Her skriver han fyren som var så heldig og få høre psb imagine på bare nad sin master serie 
Hey guys,
I had a chance to not only demo the Image T3s tonight at Saturday Audio, but do some Q and A with Paul Barton about the T3 and a few other topics. I've attached a picture of the T3 in action, as well as another picture showing the NAD M17 and M22. This post may be long, so bear with me.
Unfortunately the room (maybe 12x10) wasn't set up to demo more than the T3, so I couldn't do any direct comparisons against either the Imagine T2 I currently have, or the Synchrony One. My overall impression, having heard both of these speakers before, is that the T3 can put out a huge sound...basically more of what we already have heard from the Synchrony One, but more so.
Paul cited four main differences vs. the Synchrony One:
a) Deeper bass (more extension than the Synchrony)
b) Higher SPL sensitivity, meaning it can be played louder with less energy required
c) A greater overall surface area of the drivers, specifically the new larger 7" woofers, which he referred to as almost "horn loaded"
d) With new improvements in the technology for the 5 1/4" midrange and tweeters, and improvements in the materials used for drivers (you can read about this on the PSB site), overall less distortion
I brought up the capability in the PSB brochures about being able to "short out" the lower woofer, which crosses to the next woofer at 100 Hz in his transitional design, and he suggested that this active method of absorption will have a moderate effect (he literally said a few db reduction in room mode), but will be very beneficial to those of us that have subs and would otherwise waste that lower woofer. With the woofer design, the responses aren't brick walls below the transition to next woofer in the transitional array, so I'd be curious to see what this actually means in practice for crossing vs. subs.
Something else he said was that the T3, unlike the Synchrony One, could be more appropriately used in less than gargantuan room due to changes in the driver sizes. something they introduced in response to the issues associated with users in older buildings with concrete walls, especially in Europe and Asia vs. the drywall he says is dominant in North America. Supposedly the new way the transitional array of woofers in the T3 and the top midrange driver are set up will help deal with undesirable boominess in the lowest frequencies for a more traditional use of the bottom woofer as a "full range" speaker.
As to the listening experience? I heard three tunes, streamed by Paul from his Bluesound Vault (a new media streamer from a sister company): an acoustic version of Nils Lofgren's "Keith Don't Go", Rebecca Pidgeon's "Spanish Harlem", and an electronic music cut I wasn't familiar with that had prominent synth bass. With the M22 (two channel version of the NAD M27 I'm buying) and the M17, I can't say that the T3 had any issues with either high frequencies (Paul cited the snare drums on Keith Don't Go as an example of how loud the speakers can accurately play without distortion - he said up to 115 db SPL FWIW).
The acoustic guitars on the first two tunes was very clear and lifelike, so much so that I had first thought walking to the HT room that they had a live guitar player for the event. Bass on "Spanish Harlem" was tight and deep, and Rebecca Pidgeon's vocals were distinct and at least as well voiced as I've heard in other demos at Saturday Audio. My own feeling, overall, is that I wouldn't necessarily swap my Synchrony One or T2 for these speakers unless I was setting up a larger dedicated HT room that needed higher volumes, but I'd highly recommend them as a new purchase for building a flagship PSB system. Even if you have subs, the "active absorption" feature could be appealing to manage specific rooms. I suggested to Paul that to appeal to AVSers, we'd need bench tests in the speaker reviews showing the impact of the "shorting out", and more than that, a white paper about the technology.
Two other things of interest to at least some of us:
a) PSB is working on Dolby Atmos add-on modules that would be used with existing speakers. No details about timing and which speakers, but they're aware that Dolby Elevation speakers are highly appealing to many planning Atmos configurations. However, right now these are "caps" on top of their towers, and not hybrid forward/top-firing bookshelves.
b) We discussed my Imagine Surround S speakers briefly, which I use in dual mono channel mode to simulate a 7.1 system. Paul suggested that optimal placements for these speakers are to have one of the drivers firing toward the front of the room, and the other toward the back wall, with the speakers physically located slightly in back of the listener (which is a space issue for some of us).
One thing - he certainly works hard! He told me that he was in the midst of a 22 day road trip, starting in China, and that he had 10 different cities to visit before he comes back home next week.
Hey guys,
I had a chance to not only demo the Image T3s tonight at Saturday Audio, but do some Q and A with Paul Barton about the T3 and a few other topics. I've attached a picture of the T3 in action, as well as another picture showing the NAD M17 and M22. This post may be long, so bear with me.
Unfortunately the room (maybe 12x10) wasn't set up to demo more than the T3, so I couldn't do any direct comparisons against either the Imagine T2 I currently have, or the Synchrony One. My overall impression, having heard both of these speakers before, is that the T3 can put out a huge sound...basically more of what we already have heard from the Synchrony One, but more so.
Paul cited four main differences vs. the Synchrony One:
a) Deeper bass (more extension than the Synchrony)
b) Higher SPL sensitivity, meaning it can be played louder with less energy required
c) A greater overall surface area of the drivers, specifically the new larger 7" woofers, which he referred to as almost "horn loaded"
d) With new improvements in the technology for the 5 1/4" midrange and tweeters, and improvements in the materials used for drivers (you can read about this on the PSB site), overall less distortion
I brought up the capability in the PSB brochures about being able to "short out" the lower woofer, which crosses to the next woofer at 100 Hz in his transitional design, and he suggested that this active method of absorption will have a moderate effect (he literally said a few db reduction in room mode), but will be very beneficial to those of us that have subs and would otherwise waste that lower woofer. With the woofer design, the responses aren't brick walls below the transition to next woofer in the transitional array, so I'd be curious to see what this actually means in practice for crossing vs. subs.
Something else he said was that the T3, unlike the Synchrony One, could be more appropriately used in less than gargantuan room due to changes in the driver sizes. something they introduced in response to the issues associated with users in older buildings with concrete walls, especially in Europe and Asia vs. the drywall he says is dominant in North America. Supposedly the new way the transitional array of woofers in the T3 and the top midrange driver are set up will help deal with undesirable boominess in the lowest frequencies for a more traditional use of the bottom woofer as a "full range" speaker.
As to the listening experience? I heard three tunes, streamed by Paul from his Bluesound Vault (a new media streamer from a sister company): an acoustic version of Nils Lofgren's "Keith Don't Go", Rebecca Pidgeon's "Spanish Harlem", and an electronic music cut I wasn't familiar with that had prominent synth bass. With the M22 (two channel version of the NAD M27 I'm buying) and the M17, I can't say that the T3 had any issues with either high frequencies (Paul cited the snare drums on Keith Don't Go as an example of how loud the speakers can accurately play without distortion - he said up to 115 db SPL FWIW).
The acoustic guitars on the first two tunes was very clear and lifelike, so much so that I had first thought walking to the HT room that they had a live guitar player for the event. Bass on "Spanish Harlem" was tight and deep, and Rebecca Pidgeon's vocals were distinct and at least as well voiced as I've heard in other demos at Saturday Audio. My own feeling, overall, is that I wouldn't necessarily swap my Synchrony One or T2 for these speakers unless I was setting up a larger dedicated HT room that needed higher volumes, but I'd highly recommend them as a new purchase for building a flagship PSB system. Even if you have subs, the "active absorption" feature could be appealing to manage specific rooms. I suggested to Paul that to appeal to AVSers, we'd need bench tests in the speaker reviews showing the impact of the "shorting out", and more than that, a white paper about the technology.
Two other things of interest to at least some of us:
a) PSB is working on Dolby Atmos add-on modules that would be used with existing speakers. No details about timing and which speakers, but they're aware that Dolby Elevation speakers are highly appealing to many planning Atmos configurations. However, right now these are "caps" on top of their towers, and not hybrid forward/top-firing bookshelves.
b) We discussed my Imagine Surround S speakers briefly, which I use in dual mono channel mode to simulate a 7.1 system. Paul suggested that optimal placements for these speakers are to have one of the drivers firing toward the front of the room, and the other toward the back wall, with the speakers physically located slightly in back of the listener (which is a space issue for some of us).
One thing - he certainly works hard! He told me that he was in the midst of a 22 day road trip, starting in China, and that he had 10 different cities to visit before he comes back home next week.
Sist redigert:
