Recording - March 2020 - 59

REVIEW

PSI Audio A23-M
Three-way Studio Monitor
A big dose of reality, detail, and fullness in a
hand built, Swiss-made three-way monitor
REVIEW BY PAUL VNUK JR.

P

SI Audio was founded in 1977 with the aim of developing loudspeakers that would reproduce sound as accurately as possible and perfectly respect the acoustic
message. PSI built its own passive speakers until 1988; it
developed and manufactured the Studer A1, A3, and A5
studio monitors, as well as other hi-fi speakers. An OEM
manufacturer until 2003, the company re-launched as PSI
Audio after Studer stopped selling monitors.
I became acquainted with PSI Audio in March 2016
when I reviewed the compact A14-M monitor, an update of
the Studer A1. Last year in our July 2019 issue, mastering
engineer Justin Perkins and I both weighed in on the A17-M
nearfields, and this month Justin and I focus our ears on the
three-way PSI A23-M.

Swiss Precision

Available in Studio Red, Metal Black, and Pure White, PSI Audio
monitors are designed, built, and handmade in Switzerland. PSI Audio monitors employ a 100% analog circuit path-no onboard DSP.
The A23-M is one of two three-way models in the PSI Audio line
along with their larger flagship A25-M. The A23-M measures 11" x
19.7" x 13.4" and is billed as a compact three-way monitor. It's triamped with Class G/H amplifiers pushing 140W and 70W to an 8.3"
bass driver and a 4.75" handmade domed midrange driver. The high
end is handled by a Class A/B amplifier delivering 50W to a 1" soft
dome tweeter, which is also a handmade PSI design. They are compensated for phase response and crossed over at 620Hz and 3.2kHz.
They have a frequency response of 34Hz - 23kHz and a Max SPL of
58 RECORDING March 2020

Price: $4,789
More from: psiaudio.swiss

109dB. Like all PSI Audio speakers, they're voiced to
be as neutral as possible.
The front of the cabinet features a bass port and a
green power LED that flashes red to indicate overheating or when the internal limiter kicks in. As is becoming common in three-way designs, the small drivers
are fixed to a removable square baffle, which can be
unscrewed, lifted out and rotated, allowing the A23-M
to be placed vertically or horizontally.
Level and low end rolloff knobs are available on the
rear of the box for tweaking the monitor to its environment.
For connections, it uses a single balanced XLR input.
They also feature an EU-mandated sleep mode when
no signal is present. 

In the Studio

I set up the A23-M pairzzzzzz in my GIK Acoustics-treated mix space alongside my Focal Trio11 Be monitors (also
three-way). After a few weeks of listening and mixing on
them, I feel that the A23-M is indeed very neutral. No frequencies are hyped, and nothing pushes forward or pokes
out unna urally. They have plenty of power and can fill a
room evenly with sound. They offer a generous sweet spot,
aided by the fact that monitors of this size and strength are
best heard at a distance. PSI Audio recommends a good
8' of distance, if possible. In my room, it was more like
6', but I was still impressed. They lack the low-frequency
heft of the Focal Trio11 Be monitors via-á-vis pure bass
extension and rumble, but the low end of the A23-M is still
big and full. Copy editor and fellow audio engineer Mike
Scheibinger had a chance to listen to them in my room,
and he quite liked their even weight and what he called an
exceptional low end/low midrange coherence. While not
hyped in the high end, they are still very detailed and open
on top, and exhibit zero harshness or distortion.
Recording - March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2020
