PSB Century 300i Bookshelf Speakers – 6.5″ Woofer, Canada
$145.00
Priced down for a dent rather than for anything you will hear: one speaker has a dented front corner, it is on the front, and the photographs show it plainly. Both sound excellent and nothing else is wrong. Mid-nineties PSB built in Pickering, Ontario — 6.5-inch two-way, 91 dB, rear ported.
1 in stock
PSB Century 300i Bookshelf Speakers – Two-Way Rear-Ported, 6.5-Inch Woofer, 91 dB, Made in Canada, Fair Condition
A pair of mid-nineties Canadian-built PSB bookshelves, priced down for a dent rather than for anything you will hear.
Condition — and Why It Sets the Price
The condition first, because it is the reason for the price. This pair is graded fair. One of the two speakers has a dented front corner. It is on the front, so it is visible, and the photographs show it plainly. Everything else is intact, both speakers sound excellent, and nothing about the dent affects what comes out of them.
What a Century Is
What you are getting for the money is a Century. PSB built this line in Pickering, Ontario in the mid-nineties, and the Century models are the ones people still go looking for second-hand rather than the budget series that ran alongside them. The 300i is a two-way rear-ported design pairing a 6.5-inch polypropylene woofer with a 0.75-inch polyamide soft-dome tweeter, in a cabinet a shade under 15 inches tall.
Amplifier Matching
At 91 dB sensitivity these are unusually easy to drive. Ten watts is enough to get them going and eighty is the ceiling, which makes this a pairing for a modest integrated amplifier, a vintage receiver or a low-powered tube amplifier rather than for a big modern power amplifier. The load is 6 ohms nominal. Response runs from 70 Hz to 21 kHz, so if you want the bottom octave a subwoofer is worth having — these hand over to one cleanly and are all the better for it. The soft-dome tweeter is the other half of why these age well — it is a forgiving, unfatiguing presentation of a kind that suits long listening and older recordings, rather than the bright metal-dome sound that dates a speaker quickly.
Placement
The port fires rearward, so leave them a few inches of clearance behind. On stands or on a shelf with room to breathe is where they do their best work, and hard against a wall will thicken the bass rather than deepen it.
Connections
Connection is through five-way binding posts, which take bare wire, spades or banana plugs.
What They Cost New
These originally sold for $330 CAD (approx. US$235) the pair in Canada.
Who These Suit
Sensible candidates for a second system, a first proper pair for someone stepping up from powered computer speakers, a garage or workshop where a dent is not going to trouble anyone, or surround duty in a larger setup where the damaged corner will face a wall and never be seen again.
The Honest Comparison
A dent on a front corner costs a speaker nothing but its looks. If you are buying with your ears, or the damaged corner is going to sit against a wall, this is the same Canadian-built Century that people pay considerably more for in clean condition.
Features
- Two-way rear-ported bass reflex design
- 6.5-inch polypropylene woofer
- 0.75-inch polyamide soft-dome tweeter
- 91 dB sensitivity, 6 ohm load — easy to drive with modest amplification
- Five-way binding posts
- Black ash woodgrain finish
- Built in Pickering, Ontario
PSB Century 300i Bookshelf Speakers Specifications
- Model: Century 300i
- Design: Two-way rear-ported bass reflex, stand-mounted
- Mid/Bass Driver: 6.5 in polypropylene cone
- High Frequency Driver: 0.75 in polyamide soft dome
- Frequency Range: 70 Hz to 21 kHz
- Sensitivity: 91 dB typical
- Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms
- Recommended Amplifier Power: 10 to 80 watts
- Finish: Black ash woodgrain
- Origin: Made in Canada
- Condition: Fair — one speaker has a dented front corner, both sound excellent
- Dimensions: (Width x Height x Depth) 8.5 x 14.5 x 9.5 inches (216 x 368 x 241 mm)
- Weight: 13 lbs (5.9 kg) each
🔌 Speaker Cable, Built on Our Own Bench
The speaker terminals here are five-way binding posts, so they take banana plugs or spade lugs and you have the run of the options. We hand-build speaker cable here in any length you need — choose the gauge and the terminations on our Custom Speaker Cable Builder. If you would rather terminate cable you already own, we make our own gold-plated banana plugs and spade connectors as well. 👉
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| Weight | 15 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 13.5 × 23 × 18.5 in |
PSB began in the summer of 1972 in St. Jacobs, Ontario, where Paul Barton and two high-school friends started building speakers. The name stands for Paul and Sue Barton. PSB says every speaker it makes is voiced in the National Research Council's anechoic chambers here in Ottawa. We carry PSB towers, bookshelf speakers, centre channels and subwoofers. We've had more than 440 PSB listings so far, covering nearly 90 different models, second only to our other big Canadian brand, Paradigm. Every used PSB here is inspected, tested and serviced as required, then photographed in-house and covered by our Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Don't see the model you want? Tell us on First Dibs and we'll email you when one arrives.
Our five best-selling PSB models so far: the Alpha Intro LR bookshelf speakers, the Image 8C centre, the Image 4T towers, the Alpha SubZero i subwoofer and the Alpha B bookshelf speakers.
The PSB story, 1972 to today
Paul Barton founded PSB in St. Jacobs, Ontario, in the summer of 1972 with two high-school friends, and named it for himself and Sue Barton, his high-school sweetheart and now his wife. PSB stayed in St. Jacobs for about its first eight years.
The Ottawa connection. In 1973 or 1974 (sources differ) PSB's Beta II caught the attention of Dr. Floyd Toole at the National Research Council in Ottawa, and Barton has used the NRC's Ottawa facilities since 1974. PSB says every speaker it makes is still voiced in the NRC's anechoic chambers.
Lenbrook and Stratus. The Lenbrook Group of Pickering, Ontario bought PSB in the mid-1980s (PSB's own timeline says 1985), and PSB is now based in Pickering. The Stratus series began in the late 1980s, and Stereophile first reviewed the Stratus Gold in 1991.
Alpha, Image and beyond. The budget Alpha launched in 1991, and more than 50,000 pairs had sold by 2000. The Image series replaced the Century series in 1999, the Platinum flagship followed in 2002, then Synchrony in 2007 and Imagine in 2008. PSB marked its 50th anniversary in 2022 with the Passif 50.
Which PSB is which?
Early models (1970s and 1980s): the Beta II, Avanté II, Passif II and Project B2, then the R series after the Lenbrook purchase.
Stratus (late 1980s to the 2000s): the upper line, including the Mini, Silver, Gold and Gold i. The Gold is a three-way with a 10" woofer.
Alpha (1991 to today): the entry line, including the Alpha A/V, Alpha B, Alpha B1 and later the Alpha P5. Our best-selling Alpha Intro LR and Alpha B come from this family.
Image (1999 to the 2010s): one step above Alpha. Our best-selling Image 8C centre and Image 4T towers come from this family.
Platinum (2002), Synchrony (2007) and Imagine (2008): the higher lines of the 2000s.
SubSeries and SubZero: PSB's powered subwoofers, such as the Alpha SubZero i we sell often.
Buying used PSB: what to check
Where it was made. Lines launched from about 2008 onward, such as Imagine and later Image and Alpha models, were made in China. Check the label before calling an older PSB "made in Canada"; spec sheets from the 1990s list only the Pickering address.
Amplifier load. The Stratus Gold and Gold i have a 4-ohm nominal impedance, and owners say Stratus models want an amplifier with plenty of current.
Image tweeters. On Image series speakers, check that every tweeter works and sounds as bright as its partner. A dim or dead tweeter is a frequent point of failure on that line. We sell a new Peerless 1" replacement tweeter that drops straight in (Image 1B, 2B, 4T, 5T, 8C, 10S and more) and is more robust than the original, and we can install it while you wait.
Drivers. Owners report occasional woofer failures on older towers. Listen to each driver on its own.
Surrounds. Many PSB woofers, such as the Platinum T8's, use rubber surrounds rather than foam, but press gently on any woofer surround to check it.
Everything we list is inspected, tested and serviced as required here, and comes with our warranty.
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