Comparing PSB, Paradigm and Revel - your thoughts?

If you check my threads, you will see that I own the Sig. S8s v2 (w/ Be tweeter) and have reported very positive comments. I haven't critically compared the S8s to the other speakers noted in the OP -- and maybe that's for the best. The desire to constantly upgrade and change gear in our hobby is never ending. Right now, I am in "tweak mode."

Perhaps, the reason why I do not find the S8s bright is because I drive them with a tube amp which may mitigate the brightness (if there is any) a bit. Also, my sound room (man-cave basement) is carpeted and furnished, so that may help too.

But who knows, if I did some home trials with other speakers, I might come back with different comments. Having said that, who wants to schlepp 100+ pound speakers up and down a flight of basement steps when I am blissfully ignorant and satisfied.

So last night, I was listening to my girlfriend, Linda Ronstadt singing the old Chuck Berry standard, "Back in the USA," recorded in the 70s. She was about 30 yrs old then and the album cover has a pic of her in roller skating shorty-shorts. Boy, was she cute back in the day. And the house rocked!! Then my wife confiscated the record on the pretext that the music was too loud. I think it was of the Linda R pic. She told me to listen to Gershwin.

Well, I'm almost 60 yrs old now -- and its not worth risking a heart attack from either schlepping speakers, dreaming about Linda R, or getting yelled at by the wifey. LOL

Cheers.

Nola Contender comes onto mind.

I have heard the revel f 208 loudspeaker.
The best loudspeaker Revel has ever made under $10,000
I know they spent over $30 million in research for the new Salon
And Performa 3 line . Every facet of the design including the drivers .
In the Perfoma series all Aluminum that are ribbedfor strength and to diffuse distortion,all poly caps, Copper air oil inductors and precision
Resistors. The cabinet is 1 inch thick this speaker is 80 lbs.
I thought this was a $7-8k speaker. This speaker I heard at studio in August
As a finished prototype.fantatic dispersion on top
Imaging was lock on, and the midrange and tweeter were very seamless.
The bass through test tones was almost ruler flat to below 34 hz.
Even at 26 hz there was some usable output. And this speaker was much more coherent and musical then Any psb,or paradigm in the $5-6k range
These speakers are not bright at all. I was told they take a solid 300 hrs
Of play time o fully settle in.
The dark walnut I saw was very elegant looking ,other company's
Would charge at least $600 for this veneer. The piano black in the pictures looked also very sharp. A no brainer.p.s their stand mount for $2k
Was by far the best I ever heard at that price point.also the F 208 is fully adjustable for the tweeter, as well as the bass which is a huge plus in a home environment.

Manitunc,  I have a pair of PSB Stratus Gold i's and am thinking about getting a pair of used PSB Synchrony 1's.  I have heard the newst T3's and i think PSB went in the wrong direction with those; muddy bass, just bad sound overall.  Do you still have your Synchrony's?  I am curious how you found them better?

Thanks,