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Speaker upgrade time? (from PMC GB1i)

pstruck

Member
My main music listening system is my my living room, so it has to fit in with the wife and kids. My budget for upgrades is not huge, but I’d like to start thinking about what my next move will be when I have the cash.

I listen to CDs only with my Leema Stream and Leema Antila amp with PMC GB1i. My room is 3.2m x 6.6 with the speakers on the long wall firing across the room width. I am limited in how far I can pull the speakers out into the room.

I would like to have a plan for my next upgrade and have been thinking it will probably be my speakers, but where to start? I would like floor standers again (for aesthetic and kid proof stability reasons), but they need to be unfussy about positioning and happy fairly close to the rear wall. My GB1s are very good, but I feel my amp has more to give. I am likely to be looking at ex-demo or secondhand.

So what speakers might I consider which suit my requirements and give a decent performance jump up from the little PMCs?
 
What budget do you have in mind? For what you described, I’d probably go straight to the Amphion Argon 7 LS. Sealed box with ABRs, so no ports to worry about and no issues siting pretty close to a wall.
 
What is the floor in your listening room?

I have pmc floorstanders on wooden floors (cavity beneath) and they sound like different speakers now that I have spent £45 and half an hour phaffing about, decoupling the speakers (as much as I can) from the floor.
It has changed the character of the sound.

It you haven't had a go at isolating your speakers from the floor, I highly recommend it.

(I don't know how much a difference it would have with solid floors)

Not much to lose, much to gain.
 
A good thought and as you say, worth a try.

My floor is carpeted. Construction is screed over concrete beam and block.
 
Proac D18 are easy to place, rear wall not an issue, don’t like to be hemmed in on the sides so much.

Quite a different presentation to PMC, more visceral you might say, vocals in particular you will notice. Can’t say if you would like it or not, worth a try.

Neat / Spendor also worth considering.
 
Thank you for the suggestions I far, I will look into each and see what can be done about getting some demos.
 
I'd personally be looking into Neat speakers; having owned the PMC GB1i's myself and went over to Neat Motive 2's, they made a massive difference and like you; I had them firing across the room and fairly close to the rear wall and the TV unit that they were either side of

Due to their downward firing port; they're very easy to place
 
Neat are certainly worth a look, but Fyne Audio have several floorstanders in their range and they are almost invariably very well rated in reviews. I think the cheapest new are less than £500, but there are several models going up to close to £20000 per pair! Of course you might find some second hand or ex dem if you search around.
 
To the OP - that isn’t a bad system you have there - better than mine when I had kids around!

I wouldn’t rush to change until you’ve resolved a few things:
First some quick cheap improvements to get the best of what you have as suggested by @Big Tabs
Second, understand what you want improved - detail? Scale? Bass depth? The answer might be affected by your preferred music types

Also how long has you owned your PMCs? Whenever I listen to different speakers I am always struck by how they all present music differently. A couple of years back I did a load of research on reviews and listened to PMC, ATC, Kudos, Dynaudio, B&W, Spendor and Focal Kanta. They were all quite different - and I came away with the pair I least expected to before I went in (B&W).

What also struck me was that if you’ve lived with speakers for several years, a different brand can sound better on an initial listen but when you get home you still hanker after the sound you know. It is strange but sometimes more of something (like bass) - whilst technically giving you more than you have - and still be less enjoyable unless you use them for several months or more. I couldn’t believe how many what’s it took me to stop hankering back for my humble AR18s that I bought in the early 80s!

if you like the PMC sound (and PMC does have a signature sound as do other brands) then your simplest and least risky option is moving up a level in their range. Be careful in demos listening to very revealing and lively speakers - Focal are an example - where the initial impression is stunning (truly stunning) but can become a bit tiring to listen to.

For what it is worth, Totem speakers are great for detail without being tiring - but there aren’t a huge number of dealers. The best idea is buying secondhand at a price where you could always sell them on if you don’t like them. But try to stick with a pair for a while - different speakers take a while to get used to

Good luck!
 


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