PSB Stratus Silver i Floorstander Speakers (Rosewood)

[Oct 13, 2017]

Audio Enthusiast

I don’t find it necessary to simply reiterate the opinion of the vast majority of reviewers. I have lived with my Stratus Silvers for more than 15(!) years and though I have gone through all the iterations of available upgrades to my outboard equipment, I have left two things be…my braided Kimber Bi-Wire speaker cables and my trusty Stratus Silvers! They sounded great by comparison to the comparable Kef, Totem, Polk and B&W speakers I auditioned before purchasing and when I found out I had the opportunity to buy a pair of Floor models with at least 100 hrs. of break-in time for a $400 discount…I jumped!
I’ll leave it at this… 54 posted reviews with 55 4 or 5 star reviews (heavily weighted toward 5 stars) and TWO low , 1 or 2 star reviews! You decide who’s on target and who’s smoking crack!

[Dec 25, 2016]

Audio Enthusiast

i bought them second hand for 600$ pretty good balance ,deep base , very detail , . . emotiva 2 amps .with onkyo integra 7 pream sound amazing

[Mar 20, 2013]

Audio Enthusiast

The psb silver for 450$ used the price is excellent . Highs are excellent and pleasing, lows and bass are tight, Mids are not exceptionally pronounced, the produce a very clean sound that is superb! . I moved them from a room with little upholstery to a room with some carpet and fluffy couches and drapes, and in there they sounded the best. They are a VERY FUSSY speaker as far as positioning but the soundstage is excellent.

[Jul 18, 2012]

AudioPhile

I must apologise to Silveri’s fans because for about eight months lots of injustice was done to these great performers. The (RCA) interconnect directional arrow from pre-amp to power amp was facing the opposite direction i.e. from power amp to pre-amp. This has been corrected and I must say the sound has improved tremendously. Wide soundstage, deep bass, longer throw in mids and highs. They are more enjoyable on Jazz Trios- piano, drums and double bass. Also impressive on congas/percussions, try Herp Alpert’s Stormy Sunday from the album Passion Dance.

I must however acknowldge that while the Siveris are excellent overall performers the tweeters are sometimes too bright and forward and the mids a bit muddy on voices. After hooking up the Van Den Hul “The Name” and the Transparent Cable “MusicLink” interconnects and the Van Den Hul “MCD-352” speaker cable on Rotel RCD-1072, Rotel RC-1090 and Rotel RB-990 much improvement was realised.

Silveri’s shines more in larger and open rooms (mine is a 48 square metre) and a well treated room gives the Silveri’s the deserved high end status.

[Apr 18, 2006]

Audio Enthusiast

STRENGTH:deep base , good balance .

WEAKNESS:heavy 60 pounds each . not very clear in high level .

i bought them second hand from a local dealer . using them as second pair speaker in basement with a denon cdplayer ,twenty years old sansui amplifer and qed silver biwired cable . pretty good balance ,deep base , very detail , even better than my b&w 801 . i feel lucky bought them in a good price . i think they would better if use better amps . made in canada

Similar Products Used:

b&w 801 . totem rainmaker . yamaha ( forgot model but they are trash )

[Jun 01, 2003]

Audio Enthusiast

STRENGTH:Good balance, very musical sounding. Not “in your face” which I like.

WEAKNESS:None that bother me. Well, they are pretty heavy. Haven’t compared much with other speakers in this category, though liked better than Snell and B&W.

These speakers are new, and I’m using them in the Master Bedroom (approx 17×17). I drive them with an original Naim Nait Integrated Amplifier, and use a NAD 512 CD Player. Sound is very good, with deeper bass and a punchier sound than I had expected. Room acoustics probably come into play. Try “Stanley Clarke & Friends Live at the Greek” if you’re concerned about kick drum and deep bass. Plenty of it on this well-recorded CD. Nearly too much in my room. Very pleased overall with the sound.

[Mar 31, 2002]

Audio Enthusiast

STRENGTH:Makes me want to listen more and more and more. Tight bass.

WEAKNESS:Upper mids and trebble not as detailed as some more expensive speakers. plastic feet are hard to level.

I have had these speakers for 5 years now, and have loved them from day one (I bought demo units, so they were broken in). They sounded awesome with modest electronics (NAD 3155 integrated amp), but at each improvement to my electronics they just get better. Good speaker cables are a must. I just chopped my Kimber Cables (not sure which model) in half and am using them in a bi-wire configuration. Makes a minor improvement. The bass is tight and articulate. I play bass, and really like to be able to hear all the details going on. Upgrading to a good power amp (Acurus A250) made it even better. The upper end is very listenable. Not overly detailed, which is good if you listen to a digital source. I would probably get even better bass if I used spikes, but I don”t want to damage my floor.

[Mar 25, 2002]

Audio Enthusiast

STRENGTH:Imaging, soundstage, transparent, potent bass

WEAKNESS:Placement sensitive, carefull matching with electronics and cables.

This is a follow up review. I had the Silvers for about three years. I”ve read the other reviews here and agree with the posistive comments on the speakers. As for the negitive remarks it sounds like those are due to equipment mis-matching. No argument the Silvers are a bit forward, but that is easily fixed when pair with the right partners. Bryston electrnoics are hot and I wouldn”t recommend them with the Silvers. Don”t get me wrong. I love Bryston, and will probably purchase a Bryston amp, but I would use it with the Silvers. The tweeter and mids sound too aggresive and hot. Bryston amps work great with the Golds beacuase the Golds sound warmer than the Silvers. You should hook up the Silvers to warm sounding electronics and cables. I had great success hooking up my Silvers to Marantz”s SR-18. The SR-18 is is very nuetral with a slight push towards warm sound. Cables will also affect the outcome of the sound. When I was using Ultralink interconnects, my sytem sounded somewhat laid back. When I switched to Monster cables my system sounded a lot more detailed and a bit forward. I have a preferance towards warm sound which I don”t think is completely accurate. I believe the combination of the SR-18 and Monster calbles is the correct balance. When I purchase the Silvers I had heard them hooked up to Adcom”s reference CD player, a pair of Cary mono block tube amps, a Cary tube pre-amp and Transparent interconnects. No one listening to this set-up can tell me they hear any edge, brightness of forward sound with that set-up. When I heard what the Silvers sounded with those partners I knew these were great speakers. With $10,000 of equipment they will wow you. But that”s one of their greatest strenghts, you can push themwith a modestly priced receiver or run them with premium components. The better the components and care matching them the more they will reward you. For those of you complaining they sound bright, forward, too boomy or lack of bass, try different electronics or moving them a couple of inches or even a couple of feet around your room. Because when you get right, man do these speakers sound awesome.

Similar Products Used:

Kef Q series, Paradigm Monitor/Reference, NHT, Tannoy, Kilipsh.