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Shown above are ten of the eleven 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. The reception these speakers have
met from users and from audio/video critics has exceeded even our
highest expectations. In a short time they have completely redefined
the performance-price ratio of their price range. From left to right
they are: Images 2B (on pedestal), 3LR, 4T, 1B (bookshelf), 5T, 7PT,
6T, SubSonic6 (bottom right), 9C (middle right), 8C (top right).
Here are Technical
Specifications.
What has driven Paul Barton's design of speakers for more than 25
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 new 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 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 dŽcor. 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 1B
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
1B Technical Specifications. |
The Image 2B
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
2B Technical Specifications.
View
Image 2B in Cherry finish. |
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The Image 3LR
This speaker shares drive complement, baffle modules, and
enclosure with the 8C center channel, and its seamless blend
with the 8C will satisfy those who want absolutely spot-on
timbral matching in a home theater-system. Its enclosure,
less than two feet high, contains two 5-1/4-inch woofers and
the Image 1-inch tweeter. A potent main speaker, this
2-1/2-way system is also a satisfying wide-range vehicle for
today's and tomorrow's discrete-channel surround systems. Image
3LR Technical Specifications. |
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 4T
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
4T Technical Specifications.
View
Image 4T in Cherry finish. |
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The Image 5T
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
5T Technical Specifications. |
The Image 6T
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
6T Technical Specifications.
View
Image 6T in Cherry finish.
The Image 7PT
Take the 6T's formidable array of drivers and add a powerful
built-in amplifier for low frequencies and you have the
genuinely awe-inspiring 7PT. It is a 3-way system with the
two bottom woofers driven by the internal power amplifier,
and the third woofer used as a midrange speaker. It delivers
all the slam needed to make the fullness of music fully
available. And because its own amplifier does the heavy work,
it works well with moderately priced receivers and
integrated amplifiers as well as separate power amps. When
combined with a standalone subwoofer such as the Image
SubSonic 6 (a necessity for the most subterrannean passages
on the Low-Frequency Effects channel of Dolby Digital DVDs),
it delivers tremendous power to home theater. And thanks to
rear-panel controls, it is easy to match with a subwoofer,
with the characteristics of your listening room, and with
your own listening tastes. Made both in 110-volt and
230-volt models, the 7PT definitely stands at the head of
the Image series. Image
7PT Technical Specifications. |
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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.
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The Image 8C
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
8C Technical Specifications.
The Image 9C
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
9C Technical Specifications. |
The Image 10S 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 10S 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 10S, 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 10S has to
offer. Image
10S Technical Specifications. |
The Image SubSonic 6 Subwoofer
The Image SubSonic 6 subwoofer is a powerful performer in
the ultra-low range where the bottom-end impact of music and
movies lies. An ideally smooth complement to either an Image
tower or compact monitor, the SubSonic 6 combines a heavy
12-inch woofer with an amplifier that provides 130 watts
continuous power, 220 watts dynamic power, and 440 watts
peak power. It also offers PSB's unique acoustic interface
circuitry, which helps deliver both short-term
"slam" and long-term sustained low frequencies
without ever becoming unmusical. Image
SubSonic 6 Technical Specifications. |
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