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PSB Alpha PS1 Speakers

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PSB Alpha PS1 Speakers

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Product Description

From PSB, a company known for its excellent lineup of speakers and headphones, the Alpha PS1 has won SoundStage Network’s “Product of the Year” and been listed among Home Theater’s “Top Picks.” These affordable powered speakers come in pairs and make a great companion for desk setups, delivering enough power to rock a small- or medium-sized room. Rated with a continuous power of 2 x 20W and a dynamic power of 2 x 40W, the high-performance amplifier is built into the left speaker, and the sound is natural with a solid bass response Read More

Customer Reviews

4.4

(37 reviews)

(27)

(4)

(2)

(1)

(3)

70% would recommend to a friend

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calraith

Jun 12, 2019

Verified Buyer

Uncommon transparency at this price point

I always knew these were good speakers, but I never realized exactly how good. The piano finish is beautiful, if fingerprint magnetic. The 20 wpc amp guarantees ample overhead for near-field listening, and surprisingly sufficient horsepower for bedroom or other more distant listening applications (within reason). They accept both 3.5 mm and RCA inputs, and offer a summed mono subwoofer output. And by the standards of audiophile gear, the PSB Alpha PS1s are inexpensive. But their value, versatility, and attractiveness are the least of their positive attributes. The sound is outstanding. If you Google "PSB Alpha PS1 measurements" you're bound to come across a graph from Sound & Vision illustrating a response that's +/- 2dB from 90 Hz to about 12 kHz. That's pretty impressive for retail $300 speakers, powered or not; and phenomenal for the Drop price of less than half that. The consistent response in the off-axis listening window also suggests that the listening experience will not be marred by any unpleasant coloring in early reflections. PSB's specification of LR4 (Linkwitz-Riley 4th-order) crossovers suggests proper phase matching between the tweeter and mid driver, and that the mid driver's range of cone breakup will be attenuated to inconsequential levels even at high volume. And listening firsthand to these speakers, I can confirm as true every theoretical praise the measurements and crossover spec would predict. Fill in the low end with something capable and you've got yourself outstanding sound that rivals open-back headphone listening for imaging and well-tuned transparency. I found a sealed Cambridge Soundworks BassCube 12 at a garage sale for $20 that, once blended with the PSBs, flattened, and extended with Equalizer APO, relieves the PSBs of their bass burden and results in an outstanding musical experience. A reasonably capable subwoofer is required with these speakers. Are they perfect? Well, no. They are only as detailed as can be expected from <$500 speakers; only as sensitive as physics allow from 3.5-inch drivers with extension below 100 Hz. The cable linking left to right is proprietary, terminated with DC adapter tips for no good reason I can fathom, and could stand to be longer. Binding posts would've been a better choice there. And if the screws holding the base were the same distance apart at the front as at the rear, the base could be reversed to tilt the speakers up, thereby eliminating the need to purchase a PTB-1 tilt base kit separately (or Auralex pads or yoga wedges). Regardless, the PSB Alpha PS1 have much more going for them than against. I ordered these speakers for my brother for his birthday. Once I came across the garage sale subwoofer treasure, the temptation to keep them grew more and more intense each day until finally I caved. My brother is now getting an Amazon gift card, and I'm keeping these PSBs and 12" sub to replace a set of Harman Kardon Champagne speakers at work. My brother can find his own outrageous bargains.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? Yes

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CForsythe

Apr 12, 2019

Verified Buyer

Just got them hooked up, they sound amazing! Perfect clarity, bass response was lacking but I hooked up a spare 10” Polk audio subwoofer and it really filled out the sound. After listening for about an hour, I can say these are the best sounding PC/near field speakers I’ve ever heard and I’ve owned about five different pairs from respected brands.

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DarkKratoz

Apr 17, 2019

Verified Buyer

Just set these up last night. They're excellent, for the price. I replaced one of those 2.1 Altec Lansing sets. These boys are slightly leaner in bass, but then again, it's a 2.0 set, so no surprise there. They've got a nice frequency response, and pair nicely with my R2R-11. The centre imaging is dead on, the left and right separation is really nice. I tried the virtual barbershop "video" on YouTube, and while front and back imaging was off (no surprise, the speakers were in front of me), the ability to track sound as it moved from left to right, or farther and closer from the viewpoint of myself, worked excellently. The bass is present, and has a nice response without overwhelming other frequencies, but doesn't seem to reach too low. The treble seems nice and somewhat sparkly. The male vocal range seems to be the most forward or present to me. I hear a lot more vocal reverb on these speakers than I have on any of my headphones, which seems odd. Like the reverb has decayed faster on my headphones, where as it rings out on the speakers, but throwing on my headphones right now, I do notice it is there, but not as much as on the speakers. TL;DR: these speakers play music in a pleasant, if bright way. I'd recommend them, but you'll probably want to pick up a sub at some point. The same is probably true for most smaller powered speakers, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. They can play just fine by themselves.

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taz1

Mar 31, 2019

Verified Buyer

These are excellent powered compact speakers. For small to midsize spaces they are impossible to beat for anywhere near their price. Keep in mild they have virtually no bass below 80 hz without an added subwoofer. For those looking for the same answers as I, below you will find the email I received from PSB in response to my questions. " I do apologise for the delay in getting back to you. The sample we have here at support also does not have a power switch. After some research it appears the owner's manual is incorrect or newer. We are looking into this as the power switch was either removed or added after a few manufacturing runs. Our quality assurance team is investigating at what point this was changed and making note of it in the manual. I do apologise and thank you for bringing it to our attention. In your case, no you can not power them down but they do go in to low energy mode when idle consuming less than 6w as required by EU initiatives at the time of manufacturing. The sub port is always active. The crossover point is 80Hz. There is no detect so even with a sub connected the speakers are full range."

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Ralphiepop

Apr 14, 2019

Verified Buyer

I'm reluctantly giving these a 2 star rating because after much troubleshooting, I'm convinced there's something wrong with the speakers internally... They have a static buzz constantly, no matter what they're plugged into, where they're plugged in, or even with NO cable plugged in... They worked for a good 4-5 days and were wonderful, then the buzz would come and go, and now it's constant and completely unusable.

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Aisnikkor

Jan 13, 2019

Verified Buyer

These are now anchoring the best setup I have had yet on my desktop system. Using them with the matching PSB 100 sub, with AQ Dragonfly Red sourced from my iPhone, makes for a really nice, low volume nearfield setup at work. I cannot use headphones at work, so this system looks to be ideal. Prior to these PSB Alphas, I was using Kanto YU-2's (with the same sub), which were also nice, but these are several steps up in clarity and treble extension, and appear to be a better match for the PSB sub, as they go lower than the YU-2's (I'm running the sub at around 90Hz crossover instead of 120Hz with the YU-2's). While they go lower than the YU-2's, they still sound much better with the added sub. Imaging and soundstage on the YU-2's was one of the things I really enjoyed about them, but these PSB's seem to take that up a notch as well - soundstage is more focused and a little bit wider as well. Size wise, they are definitely larger than the YU-2's, but are still manageable on my desktop. I don't think I would want to go much larger than this though. I did purchase the tilt bases for these, which seem to help on imaging. They replace the standard bases that are already on the speakers (they attach with screws to the bottom), and have exactly the same look as the stock bases. These function much better than separate stands like I had with the YU-2's. Strongly suggest that Massdrop include these in future drops as an add-on option, as they were kind of hard to find otherwise. If there was anything to nitpick about, I noticed that the lower midrange seems to be a tiny bit recessed, but this is in comparison to my much higher end, full range headphone and speaker gear at home, but this does not detract at all from the enjoyment I am getting out of these speakers. To top it all off, the price on this drop was a very good deal. Very pleased with this purchase!

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Wick

Dec 23, 2018

Verified Buyer

This is my second pair, and I'm very pleased. I recommend the optional tilt base and a decent sub for the best experience. Volume knob in the rear perhaps not the most convenient when connecting to line out with no volume at the source.

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eskaplone

Apr 25, 2019

Verified Buyer

이 스피커는 오디오엔진 a2와 비교할 수 있는데 가격 성능 디자인 모든 면에서 만족한다. 보통 저가의 스피커는 저음 부스트로 인해 벙벙거리는 경우가 많은데 이 스피커는 깔끔하고 디테일한 소리를 정확히 들려줬다. 물론 이 가격에서 비교했을 때 말이다. 그리고 만듬새와 디자인이 무엇보다 마음에 들었고 소리 또한 마음에 들어서 이 스피커는 영원히 소장하려 한다. 물론 싸서 말이다 ㅋ^_^★

(Edited)

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coley.brown

Apr 8, 2019

Verified Buyer

My speakers just arrived and my initial impression is that they are very good. They get quite loud although they are not super bass-y. I have seen that there is an optional sub you can pick up which would probably solve that issue. Definitely would recommend for the price!

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