I have PMC DB1i speakers on home demo; thoughts.

[admin_exported]

I have had these for 24 hours now. Fronts and center.

They have already(supposedly) been ran in and both are ex demo so a few hundred £ cheaper than retail. Fronts are Walnut with center black. As with the Kef LS50 they are connected to a Marantz SR7005 with multi strand copper cable. Not bi wired at the moment.

I have to say i am thoroughly underwhelmed by these. They are brighter than the Kefs for a start with a smaller sound. In fact the Monitor Audio RX1s i had present a larger soundstage with significent more bass. I have played rock, pop, rn b and a few blu rays. They are not exciting with movies, concert dvds in comparison to the much cheaper Monitor Audios. I had the prejudice that metal dome tweeters are more harsh in general than soft dome etc but the Kefs were much smoother with little to no harshness on vocals or horn sections

Overall i feel these speakers are overpriced. They would be o.k for £450 speakers but not £850(usually 1095). I did want to demo the Spendor SA1s but Audio T recently sold the last ex demo pair and no longer have them.

 

[bluedroog]

I have to say I am surprised, for me they are a reference point for small speakers. Though this does just go to underline that a demo is of paramount importance as we all hear things differently.

Perhaps you could borrow a decent stereo amp to see if this changes things, although I can’t see you changing your mind that much based on what you’ve said. For me they get so much right but transmission line speakers aren’t for everyone.

 

[Anonymous]

I have to say I am surprised, for me they are a reference point for small speakers. Though this does just go to underline that a demo is of paramount importance as we all hear things differently.

Perhaps you could borrow a decent stereo amp to see if this changes things, although I can’t see you changing your mind that much based on what you’ve said. For me they get so much right but transmission line speakers aren’t for everyone.

I am playing these right now and there is crackling. Never had this before.

I am going to listen for 24 then switch to Audioquest Bi wired cable to see if there is a difference. The shop gave me some Chord epic cable as well to try.

 

[plastic penguin]

I have to say I am surprised, for me they are a reference point for small speakers. Though this does just go to underline that a demo is of paramount importance as we all hear things differently.

Perhaps you could borrow a decent stereo amp to see if this changes things, although I can’t see you changing your mind that much based on what you’ve said. For me they get so much right but transmission line speakers aren’t for everyone.

I am playing these right now and there is crackling. Never had this before.

I am going to listen for 24 then switch to Audioquest Bi wired cable to see if there is a difference. The shop gave me some Chord epic cable as well to try.

I'm not sure what you're hearing in all truth. Certainly DB1is need good amplification to hear them at their best. I originally had them on home dem with a cheapo Arcam amp, and they were better in certain areas than my RS6s. When I had them connected to the Leema, it was a different ball game...

They are cracking speakers, but I do agree the price hikes have now pushed them from being great value to really good...

Perhaps the Marantz receiver just doesn't synergise that well?

 

[ID.]

That doesn't sound like the speakers I own, but it may be down to matching. Definitely not bright, even compared to MAs. It is in the bass that the characteristics of the transmission line compared to ported speakers is most noticeable. I find them smooth when the recording is smooth, but have the bite that I know from hearing horns, etc. in the flesh.

They are very easy to live with (for me) and reveal their qualities subtley rather than whacking you in the face with them straight up. YMMV.

Personally, I find they blow away the RX1, although I've not heard the LS50. In fact, apart from bass depth, I preferred them to the RX8. But, everyone has different tastes. Look at it this way, you've saved yourself a good wad of cash by preferring the RX1, etc.

 

[plastic penguin]

Suggestion to the OP: Try experimenting with speaker positions. The DB1s, from personal experience, need at least 12" gap from the back wall... that could be different with your room acoustics.

 

[ID.]

Suggestion to the OP: Try experimenting with speaker positions. The DB1s, from personal experience, need at least 12" gap from the back wall... that could be different with your room acoustics.

This. Although they advise 15cm, I like to have mine 30-45cm out from the wall. It cuts any potential bass bloom and really sharpens up the imaging and helps the soundstage.

 

[plastic penguin]

Suggestion to the OP: Try experimenting with speaker positions. The DB1s, from personal experience, need at least 12" gap from the back wall... that could be different with your room acoustics.

This. Although they advise 15cm, I like to have mine 30-45cm out from the wall. It cuts any potential bass bloom and really sharpens up the imaging and helps the soundstage.

Even with my RS6s I've found moving them a couple of inches makes a difference.

PMC also supply wall brackets, dread to think what they sound like against the wall. oke:

 

[stevebrock]

Keenly,

could it just be you don't like them and your amp isn't making the most of them. Not saying your amp is weak or anything but this is exactly why you should home demo them...... Your underwhelmed with the PMC? Yes you said so and the Kefs sound better? Stay with the Kefs then there is no shame in it and £900 is a lot if your it impressed.

its all about synergy and your obviously not getting it with the PMC, back to the drawing board then!

 

[plastic penguin]

Keenly,

could it just be you don't like them and your amp isn't making the most of them. Your underwhelmed with the PMC? Yes you said so and the Kefs sound better? Stay with the Kefs...

its all about synergy and your obviously not getting it with the PMC....

Good advice.

 

[John Duncan]

I've certainly found my DB1s sensitive to positioning, so it's worth experimenting. But I do recognise that sometimes you can only put speakers in one particular place, so if they don't sound as good as the KEFs where they need to be, they're not as good as the KEFs for you. Seemples.

 

[Anonymous]

Keenly,

could it just be you don't like them and your amp isn't making the most of them. Not saying your amp is weak or anything but this is exactly why you should home demo them...... Your underwhelmed with the PMC? Yes you said so and the Kefs sound better? Stay with the Kefs then there is no shame in it and £900 is a lot if your it impressed.

its all about synergy and your obviously not getting it with the PMC, back to the drawing board then!

I want a 5.1 system so the Kef's are not right for me.

I just put in my Audioquest rocket 22 bi wire cable and the bass is definately clearer and fuller; sounds nice infact(bass not vocals).

Its just frustrating that some of the speakers i like have no center like the Epos Epic 2 and LS50s. Kef R300 are too big for my shelves and i can't home demo any ATC SCM11 because the local stores have none.

 

[Electro]

PMC also supply wall brackets, dread to think what they sound like against the wall. oke:

The DB1i's on the PMC wall brackets sound far better than than they should :O .

A friend of mine has a pair mounted about five feet up the wall and about 15 feet apart angled down and inwards towards the sofa driven by and old Cyrus pre / power with PSXR and it sounds pretty good you literally get a wall of sound with no bass boom or nasty wall related problems , it certainly surprised me how well balanced and even the sound is :?

 

[matthewpiano]

For me the crux of the matter is that the DB1i deserve better quality amplification and you won't be hearing what they can do on the end of that Marantz.

 

[ID.]

Mine actually sound OK right up against the wall. No significant bass boom or bloom, but I find the soundstange and imaging suffers and, conversely, it doesn't give a sufficient bass boost to make it worthwhile. Then again, bass behaves strangely in my living room...

 

[Electro]

For me the crux of the matter is that the DB1i deserve better quality amplification and you won't be hearing what they can do on the end of that Marantz.

I absolutely agree , I have heard DB1i's powered by a Bryston pre and 14bsst power amp and they were absolutely breathtaking , I could not believe that such a large powerful and realistic sound could come from such a small speaker , so if they ever sound bad it would be sensible to look upstream rather than blame the speakers IMHO

 

[Anonymous]

For me the crux of the matter is that the DB1i deserve better quality amplification and you won't be hearing what they can do on the end of that Marantz.

I do actually agree but i spent £800 on this baby and can't afford to buy another and speakers. I could trade this in and pay an extra 100 or 200 but the shop is not keen on that so i am stuck.

 

[steve_1979]

I've heard the DB1's with PMC's own amp packs and thought that they sounded very nice. There certainly wasn't any harshness to the treble.

They are effected by positioning more than most speakers and IMO opinion you can do a bit better for the price but they're still a bloody good pair of speakers that I could happily live with.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

That Marantz is alot of amp.

have you tried driving these speakers as just stereo?

me thinks experimenting with speaker position is the way to go.