I have owned a used pair of the PSB Stratus Gold I version, which I bought on A-gon four years ago. I have been happy with the speakers broad range of talents; they may not be outstanding in any one single area, but they do an excellent job overall. I have them in a relatively small room, 15 feet deep and 12.5 feet wide, with the speakers at either side of the short wall; the front of the speaker is 3 feet away from the back wall. In such a small room, it helps to have that forward-firing bass port. I enjoy concert music from Baroque to Stravinsky, jazz, male and female vocalists, Gilbert and Sullivan, traditional folk, country/western, bluegrass, and 60's, 70's rock and roll. I initially drove the speakers with a McIntosh 7100 amp (100 watts into 8 ohms;150 watts into 4 ohms), but that wasn't enough power, so I now use a McIntosh 7300, with 300 watts into 8 ohms, 4 ohms, and 2 ohms, through Mac's autoformer. I don't fuss much with cables; I just use Blue Jeans 12 gauge speaker cables and Blue Jeans interconnects. These speakers sound great with all of the different music I play, whether it's cranked up for the full experience, or toned down for evening listening. I have auditioned other speakers, including the Harbeth SL5 and the new PSB Synchrony 1, but feel no reason to move up.
Prior or current owners of PSB Stratus Gold
Since I own a pair of these, and am pretty impressed and satisfied, I still wonder what else is around that has a similar tonal balance, but might be just a bit more detailed. Unfortunately, the opportunity to listen to better class speakers is very limited in my area, and I am not interested in Klipsch, Boston Acoustics or any of the other brands that seem to be carried everywhere.
Like I said, I like the Golds, and I am asking only prior or current owners for their opinion, so please dont just jump in and recommend your speaker of the day if you dont have live in experience with the Gold. I dont want this to degenerate into another mine is better than yours post.
Like I said, I like the Golds, and I am asking only prior or current owners for their opinion, so please dont just jump in and recommend your speaker of the day if you dont have live in experience with the Gold. I dont want this to degenerate into another mine is better than yours post.