A-Audio Titus SpeakersIt seems like master Anthony has another stallion in his stable of speakers - another thoroughbred that likes to get in front of the pack and leave everyone behind eating his dust. The Titus certainly begs to be heard as it has the largest driver of 8" in the stable coupled with a high extending 30khz tweeter - dynamic, forward sounding, clarity, fuller body and bass are just the normal characteristics of the bookshelf.
Its bigger brother, the Floorstander has all of the above characteristics of the bookshelf, but presents a larger and deeper soundstage than its smaller sibling. I am happy to note that both BS and FS perfectly matches each other sonically
The center speaker on the other hand exhibited a different breed - I found it a bit muffled with less clarity and lesser output than both the BS & FS. Its quite a mystery, as the center speaker has the same drivers and xovers .............but only to find out later that it was a sealed design while the BS and FS speakers were ported
Its probably just a slight oversight, but I want to audition a Titus center speaker again when it is ported
No way can a sealed design match with a ported design having the same components.
As of this writing, I dont think its fair to give these Titus 5 speaker set a proper review at the moment as they were just completed earlier today. A polypropylene cone takes hundreds of hours to fully break-in and its stiffness was evident in tonight's audition. However, its potential to be a great performer is already instilled - it will just take some practice runs before it can win races
I can honestly say that once these thoroughbreds are fully broken-in, they can easily beat any branded british racehorse that are 4x its cost
SubjectivismTo add my own personal opinion, I would agree that the white PSB polypropylene cone looks great with the front piano finish vinyl and the gold tweeter. In fact, A-Audio speakers are now starting to look like branded speakers rather than a DIY offering.
I do however value sound quality first before aesthetics, so I would be more inclined to have the treated paper cones of the scanspeak rather than a polypropylene cone of the PSB. For me, a treated paper cone sounds more "natural".
Do take note also that the PSB drivers are limited to only a few drivers left - so once they're gone all Titus sets would be using black scanspeak cones. So if you have plans of ordering more Titus speakers in the future or be worried about replacement drivers, consider the other option.
Thanks again to master Anthony for another great listening session with great food to boot!