Recording - July 2019 - 46

REVIEW

PSI AUDIO A-17M STUDIO MONITORS
Musical, not sterile

The A17-M, while ultra-detailed, is not a sterile or clinical
sounding monitor. Their high end is very 3-dimensional, open
and neutral rather than "studio-monitor" bright. The midrange
is reproduced quite smoothly and flat, and the lows best described as completely unhyped. Unlike many competing monitors in this size range, they do not try and overcompensate for
their size and push the low end. This means that if you want
to fill out your room with bass, you will need a sub, which PSI
Audio makes and recommends in the form of the Sub A125-M.
Despite not pushing or thumping the low end, the bass extension of these monitors is still very audible. It is easy to pick out
the detail and nuance of low frequency tones in a kick drum,
an upright bass, a bass cabinet, and more. Even if you can't
feel the low end, you can still successfully mix it on the A17-M.
Moving the A17-M to my studio, Moss Garden Music, for
tracking and mix sessions, the A17-M again shows its ability
to zero in on the subtleties of instrument and vocal capture and
trustworthy details when mixing.
Levelwise, they won't rattle the room, or crank to monster
levels to impress clients, but they will still fill a room with clear,

clean sound. If you like to mix at moderate levels, you will be
impressed how full and even they sound. They are also a joy to
work on for long periods of time with zero ear fatigue. Let me
reiterate how amazingly clear the high-end soundstage is, and
yet there is zero harshness or bite.
If you do push them loud, the bass can get a tad woofy
on modern bass-heavy dance, pop, and EDM, but even when
pushed close to their stated maximum SPL level there is little to
no distortion, breakup, or compression of the sound.

Conclusions

The A17-M is a studio monitor that does exactly what PSI
Audio designed it to do in the company mission statement: to
offer exceptional, accuracy, beauty and detail. And they do it
all through analog means and acoustical design. If these little
monitors sound this good, I can't wait to try bigger PSI Audio
models in the future.
Price: $1879 each
More from: PSI Audio, www.psiaudio.swiss/

Two Cents
From The
Mastering Guy
By Justin Perkins
When I moved my mastering studio from
my house to a commercial facility, I knew I
would still want/need some kind of home
setup for various tasks. I started with a
pair of monitors from a well-known speaker manufacturer, and while they sounded
good for listening to music, I found it incredibly hard to make sonic decisions on them.
When I decided to upgrade from my
initial monitor choice, I was most interested in accuracy and usability. Since I use
a pair of PSI Audio A215-M paired with
two PSI Audio A125-M subs in my commercial room, I decided to go with PSI
Audio for my home set as well.
Despite having a main studio, I still find
myself doing quite a few things from home.
This includes session prep, checking masters for clicks/pops/glitches/noise, and
removing these things before finalizing
46 RECORDING July 2019

masters and sending them out. I will occasionally do revisions to masters in progress,
as well as generate all of the final master
formats after approval... in other words, all
the things I can do that don't require my
analog mastering chain over at the studio.
I can now do this from home with complete
confidence, thanks to the A17-M.

At times, finalizing the masters from
home on the A17-M (after doing most
of the work at my main studio) has
provided a unique listening perspective, and has even helped me make
a few tweaks to my initial mastering
settings before sending a master out
for approval.
http://www.psiaudio.swiss/
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