Speaker Volume

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Hi, just auditioned a pair of proac140s had them for 2 weeks & decided they were a bit on the bright side for my liking, apart from that they are a very good speaker. Am now auditioning pmc fb1i and sound less agressive than the proacs, by the way i have them hooked up to primare i30 amp & primare cd31. I'm probably going to stick with the pmcs, but my question is both speakers are rated at 8 ohms so why do the proacs play louder than the pmcs. I thought that because they were the same ohms they would output the same volume, or have i got this wrong.

Thanks to anybody who want's to answer this question.
 

John Duncan

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Ohms are nominal and vary with frequency anyway - sensitivity is a better indication of how loud speakers will be - the proac has a sensitivity of 91db, the PMC 90db (at 1m). Note that 1db = about 25% increase in volume, though this decreases according to distance by the inverse square rule blah blah
 
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Anonymous

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Look for the dB/m/W spec. The higher the figure the louder the sound for a similar amp (in rough terms)

jules.
 

gpi

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Also it's much more desirable to have some amp power in reserve. A high-powered amp is better than a low-powered one when it comes to clipping and impedance figures.
 

Andy H

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I'm really surprised you think the Pro Acs are bright, I have these and IMHO I bought these because I thought they didn't sound bright. Have you looked at your speaker cable ie silver ones may brighten things up, copper may be better.
Good luck in your search.
 
[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Ohms are nominal and vary with frequency anyway - sensitivity is a better indication of how loud speakers will be - the proac has a sensitivity of 91db, the PMC 90db (at 1m). Note that 1db = about 25% increase in volume, though this decreases according to distance by the inverse square rule blah blah[/quote]

Jd is right. I used to drive my 40 watt R.M.S. Arcam through an old pair of Wharfedale E20's which were 96db and it had the rough equivalent output of a 100 watter. Great party speakers though.
 

drummerman

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What manufacturers tell you and what you get are not necesseraly the same. A lot of them are shall we say a little bit over-optimistic when it comes to speaker loads/sensitivity. Does it matter? Not really as you should always audition speakers with your amplifier.
 
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Anonymous

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I have vanden hul the first ultimate mk2 interconnect and chord company rumour 4 bi wire speaker cable, do you think it's possible that the cables could be making the sound lean towards the brightness on the proacs. I'm still in 2 minds as to go for these because they have excellent detail very good bass which sometimes gets a bit boomy in my room, but i can live with that, and vocals are very easy to follow. I do like to hear what somebody is singing about. As i said earlier i'm in the process of listning to pmc fb1i's and on first listening thought they were very good, more laid back than the proacs, but listening to them for a few hours i thought they lacked the detail and attack of the proacs also vocals are not as easy to follow. They are more comfortable to listen to, but overall the proacs have more going for them, if only i could calm that top end down a bit i'd be happy, i've got till the end of the week to make up my mind, but it's becoming a bit of a headache. Don't wanna splash out all that cash only to find i've made the wrong choice, so anybody wanna help me out?
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="underslunky"]
I have vanden hul the first ultimate mk2 interconnect and chord company rumour 4 bi wire speaker cable, do you think it's possible that the cables could be making the sound lean towards the brightness on the proacs. I'm still in 2 minds as to go for these because they have excellent detail very good bass which sometimes gets a bit boomy in my room, but i can live with that, and vocals are very easy to follow. I do like to hear what somebody is singing about. As i said earlier i'm in the process of listning to pmc fb1i's and on first listening thought they were very good, more laid back than the proacs, but listening to them for a few hours i thought they lacked the detail and attack of the proacs also vocals are not as easy to follow. They are more comfortable to listen to, but overall the proacs have more going for them, if only i could calm that top end down a bit i'd be happy, i've got till the end of the week to make up my mind, but it's becoming a bit of a headache. Don't wanna splash out all that cash only to find i've made the wrong choice, so anybody wanna help me out?
[/quote]

Hi Underslunky. I've just ordered some proac studio 110s having had them on home demo at the end of primare pre/power and cd21. I too thought the top end was a little bit too much but loved everything else about them (esp speed and clarity). I swear after 48hrs i didn't know what to do!! I've got ecosse reference ms2.3 speaker cable and the jumper cables were supplied by the dealer (simple copper speaker wire, poorly insulated from what i can make out). Just to try and see if any improvement could be made i cut some jumpers out from some old QED silver anniversary cable and changed the cheap ones. i kid you not the tonal balance improved dramatically! whereas each track previously i thought great but treble treble now its just right. Maybe trying different speaker cables biwire and non biwire may make some difference. You'll know if it sounds right!!!! good luck.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
hello jaxon5, i really want these speakers over the pmc's but that treble or high end cuts through me. Do you think using all copper cable will bring down the high end a bit. The rumour is silver plated copper i think. I've got review of proac and primare in old edition of whsv and they used atlas hyper 3 & atlas voyager all-cu interconnect. The cable is single wire am i best sticking with bi wire cable?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
[quote user="underslunky"]
hello jaxon5, i really want these speakers over the pmc's but that treble or high end cuts through me. Do you think using all copper cable will bring down the high end a bit. The rumour is silver plated copper i think. I've got review of proac and primare in old edition of whsv and they used atlas hyper 3 & atlas voyager all-cu interconnect. The cable is single wire am i best sticking with bi wire cable?
[/quote]

To be honest i don't know. All i can say for sure is that by simply swapping the jumper link (which had thin insulating material from what i can make out to the ones i cut from old silver anniversary made all the difference. I had no idea it would had this effect -was just experimenting!! The bass now is much more 'present' and resulting tonal balance is great retaining the speed and clarity. If this can make a difference i'm sure its posssible you could achieve the same effect given we're using the same brand of electronics. I would do as you say and try with different speaker cable ( single wire and biwire) and see what you get. The ecosse ref ms 2.3 i'm using is monocrystal copper although even with this + supplied jumpers it was a tad bright. Are you using jumper cables??
 
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Anonymous

Guest
my speaker cable is rumour 4 bi wire so no i'm not using jumpers. By the way my wife had a good listen and said she couldn't hear anything wrong & also the dealer gave me his honest opinion (audio file cambridge) and he said that he didn't think it was bright at all just bags of clarity and speed and attack. He listned for about an hour and couldn't really fault the sound apart from the recordings that were on the bright side. He assured me that he was being honest in his findings and i believe him but once you get that little seed of doubt in you head it's sometimes hard to get rid of. Lol.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Do yourself a favour and buy ATC SCM40's, i own these and they're far better than the PMC's. The midrange is beautiful, bass is powerful and defined while the treble is liquid smooth. No contest!
 

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