Hi, I would like to share some experience. I wanted to compare sound and build quality with some well known speakers, it was not so easy to find and ask to barrow speakers from some of my friends and their friends lol. I had the Polk RTiA1 at hands so at least I had one lol.
Well here is the list I could get:
Polk RTiA1
PSB image B6
Klipsch Reference RB-51II
Kef Q100
Canton GLE 430
Well as you can see some of these speakers are bigger and have bigger drivers than the B&W 686. I could not get these test by myself so I asked two off my friends to come over to do the test together. For the test We used the same music, amplifier and set up. We only switched the speakers...again using same placement, speaker stands, music etc. Let's start with the Canton: These speakers are very well made, the sound is wonderful, very clean and solid, We all noticed that the bass was in the weak side. Now is time for the PSB...Well these speakers were the worse sound of all. They sounded like they had a pillow on the front, We all agreed that the mid-range and highs were way "behind". it sounded like they use too many components in the crossover and attenuated the sound too much. Ok now the Polk RTi-A1..The sound of the Polks was very clean and I can say a little on the soft side( not fatiguing at all) bass was very impressive for the size of the speakers, very well made. Now the Klipsch, these klipsch speakers as you all know have high SPL so We had to turn down the volume to compensate the volume with the other speakers. these speakers sound very very clear so clear that I would say if they are played loud for a long time....you will ended up with a big headache
. Now the Kef, These speakers sound very nice and We all liked them very much. they have solid bass and nice midrange/highs. I was very impressed with the sound with their known single driver (coaxial). and the last one were the B&W 686, Wow...yes We all said "WOW" a few times during the listening. these small speakers had the best bass of all
, the sound was very clean, these speakers were the smallest (kind of) but the sound was the biggest. We all liked the B&W sound and build quality. after all this time comparing sound (4 hours approximately). We gave
our score, again this score was just for the sound only, since they all were build very well and felt solid.
We scored them from the best to the worse (in our opinion) from what we listened and not considering price or size this is what We all agree in sound quality.
B&W scored 100%
KEF scored 90%
Canton scored 85%
Polk scored 80
Klipsch scored 75%
PSB scored 50%
at the end We put the B&W next to the (worse) PSB and We all shacked our heads...What a BIG difference. I honestly could not believed how much difference in sound can varies from one speaker to another. the price for the PSB are around $550 usd...I would never spend my money on these PSB speakers not even if they sell them for half of the original price. I am not an expert in sound testing, but my friends and I can differentiate the sound of a frog and a dog's bark
Well here is the list I could get:
Polk RTiA1
PSB image B6
Klipsch Reference RB-51II
Kef Q100
Canton GLE 430
Well as you can see some of these speakers are bigger and have bigger drivers than the B&W 686. I could not get these test by myself so I asked two off my friends to come over to do the test together. For the test We used the same music, amplifier and set up. We only switched the speakers...again using same placement, speaker stands, music etc. Let's start with the Canton: These speakers are very well made, the sound is wonderful, very clean and solid, We all noticed that the bass was in the weak side. Now is time for the PSB...Well these speakers were the worse sound of all. They sounded like they had a pillow on the front, We all agreed that the mid-range and highs were way "behind". it sounded like they use too many components in the crossover and attenuated the sound too much. Ok now the Polk RTi-A1..The sound of the Polks was very clean and I can say a little on the soft side( not fatiguing at all) bass was very impressive for the size of the speakers, very well made. Now the Klipsch, these klipsch speakers as you all know have high SPL so We had to turn down the volume to compensate the volume with the other speakers. these speakers sound very very clear so clear that I would say if they are played loud for a long time....you will ended up with a big headache
. Now the Kef, These speakers sound very nice and We all liked them very much. they have solid bass and nice midrange/highs. I was very impressed with the sound with their known single driver (coaxial). and the last one were the B&W 686, Wow...yes We all said "WOW" a few times during the listening. these small speakers had the best bass of all, the sound was very clean, these speakers were the smallest (kind of) but the sound was the biggest. We all liked the B&W sound and build quality. after all this time comparing sound (4 hours approximately). We gaveour score, again this score was just for the sound only, since they all were build very well and felt solid.
We scored them from the best to the worse (in our opinion) from what we listened and not considering price or size this is what We all agree in sound quality.
B&W scored 100%
KEF scored 90%
Canton scored 85%
Polk scored 80
Klipsch scored 75%
PSB scored 50%
at the end We put the B&W next to the (worse) PSB and We all shacked our heads...What a BIG difference
. I honestly could not believed how much difference in sound can varies from one speaker to another. the price for the PSB are around $550 usd...I would never spend my money on these PSB speakers not even if they sell them for half of the original price. I am not an expert in sound testing, but my friends and I can differentiate the sound of a frog and a dog's bark
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