PSB Speakers

Passif 50 Standmount Loudspeaker

£2,499 RRP

Anniversaries are great for manufacturers as they take time to step back, reflect on what has been accomplished, and contemplate the future. It’s also an opportunity to bring back legends from the past, to introduce them to a new generation. PSB started way back in 1972 and now, some fifty years later, has created a modern interpretation of the loudspeakers that put it on the map. The new Passif 50 is the fiftieth-anniversary edition of the original Passif I and Passif II models that have made listeners happy for many years.

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The Passif 50 is a large standmounting speaker that measures 660x280x254mm [HxWxD] and comes supplied with small wooden stands that lift it about 200mm off the floor. It’s a two-way design with an additional passive radiator, and has a sealed infinite baffle enclosure. So, rather than porting out the acoustic energy from the woofer to atmosphere, it uses the air pressure inside the box to excite the passive radiator.

Naturally, PSB has freshened up the original design using modern technology and materials, as well as leaning on five decades of experience to seriously outperform the originals. The tweeter is a modern 25mm titanium dome with a large neodymium magnet and ferrofluid damping. It has a phase plug positioned in front of the dome, which besides offering protection from small inquisitive fingers, increases the size and spread of its dispersion. A dense felt pad material surrounds each tweeter, supposedly minimising edge diffraction for improved transparency and more stable imaging. Left and right tweeters are offset to different sides of the cabinet, making this a mirror-imaged design.

The woofer with a traditional paper cone is 165mm in diameter, and the passive radiator is 200mm. Both have very stiff cast aluminium baskets and strong rubber surrounds. They sit flush on the front face of the cabinet with hidden fasteners. The crossover works at 1,800Hz with a 6 ohm nominal and 4 ohm minimum impedance is quoted. Lots of effort went into refining the interaction of the woofer and radiator, so they operate together seamlessly and allow for smooth bass response. As with all PSB designs, the Passif 50 was fine-tuned with the assistance of the anechoic chamber at the National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada. The recommended input power is 30 to 200W. On-axis frequency response is quoted at 50-20,000Hz (+/- 3dB).

The Passif 50 has an open grain walnut veneer finish with a light-coloured open weave magnetically-attached grill, which is very tasteful and has a vintage look about it. The fit and finish of the cabinets are very good, with a satisfyingly solid result in the knuckle rap test. The woodwork is faultless, and the finish around the drivers is excellent. It is manufactured in China and designed in PSB’s native Canada. You can’t miss the special anniversary design touches, which include a gold plaque that reads ‘Passif 50 – 1972 - 2022’.

The speaker binding posts are five-way, with two sets of posts suitable for bi-wiring or bi-amping and the usual brass connecting plates fitted. I found a sound quality improvement by removing them and fitting proper jumper cables. For my listening tests, I used the stands and left the cool-looking retro cloth covers in place. I left both speakers running every day for a week on a secondary system to give it a good hundred hours of use before my listening tests. During that time, the bass really improved. Although I tried four different amplifiers in my tests, I used the excellent Yamaha R-N2000A streaming integrated for the review, which proved to be a great match.

Careful positioning of the pair of Passif 50s was the key to getting optimum spatial information. I found they worked well in a range of different-sized listening rooms, but they’re most happy in small to medium-sized spaces. I placed them about 1.8m apart and 2.5m from my seat, where the sound was most intimate and detailed. They prefer to look almost straight ahead as toe-in doesn’t help image width or size.

THE LISTENING

This is a pleasantly relaxed and mellow-sounding speaker with little added colouration. It produces music in an organic, textured and unstressed way, and has charm and appeal. I like the smooth and detailed midrange; although not particularly bass oriented, it can transmit the substance of a performance in a very satisfying manner.

Listening to Say No Go by De La Soul through the Passif 50s allows the midrange detail to shine, with the fill-ins and music samples in the track easily heard, with the vocal being the focus. There is a little more energy in the high mid region which adds presence and detail to recordings. The rhythmic bass is there but doesn’t have a heavy-hitting delivery but plays a complementary role to everything else going on.

The Passif 50’s midband and bass reminded me of other vintage paper-coned, sealed enclosure speakers that I’ve heard, such as the TEAC LS-360 of my teenage years, the AR-3 and others. Suddenly what’s old is new again, and the retro look and sound are popular again. They are all enjoyable to listen to and don’t spotlight inadequacies in the recording or equipment, but are forgiving in their presentation. This is appealing as we don’t want to become exhausted by listening, but rather be refreshed with a relaxed, non-fatiguing sound.

I was excited by how good vinyl sounded through this speaker. Is This Love by Bob Marley had a lovely flow and sense of timing. In Dulce Decorum by The Damned produced a great soundstage. This speaker tends to paint with slightly soft pastel colours, rather than vivid or highly saturated tones. In my opinion, Ecstasy by Madrugada sounds better for the slightly soft presentation. The piano and vocalist carry the weight of the production, and as a result, it’s an emotional masterpiece that had me replaying the track over and over.

Galleon Ship by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is packed with detail, which the Passif 50 carried well – it was clearly heard but not in a super precise and etched-in-glass manner. The titanium dome tweeter is kept in control the whole time, while still having sparkle and life. The vocal whispers, the synth and Nick’s vocals were all there, and I got a good insight into the recorded acoustic.

The PSB works very well with cleanly recorded jazz and female vocalists, with Diana Krall singing Peel Me A Grape having a nice presence in the listening room. The piano was reproduced very well and the reverb of her voice easily heard with a lovely tangible feel. The Passif 50 had no trouble relaying the emotion of London Grammar’s Rooting For You, which sounded large and dramatic.

This is not a loudspeaker that I would describe as especially spirited or dynamically vigorous, and this can be a characteristic of some sealed enclosure designs. However, it’s nevertheless still entirely satisfying to listen to. For best results, I recommend that you partner the PSB with an amplifier with good bass control and plenty of power. This done, it responds very well; for example, Crawling Kingsnake by The Black Keys was delivered with a toe-tapping lilt and a great sense of engagement. The same can be said of Electrified by Boris Blank, which came across in a fast and pace style, with a surprising amount of slam and heft in the bass.

When properly set up, the Passif 50 has impressive image depth, with Strangers by Dom Dolla & Mansionair having a decent amount of front-to-back perspective. The stereo image height is good, and the centre is nicely filled out, but there isn’t much width beyond the outer sides of the cabinets. I found the off-axis performance to be very good, with a nice image heard from both speakers even when standing well off to the side.

THE VERDICT

The new PSB Passif 50 has many positive attributes, making listening fun and enjoyable. Indeed, there’s quite a more-ish quality about this largish, old-school loudspeaker, in the sense that I just wanted to keep listening – which honestly doesn’t happen most of the time. The tonal balance, sense of rhythm and even-handedness are ingratiating. Congratulations, then, to PSB for producing a very special anniversary present to the world!

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