Don’t want to sacrifice any floor space? On-wall speakers allow you to display those audio goodies on the wall like art. There’s no tucking these away into the wall. Well, not that you’d want to hide any of the new on-wall options from PSB Speakers.
PSB just debuted the W1 and W3 as part of the company’s Imagine Series. Both work nicely alongside today’s flat-panel displays — literally. The company designed both speaker options to give today’s HDTVs a sound boost, without stealing away the spotlight from that big, beautiful image.
Both of the new models boast a black finish and a low profile of about 3 inches deep. The Imagine W1 is a single-channel speaker that can be mounted vertically or horizontally. PSB also says it can be used individually as a front left, center, or surround-sound speaker, or as a stereo pair. The Imagine W3, on the other hand, combines the left, center and right channels into one enclosure. It doesn’t have to be wall-mounted (although it’s an option), and it has custom drivers that function as three discrete speakers. Both models are designed to work alone or with other PSB speakers.
“Properly designing a wall-hugging speaker like the Imagine W1 requires a thorough understanding of acoustics to get sound that is true-to-nature,” explained Paul Barton, PSB’s founder and chief designer. “PSB has perfected the tools required to get the optimal result for every loudspeaker application. The Imagine On-Wall speakers are voiced to perfectly integrate with other PSB models of In-Room, In-Wall, In-Ceiling speakers and subwoofers.”
PSB Speakers will start selling the Imagine W1 and Imagine W3 this month for $599 and $1,199, respectively. Expect both models to come with a custom wall-mount bracket, a pre-construction template and a tabletop stand.