PMC Speakers Owners & Discussion Thread

[RCADees]

  On 02/07/2019 at 11:21 AM, blakey72 said:

@Andpi the PMC's do like a generous serve of good current. I'm in your boat, love Rega gear too. The Brio will run them fine as I used to run mine with an Exposure 2010 (50w/ch) and 2010S2 (75w/ch). They however really opened up when I put the Plinius 9200 on them (200w/ch). I wouldn't go up the line with Rega amps.

 

IMO they will be a little too bright for the PMC's. The Brio is fine but the Elicit R becomes quite bright from some friends experience. There are a number of amps that sit very well with the PMC's. Just depends what kind of budget you have and how generous the wife is  

 

I'm sure other PMC owners will chime in with suggestions at all budgets. You're nearly in the club mate  

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Hey Blakey72, thanks so much for the advice. 

 

That is so interesting to know that the Brio R would run them better than the other more powerful Rega Amps. 

 

I guess the initial budget was around the Elex R $2k, but I think that I am considering now around the A$3k mark. 

Once I am ready to buy I intend to demo a lot and try different combinations but I can only do that once I have the cash. 

 

When I demoed the Twenty5.22 at Carlton Audiovisual it was smallish room acoustically treated and they had them connected to an Audio Research small valve amp. Not sure how big of a difference all other amps would do. 

 

What I fell in love with from these speakers was that it felt like I was sitting among the music band and that I could almost touch the singer right in front of me. It felt like seeing playing a real band in a small intimate bar show. This was with a jazz cd. 

 

On the other hand, I played something else that day from a Japanese artist cd and I was almost of emotion. Truly incredible. 

It didn't feel like there were speakers there. Amazing. 

 

Any amp suggestions to pair the Twenty5.22 are all welcome within around that budget. 

Sorry forgot to add, budget is about $3k, I only need an analogue amp, as I do not stream or play digital files from computer etc. Except from CD's. 

 

And by the way what a pain that you have to wait four bloody months for those woofers! Hang in there. I think that you'll appreciate them even more when they come back to life. 

 

Thanks everyone. 

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by Andpi

[blakey72]

....

Edited July 3, 2019 by blakey72

[blakey72]

Withdrawn

Edited July 3, 2019 by blakey72

[blakey72]

Sorry, just realized no cash yet. Had some second hand ideas.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by blakey72

[RCADees]

Hey Blakey72 and all PMC owners, 

 

Thanks. I found the links. Thanks for the suggestions. 

So it is looking like other possibilities  to match the PMC are Plinius and Musical Fidelity. So I will continue to investigate more. 

Plinius seems to be out of my budget for now anyway. 

 

Pardon my ignorance as I am very new to this. I was thinking 200w for the PMC Twenty5.22 isn't that a crazy amount of power?

Does this have to do with volume levels? Or is it better control with particular harder to drive speakers in general? 

 

I will definitely love to keep demoing and will post here. 

 

 

 

[audio_file]

In my experience my PMC Twenty.23 don't improve with more power, it was more a case of matching the tonal balance of the speaker to the tonal balance of the amplifier than anything else.

 

I have a Musical Fidelity A3.2CR pre + power at 130W, a Cyrus Pre2 + Stereo 200 at 175W, and a Naim Nait XS2 with Flatcap XS at 70W. I also used to have a Lavardin IS at 45W and Rotel RB 991 at 200W.

 

They sounded awful on the Rotel, good overall on both the Cyrus and Musical Fidelity, and good also on the Lavardin and Naim.

 

The bass was a tiny bit tighter on the Cyrus, but it's a very small difference.

The bass power (relative to the mid range) was strongest on my Naim.

The mid range detail was best on the Naim and second best on the Lavardin.

The treble detail was best on the Musical Fidelity.

 

I hope that helps.

Edited July 4, 2019 by audio_file

[blakey72]

I don't think it's a volume thing. It's more tonal as audio_file said and control/impact. I don't think the Plinius (200w) is a great deal louder than the Exposure (75w).

 

It just seems to clean things up and seperate things more.It does give a bit more of a clean wack in the bass if you know what I mean. My speakers are 90dB so not hard to drive.

 

I don't know if it's a 'watts' thing exactly, more of a quality of watts and current (and matching). 

[blakey72]

And yes I've heard Naim are good but if you are going Naim, I'd probably just go Exposure. Just as good IMO and cheaper.

[DAMO 1147]

I'm planning the Sansui AUX -701 for my PMC's!

[blakey72]

  On 04/07/2019 at 6:17 AM, DAMO 1147 said:

I'm planning the Sansui AUX -701 for my PMC's!

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Yeah that's a good match. I've tried my Alpha 907 with mine and it's very nice

[RCADees]

  On 04/07/2019 at 1:06 AM, audio_file said:

In my experience my PMC Twenty.23 don't improve with more power, it was more a case of matching the tonal balance of the speaker to the tonal balance of the amplifier than anything else.

 

I have a Musical Fidelity A3.2CR pre + power at 130W, a Cyrus Pre2 + Stereo 200 at 175W, and a Naim Nait XS2 with Flatcap XS at 70W. I also used to have a Lavardin IS at 45W and Rotel RB 991 at 200W.

 

They sounded awful on the Rotel, good overall on both the Cyrus and Musical Fidelity, and good also on the Lavardin and Naim.

 

The bass was a tiny bit tighter on the Cyrus, but it's a very small difference.

The bass power (relative to the mid range) was strongest on my Naim.

The mid range detail was best on the Naim and second best on the Lavardin.

The treble detail was best on the Musical Fidelity.

 

I hope that helps.

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Thanks so much audio_fileand and Blakey72 and everyone else for all this information and explanation. 

 

It now makes much more sense when Blakey72 said that the Brio ran his PMCs well. I was very surprised to be honest due to the 50wpc.

 

So that is the key: tone match.

But this makes me think that if I like the Brio R sound that I have at home it looks to me that I may need to audition other speaker brands. However, the PMCs are so magical that I will need to continue to demo until I find the match.

 

Thanks as well for the Sansui suggestion. Will do a search and start short listing. 

 

Thanks all 

[Formula409]

  On 02/07/2019 at 9:52 AM, blakey72 said:

Same happens in my 4m x 4m room. You are sitting where low frequency waves cancel out each other. And yes I'd say the rear ports of the MA's are making the difference.

 

You are probably bouncing off the rear wall therefore changing the positioning of the waves as they reach you (just guessing). A pic or two of the room would be good. You also need to toe them in so the point to a point roughly 1m behind your head. So toed out a little.

 

Sitting against the back wall is THE worst place to sit in the room! Believe me, I know cause thats where I have to sit (WAF). Where listening seriously I pull the couch about 1m forward.

 

Oh, my pmc's are still laying in their coffin waiting for a replacement woofer.....very sad..

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Thanks, mate.

 

I've done more playing around, adjusting the speaker distance from sidewalls, rear wall, toe-in amount and bringing the couch forward. I have found a sweet spot, but I think the combination of the room acoustics and the fussiness of the speakers makes it very narrow. It's very becoming very frustrating.

 

When I plug the little monitor audio silvers in things just work, while they cant hit the same level of performance as the PMCs, its much easier to just sit down and have a fairly level performance across the room.

 

I previously had Monitor Audio RX6 floorstanding speakers, which I sold when we moved into a townhouse. Maybe I was less aware then, but I never remember having such placement issues with them. I also loved them at the time - I might explore going back down that path again and audition some silver series floorstanders or perhaps their gold series bookshelf models.

[audio_file]

  On 04/07/2019 at 10:38 PM, Bikkitz said:

Thanks, mate.

 

I've done more playing around, adjusting the speaker distance from sidewalls, rear wall, toe-in amount and bringing the couch forward. I have found a sweet spot, but I think the combination of the room acoustics and the fussiness of the speakers makes it very narrow. It's very becoming very frustrating.

 

When I plug the little monitor audio silvers in things just work, while they cant hit the same level of performance as the PMCs, its much easier to just sit down and have a fairly level performance across the room.

 

I previously had Monitor Audio RX6 floorstanding speakers, which I sold when we moved into a townhouse. Maybe I was less aware then, but I never remember having such placement issues with them. I also loved them at the time - I might explore going back down that path again and audition some silver series floorstanders or perhaps their gold series bookshelf models.

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Maybe this speaker is just a bad match for your room. I haven't had any difficulty with positioning my PMC Twenty.23. They sound good against the back wall, and away from it. They don't sound bad 50cm from a side wall, but they also don't sound bad when they're only 1m apart.

In all cases the sound stage sounds OK to me, but some positions are better than others.

In all cases the bass sounds good to me, apart from the uneven distribution, but that's just how the speaker works.

The one thing that is different and I stay away from is having your head near a wall behind you, but this is not always an option for everyone.

[blakey72]

Just pulled my blown pmc woofer apart. I'm sure that voice coil wire shouldn't be sitting there!

 

I can't look 

[Irek]

  On 04/07/2019 at 10:38 PM, Bikkitz said:

Thanks, mate.

 

I've done more playing around, adjusting the speaker distance from sidewalls, rear wall, toe-in amount and bringing the couch forward. I have found a sweet spot, but I think the combination of the room acoustics and the fussiness of the speakers makes it very narrow. It's very becoming very frustrating.

 

When I plug the little monitor audio silvers in things just work, while they cant hit the same level of performance as the PMCs, its much easier to just sit down and have a fairly level performance across the room.

 

I previously had Monitor Audio RX6 floorstanding speakers, which I sold when we moved into a townhouse. Maybe I was less aware then, but I never remember having such placement issues with them. I also loved them at the time - I might explore going back down that path again and audition some silver series floorstanders or perhaps their gold series bookshelf models.

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The room acoustics can sometimes be a problem. You can try schiit loki or add subwoofer, switch to 25.23 or 25.24. If going with MA I would say the platinum is more equivalent of PMC.

[RCADees]

  On 07/07/2019 at 2:11 AM, blakey72 said:

Just pulled my blown pmc woofer apart. I'm sure that voice coil wire shouldn't be sitting there!

 

I can't look 

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Edvard Munch's the scream part II. What a disaster. Absolute Horror!  That looks totally toasted! I wish you all the best getting the new woofers eventually. Hopefully you have another good set of speakers around in the meantime. Good luck and thanks for sharing the pain. Very sad.

[sjay]

  On 07/07/2019 at 2:11 AM, blakey72 said:

Just pulled my blown pmc woofer apart. I'm sure that voice coil wire shouldn't be sitting there!

 

I can't look 

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Log a request online with PMC for a replacement and the local disti will send you out one. Do not do it direct through the local disti or they will wait until they have another shipment coming in and add it to that,. which could be months... Dont ask me how I know this. 

 

Blowing speakers is what audio peoples do, just like car nuts sticking pistons

[rantan]

  On 07/07/2019 at 7:57 AM, sjay said:

 

Blowing speakers is what audio peoples do, just like car nuts sticking pistons

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Really?

Except  for relatively rare occasions when a driver may fail, almost all speakers that suffer major damage are the result of user ineptitude and a lack of understanding the interaction of speaker and amplifier.

 

I have been in this hobby and profession for decades and I disagree ( with respect ) that this is what audio people do.

 

Quite the reverse in fact.

 

[blakey72]

  On 07/07/2019 at 8:21 AM, rantan said:

Really?

Except  for relatively rare occasions when a driver may fail, almost all speakers that suffer major damage are the result of user ineptitude and a lack of understanding the interaction of speaker and amplifier.

 

I have been in this hobby and profession for decades and I disagree ( with respect ) that this is what audio people do.

 

Quite the reverse in fact.

 

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I can't understand how it happened. I never overdrive them. They have plenty of current. The night before they worked, the next morning they didn't. Maybe the woofer was just hanging on with all that wire hanging out and that last listening session broke the camels back.

[RCADees]

  On 07/07/2019 at 9:20 AM, blakey72 said:

I can't understand how it happened. I never overdrive them. They have plenty of current. The night before they worked, the next morning they didn't. Maybe the woofer was just hanging on with all that wire hanging out and that last listening session broke the camels back.

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Hey Blakey72,

 

You did mention that the night before there was a lightning storm and a short power out. I grew up in a different country with pretty bad electrical system (until the mid 90s anyway) and I saw some pretty bad stuff happening when there was an electric storm. Call me paranoid but I go a bit over and if there is a lightning storm I unplug off the wall all of my electronic equipment, even the tv aerial from the wall and the phone line too! I wouldn't be surprised if that lightning storm did it, in my opinion.

 

I don't think that it has anything to do with using the speakers.

[blakey72]

  On 07/07/2019 at 9:56 AM, Andpi said:

Hey Blakey72,

 

You did mention that the night before there was a lightning storm and a short power out. I grew up in a different country with pretty bad electrical system (until the mid 90s anyway) and I saw some pretty bad stuff happening when there was an electric storm. Call me paranoid but I go a bit over and if there is a lightning storm I unplug off the wall all of my electronic equipment, even the tv aerial from the wall and the phone line too! I wouldn't be surprised if that lightning storm did it, in my opinion.

 

I don't think that it has anything to do with using the speakers.

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Yes there was a lightning storm but I don't think it was the night before. Maybe a week or so before. I would have thought something would have gone in the amp before the speakers? I wouldn't have been listening during the storm. 

[RCADees]

I don't know. Something may have happened down the line if you know what I mean. I'm no expert but all of that money that we are paying for electricity and "gold plating" the network surely doesn't go into quality electric supply...

[sjay]

  On 07/07/2019 at 8:21 AM, rantan said:

Really?

Except  for relatively rare occasions when a driver may fail, almost all speakers that suffer major damage are the result of user ineptitude and a lack of understanding the interaction of speaker and amplifier.

 

I have been in this hobby and profession for decades and I disagree ( with respect ) that this is what audio people do.

 

Quite the reverse in fact.

 

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You forgot to add excessive booze

[AussieMick]

Ha! Funny ‘cause it’s true.

[needlerunner]

Hi PMCers
Picked up the first part of the PMC journey.
Was not going to play it till the speakers and amp arrived.

After several hours of looking at it, l couldn't help myself. Well the verdict is in.
Simply stunning. And that is from first play.
Imagine how better it will get after run in.

It sounds fantastic, even with my humble Whatmough's. Now l know what people mean when they say that they can hear things they didn't hear before.

I'm playing King Crimson, and I'm hearing pronounced cymbals l could hardly hear before.

Playing with the dust cover off for the first time ever. I usually leave the cover on, but up. But with the cover off, l can actually hear a difference on this one.

Should get the PMCs and amp next
Monday. Can't wait.