Recording - March 2016 - 43

doing so! They are great for finding and
fixing issues in a track, not so much for
kick-back casual listening.
Interestingly, while critical in nature, they
are not "studio monitor bright" or clinical in
nature. One of my favorite qualities of
smaller desktop-style studio monitors is a
tight punchy low end. The A14-M thumps
fully with the best of them, yet it does not
sound pushed or hyped, or like it's trying to
sound too sub-like.
While made for smaller rooms and portability, the A14-M can still crank quite nicely.
Just for testing, I pushed them up to a downright painful sustained 106 dB before any
hint of distortion crept in. Beyond that the
clip protection kicked in and worked perfectly. At moderate levels of 62 dB up to 82 dB,
I was impressed at how even and consistent
they sounded. Even at quiet levels, the A14M still gives you the full sonic picture.
Ask the mastering engineer
Next I moved them to my main mix room,
Moss Garden Music, and for a second
opinion I called my friend Justin Perkins to
come over and give them a listen. Justin
owns Mystery Room Mastering in
Milwaukee, WI, and he uses a pair of PSI
Audio A215-M reference monitors in his
room. Justin is intimately familiar with the PSI
Audio sound; if you check out the website
for ZenPro Audio, the US distributor of the

PSI Audio line, Justin's opinions on the
A215-M are quoted on its product page. I
have also heard the A215-M speakers in
his room, and they are seriously impressive!
I knew in advance that the small A14-M
would be a little bit swallowed up in my mix
room, especially alongside my Amphion
One18 and Focal Trio6 Be monitors. In
practice, the studio environment really
helped add context to the PSI Audio sound.
We spent a morning listening to dozens of
tracks from the prerequisite Steely Dan to the
Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, and early
Rolling Stones, to modern well-mixed albums
like Beck's Sea Change and more.
Justin immediately noticed that despite
their size, the A14-M had the same qualities
he valued in their big brothers. According to
him, the strength of PSI monitors is that they
are an honest representation of the source.
In Justin's words, "They do not flatter a mix
and will highlight faults instantly."
Compared to the other large monitors in
my studio, they had a completely different
sound, and as such could make a great
complementary tool even when larger monitors are present. While the larger Focals
offered extended highs and a sub-thumping
low end, and the Amphions were more
open with a nice solid midrange, the A14M was perhaps the most neutral.
As an example, when listening to a classic blues song from Muddy Waters' 1963

Folk Singer, the snare really popped out
clean and bright on both the Focals and the
Amphions. It sounded great, but Justin's
guess was that it probably did not stand out
quite so much when originally recorded and
mixed. On the PSI Audio monitors the snare
was in fact a touch duller and more natural.
As Justin put it, "It sounded more like the
band was in the room with you."
Conclusions
I would like to leave you with two final
considerations. First, this speaker is a highend workhorse and made for serious business. If you are in a small bedroom studio,
editing suite, or broadcast booth, and are
used to the similar-sized competition-many
of which try hard to "sound" impressive-
the A14-M will take some aural readjustment, thanks to its honest and unflattering
nature. Many of you will simply not have
heard microscopic accuracy like this before.
Second, PSI Audio quality comes at a significant cost, and one thing these amazing
speakers are not, is "budget"! That being
said, if you need unsurpassed professional
quality that you can mix on comfortably for
hours at a time, with superb real-world translation, then these speakers are well worth
the investment.
Price: $1050 each
More from: PSI Audio, www.psiaudio.com

http://www.psiaudio.com http://www.gracedesign.com

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