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**SnowmaNick** · 05-21-2009, 11:23 PM

I've been listening to the Imagine B's for the last 2 hours or so. Now that is a very short amount of time but so far they have been very impressive.

**Spiralout** · 05-22-2009, 01:30 AM

wow. Looking forward to your writeup.

Just curious: how are you expecting the $700 RS250s to hold up to the $1000 PSBs and the Era's?

I heard the 250 classics about a month ago and was blown away at the way they sounded with a tube amp. Big sound for a little speaker, so that's why I asked: did you have the same impression and do you think they can stack up.

P.S. If you win the powerball this weekend, please throw in a pair of Ascend Sierra-1s as well. :D

**SnowmaNick** · 05-22-2009, 03:05 AM

I am hoping the pricing would come out about even considering the Rockets were $700 internet direct and the era's and PSB's are $999 MSRP but can be had for less (both dealer offered a pretty decent discount) and the dealers add another level of price increases. Adding to the Rockets hopefully leveling factors are that they have the largest cabinet volume, a very well known tweeter, and the largest bass driver. A closer comparison would have been the Ref 1's, but seeing as I own the RS250's instead that is what got volunteered,

I spent the night comparing the PSB's to the RS250 MKII's (picking up the era's in the AM tomorrow) and the PSB's are flat out amazing. I'll have more complete notes as I go but based off of a couple hours of music (Ani DiFranco Canon Disc one, particularly "You Had Time", "Little Plastic Castles" and "joyfull Girl", Dave Matthews Band Crash CD, "Two Step" and "Crash Into Me", Ben Harper Fight Your Mind CD "Burn One Down", "Oppression" and "Another Lonely Day" as well as some classical guitar and Spanish guitar solo's) I am starting to get to know the Imagine B's.

Switching back and forth isn't easy as I was hoping so it is taking me longer to go through each round and I can not do a A/B instantaneous switch as I was hoping. The PSB's, by and large are just making me smile and listen. Only occasionally do they get a etched quality on the very tip top of the highs, and even then it is there and gone in an instant. The Midrange is great and these suckers are articulate as all get out. I ran them as a 4.1 and 5.1 set up and blended in as the mains in my Rocket theater system. Amazingly they blended in pretty well with the RSC200 and RSS300's as well as the Ultra. I watched the BD of "Bangkok Dangerous" in DTS-MA tonight and they filled the bill very well. Only on one scene were they not seamlessly blending, and that only one scene threw them off a small bit amazed me. These are some serious speakers. I have notes from listening that I will be using for the write up, but I thought I would share this:

"about 1 hour into the film the assassin is watching the scenery and planning for third kill on water market, I can easily hear the conversation going on around the boat. The monitors are throwing a huge image and it sounds like I have people speaking all around my living room and in my kitchen. Compared to the RS250's on the same scene I hear more detail and feel that I could easily follow a conversation if I spoke their language, the detail for all the Foley effects is well presented and effective"

"This is what I was originally shooting for with my system"

It should be a fun weekend. For those of you that are looking at putting together a new theater set up, look hard at the PSB Imagine's, they bring a lot to the table and can present it in a way where you just get caught up in the film.

Oh, on a side not, the PSB's are 4 ohms, I am using my 3 year old Denon AVR-4306 and it is cruising though this. After several hours of spirited listing the AVR was barely warm, so don't let the low impedance spook you.

**etcarroll** · 05-22-2009, 07:57 AM

Oh - nice call.

I'd like to hear the 250MKIIS, which I own and am listening to in 2-channel, compared to both Sierra-1 and Neo2X.

Originally posted by gwilks98

wow. Looking forward to your writeup.

Just curious: how are you expecting the $700 RS250s to hold up to the $1000 PSBs and the Era's?

I heard the 250 classics about a month ago and was blown away at the way they sounded with a tube amp. Big sound for a little speaker, so that's why I asked: did you have the same impression and do you think they can stack up.

P.S. If you win the powerball this weekend, please throw in a pair of Ascend Sierra-1s as well. :D

**12345678** · 05-22-2009, 07:29 PM

I own the ERA 5s. I am interested in hearing your reviews.

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 05:57 PM

All listening was done sighted, by myself only and only should be viewed as my personal, subjective thoughts on these speakers. The results of course can and most likely will be different for different individuals in their own rooms with their equipment and tastes. If I state any one product was better in any facet than another it is merely my impression of that facet of these products and in no way a binding “fact” that anything is actually “better” or “worse”. Of course, your mileage may vary. I encourage anyone interested in these products to audition them in person and if possible in your home. The difference in the speaker’s performance between my home and the dealer’s showrooms was drastic and drove home the importance of listening to equipment in your room. Try as I might personal preferences, biases, and attitudes most likely had some impact on the results due to the testing limitations.

Over the last few days I have been able to audition in my home the PSB Imagine B and era Design D5 and compare them against the Rocket RS250 MK II’s that I have owned for the last few years. I would like to thank Gary and JJ at Denver Audio Designs in Centennial, CO and Chuck and Karen at Audio Visionaries in Colorado Springs, Co for allowing me to compare these speakers. Both shops are fantastic and the knowledge and perspective they can share with someone looking to get the most out of their system is invaluable.

I started the comparison by listening to each speaker by itself for about 2 hours with a few CD’s and movie excerpts to gain a feeling for their sound. I adjusted the gain each time to set the speakers to a roughly equivalent level (75 db at 0 on my AVR set using a Radio Shack SPL meter on a tripod). While I did run each speaker as a full range monitor for a short period I mainly listened to the speakers crossed over at 80 Hz to my SVS PB13-Ultra and kept the Anti-Mode 8033 in the path to EQ the sub. I chose not to use Audyssey for the testing as it would take too much time when switching between the speakers, but more could be potentially gained from each set with a more finely tuned crossover point and running Audyssey.

I set up all three speakers as individual pairs and moved the Rocket RS450’s I normally use as my mains out of position to try to give the best set up locations to the speakers as I was testing, originally I planned on trying to A/B test between two speakers and perform a round robin test but the set up with my equipment and room made this too much of a compromise so I instead auditioned them one at a time and took notes. While I did listen to other CD’s and TV on each speaker I kept the notes to the same 5 CD’s and the same scenes on some Blu-Rays to limit the variables. The speakers were set up on 30” sand- filled stands in my largish 4,200 cubic foot great room, I was sitting approximately 13 feet from the front of the speakers, with acoustic treatments along the front wall and at first reflection points. I have two home made bass traps in the room as well. I did try the speakers on shorter 24” stands but as these were all smaller monitors coupled with my being 6’5” the taller stands brought the tweeters up to ear level when sitting.

I will start with a brief over view of the each speaker and some basic thoughts on them and then I will give my personal rankings of each speaker for a few categories.

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 06:00 PM

In alphabetical order:

AV123 Rocket RS250 MKII:

The Rockets are a handsome speaker with a nice Rosewood veneer and high gloss black end caps. These by far were the largest of the three monitors in size and weight. The cabinet seems to be fairly well damped and the grill fits into a nice flush line between the end caps when installed. They have good quality binding posts and feature four threaded inserts on the bottom for either the included brass spikes or to secure to a speaker stand. The Rockets benefited from a little distance between themselves and any boundaries but were not too demanding to set up. They ended up about 22” from the back of the speaker to the rear wall, 5 feet from both side walls and about 8 feet apart.

The construction quality of the speakers was fair, the grill is held on by cheap plastic pins that can easily break and the port on the rear is not completely flush into the cabinet. They are very handsome to look at but in comparison to the other two speakers would seem to have the lowest WAF approval rate if size is a concern. These had the largest bass driver of the test group, coupled with the largest enclosure volume and the second largest port.

They fell into the middle of the pack on efficiency if my gain adjustments are any indicator, being 6 ohms like the era’s and at a higher efficiency rating I was a bit surprised that the trim was only .5 db different than the era’s when adjusting them to 75 db with the Denon’s internal test tone generator.

The Rockets had fairly good imaging, being able to create a decent phantom center image and track musicians on stage in two channel music reproduction. The different instruments were able to be identified in each recording and the presentation. The Rockets though were the least musically engaging and seemed to lose certain instruments into the background on more complicated passages. For example rhythm guitars were there if you listened specifically for them but seemed a little recessed. The RS250’s were able to give a powerful presentation but with a lot of music they seemed to lose some of the delicacy and intimacy of recordings. This made the music less involving and seemed to present it more as a recording than a concert. For example, Ani DiFranco has a few songs where she powerfully strums her guitar, while I could easily make out the strings getting hammered I lost the sound of the guitar body and the strings seemed a little more (too?) emphasized. The power of the artist was there, but with the loss of additional detail made the song seemed less real.

The same emphasis on certain notes did translate pretty well to movies though. A gunshot or punch in a movie seemed to dominate the speaker and grab your attention. In a real life situation one would tend to focus on the sound of a gunshot more, than say crickets in a field, if both were happening at the same time so it seems to track with human perception. The Rockets did a very good job of recreating the ambiance of the films settings and the space the scene was set in. For example in The Dark Knight when the Joker is setting fire to the mob’s money you can easily tell you are in a large, cavernous and somewhat echoic room. These spatial queues track perfectly with the film, and help to draw the audience into the action of the sequence more.

The Vifa tweeter in the Rockets was very smooth and composed even at spirited listening levels. I heard little to no high frequency glare or compression and had no fatigue after listening for several hours. While it was not the most detailed high end of the group it gave a strong performance. The speaker’s midrange hovered between neutral and recessed, seldom calling attention to itself in either good or bad ways. I was a bit surprised at the bass however; being the largest speaker with the largest bass driver I found it had the least punch, accuracy or involvement out of the three monitors. It seemed to perhaps dig a little deeper when ran as full range with no sub but almost against its will. The lowest octaves it reproduced were somehow very thin and very recessed. The overall presentation of the RS250’s bass and mid-bass came in third of the three and the speaker had the hardest time blending with the subwoofer. Moving the speaker closer to the rear wall helped boost the bass but the speaker lost its imaging ability and the midrange and upper frequencies were blurred out by the midbass bump. These had the smallest soundstage of the bunch and had the hardest time creating a believable connection to the surrounds.

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 06:00 PM

era Design D5

The era’s were the smallest monitor of the bunch. The D5’s were in a Rosewood finish, but it is much more brownish than the Rocket Rosewood. The cabinet seemed to be exceptionally well braced as it was completely dead when knocked on and the speaker is surprisingly heavy for its size. The era’s have the smallest port, and what appear to be the same binding posts as the Rockets save the “Onix” labeling. These would be the easiest to sell a spouse on if they were concerned about size and have a tasteful (IMHO) shape that is not flashy or ostentatious in any way. The grills suffer from the same cheap plastic pegs as the Rockets but the grill fits very closely and seem to compensate for the fittings better. The speakers have threaded inserts for bracket or stand mounting that also have little plastic grommets to fill them if not being used. I though that was a nice touch.

The construction quality was very good with no rough edges, lose parts or obvious seems.

These speakers were the most placement sensitive and required the longest amount of time to set up optimally. I found that have them toed in to where they “crossed” just in front of my listening position gave the best soundstage. They ended up 26” from the rear walls and 5 feet from both side walls about 8 feet apart.

These were the least efficient based off of the published specs and my gain levels from my AVR. The speakers were plenty powerful with the receiver’s internal amplifiers but era on its web site does caution against using low powered receivers or amplifiers with weak power supplies.

You can not start talking about era D5’s without starting with the bass, which in a word is shocking. Although it doesn’t plumb the depths or replace a good subwoofer the D5’s can have you fooled into thinking they are much larger speakers than they really are. The midbass is powerful, quick and tight creating a very enjoyable listening experience. These easily had the best bass of the bunch in presentation and impact. Drum solos or beats, like on the Ben Harper songs Oppression and Burn One Down, were full and powerful, yet able to blend into the speaker without overpowering it. I found these to sound best crossed over at 60 Hz to provide the smoothest transition between the sub and the speaker but to keep things on a level playing field I kept the speaker at 80 Hz for most of the audition. I would highly recommend playing around with crossover settings to anyone who is listening to these to gain the most out of them

The era’s had a very full and rich midrange that gave a very large presentation and avoided becoming syrupy or too thick. It seemed to be very natural and smooth, bringing fullness to guitars and male voices. The high frequencies were very smooth but perhaps a bit too rolled off for my tastes. They had all the detail you could want but seemed to lack a little of the air that the PSB’s gave around instruments. This could be a trade off of a soft dome against a metal dome, and if I wasn’t comparing the speakers I doubt I would have noticed it, but I was comparing and I did notice. The treble, like the Rockets, had no glare to it and was created no listening fatigue.

These had the lowest noise floor of any of the speakers tested and the sounds seemed to come out of a pitch black background. The nearest comparison I could make would be if a band were playing on an unlit stage, the sound came out of a black hole. I found this to be very pleasing with music but a little, well, boring on movies. The edges of the soundstage on movies seemed to be a bit rounded off not quite connecting to the surrounds. While they were considerably better than the Rockets in this regard they were not as enveloping as the PSB’s.

The soundstage was close to the size of the PSB’s, but seemed to present the image at a lower height but equal width. I greatly enjoyed listening to the era’s and felt they were solid for both home theater and music, all the while leaning a bit more towards music than movies.

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 06:01 PM

PSB Imagine B:

The Imagine B’s were in the middle of the bunch in physical size, leaning closer to the era’s than the rockets, and were the lightest of the group. The design is the most visually interesting with all the surfaces being curved. These had the largest port, made of a rubber like material, and were the only speakers capable of bi-wiring or passive bi-amping. The binding posts were solid metal that had removable plugs that need to be removed to use banana plugs. The face is a black aluminum and the woods tint is close to the Rockets even though it was Dark Cherry as opposed to Rosewood, it just had a touch more of a purplish hue to it. The base had an interesting leveling bar that had threaded inserts for stand mounting.

The fit and finish was very impressive, with solid metal attached connections for the grill, seamless construction and little to no resonance when a knuckle was rapt against it. The shape could be a conversation piece or a turnoff depending on ones tastes and dÃ©cor. The binding posts are in a vertical line which can also make speaker wire management an issue. It was also the busiest with the multiple connections and materials. Additionally, just as a note for consideration if someone is looking at a home theater set up the center channel would not be easily placed in a vertical orientation due to the curved sides.

These were the easiest speakers to set up, needing the least amount of toe in and being less dependent on distance from the wall. This was a bit surprising with the size of the port, but based off of listening the speakers sounded best about 18” from the rear wall, 4.5’ from both side walls and 9’ apart.

While these potentially can be the hardest to drive at 4 ohms nominal I hard no issues with the AVR-4306 powering them, in fact these required the least amount of gain adjustment and seemed to have the most effortless presentation of the bunch.

The PSB Imagine B’s had the largest soundstage of the three monitors and seemed to have the most pinpoint imaging. The soundstage was both wider and taller, easily extending past the width of the speakers and seemingly extending up to the ceiling of my listening room. I was able to track artists across a stage and deeper into the stage with them with more alacrity and less effort. On one Ben Harper track the song starts off as if it were being played through an old mono radio with lots of static and pops then exploding into a full presentation as if you jumped through the radio and into the recording studio. The Imagine B’s recreated the sensation of both the old radio and the recording room in a believable fashion. On Metalllica’s “One” the song starts with a helicopter panning across the front stage, using just the two PSB’s with a sub the helicopter made a seamless transition across the entire front soundstage and at a believable height. Even with movies the soundstage easily enveloped my listening position and blended into the center and surrounds creating a seamless 360 degree soundstage even though I was using a different brand center and surrounds.

The top end of the PSB’s was the most forward and at the dealers show room came across as a little bright but in my living room was very smooth and airy. Cymbals and gunshots both came across as clean, clear and powerful over the PSB’s. These did get a tiny bit etched at near reference levels in the uppermost registers but at -10 and below were just clean and enjoyable. The midrange was smooth and full but very well balanced.

That best sums up the speakers: balanced, these just seemed to be a very cohesive unit that makes you sit up and pay attention to the music while calling very little attention to itself. The entire spectrum of the speakers blended beautifully with the Ultra, creating a smooth presentation where the sub was completely un-localizable. The bass on the Imagine’s was not as impressive as the era’s but much better than the Rockets, considering this it was interesting to me that the Imagines blended the best into the system. The bass was very tight, clean and fast with a good amount of impact.

Ambient noises and back up instruments were very well presented with it being a easy to follow all the musicians in a CD or ambient sounds in a movie. In Bangkok Dangerous there is a scene where the assassin is tracking his target through a floating market, the crowd sounds and conversations where easy to follow and very believable.

Movies and music were greatly enjoyable on the PSB’s and were both exciting and fun. Normally I would be afraid that the excitement would end up with the speakers being fatiguing but that wasn’t the case here. I found myself wondering how a track or movie clip would sound on the PSB’s when I was auditioning the other speakers. In the end, the PSB’s were exactly what I want in a speaker, they are clean, clear, detailed and most of all, fun to listen to.

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 06:01 PM

Rankings:

Dynamics:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Bass:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Midrange:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Treble:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) Rocket RS250 MKII
3) era D5

Balance:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Ease of Use:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) Rocket RS250 MKII
3) era D5

Ergonomics:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Sound Quality (overall):
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Home Theater Usage:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Music only set up
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

My Final Preference:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Conclusion:

All three speakers proved to be very capable and enjoyable but in the end I find myself drawn most to the PSB’s. The combination of a balanced presentation, clear open mid’s and highs and a massive soundstage that blends into the subs and environment were truly impressive.

Associated Equipment:

Here is a little background on what I auditioned, what equipment was associated and what I used to listen to them with:

Receiver: Denon AVR-4306 (Audyssey was not used during the auditioning process)

Source Music: Adcom GCD-700 CD changer used as a transport, coaxial digital cable fed to Denon AVR for DAC’s

Source Blu-Ray & Games: Sony Playstation 3, HDMI out to Denon, PS3 used to decode hi-def CODEC’s

Room treatments: 2 GIK 242’s, 2 home made bass trap’s, 3 Auralex 24” x 24” foam hi-frequency panels

Subwoofer: SVS PB13-Ultra, crossed over at 80 Hz
Sub-EQ: Anti-Mode 8033, 3 positions measured and eq’d

Center/Surrounds when used: AV123 Rocket Series, RSC200 center with Signature crossover, RSS300 surrounds

Cables: Mostly Signal Cable for front three speaker cables and power cable for AVR and HDMI cable, older Kimber Kable Coax digital cable for CD to AVR, Canare cable run to surrounds.

Movies: The Matrix BD, The Matrix Reloaded BD, Bangkok Dangerous BD, and Batman: The Dark Knight BD
CD’s: Ani DiFranco “Canon”, Dave Matthews Band “Crash”, Ben Harper “Fight For Your Mind”, Metallica “And Justice For All”, Telarc compilation disc, “Reflections of Spain: Spanish Favorites for Guitar”

**Jethro** · 05-24-2009, 07:24 PM

Originally posted by SnowmaNick

Rankings:

Dynamics:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3)Rocket RS250 MKII

Bass:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3)Rocket RS250 MKII

Midrange:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Treble:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) Rocket RS250 MKII
3) era D5

Balance:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Ease of Use:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) Rocket RS250 MKII
3) era D5

Ergonomics:
1) era D5
2) PSB Imagine B
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Sound Quality (overall):
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Home Theater Usage:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

My Final Preference:
1) PSB Imagine B
2) era D5
3) Rocket RS250 MKII

Conclusion:

All three speakers proved to be very capable and enjoyable but in the end I find myself drawn most to the PSBâ€™s. The combination of a balanced presentation, clear open midâ€™s and highs and a massive soundstage that blends into the subs and environment were truly impressive.

Associated Equipment:

Here is a little background on what I auditioned, what equipment was associated and what I used to listen to them with:

Receiver: Denon AVR-4306 (Audyssey was not used during the auditioning process)

Source Music: Adcom GCD-700 CD changer used as a transport, coaxial digital cable fed to Denon AVR for DACâ€™s

Source Blu-Ray & Games: Sony Playstation 3, HDMI out to Denon, PS3 used to decode hi-def CODECâ€™s

Room treatments: 2 GIK 242â€™s, 2 home made bass trapâ€™s, 3 Auralex 24â€ x 24â€ foam hi-frequency panels

Subwoofer: SVS PB13-Ultra, crossed over at 80 Hz
Sub-EQ: Anti-Mode 8033, 3 positions measured and eqâ€™d

Center/Surrounds when used: AV123 Rocket Series, RSC200 center with Signature crossover, RSS300 surrounds

Cables: Mostly Signal Cable for front three speaker cables and power cable for AVR and HDMI cable, older Kimber Kable Coax digital cable for CD to AVR, Canare cable run to surrounds.

Movies: The Matrix BD, The Matrix Reloaded BD, Bangkok Dangerous BD, and Batman: The Dark Knight BD
CDâ€™s: Ani DiFranco â€œCanonâ€, Dave Matthews Band â€œCrashâ€, Ben Harper â€œFight For Your Mindâ€, Metallica â€œAnd Justice For Allâ€, Telarc compilation disc, â€œReflections of Spain: Spanish Favorites for Guitarâ€

Nice write up man :applause: Looks like the PSB means business. Taking out the rockets with ease and the eras seem like they pwned the rockets as well. These must sound pretty good. Too bad there's nowhere for me to audition these around where I live.

**12345678** · 05-24-2009, 08:31 PM

perhaps I should play around with the placement of my era's more...

good write up.

**craigsub** · 05-24-2009, 11:07 PM

Nick - This was a good effort. You mentioned that this was a sighted test, which can bring all sorts of unwanted bias into it.

When we had the GTG here in 2007, every listener had a different response to speakers in blind vs. sighted tests.

This literally means every person here that tried both - which was appx. 15 listeners on 6 different speaker pairs.

This is something people should keep in mind ... again, a good effort. :huge:

**SnowmaNick** · 05-24-2009, 11:49 PM

I agree, ideally I would have preferred a blind test but as I was just doing this myself I couldn't figure out a way to do it with any kind of ease. Interestingly I admit I was hoping the era's would be my favorite as I had a very good impression of them going in. I was a bit surprised myself by how much I enjoyed listening to the PSB's and it caught me by off guard. I was actually paraphrasing an internal thought I had when I mentioned that I found myself wondering how something would sound on the PSB's. I took that as a sign that, for my ears/taste I was digging what the PSB's were serving.

A DBX of course would be ideal though. Thanks for the kind words.

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A little weekend fun, 3 monitor comparo

A little weekend fun, 3 monitor comparo

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