advertisement


PMC transmission line spkrs. Any observations or experience?

Perhaps you haven't yet found the sweetspot?

Sounds sweet enough to me. My sweet spot is when the holography starts and I rather think that applies to many.

What sort of madman is toeing in their PMCs!

This kind. Must admit that I haven't tried facing forward as I'm predisposed towards toeing in m/coil floor-standers, esp. slim ones. The mid and tweeter are directly facing me from around 5 to 6 metres away. Have to admit that I haven't had the chance or inclination to experiment once I found (with a friend) that satisfactory position. When I fire everything up, I only want to become absorbed, not to tweak; besides, two people make positioning so much more accurate and easier and my lady wiffie is really not interested in those pursuits, esp. as she has to put up with what I play and its level !!!!
 
Last edited:
You'll get a wider sweet spot and a more neutral tonal balance if you don't aim the tweeters directly at the ears. PMC recommend toeing in the cabs so that the tweeters cross 50cm behind the listening seat. IME you can get away with even less toe-in than this because narrow baffles facilitate wide dispersion and, in the most recent twenty5i series at least, the tweeter has incredibly wide dispersion. The 24i is the only speaker I've had in my room that's maintained its tonal balance and crisp focus even when I moved my listening seat all the way over to the side wall, a feat an ESL can only dream of! If someone asked me to recommend a speaker that's good for shared listening (e.g. three people on a sofa) PMCs would be high up the list.
 
PMC recommend toeing in the cabs so that the tweeters cross 50cm behind the listening seat

Interesting. Must try this whilst the amps are warming up, assuming they're currently out of kilter. I have my sofa across a bay with adequate walking space behind. A long time ago (with upper Naim) I found that having space behind you facilitated a far better soundstage; m/coil and ESLs alike. Makes sense, I 'spose, but many have their seat(s) back up against a wall, which really curtails 'air' in the presentation.
 
Yes - because at small distances ( with a non-absorbent wall behind) the near reflections will put a load of comb-filtering in the low midrange and up; no help at all.
 
has PMC ever made a speaker sounding better than good old LB1?

the production seized only since dynaudio stopped supplying other manufacturers with their drivers. if this didn't happen i'm sure they would be available today.
 
I really like the MB2's I've not heard the SE versions which look like 'nicer' units. These we a level up on the smaller more domestically acceptable units. The midrange was superb, I and Paul at HiFi Lounge agreed at the time the mid on a similar level to my Sonus Faber Extrema's, I find an awful lot of speakers might've reasonably resolving mid's but lack the tonal density, tonal colour and reality of great mid range. the bass was great too.
 
I and Paul at HiFi Lounge

I believe my .26s came from there (assuming they're the dealers around Biggleswade. I vaguely remember mutual contact (sale? Naim?) a long time ago but if so, you had a sophisticated dedicated mains/A-V system in Hertfordshire. Hifi memories can be a bit vague, so I wonder if I'm right.

the production seized

Someone dropped a speaker into the works maybe? :D. Seems that PMC speakers had a good rep. going some way back, and I thought that their change into domestic audio was fairly recent (10-12 years or so?)
 
Mike, yes I bought a pair of 135's from you some time ago. I have 5 pairs now and use them with my old Sonus Fabers in a home cinema system. If I recall I paid something like £1,200 as they were recently serviced ! They have been serviced again a few years go
 
Mike, yes I bought a pair of 135's from you some time ago.

Thanks for the confirmation that my memory isn't entirely shot! Can't remember the details, though, or whether they were my Olive pair or C/B pair. Whichever, the other pair went to a Korean chap a year or two later, who drove up from the Smoke.
 
The Fact 3's that I have in my office system sounded incredible with a Manley Stingray el84 amp, but I felt guilty about using valves for what was essentially a background music system ie glorified radio (BBC 6 music).
Tried a Naim Nova and a Luxman 590 II in there but both had an edge to the treble, the Naim more so, that naturally led to me keeping the volume in check.
Moved my Norma 140 amp up there today and that's solved it.
Little PMC's now sound remarkably full and encouraging, no demanding, a clockwise twist of the big shiny knob.

Likely not indicative of the whole range, but these little PMC's seem to hold nothing back detail wise. So with my digital source I very much prefer an amp on the warmer side of neutral.
 
Who recommended that?
It's ultimately about whatever pleases the user of course, but from this review, according to the designer:

"... Peter Thomas confirmed that what we’d measured and what I’d heard was what he’d designed into the twenty.24. ... Thomas told me that PMC’s recommended setup is precisely what I ended up doing: the speakers fired straight into the room, with little or no toe-in."
 
This was taken from the twenty series user guide:

To further enhance the audio picture or soundstage the speakers can
be angled/toed-in’. Start with the speakers angled so they will cross approximately 50cm (2ft) behind the listening position. (See stereo set-up diagram) Varying this angle will also subtly affect the vividness of the audio picture, so again experiment.
 
With the original twenty series,it was recommended not to toe in because they would sound bright.
It's ultimately about whatever pleases the user of course, but from this review, according to the designer:

Nice review John, so thanks, but this was the two-way .24. I didn't realise that this was the top model until the .26 came out later ('15 or '16?).However, the .26 adds another speaker, but can't see it having different optimal positioning.

Mine simply point at me but I'll try face-on tomorrow or at least pointing 2' behind my head.

This was taken from the twenty series user guide:

Presumably the entire model range (the .26 is unlikely to be different, despite being a 3-way, surely).
 
Before buying a pair of used Twenty.26 (largest in that range)I did due diligence, reading a dozen reviews and other forum comments. Not one detracting remark was found. Furthermore, I, along with other friends, were impressed by the PMC room at an East Anglia show 5 yeas ago

Unfortunately, I came from 10+ years of ESL 2905s (big ones) which in all fairness, was going to be a culture shock of sorts but having had 45 previous years with big and expensive coils, I thought it would simply be a reversion to type, as it were. The PMCs are also very room-friendly in taking up less space, which = wife friendly too !

There's no question that these are superb speakers (AND for their size); imaging, soundstage, dynamics, cohesion etc., powered by my 100 W EAR monoblocks.

However, there is sth; maybe I've become ESLed, or the 'wall of sound' effect of the ESLs is more important than I realised; I don't know. Can't fault them but can't quite seem to gel with them either; maybe it's that prodigious bass? BUT I've always been a bass man, though I'm now above 80.

I intend to get my faulty ESL repaired in the spring, which'll give me a yardstick to work on, but wanted to sound out pfm to see if I've missed sth. YES, I know about the old 'once into ESLs, always into ESLs' syndrome !!!

I have a number of pairs of speakers, and have PMC OB1s (which the Twenty.26 is basically a replacement for) which I really enjoy. I also have ESL57s, Obelisks, and 15 inch tannoys. All of these speakers sound different and are all excellent in one way of another. You're not going to find anything as transparent as the Quads in the midrange, and certainly not as flat, but you'll find better bass characteristics, and easier room integration with other options.

If you can afford to keep both, and feel like switching every once is a while you'll have the best of both worlds. Just don't expect any speaker to match or exceed Quads in all aspects, it's just not going to happen.
 
I have a number of pairs of speakers, and have PMC OB1s (which the Twenty.26 is basically a replacement for) which I really enjoy. I also have ESL57s, Obelisks, and 15 inch tannoys. All of these speakers sound different and are all excellent in one way of another. You're not going to find anything as transparent as the Quads in the midrange, and certainly not as flat, but you'll find better bass characteristics, and easier room integration with other options.

If you can afford to keep both, and feel like switching every once is a while you'll have the best of both worlds. Just don't expect any speaker to match or exceed Quads in all aspects, it's just not going to happen.

It's happened long ago...
When the Spendor BC1 came out Peter Walker (Quad) said that forward-radiation boxes were finally up to par:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SOqCbh2ESOgC&pg=PT34&lpg=PT34&dq=martin+colloms+High+Performance+Loudspeakers+spendor+bc1+peter+walker&source=bl&ots=7mA8r-RzDp&sig=ACfU3U0jVhlmvUQj9ukWWf_zrmgbabC08g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwyNrVyu3oAhWiVBUIHVEfC68Q6AEwAHoECAsQKQ#v=onepage&q=martin colloms High Performance Loudspeakers spendor bc1 peter walker&f=false
 


advertisement


Back
Top