Hello, I'm a fresh Fact8 user, but, followed this speaker since his start (I was only able to buy it now that my chain was upgraded).
I'm using the Fact8 connected to a PAS 2002PCA studio amp, connected to an Accuphase C-2110 pre. Two sources are filling it, one is a Sota Sapphire Turntable (with modded Jelco 750d tonearm and Clearaudio Shell -> Tom Evans The groove anniversary phono pre) and a Accuphase DP-400 CD player is on the waiting list (but was already listened on this chain). For the moment, I putted my cd listening on "pause".
I decided myself after hearing a lot of speaker and audio gear in general. Wanted to be sure to invest my money wisely :
1) because I'm too poor for buying the wrong stuff
2) because it's funny to try out hifi gear and build a practical experience
I choosed the PMC fact8 because she had a lot of strong points and nearly no flaws. She has a very precise reproduction, and when I say precise, it's not B&W 804D precise, nor did I mean ProAc D30 precise... no... I mean ATC SCM50ASLT precision at nearly the same perfection level. It's a very uncommon degree in Hifi. Even great speaker like Triangle Magellan Quatuor will not go as far in this fanatism. It will not say that the restitution is sterile and stressed, it will just say that the speaker will ABSOLUTELY distribute what he's given to eat. This kind of result is something you only find on very good Midfield mastering monitors like the (already mentionned) ATC or some PSI Audio floorstanding mastering loudspeaker.
Every musician is exactly on place in the reproduction, without beeing cutted in their edges. You can really appreciate the work of the different artists that performs on a track and you can perfectly follow when they are moving. The width of the scene is excellent and the deepness is very good too. It's as good as some very good specialists in this discipline (Xavian speakers).
Bass is well controlled, you can clearly note that when you have a "double bass" playing. Lots of speaker are confronted to a problem in front on those instruments. They will show you something, but on very revealing speakers, you will hear the wood of the instrument cracking, you will hear the pinch on the string and the string that vibrate precisely with the reaction it gives to all the resonance chamber of the instrument. This kind of thing, you can hear it with the Fact8, but not with a lot of other speakers. And it's the same for the Kick of a drum. On a lot of gear, you will hear a washed away something that you will recognize for beeing a drumkick. But on this, you can hear the mass hitting the membrane. The wood will start to crack and the "WHOOM" is coming directly after that. Yes, it's THAT precise.
And I could continue through the whole frequency range. Medium is of the same kind, with beautiful voices where you can hear the moist lips and the work of breath of the singer.
Everything plays together, and you can enjoy every aspect of the restitution.
I don't know if I could say that the result is dry or cold. I clearly not believe that, some Eric Clapton stuff, that usually tend to be somewhat of sterile, was really hot and beautiful to listen to.
A good overal description is : generally you can close your eyes and believe that some dudes are playing in your listening room.
But yes, it's not a perfect speaker :
1 ) Because, on certain chains and with some music material, the really straight highs could be fatiguing for your ears, this is why I needed the Accu, he has a simple knob you can turn, and the problem is under control (but I must agree that the pmc has very efficient toggle switches on the back that allow to tame the same kind of problems).
2) In wide rooms, I had the impression he suffered more than other very great loudspeakers.
3) The fact8 semmed stressed when I played her in too high volumes. It's damn loud when she start to loose her composure, but she's quicker to do as my best references in this discipline.
4) I don't believe that the frequency goes really to 28hz. But I strongly believe it must be around 35hz for sure. And this will lead to well known problem of low frequencies capables loudspeakers. It will activate every modal wave in unprepared listening room. So the results are really depending on your room and could easily be altered or killed by it.
5) Very few wood finishes are available. If you look to some builder like "Gauder" (ex Isophon), you was able to choose the wood you want if you pay the price for one of their speakers. Here, I really believed that somebody was afraid to spend too much money in wood stocks.
My general opinion on this speaker is that he's difficult to beat if you are researching a precise loudspeaker. Very involving listening.