Stereophile
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<p><img class="story_image" src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/1113psb.promo_.jpg" /></p>
What can you tell about the intrinsic sound quality of a loudspeaker if you've heard it only at an audio show? Arguably, not much. If it sounds bad, there may be a number of reasons for that, only one being the speaker itself. It may be the acoustics of the room, problems with speaker setup, poorly matched associated equipment, insufficient break-in/warm-up, or poor choice of demo recordings. Other conditions may not be conducive to the speaker revealing its potential, such as not being able to sit in the sweet spot, being distracted by people talking throughout the demo, etc. You might think that exhibitors would do their utmost to ensure that their products are presented in the most positive way possible, but, as Jason Victor Serinus pointed out in "There's No Business Without Show Business," his April 2013 "<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/theres-no-business-without-show-business">As We See It</a>," this is not always the case.
<p>
But what about speakers that sound <i>good</i> at audio shows? Well, a speaker can't sound better than its inherent mechanical/electrical characteristics allow, but the rest of the system may have been hand-picked to be the most synergistic possible, and include ultra-expensive components. The setup may have been tweaked to a fare-thee-well, and the demo material chosen to show off the speaker's positive characteristics and minimize its deficiencies. Based on listening under these conditions, you may be sufficiently impressed to buy the speaker, then disappointed when you can't replicate in your home what you heard at the show.
</p><p>
And yet, while I appreciate these caveats, I, like most people, make judgments of speaker sound quality based on my impressions at the Consumer Electronics Show and regional audio shows. In fact, I choose most of the products I review based on what I've heard at such events. If I don't care for the way a speaker sounds there, I'm unlikely to review it, even though I recognize that its poor showing may have been due to one or more of the reasons listed above. I would rather not take a chance on spending months listening to a speaker whose sound I don't like, and instead select a speaker that impressed me positively. I believe that this sort of selection bias explains why <i>Stereophile</i> reviews tend to be positive. <i>Stereophile</i>'s bias is to mostly seek out equipment that its writers think a) is very good, and that b) its readers will enjoy.
</p><p>
I first heard PSB Speakers' Imagine T2 Tower at the <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-introduces-imagine-t2-speaker">2012 CES</a>. What I heard was good enough that I wanted to hear more.
</p><p>
<b>Description and Design</b><br />In designing its speakers, PSB uses the anechoic chamber and measurement facilities of Canada's National Research Council (NRC), in Ottawa. PSB designer <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/231/index.html">Paul Barton</a> is very much a "hands-on" designer; he told me that last year he spent five months in China, supervising the manufacturing of PSB speakers.
</p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower is a lovely-looking speaker, well proportioned and with the sort of finish that, just a few years ago, would have been the exclusive purview of speakers made in Italy by master craftsmen. In fact, the T2 is made in China, using advanced technology as well as individual attention to detail. The cabinet is teardrop-shaped in cross section, which is more visually pleasing than a plain rectangular box, and has the acoustical advantage of having no parallel internal walls. (A number of speaker manufacturers, including B&W and Wharfedale, have adopted this sort of cabinet shape.) The cabinet panels are formed of seven layers of MDF, pressed into shape, while the front baffle is made of 2"-thick MDF. Considerable effort is made to match the grain of the wood veneers, to create a "cathedral" appearance.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/1113psb.2.jpg" alt="1113psb.2.jpg" width="600" height="1079" border="0" /></p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower evinces similarities to PSB's Synchrony One, <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/408psb/index.html">reviewed by John Atkinson</a> in the April 2008 issue, and might even be described as a scaled-down version of that model, much of whose technology it shares. However, all the drive-units were developed specifically for the Imagine T2, whose crossover takes into account those drivers' characteristics, the distances between them on the baffle, and the height of each driver from the floor, to minimize interference between direct sound and the floor bounce.
</p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower's driver complement comprises: a 1" titanium-dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet, similar but not identical to the tweeter used in the Synchrony One; above that, a 4" clay/ceramic-filled, polypropylene-cone midrange unit; and below it, three 5¼", clay/ceramic-filled polypropylene-cone woofers. Each woofer has a distortion-reducing phase plug of aluminum, as in the Synchrony One, as well as its own internal chamber and rear-firing port. Compared to speakers from other manufacturers, an unusual aspect of the T2 Tower's design is what Barton calls a "transitional" crossover in which each woofer is crossed over to the midrange at a different frequency: the one closest to the floor at the lowest frequency, and each of the other two at an incrementally higher frequency (<i>but see "Measurements" sidebar
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-imagine-t2-tower-loudspeaker]
What can you tell about the intrinsic sound quality of a loudspeaker if you've heard it only at an audio show? Arguably, not much. If it sounds bad, there may be a number of reasons for that, only one being the speaker itself. It may be the acoustics of the room, problems with speaker setup, poorly matched associated equipment, insufficient break-in/warm-up, or poor choice of demo recordings. Other conditions may not be conducive to the speaker revealing its potential, such as not being able to sit in the sweet spot, being distracted by people talking throughout the demo, etc. You might think that exhibitors would do their utmost to ensure that their products are presented in the most positive way possible, but, as Jason Victor Serinus pointed out in "There's No Business Without Show Business," his April 2013 "<a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/theres-no-business-without-show-business">As We See It</a>," this is not always the case.
<p>
But what about speakers that sound <i>good</i> at audio shows? Well, a speaker can't sound better than its inherent mechanical/electrical characteristics allow, but the rest of the system may have been hand-picked to be the most synergistic possible, and include ultra-expensive components. The setup may have been tweaked to a fare-thee-well, and the demo material chosen to show off the speaker's positive characteristics and minimize its deficiencies. Based on listening under these conditions, you may be sufficiently impressed to buy the speaker, then disappointed when you can't replicate in your home what you heard at the show.
</p><p>
And yet, while I appreciate these caveats, I, like most people, make judgments of speaker sound quality based on my impressions at the Consumer Electronics Show and regional audio shows. In fact, I choose most of the products I review based on what I've heard at such events. If I don't care for the way a speaker sounds there, I'm unlikely to review it, even though I recognize that its poor showing may have been due to one or more of the reasons listed above. I would rather not take a chance on spending months listening to a speaker whose sound I don't like, and instead select a speaker that impressed me positively. I believe that this sort of selection bias explains why <i>Stereophile</i> reviews tend to be positive. <i>Stereophile</i>'s bias is to mostly seek out equipment that its writers think a) is very good, and that b) its readers will enjoy.
</p><p>
I first heard PSB Speakers' Imagine T2 Tower at the <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-introduces-imagine-t2-speaker">2012 CES</a>. What I heard was good enough that I wanted to hear more.
</p><p>
<b>Description and Design</b><br />In designing its speakers, PSB uses the anechoic chamber and measurement facilities of Canada's National Research Council (NRC), in Ottawa. PSB designer <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/231/index.html">Paul Barton</a> is very much a "hands-on" designer; he told me that last year he spent five months in China, supervising the manufacturing of PSB speakers.
</p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower is a lovely-looking speaker, well proportioned and with the sort of finish that, just a few years ago, would have been the exclusive purview of speakers made in Italy by master craftsmen. In fact, the T2 is made in China, using advanced technology as well as individual attention to detail. The cabinet is teardrop-shaped in cross section, which is more visually pleasing than a plain rectangular box, and has the acoustical advantage of having no parallel internal walls. (A number of speaker manufacturers, including B&W and Wharfedale, have adopted this sort of cabinet shape.) The cabinet panels are formed of seven layers of MDF, pressed into shape, while the front baffle is made of 2"-thick MDF. Considerable effort is made to match the grain of the wood veneers, to create a "cathedral" appearance.
</p><p>
<img src="http://www.stereophile.com/images/1113psb.2.jpg" alt="1113psb.2.jpg" width="600" height="1079" border="0" /></p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower evinces similarities to PSB's Synchrony One, <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/408psb/index.html">reviewed by John Atkinson</a> in the April 2008 issue, and might even be described as a scaled-down version of that model, much of whose technology it shares. However, all the drive-units were developed specifically for the Imagine T2, whose crossover takes into account those drivers' characteristics, the distances between them on the baffle, and the height of each driver from the floor, to minimize interference between direct sound and the floor bounce.
</p><p>
The Imagine T2 Tower's driver complement comprises: a 1" titanium-dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet, similar but not identical to the tweeter used in the Synchrony One; above that, a 4" clay/ceramic-filled, polypropylene-cone midrange unit; and below it, three 5¼", clay/ceramic-filled polypropylene-cone woofers. Each woofer has a distortion-reducing phase plug of aluminum, as in the Synchrony One, as well as its own internal chamber and rear-firing port. Compared to speakers from other manufacturers, an unusual aspect of the T2 Tower's design is what Barton calls a "transitional" crossover in which each woofer is crossed over to the midrange at a different frequency: the one closest to the floor at the lowest frequency, and each of the other two at an incrementally higher frequency (<i>but see "Measurements" sidebar
[Source: http://www.stereophile.com/content/psb-imagine-t2-tower-loudspeaker]