Stanley H., you are the man. I tested these monsters last weekend in NY and I gotta tell ya, they are ridiculously big daddies, but the sound is unsurpassed. Very unconventional too. I mean, who the hell makes 275 pound speakers??? Kinda strange too with that ugly ass yellow pine cabinet and metal (iron?) grills. The wierdest part though is the hinged "lid" of the speaker so you can add sand or even water (!) into vertical aluminum tubes to dampen the voluminous cabinet. The inside looks more like a freakin nuclear reactor with all those rods. The 4 side mounted 8" quad-polymer woofers and 2 10" downfiring tri-metal woofers could crack the damn foundation of my house at a rated 18 Hz. The 4 injection-molded carbon-fiber ferret-fluid cooled midranges and 2 front and 2 back-firing titanium inverted dome tweeters and 2 ribbon super tweeters soar into the stratosphere. A little bright for my taste, but these babaies will produce every note of your music and more! I haven't purchased these behemoths yet because there is no way my little 25 wpc Donnellan amp could possibly drive these things. They have a miserable 84 db rating, and require a recommended 250wpc at 8 ohms to get anything out of them. You Levinson, Classe and Krell guy should take a listen, you'll never go back to those lousy PSBs, Paradigms, or Vandersteens again! I'd give them 5 stars except they are too damn big and heavy, and fairly ugly.

Scary ability to replicate the loons on my classical loon cd.

These things are totally immobile and require precise placements. I practically ruined my carpet trying to move them around before realizing the titanium spikes were ripping the carpet up (not to mention the subflooring).

Glen B obviously has an ax to grind. These speakers will reveal every weakness in the audio chain. Glen B, you need to specify what equipment your are using with these fine speakers. Perhaps with a little tweaking, you can too experience to type of Nirvina that the rest of us Barry Audio Systems owners achieve. These speakers are not perfect, but, dadgum, do they ever come close.

PS - Barry Audio Systems has filed for bankruptcy protection - apparently they blame it on poor marketing and a very unusual product to market. Getting spare parts will become increasingly difficult.

Rock On!
BM

Similar Products Used:

All the familiar names.

I have now owned the BAS PEB-1A-XB1 for nearly six months now and would like to update my previous post. This speaker just craves tremendous amounts of power. Period. I recently traded in those crummy Classe amps (2 CA-200 operting mono) for a couple of Krell FBP 600 and I still feel a little short on energy. But, I was warned that these were not efficient speakers. One compliant: I sprung a leak in one of the "aqua damping devices" and completey ruined my rare oriental rug. The people at BAS were not to concerned with THEIR problem. Also, the quarter inch pine veneer began to ooze a smelly reddish yellow sap that gets on my cat and causes a nasty rash. But, I never did like that cat anyway. Rock on dudes!

Weight

Sound

What's up with these speakers. My buddy works at the local Lame Emco Premium Sound Works Shop, so I got to try these behemoths out for a while. They are the biggest hunk-o-junk speakers I have ever heard. Every trick in the book was tried here. About as coherent as a Charles Ives symphony. Pine finish? The speakers smell like a god damn aerasol freshener. If you don't fill the moronic tubes up with something, they end up sounding like an echo chamber. The best thing for these speakers is some gasoline and a match.

Similar Products Used:

Practically every speaker in the $2 - 5k range

Giant Killers. Let me be the first to predict the future of these amazing speakers. These speakers ooze quality and inginuity. Nothing but the best materials real woods, metals, and other exotic materials. No need for a sub with these babies. They hit 18hz at -3db without a strain. Mids are crystal clear. Airy highs that reach the stratosphere. I have three complaints - 1) they weigh 275 lbs. each, 2) the extruded iron speaker grill is a real pain to work with, and 3) they are only available through mail order with no return policy. Rather large, but the beautiful yellow pine finish more than makes up for this. Highly recommended.