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B&w Vs PMC

M

Martin 52

pfm Member
I currently have b&w 704 S2 thinking about changing to PMC twenty 5 23 not the I to far off my price range I'm afraid. Powered by a marantz model 30 with a rega p8 . No where to actually demo butate has twenty 5 24 which sounds good to me. Does anyone have any thoughts on the change weather it's worth it or not
 
Speakers are a terribly personal thing, and those two are rather different in their personalities.

B&W tends to have accentuated high frequencies. This can be perceived as "detailed", but can grate after a while.

PMC is more balanced on the whole, and has a great sense of dynamics and rhythm. You do need a good amp to make them sing, though.

The problem with changing speakers is that you may lose your system synergy. Or it may get better. You won't know until you try. Then it becomes a game of "in for a penny, in for a pound". Believe me--I've been there.
 
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Nearly bought a 704s2 recently when they were replacing with the s3 selling for £999 the s3 is meant to be worth a listen .just compare the 2 and see what your ears prefer
 
Martin 52 said:
Thanks my mates is powered buy a PMC cor amp so out of my price range. I might try and get him to bring them to mine try on the marantz
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Or you can take your Marantz to his place. The synergy between the amp and speaker is the most important, IMO.
 
His room is a lot more open and bare compared to mine . He has the 25 24 but at least I would get a idea . I have read a review using the marantz with the PMC 23 and it said it was a perfect match so worth a listen. Next will be cartridge and phono stage. Yet another minefield
 
20.26s here love them. Although the the finish on the cabinets is a but budget. Sound wise they benefit from good amplification.
 
I own the Twenty5 21i’s, they do need a bit of power to get them going. Having said that, I had ran them hooked up to a Supernait 2DR for a couple of years and they sounded great but, now hooked up to my Osiris which has double the power, you can hear how the extra power controls the speaker, everything is so controlled.

Have never liked B&W speakers to be honest but that’s just me and speakers are a bit of a personal thing.
 
Martin 52 said:
His room is a lot more open and bare compared to mine . He has the 25 24 but at least I would get a idea . I have read a review using the marantz with the PMC 23 and it said it was a perfect match so worth a listen. Next will be cartridge and phono stage. Yet another minefield
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Note that PMC strives to voice all their speakers to sounds the same, so yes that strategy should work.
 
If it were me, I would try a CD and amp with your existing speakers. As others have said, speakers all have their own sound and can significantly affect your enjoyment. Even more so when you’ve had the same gear for many years. Don’t change speakers without trying the CD and amp (both of which might improve the details d sound quality but you can retain much of the signature sound of the speakers)

FWIW I demo’d PMC floorstanders on the same day as ATC, Spendor, Dynaudio, Focal Kanta, Kudos, and B&W 804D2. I hadn’t expected to like the B&W but I walked out of the shop with them. Sorry to say, PMC were thin sounding to me - B&W had detail, grip and just more lively (but not in a tiring way)
 
Mike Hanson said:
Speakers are a terribly personal thing, and those two are rather different in their personalities.

B&W tends to have accentuated high frequencies. This can be perceived as "detailed", but can grate after a while.

PMC is more balanced on the whole, and has a great sense of dynamics and rhythm. You do need a good amp to make them sing, though.

The problem with changing speakers is that you may lose your system synergy. Or it may get better. You won't know until you try. Then it becomes a game of "in for a penny, in for a pound". Believe me--I've been there.
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Lots say you need an amp with lots of wallop for PMCs to shine, even the smaller ones. I have recently come into a pair of Twenty5 21i.
The vo;umes attainable with my valve amp 35wpc max are more than sufficient to fill a 5m sq room with headroom to spare.
 
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Bogart said:
Lots say you need an amp with lots of wallop for PMCs to shine, even the smaller ones. I have recently come into a pair of Twenty5 21i.
The vo;umes attainable with my valve amp 35wpc maxare more than sufficient to fill a 5m sq room with headroom to spare.
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My friend and I auditioned the PMC prodigy5 and fact.8, using the Avondale SE200 dual mono amp that I built for him. It's about 100WPC into 8 ohms, and it was absolutely sufficient.

Then he bought the PMC MB2se, and that amp couldn't wake them up. I'm building an SE400 for him now (approx 200WPC), and we'll see how that fairs.
 
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