Stereophile-Platinum T8
Published by: Stereophile
Date of Issue: November 2003
Reviewer: John Atkinson
"The T8's bass definition was excellent, if not quite to the standard set by the five-times-the-price Mission Pilastro I reviewed in December 2002. Even so, the pat'n'purr of Jerome Harris' Taylor acoustic bass guitar on Rendezvous (Stereophile STPH013-2) was reproduced about as well as I have heard. The left-hand register of Anita Chang's piano on her Chopin Ballades DVD-A (Aix 0433 80014-9) had excellent weight and definition.""All through my auditioning of the Platinum T8, I kept losing sight of the fact that this speaker costs a hair under $7000/pair, making it an appropriate choice for readers who want superb sound quality at a relatively affordable price."
"...one of the things that impressed me most about the Platinum T8 was its reproduction of voices."
"...The T8 took a whack at the latter hypothesis by reproducing solo voice about as well as I have experienced."
"...The PSB speaker seems remarkably free from colorations in the vocal region, with the result that voices sound less like each other and more like themselves."
"If you don't get the midrange right, nothing else matters," wrote Stereophile's founder, J. Gordon Holt, in the mists of audiophile pre-history. The Platinum T8 got the midrange right, preserving the individualities not just of voices but of musical instruments as well. The widely varied tonal qualities of the wind instruments on October's "Recording of the Month," Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Bix Beiderbecke, from Geoff Muldaur's Futuristic Ensemble (CD, DG Edge 028947458326), sounded superb. The cornet had the correct silver-toned sweetness, so different from the trumpet's more aggressive tone; the bass clarinet had just the right combination of plumminess and hollowness."
"...the PSBs did a fine job in the midrange, reproducing Martha Wainwright (daughter of Loudon III) subbing very effectively for a deceased Bing Crosby—"Man, this cut swings!" I jotted in my listening notes."
"...wealth of recorded detail apparent was breathtaking,..."
"All through my auditioning of the Platinum T8, I kept losing sight of the fact that this speaker costs a hair under $7000/pair, making it an appropriate choice for readers who want superb sound quality at a relatively affordable price."
"...a pair of PSB Platinum T8s will rock you, whatever your tastes in music."