2. member-reviews
  3. 1042387502

Review: PSB Stratus Gold Speaker

Category: Speakers

I already had PSB Stratus Goldi's for a living room system, so when I was forced by SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) to get rid of my (beloved) Dahlquist DQ-10's (ugly factor) from the rec room system, I jumped when I found a gentleman on the net selling a pair of mint Stratus Gold's and at a very attractive price. These are the precursor to the Gold's and were sold until about 1998 when the "i's" replaced them.

These are very heavy speakers, so I have not A/B'd then side-by-side against the i's (also very heavy), but given placement in different rooms, they sound very similar. What that means is wonderful bass and mid-range and very good highs. These are just too big to do a really great job of imaging (the baffle board is quite wide and even has a little ridge at the edge to further mess with sound propagation), but they are not bad at all for their size. They are very pleasant to listen too. For me their best feature is the bass. It is very tight and very deep. I suppose for home theater you might add a good sub, like HSU, but you dob't really need to. I use them purely for music. They are not especially power hungry and have plenty of dynamic range. I recall a report that because of an internal bracing problem, you can get them to resonate under just the right conditions, but I have never had this happen. I contacted PSB to ask it and they said it is so rare as to not be something to worry about in non-testing use. PSB is really nice about answering their e-mails, by the way. They do not just blow you off becuse you bought a used speaker. A class act.

Fellow at PSB told me that Paul Barton is a wood-worker and so cabinet finish is very important to him. It shows, even 8 years old, these speakers still have their gorgeous oak finish. Hate to think what vinyl would look like after that length of time.

I also own a pair of NHT 2.5i's that I bought for the sale price (new) as the Stratus Gold's and the Gold's beat them severely about the head and shoulders in all performance categories, in spite of being 8 years older. The magic of buying used. And the 2.5i's are no slouch.

Highly recommended on the used market.

Associated gear
Scott 390R stereo receiver, Pioneer DVD player in CD mode

Similar products
NHT 2.5i, PSB Stratus Goldi, NHT 2.8, Paradigm Studio 100 Improved
nopcbs
tojohndillonesq's avatar
tojohndillonesq
16 posts
 
I got the Adcom. Now staging nicely; a well defined spread of the instruments across the stage, using both vinyl and CD. Alice in Chains Unplugged and a Grateful Dead HDCD in particular. The Bass is fantastic. I play them side by side with Klipsch Forte II and the Golds are stronger on the bottom. I will say that the sax on Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album are simply marvelous with the Klipsch.

Thinking about adding another Adcom 5500 so I can bi-amp the PSB; maybe trade the Klipsch for that amp.
csng1
89 posts
 
Hello i run my previous Goldi with Krell FPB600, is a killer sound especially mid range bass is solid full body, i sold to the lucky buyer and bough PSB T8, T8 is more solid and tight with bass because of 3 numbers of 8" woofer, this is better than the Goldi, might not beat the sweetness of the midrange but clarity and bass is no compare for Goldi.
Goldi is bloomy maybe because i have for 12years the midrange is sweeter.
If you can get PSB T8 is a very speaker lots of bottom that you get feel. very neutral. i am hoping to get Maxx2
junzhang10
252 posts
 
After 20 years, the Psb stratus gold still sound amazing. Very neutral, melo, and forgiving. The source has been envolving from cd now to dsd and hi def audio. The speaker tech still the same. Except the price inflation. For $500 a used pair, they are unmatched from speaker price 10x more.

yohimey's avatar
yohimey
25 posts
 
I owned a pair of the golds too, back in the day, i had  4 Nad 214 amps strapped to mono 2 for the tweeters and 2 for the woofers  in bi wire mode, 2 things i remember about them 1 they use to make my pant legs flap from the bass impact, and 2 the speakers were extra ordinary for the female voice! to me these spkrs were voiced to voices! Alas i fell on hard times and sold it all for pennies on the dollar.
andrews95
5 posts
 
I recently bought a pair of GoldI’s. They are an absolute steal for the money. I paid $750 and hooked them up to my Peachtree Nova 300. These speakers are extremely high quality. What I noticed is the more you give them, the better they sound. Dedicated lines, high end USB, quality speaker cables, bi wire jumpers, and a high end power cable has brought these speakers to life.Bottom line is these speakers need lots of power and high quality cables. Once you apply these, you got yourself a killer system at a fraction of the cost. 
More to discover