I know PSB has a lot of stuff on paper going for him, but his speakers disappointed me greatly. Those reviews touting PSB's credentials got to me, too, when I decided to buy the Image 2b. Box coloration doesn't always make itself obvious on all types of recordings, but it was the first thing I noticed when I heard my speakers. I would never buy another PSB speaker. The tweeter was also quite harsh, imo, and certainly unrefined. On the other hand, Danny Richie has designed well received speakers from $220 up to the epiphany audio 20-21@$27,000. There's simply no competition here, for those in the know, imo. The X-LS is comparable to MOST bookshelves under $1k. There are some companies out there that offer better value in the $500-$1k range, but not many. With the value that the X-LS offers, it's always worth considering for <$1k. You may wish to skip over the other offerings under $1k and go straight to higher classed offerings, when you're ready to move on.