Soundstage Reviews CS1000 Universal In-Outdoor Speaker
August 1, 2011
PSB CS1000 Universal In-Outdoor Speaker
PSB’s new CS1000 Universal In-Outdoor Speaker ($499 USD per pair) isn’t the first outdoor/indoor speaker on
the market, but it’s the first from PSB, which automatically makes it one of the most interesting: it was
engineered by Paul Barton, one of the world’s leading speaker designers. Barton told me that he didn’t want to
offer a merely decent product, but one that produced the legendary sound quality and possessed the high
value that PSB is known for worldwide.
Description
The feel of strength and durability of the CS1000’s enclosure at first made me think it was made of aluminum;
instead, it turns out to be of UV-resistant polypropylene, available in black or white. The removable grille is
aluminum, and the binding posts, which are concealed by a robust rubber cover, are said to be rustproof. Each
speaker is about 12.25"H x 11.75"W x 9.25"D and weighs ten pounds. One handy design feature is that the
cabinet’s rear is quite a bit narrower than its front, for easier mounting in corners.
The driver complement is similar to what you see in PSB’s current indoor-only
speakers: a 1” ferrofluid-cooled, titanium-dome tweeter, and a 6.5” mid/woofer with clay-ceramic cone and a
rubber surround. Barton knew that the CS1000 would have to play loud and be easy to drive, and has designed
it to have a nominal impedance of 8 ohms that’s said to not drop below 6 ohms -- an easy load for amps and
receivers -- and a sensitivity of 86dB/2.83V/m in an anechoic chamber (about 88dB in-room). PSB recommends
amplifiers rated from 20 to 150W for use with the CS1000.
PSB also says that the CS1000 has a frequency response of 40Hz-23kHz. Barton told me that he wanted it to
measure like a true audiophile speaker; that is, with a relatively flat response across the audioband, with wide,
well-controlled dispersion and low distortion. Given that, I thought it fitting to spend the time and money to
measure the CS1000 in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) to see if he’d met
those goals -- something we wouldn’t normally do with a speaker of this type, or for a review to be published
on this site (though many of the speakers reviewed on SoundStage! Hi-Fi do undergo testing at the NRC). I was
blown away by the CS1000 outdoor speakers measured performance. When I showed the results to our staff,
without telling them the speaker’s make or model or type, and let them guess, they thought they were looking
at the measurements of a very-high-performing, traditional bookshelf design for indoors. Bravo, PSB!
But the CS1000 is no bookshelf speaker -- it’s designed to be used anywhere, and PSB has supplied fittings and
features that permit that to happen. Most notable is the large, rounded metal bracket that embraces the
enclosure and lets it horizontally swivel through 90°. Attached to that bracket is a large piece that can be
attached to a wall with screws, or to the underside of an overhang, to permit vertical swiveling through 170°.
This allows the CS1000 to be mounted almost anywhere, then turned so that it fires in the best direction.
The midrange was remarkable for how smoothly and clearly it was presented by the CS1000s, particularly in
the sounds of voices -- and the bass was surprisingly full and rich, even in the far reaches of my backyard.
Not so obvious is the port on the front baffle, concealed behind a detachable metal grille. A rubber port plug is
supplied to slightly attenuate the CS1000’s surprisingly strong bass output, if necessary -- particularly useful if
the speaker is mounted in or near a corner, where the closeness of the boundaries can reinforce and
emphasize its bass output enough to make the sound boomy or woolly. I don’t think any non-audiophile
company would pay so much attention to detail in the design of an outdoor/indoor speaker to get the sound
just right, but this is the kind of thing you get when an audiophile company like PSB produces a speaker, and a
guy like Paul Barton is in charge of its design.
Performance
On July 1, 2011, Canada Day, William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were the star attractions
in my city, Ottawa -- but in my backyard that day, it was the CS1000s that were the stars. Instead of wading into
the crowds of hundreds of thousands of people who were downtown, many of them there to catch a glimpse
of William and Kate, we stayed home and had a barbecue with family and friends. I set up the CS1000s on my
patio, using as stands a tree stump for one, and, for the other, the speakers’ shipping box. I drove the CS1000s
with a NuForce Icon-2 integrated amplifier and used my wife’s iPod Classic and iPod Touch as sources. The
moment Paul Simon’s distinctive voice came on, singing “Me and Julio Down By the School Yard,” from his
Greatest Hits: Shining Like a National Guitar (MP3, Warner Music 047721), everyone turned around with the
same response: Oh, that sounds really good. Never mind that what they were hearing was a mere MP3 file
(that’s the audiophile in me talking) -- I couldn’t have agreed more. Then, when the title track of Michael
Bublé’s Crazy Love came on (MP3, Reprise 07332), the women swooned, their eyes glazed over, and, for the
only time that day, they went silent.
The midrange was remarkable for how smoothly and clearly it was presented by the CS1000s, particularly in
the sounds of voices -- and the bass was surprisingly full and rich, even in the far reaches of my backyard. Most
outdoor speakers I’ve heard have a crackly, grainy midrange and sound very thin in the bass, yet through the
PSBs these areas of the audioband were anything but. The highs were as clean, extended, and refined as those
of many indoor-only speakers I’ve heard at this price, and I suspect those pristine highs were what helped blow
away all my barbecuers -- the average person rarely hears audiophile-grade speakers, and tends to be
entranced by ultraclean highs. If what you usually associate with outdoor speakers is lo-fi, PA-type sound -thin, hard, brittle, edgy -- you’re in for a surprise with the CS1000. This speaker brought indoor-quality sound to
my backyard in a spectacular way, even when powered by a pint-sized amp like the 18Wpc NuForce Icon-2.
I kept that system playing the entire day, and a number of people just sat down
and listened to their favorite songs. The CS1000s were impressive not only for how good they sounded
outdoors, but for how good they sounded, period. This wasn’t something only an audiophile could hear -anyone with an ear for what music properly reproduced sounds like could hear it.
Any deficiencies I heard in that backyard system weren’t the fault of the CS1000s; rather, it was the setup. First
was the amp -- the NuForce Icon-2 is a great little desktop amp, but its low power rating of just 18Wpc into 8
ohms (or 24Wpc into 4 ohms) precluded it from playing the PSBs really loudly. No one complained about that,
mind you, and many times people turned the volume down from where I’d set it. Still, I knew that the Icon-2
couldn’t play much louder than it did that day, and that an amp with an output of at least 50Wpc should be
considered the minimum for outdoor play -- sometimes the music will need to be cranked up, and you don’t
want the amp to clip. And 100Wpc, or more, would be even better.
The CS1000s were impressive not only for how good they sounded outdoors, but for how good they sounded,
period.
Second was the tweeter height. At first I had the CS1000s pointing too low, which made them sound a bit dull.
For the most extended top end, their tweeters should be aimed at ear height at the listening position or just
above, which is probably why PSB went to such lengths with that bracket system to ensure that the CS1000 can
be positioned just right. I just tilted the speakers back more on my makeshift stands so that the tweeters fired
higher. Had I owned these review samples, I’d likely have mounted them to the left and right of my large patio
door, just under the overhang that’s there, so that their tweeter axes would land just over my patio table,
which is near the door, and just before the swimming pool, which is farther away, because I’d still like to hear
them sounding good when I lounge poolside.
Then I moved the CS1000s into our rec room, where a lot of parties take place, and hooked them up to a 12year-old Nakamichi AV-10 -- a 100Wpc audio/video receiver that’s hardly the state of the art, but it still works
and was good enough for this task. The speaker cables were old Nordost Red Dawns, because that’s what I had
in this room when it was set up with a different system. The music source was a low-priced LG BD555C Blu-ray
player connected to the AVR with a generic TosLink digital interconnect.
This system worked amazingly well, producing the same smooth midrange, ample bass, and refined highs I’d
heard outside. The biggest difference was this: Driven by this far more powerful amp, the CS1000s could play
astonishingly loud and still retain their composure. The PSBs also seemed ridiculously easy for my ol’ Nak to
drive. I played the percussion-heavy “Objection (Tango),” from Shakira’s Laundry Service (CD, Sony 63900), and
turned the volume up and up and up until I was past the point that I consider reasonable, even for a party.
Neither speakers nor amp showed any signs of strain. I imagined that at some point a ceiling would be hit and
the amp and/or speakers would distort or blow up, but evidently I never got near it -- and I tried. I also played
many tracks from the guitar-dominated Putumayo Presents Brazilian Café (CD, Putumayo PUT 292-1), and was
thoroughly impressed by the refined sound of the guitar and the smoothness of the voices, even at very high
volumes.
As a result of this great pairing of PSBs and Nakamichi, I did my subsequent backyard listening with the CS1000s
placed as I’d had them on Canada Day -- tree stump, shipping box -- but with long Axiom Audio speaker cables
running to the backyard from the house, where the AV-10 permanently resides. The PSB CS1000s now always
get a very warm reception from family and friends. In fact, they may have made me the envy of the
neighborhood.
Conclusion
No one is likely to swap their main indoor speakers for a pair of PSB CS1000s, nor should they, but this speaker
would be an excellent choice for a party or rec room, a covered patio area, around a bar, or anywhere you
might require their unique mounting options and all-situation durability. I’m not sure anyone in the world knew
that they needed a top-quality, weatherproof loudspeaker that can play outdoors as well as indoors, but once
they hear what a high-end speaker manufacturer like PSB can come up, they’ll understand.
The PSB CS1000s now always get a very warm reception from family and friends. In fact, they may have made
me the envy of the neighborhood.
For $499/pair, there is absolutely nothing I can quibble about in terms of how the CS1000 is built, what
features it contains, and how it performs. The CS1000’s biggest selling feature is that it sounds like a good
traditional indoor speaker -- the kind you’re used to listening to as part of a decent stereo system -- and it
sounds that way outdoors, too. That’s quite an achievement, and why I feel that people who value good sound,
no matter where they are, should buy them. If Paul Barton’s goal was to produce a versatile, durable
outdoor/indoor speaker worthy of the name of the company he founded, a name that means not only highquality sound but reasonable prices, he’s succeeded admirably with the PSB CS1000.
Doug Schneider SoundStage! Xperience