PSB Introduces New ""Image"" Series At CEDIA EXPO '99

PSB Speakers, Canadian maker of high-performance speaker systems, is introducing a new line of elegant, attractively priced speakers with unprecedented performance-per-dollar value. PSB, a member of The Lenbrook Group, is aiming its Image Series squarely at the center of today's varied home-entertainment scene, with performance; features, and styling that make the new series equally at home in music and home theater systems. According to PSB founder and chief designer Paul Barton, the Image speakers are the product of a different approach to engineering ingenuity. ""We wanted,"" he says, ""to take everything we know about high-value design and apply it with today's technology to engineer an entire series to deliver high end sound and high-end appearance at highly affordable prices. The idea wasn't to try to dazzle people with apparent innovations, but to systematically combine today's possibilities in engineering and construction techniques to bring a whole range of affordably priced speakers far closer to the top in performance and appearance."" ""These speakers definitely have excellent sound,"" Barton continues, ""but what most people are going to notice first is that they are very slim and they look very distinctive. We have used molding techniques to produce smooth curves that improve performance and catch the eye, and these speakers have a simple and striking elegance. The slimness of the tower models stems both from the use of multiple compact drivers and from making cabinets a bit taller and deeper. And what we get out of those choices is deep bass, good power handling, and higher efficiency from speaker enclosures that are easy to fit into a living room or viewing room.""""From my perspective,"" he says, ""the most interesting thing is the way we've used modularity and common design elements to get costs to listener-friendly levels. We are using three driver designs throughout - a l-inch aluminum dome tweeter and 5-1/4-inch and 6-1/2-inch polypropylene-cone woofers. We integrate them on structural baffle moldings that come in two versions for each size woofer--one with a tweeter, woofer, and port, the other with a woofer and port. The molded baffle arrays lock into MDF cabinets and support ëfloatingí grilles. Our smallest bookshelf models use a single tweeter-woofer port array. The same array is used in a larger bookshelf cabinet, together with a smaller baffle with a second woofer and port."" ""Tower models include both baffle arrays, and two larger tower models - one with powered bass--add still another baffle with another woofer and port. Bookshelf and tower models have the three-element array oriented so that the tweeter is at the top. Center channels turn this array to position the tweeter in the middle of the three speakers. It's great systems engineering, and the listener gets real benefits. Using common components in different models helps ensure the 'family sound' that's so important for matched home theater performance. It also helps in managing production for this wide-ranging series, so that prices across the whole series are very affordable."" The full range of the new Image models--three compact monitors, four towers (including one with powered bass), two centers, and a powered subwoofer (the only model not sharing the modular elements)--were on display at CEDIA EXP099, at suggested retail prices ranging from $299/pair to $1,299/pair. Most of the Image models will begin shipping by show time, with the 6T tower model and the PT tower with powered bass due by the end of the year. Also much in evidence at the show will be PSB's popular new CustomSound in-wall speakers, and other new SubSonic powered subwoofers. PSB Speakers, NAD Electronics, and HSP - all members of The Lenbrook Group - jointly displayed ""The Art of Integrated Home Entertainment"" at the Indiana Convention Center.

For more information, contact Robert Brown at 781 784-8586.