PMC: old vs new

[tuga]

You wouldn't have posted that if he was enquiring about KEF though, would you.

There's an awful lot of passive aggressive sneering towards anyone who prefers a "coloured" loudspeaker these days.

That said, a demo is always preferable with speakers. PMC aren't for everyone, but neither are KEF, otherwise that's all dealers would sell.

Kef has a more predictable sound and room interaction, yes.
But my view is that the only place to properly assess is one's room and system - they're our reference.
Even bake-offs have little practical use.

I agree that they are not for everyone.

 

[Mike Reed]

I've got mine driven by Valve pre and four monoblocks 500 watt per side

2 x 250 watt mono's each side on 3 way spkrs or am I wrong ('I've not heard any 2 way PMCs'). I wonder what the configuration is, but nice that you've got that valved pre; it's often said to be the preferable combo (rather that t'other way round), and I can see why.

We're talking PMCs here, but only I have mentioned the thing which mainly sets PMC apart; the transmission line bass. Previously (as in TDL, e.g.) this has been a bit of a curate's egg; maybe still is. I'd be interested in observations about this enhancement to the lower octaves. In my .26 it's pretty seamless and innocuous but obv. a bigger bass for the cab. size.

 

[Space is the Place]

Hi Mike, yes thre PMC's are three ways, there are two NHT monoblocks per side, 4 in total, 1000 watts, one mono on the mid and tweeter and the other on the bass, they were originally used on the NHT Evolutions which are actively bi-amped, which i still have. I also run the speakers with Lyngdorf Room correction too

The NHT amps are a bit hard sounding when run into a more up-front speakers KEF LS 50s/R3's etc (although they were recommended by a popular objective tester, just goes to show listening is important).
They seem to work fine with the PMC's and the Array's, i did have some Ncore 500's too which seemed a bit more transparent, but back to back blind listening, there was a bit of difference in sound, but not enough so i sold them.

The Minimax Valve preamp doesn't work with everything, it was absolutely sublime with the Event Opals i had, and seems to work well with the PMC, it was a backward step when used with the Arrays as they were so good at getting the tonal colours and voices right strait from the Dac, the valve preamp was unnecessary.

I have some Proacs D15 in a smaller room too which they're very well suited, i think they convey the emotion of music incredibly well, better than the PMC's, perhaps it's because they just have more coherence than the three-way PMC, i'm listening a bit closer and/or Stuart Tyler really knew what he was doing! The ProAcs are a much better built speaker too but sound lost in the bigger room and don't have quite the same open mid-range.

 

[Mike Reed]

The ProAcs are a much better built speaker too

Well, I've had three and would say that the .26 is the better fitted and finished. First time I've come across magnetic grilles and these are a clever design which automatically find the right place as soon as you get close. I do like ProAcs but the PMCs are very different in presentation; mnd you, the ProAcs I've had have been bigger; even the R3 I had initially from the late John Michell (who developed the Orbe with them). The R4s were simply silly; 133kg each spkr !!!

 

[Amormusic]

I've had DB1i's twice, and Twenty 23's. I've also listened to PMC latest offerings around a year ago as part of my speaker quest of buying something new.

I thought the newest PMC's just sounded like mine at home, that I had at the time, but with a little more "vra-vra-room" and didn't warrant the £6k (if I remember correctly) price tag, compared against others I was listening to.

I found my 20/23's actually quite bass light. But that's the limitation of small cones.

However, in a converse view, when I went to the Wam show, JessicaK had some GB1's (so older, but very similar size to 20/23's) fed by all of her own brand Alpha 2 Delta kit and they were absolutely rocking. I was super-impressed. She was feeding them with a full valve front end, whereas I was feeding mine at the time with Arcam 120W class G.

So to roll back around to the question. Would I shell out big bucks for the current PMC offerings. No, if I was to go back to PMC I'd probably get an older, cheaper model perhaps from the 25 series, and feed them some super high quality front end valve input. Then sit back and grin.

 

[Mike Reed]

if I was to go back to PMC I'd probably get an older, cheaper model perhaps from the 25 series, and feed them some super high quality front end valve input. Then sit back and grin.

Somehow, I think valved amplification, if sufficiently powerful, complements more recent PMCs (my limited experience here). My 100 watt EARs gel nicely with the Twenty.26, but of course, the EAR 509s are prob. the valved equivalent of s/state (not valvey-softy at all). My friend has a WAD stereo chassis 300B amp (25/30 w.p.c.?) which I heard in a bake-off recently. Superb sound and imaging with his medium-sized (similar to .26) DIY but high quality spkrs.

Looking forward to hearing the WAD on my PMCs; I'd be surprised if thee wasn't a noticeable difference, assuming the WAD is powerful enough. I've heard that PMC and Naim are good bedfellows but this surprises me after having upper Naim for 25+ years previously.

 

[gustav_errata]

I'm resurrecting my recent thread rather than creating a new, redundant one.

What would people say is a fair price for PMC OB1 and OB1i these days?

Hifishark isn't helpful due to a huge number of duplicate listings on Gumtree for £1 (I don't understand why that site suffers such duplications for Gumtree and hififorsale).

 

[Big Tabs]

ebay ‘sold/completed’ items. - March 2023

PMC OB1 Floorstanding Speakers - Oak, 3 months warranty
See original listing




Condition:
Used
£1400

 

[gustav_errata]

ebay ‘sold/completed’ items. - March 2023

PMC OB1 Floorstanding Speakers - Oak, 3 months warranty
See original listing




Condition:
Used
£1400

Thanks, I saw that one on hifishark. The problem is that only a few have sold recently and the variance in price is fairly high.

 

[Big Tabs]

Thanks, I saw that one on hifishark. The problem is that only a few have sold recently and the variance in price is fairly high.

Yes - it is a bit pot-luck. Keep your eyes peeled! or maybe ask on pfm if anyone has a pair that are good value.