Neutral balance
Close timbral matching
between models
Excellent value
Pedestrian styling
Basic finish options
Price: $1,800 (as tested)
PSB Speakers
(800) 263-4641
psbspeakers.comAt a Glancewith high-quality MDF to help
control any cabinet resonances.
Internal damping uses the
same thick, compressed felt-
type material normally seen in
high-end speakers, with careful
positioning to prevent internal
standing waves.
Basic drive units were not
ignored in the Alpha Series
makeover, with an all-new 0.75-
inch tweeter and 4.5- and 5.25-
inch woofers used in various
combinations between the line-
up’s four models. The tweeter
uses a hard anodized aluminum
dome with a neodymium
magnet and ferrofluid to reduce
thermal compression, while the
polypropylene woofer cones
have a textured surface that,
according to Barton, helps
reduce distortion and cone
breakup modes.
One key to the Alpha range’s
affordability is its basic design,
with no fancy curved cabinets
or real wood veneer finishes to
drive up the cost. The cabinets
instead have flat sides, square
corners, and a decent-looking
wood-effect black or walnut
vinyl wrap. Aractive, magneti-
cally aached aluminum mesh
grille covers are included
with all models to add a bit of
high-tech style, and these have
been carefully designed to
have limited sonic impact. Each
speaker has a rear-facing bass
port with flared ends to reduce
chuffing, along with good-
quality five-way binding posts
to connect them to your system.
With just four models, the
new Alpha lineup is prey
simple. The only floorstanding
tower of the group, the T20
($600/pair) uses two of the
larger 5.25-inch woofers and
the 0.75-inch dome tweeter
The only remaining question
was whether to use the tiny P3
for the surround speakers, or
to step to the P5 with its larger
woofer. Ultimately, I decided
to stick with the smaller model
in the interest of keeping the
overall system cost down.
PSB also sent along its
SubSeries 250 subwoofer
($700) to pick up the boom
end. While technically not part
of the new Alpha range, the
company’s SubSeries models
are regularly partnered with the
Alphas in a surround speaker
package. With a 200-wa
class-D amp driving a beefy
10-inch woofer in a sealed
enclosure, the 250 sits near the
middle of the SubSeries lineup.
Its high gloss black-painted
finish and rounded corners give
it a chunky solid look, while a
round fabric covered grille fits
over its forward-facing woofer.
The SubSeries 250 comes
well-equipped for a basic
subwoofer. In addition to a stan-
dard RCA LFE input, you get a
stereo RCA line-level input with
an 80-Hz filtered pass-through
output plus speaker-level inputs
with an unfiltered pass-through
output. An infinitely variable
phase control is another nice
high-end feature that can be
helpful when integrating the
sub with the rest of the system.By using a sealed enclosure
for the SubSeries 250, PSB has
gone for agility and tunefulness
over ultimate output capability,
shiing the focus to music
rather than booming movie
sound effects.SETUPOver the years, the ideal posi-
tions for a basic 5.1 surround
rig in my room have been
prey well-established, and I
found that the Alphas worked
best when using the normal
placement. The T20 towers
were installed about 18 inches
out from the front wall, seven
feet apart, and pointed straightin a cabinet that stands about
hip-high. The T20 features
black plastic footers that aach
to the outer edges of its base to
widen the speaker’s footprint
and improve stability. These can
be used with the supplied round
plastic feet or carpet spikes for
leveling. The T20s are also the
only Alpha model with twin pairs
of binding posts for bi-wiring or
bi-amping.
Two bookshelf models are
offered: the P5 ($350/pair)
which uses the 5.25-inch
woofer, and the smaller P3
($200/pair) with a 4.5-inch
woofer. Rounding out the
lineup is the C10 ($300) center
channel speaker, with a pair of
the 5.25-inch woofers flanking
the tweeter.
To cover as many bases as
possible in this review, I went
with a pair of T20 towers for the
front le and right channels and
a C10 center channel speaker.soundandvision.com (^) [ 61