio. The Gold 300 is a three-way design employing a micro-pleated-diaphragm (MPD) tweeter, a 2.5″ midrange driver, and dual 8″ woofers. Aesthetically, there’s not much contest here, at least to my eyes. The T65s are good-looking speakers, but anyone viewing them side by side against the Gold 300s will doubtless notice the British speakers’ more luxurious fit and finish, which is entirely expected, being almost five times as expensive.

Sonically, the gap wasn’t nearly as wide. On “Glory Bound,” from Martin Sexton’s Black Sheep (16/44.1 ALAC, KOCH Records), the transparent PSBs provided a vivid and clear image of Sexton’s guitar, bringing out its warm resonance and accentuating Sexton’s playing dynamics. His voice had a lifelike quality, but it also had unusual weight in the lowest register that caught my attention. Switching over to the Monitor Audios, I heard no such emphasis in the lower range. I also found their presentation sharper and clearer than that of the PSBs, although they appeared to be trading some warmth for that crisper, more articulate sound.

I next listened to “Hold On,” from Tom Waits’s Mule Variations (CD, Anti-/Epitaph Records 86547-2), and I was in for a surprise. The PSBs, despite their smaller drivers and cabinet and lighter construction, presented the bass more fully than the Monitor Audios did, with rounder, heavier notes, which drew my ears to it. The Gold 300s, on the other hand, seemed to make music “pop” more. The electric guitars on either side of the soundstage, for instance, sounded crisper than with the PSBs, which made them slightly more prominent in the mix.

I continued with Mule Variations and listened to “Take it With Me.” Again, I was impressed by the wonderful, sharply depicted center fill the PSBs created and the broad soundstage they cast. After a short piano introduction, Waits’s gravelly voice enters, and my ears perked up hearing it so profoundly deep. Like on the Sexton track, I was picking up on something I’m not accustomed to hearing with my own speakers. “Take it with me when I go,” he rasps, with a voice chesty and full. I loved how he sounded. This, I knew, is the track I’d play to show off what these speakers can do. When I switched over to the Monitor Audios, I found Waits’s voice to still have a striking presence, but I didn’t hear that extra bit of emphasis in the lowest region of his coarse baritone.

As good as the PSB T65s sounded, they couldn’t match the performance of the Monitor Audio Gold 300s. The Monitor Audios just gave me more of what I wanted to hear. Still, listening to the PSBs was a treat, and as I swapped the cables back and forth between the two sets of towers, it became obvious to me that the T65s came much closer to approaching the Gold 300s’ sound than one might expect from their disparate prices.

Conclusion

Research based on decades of double-blind listening tests has shown that to be found appealing to most listeners, a loudspeaker must satisfy a certain set of criteria. One of the biggest myths about loudspeakers is that those that do pass muster cost a great deal. But in fact, examples to the contrary are aplenty in the audio marketplace. The PSB T65 is one such example. It gets so much right it can easily stand up to competing loudspeakers, even some that cost more. It doesn’t incorporate exotic materials, nor does it claim any acoustic breakthroughs, but it does offer “high-price sound” to sound-focused listeners at a price many can afford. For that, the PSB T65 is easy to recommend.

It’s been more than 20 years since I embarked on the high-end audio path, with a pair of PSB speakers as my gateway, and my time with the T65s rekindled fond memories of listening experiences I’d had along the way. For a most reasonable investment, the PSB T65s could be your gateway as well and lead to memorable listening experiences too.

. . . Philip Beaudette
[email protected]

Associated Equipment

• Speakers: Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G
• Integrated amplifier: Bryston B135 SST²
• Digital sources: NAD C 565BEE CD player, Bryston BDA-2 DAC, Bluesound Node 2i streamer
• Analog source: Thorens TD 160 HD turntable, Rega Research RB250 tonearm, Sumiko Songbird MC cartridge
• Phono stage: Pro-Ject Audio Systems Phono Box DS3 B and Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply
• Speaker cables: Nirvana Audio Royale
• Interconnects: Nordost Quattro Fil (RCA), Pro-Ject Connect it Phono RCA-CC, Kimber Kable Tonik (RCA), generic RCA
• Digital links: AudioQuest Forest (TosLink optical), i2Digital X-60 (coaxial)
• Power conditioner: ExactPower EP15A

PSB Imagine T65 loudspeaker
Price: $1999/pair
Warranty: Five years, parts and labor

PSB Speakers
633 Granite Court
Pickering, Ontario L1W 3K1
Canada
Phone: (905) 831-6555

Website: www.psbspeakers.com