Premier Acoustic PA-6F Speaker Review (1 Viewer)

I’ve never written a review before so bear with me. Also, while I consider myself a Home Theater enthusiast, I willingly admit that I am not an expert when it comes to the technical aspect of speakers. I’ll do my best to use the right terms in the right context. As you can see below, I have piece mealed together my speakers over a number of years. Although they aren’t all the same, I have been pretty happy with the overall sound quality of my old setup. I was thoroughly surprised to find out that I had won the PA-6F set of speakers.

My Old Speakers:
Fronts: Infinity Overture 1’s
Rears: Infinity Reference 3001’s
Center: Eosone RSC300
Sub: JBL (borrowed during the winter months from my parents Home Theatre)
Receiver: Denon AVR-2105


Appearance:
I was shipped the all black speakers and subwoofer. The nicely match the rest of my HT setup (TV & stereo cabinet). The speakers are very well built. They feel solid (the sub weights 56 pounds) and match the rest of the equipment I have in my basement. They don’t appear to “White Van” quality speakers in the least.


Speaker Review:

I tried out a variety of different types of CD’s and DVD’s trying to make sure I put the speakers through their paces. I was impressed right away as I started off listening to “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones and “Occasion” by Harry Connick Jr. I was extremely impressed with how the speakers sounded. When it was just Connick on the piano and Marsalis on the saxophone, it sounded like they were in my room playing next to me. It was that clear, true and accurate. I was equally impressed when listening to Norah Jones. I switched to the Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication disc. I was hoping to test out the subwoofer a little bit and was not disappointed. The sound coming from Flea’s bass during all of the songs were clear and tight. I ended my listening with the Foo Fighters “Skin & Bones” CD. All of the instruments came across clear and not muddied in the least.

Over this past weekend I tried out some of the DVD’s from my collection. I started with “The Day After Tomorrow”. The speakers performed well and seamlessly passed the sound effects from center to the front speakers. I never realized until now how much of a difference it made to have speakers that all matched. My wife was less than impressed with our new sub though. The bass being kicked out kept her awake far longer than she would have liked to have been. The same goes for the movie “The Matador”. I got the evil eye again when watching the first couple of minutes of the movie. Not to give away too much of the movie, but when a car gets blown up, my basement shook and my wife threaten to shut me down for the night if I didn’t turn it down (I think she was just mad that I made her jump and wreck some Xmas paper). I lastly put in Episode 3 of “Band Of Brothers”. I quickly switched to the part of the episode where Easy Company fought in Carentan. All of the speakers performed admirably. The surrounds did a great job of making you feel like you were in the heart of the battle. I have read some people post that they thought that the center channel in this set was the week point of the set. That wasn’t my experience. In my listening it did a good job presenting the dialog of what I was watching and was not drowned out by the background music or sound effects.

Overall, I am extremely happy with my early Christmas present. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend these to my friends and family looking for new speakers. I can’t say thank enough to everyone that run this forum and to Lloyd and Eric for the speakers.

If anyone has questions about the speakers please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.

I was pleased to read of a speaker give-away that was no hoax, and a review from the winner Chad Erickson. Since it appears the PA-6F system was offered by Eric Winston of Sound Distributors I felt compelled to chime in, even though I am new to the HTF. I just purchased and installed a new system of Premier PA-6F speakers, purchased from Eric. He answered all questions honestly, and without hedging at all. The transaction and shipping went smoothly and right on schedule. The cherry finish speakers were in perfect shape, and well done at the factory. I replaced my 4th Bose system with the Premiers, an AM-10 III driven by a Pioneer 600 Watt A/V receiver. I do not think there is any comparison. The Bose sounded OK without a comparision, but the Premiers with 12" sub are so much better at near the same price point. Without going into flowery description (like rating a fine wine) I have to say the non-broken-in-yet Premier PA6Fs give a fuller sound, excellent highs without being harsh or exhibiting distortion, and providing a lot more mid range with smooth lows. For some listeners, the PA-6Fs (towers) may be all they need but I have the sub with the system, and it adds those really low sounds that are felt rather than heard. My feeling is this system is underrated because it is not a well-known brand (yet). I did a lot of investigation before investing in these rather than the brands many talk about on the forums, and now am convinced I am getting more sound for my buck, with a system that not only sounds great, but has impressive looks too.
While there is a great deal of skepticism on internet purchasing of unknown audio gear that is not heavily advertised, I took that chance and was rewarded with a good system that I could not go wrong with. I am not in any way connected with any manufacturer, dealer, reseller, online wholesaler or audio equipment business. I have been enjoying audio gear since my first purchase of a Bogan vacuum tube one channel amp in 1951 powering a 15 inch triaxial bass reflex box. Be glad to answer any questions.

And should we trust the opinion of speakers by someone who acknowledges he's deaf?

I think these reviews of Premier Acoustic speakers should be taken with a grain of salt.

Deafguy is comparing the system to his old Bose system. That is an unfair comparison and the PAs are much larger and would be able to fill a room more effortlessly than small cube speakers, and the Bose system doesn't even have a true subwoofer.

Chad Erickson is comparing the system to his Infinities which is fine but, to me, Infinities suck (too bright). What other systems has he compared the PAs to?

I think it's just excitement right now. It's just like the Fluance speakers. Guys on here were saying that it's great for the money. Sure...great compared to what? Those users who gave glowing reviews did not have a decent system to start with. People were saying that the speakers were comparable to speakers in the 1000-2000 dollar range (don't think so). I got a set a long time ago based on the reviews and needless to say, I was very disappointed.

I say wait a year or so and see if these speakers are given professional reviews. If the verdict is good, then purchasing them is an option but right now, I think it's a shot in the dark. I say this so guys can spend their money wisely, not just invest a bunch of money in speakers that is running on hype right now.

Hong -

I freely admit that i only have my old (as you say - sucky speakers) to compare them to. I did not test drive any other speakers other than my old ones and my new ones. At this time of year i just don't have the time or effort to do it. I never found my old Infinity speakers to be too bright. But that is just my opinion.

And.....why should people take my review with a grain of salt? Is my opinion less valuable then yours? I'm sorry you didn't care for the speakers. Can you tell us what you were comparing them to?

Chad: Given all those reasons...a nice job on the review!

Nice review Chad, just another opinion that the speakers do in fact represent a good value, I am convinced of that. How they compare to speakers worth much more or much less is a matter of individual preference. For someone with a lot more money to spend, they don't make any sense and who should expect them to?

Chris

I own the Fluance HTB-SX+, I believe is the model number, and I like them better than comparably priced speakers I have heard and as well as most speakers costing twice as much. I have never thought they were comparable to any $2,000 speakers I have ever heard and only comparable to poor $1,000 speakers which I would never buy in the first place. More money to spend, of course buy something better but for the money, I believe they represent a very good value. I use mine often at my girlfriend's house and we are delighted as it was all the budget allowed there.

The Premium Acoustic speakers likely represent a very good value as well and should be compared to other spearkers in the same price range to determine relative value.

Chris

I have owned PSB both the Stratus Silver line and the Image line, the Stratus Silver line is a better speaker, I also paid $1800 for a set of towers. The Image 6t's, I find the PA's to be just as good. I also demo'd quite a few speakers before I settled on the PA line. I didn't hear a big difference between the higher priced speakers I auditioned, compared to the PA's. They do represent a great value. Like others have said, if you have the money to spend on higher priced speakers then do so, if money were no concern, I know I would. I would have a pair of av123 Rocket RS850's sitting in my living room. They also cost $2000. The PA's cost $299. There is no other tower that I can think of for $299 that can compete with the PA's.

Also, I have said this before, I don't agree with the center channel speaker is the weak link of the system. I don't hear that at all. Dialogue is clean, clear and I haven't heard any distortion even at high volumes.

What do you consider to be a professional review? One that's printed in a magazine such as Sound and Vision? I know for myself, I'd rather read several personal reviews of products that one glowing review in a print publication - where there's a good chance that the reviewer was influenced by advertising dollars.

Plus, with all of the internet direct companies that have 30-day liberal return policies, I tend to trust my own ears, rather than those of a reviewer. After all, it's me that needs to look at them, listen to them and live with them.

I understand the what sounds best is very subjective but to me it seems like there's just too much hype over these Premier Acoustics speakers and everyone's jumping on the band wagon because one or two people said they are good and a good value. I chimed in because these speakers have not been professionally reviewed. No offense to anyone who thinks user reviews are more worthwhile but seriously.....have you truly looked at user reviews? Go to audioreview.com or look at reviews by users at futureshop or bestbuy and you'll see that most have NO clue what they are talking about. A good example would be reviews by users for Quest speakers. Users say they are the best speakers they've heard and best $1000+ speakers. Anyone that has heard them know that is not even close to the truth. More like they will best $50 speakers.

Anyways...I already see it happening. A noob buys these speakers based on all the hype here. He/She thinks the speakers are the best then he/she hears something of comparable price or 2-3 times the cost (since they are as good as those according to you guys) and then thinks that PAs are POS.

Hong,

Did you not read my comments? I by no means am a professional reviewer,nor do I consider myself an audiophile. I am a home theater enthusiast. I don't claim to know everything about speakers but at the same time I am not ignorant. And would like to think that I know what a good speaker sounds like and what sounds like garbage. I know that the PA's can't compete with every $1000+ speaker. There are a lot of good speakers out there. But I can say that the PA line is a stellar performer regardless of price. I would tell anyone looking to spend $200-$1000 on a set of towers to give PA a try. Call it hype, call it jumping on the bandwagon, I auditioned a lot of speakers before deciding on the PA's and am very happy. I am glad that I saved a ton of money going with these over some of the others that I was looking at.

As far as your skepticism about peoples reviews over at audioreview.com or some of the others, I couldn't agree with you more. A lot of the people putting up reviews there haven't a clue what a good speaker sounds like and what a crappy speaker sounds like. Every speaker reviewed there is the best speaker they have ever heard. That is why I myself do not put any weight behind their reviews. For true and accurate reviews and opinions on equipment, I come here or to avsforum. People on these two forums seem to know what they are talking about.

Well I bought a 5 pair set of these for $950 a few weeks ago. I've been listening to them in my bedroom during several sessions now, so I believe I can objectively evaluate them here now.

One technical issue is I cant get the sub to play. This may need to be returned since I have checked everything several times now.

Basically, they SUK. The towers CANNOT handle very much power. OK, so I
'm driving them with a smallish 75w Denon 7.1 using digital source material. They BUZZ like crazy at moderate loads. The highs are OK and the mid-range is somewhat lacking.

I would rate Klipsch as a very good reference speaker but the Premier is junk. Hey, I think Bose is total garbage too, so take this with a grain I suppose.

I have a question and two comments.

Did you get the PA 6Fs with the new driver configuration? They changed it from a 2 way to a three way system and added a mid range driver.

I like the surrounds too. I sold them but I believe they are nice.

The sub is a mini monster and I still have one in my office. It does not play as loud or as low as a more expensive one however, in my 11x12x10 office, it digs way down especially being corner loaded. I bleiev this is a truly underrated performer. I wish they would tune it down to 18-20 Hz.

I hope you continue to enjoy your speakers.

I heard a friends setup of the 6" 5.1 system of PA's a couple of years ago and was suprised when he told me what they cost. Since then I've moved and lately have been shopping for a new home theater system. After much research I ended up with a denon 3311, almost bought the marantz 6005 but the 3311 seemed to have a bit more detail coming thru,although not as "warm" as the marantz..

so..I've been looking at getting the 684 b&w 5.1 or the new kef Q700 with associated speakers in 5.1..but either would end up over 2500..i talked to Eric and I think I'll get the pa6 titaniums,but change the front L&R to the 8" titaniums as I like stereo sometimes..I'll post a review once I get them here,hopefully they'll sound balanced and detailed enough I'll fall in love with them..if not then xmas presents from me will be lean as I'll go for a british speaker set.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm comparing the P.A. 6F to Polks RT1 setup. It doesn't have tower speakers like the P.A.s but I'm leary of the PA since they're not well known. Anyone care to shed some light on the subject? Polk has a free Sub deal going on with a $499 purchase so I was looking at the Csi3 center, the Rti6s for the front, the Rti4s for the rear and paying $50 extra and getting the Psw125 sub totalling $607. The Premier would run around $760 I believe but it would have 6 1/2" speakers around verses 5 1/4 everywhere except for the front 2.