The Never Ending Equipment Cycle: Speakers

[Paul R]

Well to me the really odd thing is that this didn't happen with your other speakers; you did have the same setup before?

 

If not, could the Touch be out of phase internally? I've heard that there can be phasing issues in all kinds of places.

 

-Chris

 

Well, yeah, it well could be, but why would changing the sources affect anything then? I honestly don't remember hearing this with the other speakers I tried, but - here is the embarrassing kicker - I switched the cable around on the left speaker for the music, and really didn't listen to the television. The issue was probably there, but I just never noticed.

 

Meaning this whole mess is probably just my fault in the first place. Karen watches more TV than I do, and by golly, that would drive me bonkers and make me hate a set of speakers too.

 

Paul

[thesurfingalien]

Hi Paul,

 

Did you check if another input (for the SB) on your pre-amp makes a difference?

 

Peter

[Paul R]

Well, the phase problem is finally resolved and boy do I feel dumb. Turned out my amp has one of speaker connections wired backwards. I knew that. But had totally forgotten it. I had dressed the power cords the previous day and when I rewired everything up, I forgot to cross wire one of the speakers at the amp. Even though I had clearly written it down in my notebook, I for some reason totally ignored it and just wired red to red and white to white. Dumb!

 

What confused things even more, the preamp has an odd number of stages and inverts the absolute polarity. Also, the HT inputs are inverted right / left. To complicate matters even more, the preamp was putting out different volume levels right to left. That last issue was easily solved by reseating those darn tubes though. Once I metered the output and got the facts on what was really happening. (Have I mentioned that tubes and I seem to be mortal enemies?)

 

The final straw that broke the camel's back, and confused me to no end was that in the NAD T747, an old preset was inadvertently selected, and it contained speaker loudness and distance settings that just coincidentally, in combination with everything else, made the speakers sound like they had inveted polarity.

 

Could it have been any more confusing or worse? The speakers were out of phase, and sounded like it when playing music sources, unless I reversed the polarity at a speaker. But when playing through HT, even though they were out of phase, they actually sounded like they were in phase. Or at least, more in phase than out of phase.

 

I started at the speakers with a nine volt battery, and worked my way back component by component, including the cables. Finallyi got it all wired in phase, then I removed the preamp just to simplify things.

 

Wow, does it ever make a difference, and these PSB Synchrony 1b speakers sound better than I ever imagined an under $7K set of conventional speakers could sound. And Karen was of course, right. They look gorgeous - with a furniture like dark cherry finish. The stands take up just as much room as a floor stander physically - but only a fraction of the same space visually.

 

I married a very smart woman.

 

Paul

[jhwalker]

For those of us who have followed your saga - some photos of the new setup?

[Paul R]

Heh heh... photos are not my forte, but here is at least one. I will try to get some better shots in the near future.

 

-Paul

Here is one of the PSB Synchrony 1Bs. The photo does not do them justice in the least. My wife was right, they re just beautiful, and appear to be floating on top of even the inexpensive target stands they are sitting on. We are thinking that it might be a good investment to invest in some nice stands to show them off better.

[Paul R]

After a bit more than a week with these speakers, they are starting to grow on me. I miss the way the Maggies just envelope a person in sound, completely and utterly disappearing into the stage. The PSB Synchrony 1Bs do the same kind of disappearing act, and they image very very well indeed. What they don't have is the truly massive depth the Maggies do.

 

Instead of feeling like you are sitting/standing next to the conductor or in the middle of the orchestra, you are in say, 3rd row center seats. Still very very good, still producing gobs of cues about what kind of environment the recording was done in, and even still providing decent depth for the soundstage. Just not as much of it.

 

Treble presence is definitely a little reserved on these guys, horns and sax solos jump out with the same presence as with Maggies, but strings, flutes, piccolos, cymbals, and other instruments all seem a little less forward than horns, pianos, drums, vocals, and acoustic guitar. That may be a room interaction though, as our listening chairs are about 19 degrees off center of the tweeters. It does have the beneficial effect of reducing listening fatigue when something highly compressed sneaks on the playlist. Not much, but enough to be able to at least enjoy the music that is there, even through a horrific recording. Type O Negative stuff, for example...

 

There is just enough edginess to strings and similar instruments to make them interestingly realistic, but no so much as to induce fatigue or send me running from the room.

 

I begin to think some of this is the (to my ears) inverted midrange/tweeter positioning. The tweeters are on the bottom, under the midrange/woofer driver. This makes the speaker sensitive to height, but along with whatever other engineering is in the box and crossover, makes for a sweet and smooth blending. It is impossible for me to hear the crossover between the drivers, except with running discrete sweeps very slowly. Then I can pick it out about 20% of the time. I think that is excellent performance for drivers in a box.

 

The initial reaction I had of a "boxy" sound vanished with a little more speaker placement tuning, and with the time for the beasties to break in. As they broke in, the level of engagement with the music they played increased. Obviously, this also had a little to do with my ears learning to discern and hear what the speakers produced better, but it was consistent and at this point, it is very enjoyable to listen to them. Not as enjoyable as fully broken in and well known Maggies, but very much closer than I initially feared.

 

When used with video material, they produce a rock solid and wide phantom center channel image, with crystal clear dialog and great pans. Sometimes stunning effects, such as during opera or documentaries. Since the center of the television is mounted a good 30" above the tops of the speakers, and nearly five feet away horizontally, I expected the phantom center channel to be low, and it is, but almost unnoticably. Voices appear to emanate from the images on the screen, not the fireplace below it. (Interestingly enough, most music exhibits a good vertical resolution with these speakers as well. Horns may appear several feet "above" the string section, as they did with the very much taller Maggies. You can easily tell when a player is seated on a riser, as well as tell if the player is forward or behind other players.

 

All in all - I am impressed. At $2400, the PSB Synchrony 1Bs are slightly more expensive than the Maggie 1.7s w/aluminum rails at $2150. They however, do have their charms, including the beautifully finished cabinet work which Karen just absolutely loves. Surprisingly, I am coming over to believing these speakers are far better than I initially gave them credit for being.

 

They easily compete with a set of Harbeth Compact 7's we have here to audition, and that I did not expect at all. They also easily compete with Paradigm Signature Reference S1s. There are several other speakers we have auditioned them against, and tey appear to me to be in the class above their current price range. (i.e. $2500 - $5000 speakers)

 

-Paul