PMC and Musical Fidelity?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Anyone familiar to the PMC/ Musical Fidelity combo?

I have PMC Gb1i speakers run by a Roksan Caspian M-1. Somehow I feel it is not the best match. Base is tight and plenty, but warmth and mid is a bit lacking and treble can be just a bit too much. I used to have the K2 and although the Caspian is a better amp in resolution and depth I feel the smoothness, power and warmth of the K2 matched very well with the PMC's. Was thinking the MF M6i could be the ticket, any one care to share their opinion?

 

[CnoEvil]

You have two options - Change the amp or change the speakers....both are worth trying if you can to see which works best for you.

The M6i is a great amp, but you should also check out Electrocompaniet ECI-3/ECI-5.

Speakers from Spendor and Proac could also be an alternative.

BTW What source and cables do you use?

 

[Anonymous]

Was thinking about Electrocompaniet as well, possibly the PI-2. My source is a Roksan K2 cd player, cables plain copper Van Damme interconnect and Canare 4s11 speaker cable. No interest in cable switches, done that, let alone cable discussions...

 

[CnoEvil]

Was thinking about Electrocompaniet as well, possibly the PI-2. My source is a Roksan K2 cd player, cables plain copper Van Damme interconnect and Canare 4s11 speaker cable. No interest in cable switches, done that, let alone cable discussions...

I only mentioned cables, in order to rule out the possible effect of silver coated copper. You also have a competent source, so no problems there.

I think you should do a demo comparing M6i vs PI-2, and maybe a Creek Destiny 2....these are some of the most organic and musical SS amps out there. If none of these hit the spot (unlikely to be honest), you could check out Sugden and Lavardin.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your suggestions Cnoevil. Your first suggestion, changing the speakers may still be a valid option I might consider, although it is an even tougher choice, especially since the PMC's do so many things well in my smallish living room. Will take my Caspian to a friend's house next week to hear them over his Dynaudio's X32's.

 

[Macspur]

Hi,

Cno's suggestion of Sugden or Lavardin are definitely worth looking into, or Bryston is meant to be great stable mates for PMC.

Cheers

Mac

 

[Electro]

You have two options - Change the amp or change the speakers....both are worth trying if you can to see which works best for you. The M6i is a great amp, but you should also check out Electrocompaniet ECI-3/ECI-5. Speakers from Spendor and Proac could also be an alternative. BTW What source and cables do you use?

I agree the combination of PMC and Electrocompaniet is a very good one , the bass will deepen by quite an amount and become even tighter the mid will open up and expand a lot more and the top will be ultra detailed but never harsh unless the recording is excessively so .

But the most important feature of this combination is that the music is played as a whole not just bass mid and top in sections ,it all melds together a quite rare way which is very unusual when listening to any HiFi system , but with the PMC / Electrocompaniet combo music sounds just like the way we take for granted when listening to live music , in other words complete !

The EC1-3 and EC1-5 mk1 would both work superbly well as mentioned by CnoEvil but the Mark 2 version of the EC1-5 sounds a little different and not quite as good IMO , but still far better than most !

Give them a try and see whether you agree .

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys. Are you familiar with the difference between the Electrocompaniet ECI-3 and PI-2? On paper they offer quite a similar package at a similar price. Has the ECI-3 ever been updated? I believe it has been around since about 2003?

 

[Electro]

The Electrocompaniet ECI-3 has remained almost unchanged since its introduction and is the smallest of the classic series high end products .

Electrocompaniet the company designs and build products to the best of their ability in a certain price range and if they find no proper way to improve it they leave it alone they won't change it just for the sake of change like so many other companies do, they get it right and then leave it alone .

Many of the classic series products have not changed for many years I guess they feel they can't improve on perfection .

The PI-2 is part of the newer prelude line designed after Electrocompaniet was taken over by Westcontrol AS, another much larger company in Norway, they have carried the original classic line on and added some new products as well .

The PI-2 is a more modern product in design and sound but retains a lot of the older classic series good points and adds a more modern flavour and appearance to the mix . The two amps have a lot of things in common and my choice would be the ECI3 , but you may not agree so it would be best to listen to both and see which you prefer .

Here are a couple of reviews of the two products .

http://www.electrocompaniet.no/files/reviews/2009_oct_Hifi_choice_ECi3_2009.pdf

http://www.electrocompaniet.no/files/reviews/2009_dec_PI2_HIFICHOICE.pdf

Whichever you prefer you won't go far wrong IMO .

 

[Nuwidol]

Last weekend I listened to the M6i with the new PMC Twenty.22 & I found it to be a great combination. I listened to it with the M6 CD player (just using the DAC though through USB)