PSB Alpha A/V Shielded Bookshelf Speakers — 6.5″ Woofer, Canada

PSB Alpha A/V — The Last 6.5-Inch Alpha, the Best Version of the Speaker That Made PSB’s Name

The last and most developed of the 6.5-inch PSB Alphas — the speaker that made a Canadian company’s reputation by embarrassing everything else at the price.

The Alpha Story

The story starts in 1992, when Paul Barton put a 6.5-inch woofer and a half-inch dome into a small reflex box and sold it for $199 a pair. Stereophile’s reviewer called it one of the best buys in audio and the industry took notice. In 1998 Barton went back and revised it properly: a more refined tweeter, an upgraded crossover, better terminals, and magnetic shielding on both drivers so the speaker could live next to a television. That revision is the Alpha A/V, and this is a pair of them.

The Last 6.5-Inch Alpha

What makes it the one to have is what came next. The Alpha B that replaced it dropped to a 5.25-inch woofer, and every Alpha since — the B1, the P5 — has stayed there. The A/V is the final version with the big cone, which means more air moved and a bottom end that reaches to 68 Hz from a cabinet of eleven litres. For a speaker this size that is not a rounding error, it is the difference between needing a subwoofer and not.

The 1998 Upgrades

The upgraded terminals from that 1998 revision are on the back of this pair, so they take banana plugs rather than the spring clips the original shipped with. Small thing, but it is the difference between connecting a decent cable properly and jamming bare wire into a plastic clip.

Easy to Drive

They are also easy to drive, which matters more than people expect at this end of the market. Ninety decibels of sensitivity into a six-ohm load that never drops below five means a modest receiver or a small integrated amplifier will do these justice — anything from ten watts up. Pair them with the vintage amplifier you already own rather than buying something to cope with them.

Shielded for Screens

And because both drivers are magnetically shielded, they will sit hard against a screen without complaint. The A/V suffix stands for exactly that: this was the version built for people running a stereo pair as the front channels of a home theatre, which is also why they turn up so often as a surround pair for someone building a system out of good used parts.

Condition

Cosmetically this pair is graded Very Good, in the black ash vinyl, showing the light marks a well-kept speaker of its age carries. Every speaker that comes through here is bench-tested in-house before it is listed.

The Alpha is the speaker that proved a budget loudspeaker did not have to sound like one, and the A/V is the best version of it.

Available for pickup in Kanata, or shipped across Canada and internationally — we have sent equipment to fifteen countries in the past year, each piece packed in-house in 275 lb test double-wall boxes. Live shipping rates for your address are calculated at checkout. Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Available for audition by appointment in Kanata.

PSB Alpha A/V Specifications

• Design: Two-way stand-mounted, reflex-loaded loudspeaker, magnetically shielded
• Tweeter: 0.5 inch shielded plastic dome
• Woofer: 6.5 inch magnetically shielded coated-fibre cone
• Crossover frequency: 3 kHz
• Frequency response: 68 Hz to 21 kHz, plus or minus 3 dB on axis; 68 Hz to 10 kHz at 30 degrees off axis
• Sensitivity: 90 dB / 2.83V / 1m
• Impedance: 6 ohms nominal, 5 ohms minimum
• Recommended amplifier power: 10 to 80 watts
• Cabinet volume: 0.39 cubic feet (11 litres)
• Terminals: Binding posts, banana plug compatible
• Finish: Black ash vinyl
• Original retail: $249 USD per pair
• Dimensions: (Height x Width x Depth) 12.75 x 7.75 x 9.75 inches (324 x 197 x 248 mm)
• Weight: 11 lbs (5 kg) each

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