I have never owned a pair of PMC speakers, so my comments here can be considered as gentle musings rather than any kind of authoritative statement.
A few years ago I casually looking around at speakers and other kit, I knew that in two or three years time I would be making a big upgrade in my hifi kit, so I was trying to get as much information as possible. At this time I visited the Bristol 'Sound and Vision' show, I am not sure of the exact year now, but 2009 or 2010 I think. As is fairly normal at shows, there were many rooms and demos that were a little disappointing, but a do recall spending a disproportionate amount of time in the PMC room where they were demonstrating the PMC PB1i 'Signature'. At the time I recall this being one of the best sounding rooms in the show, and PMC found themselves on my 'future audition list'. Fast forward to 2013 and I was looking around for demos of all sorts of stuff, by now with a serious intent to buy. I noticed that the new Fact 12's had just come out and booked myself an audition at Oxford Audio. I had high hopes for the Fact 12's, especially with them being reassuringly more expensive than the old PB1i's that I recalled that I liked. It was a good demo, with Devialet 240 power, but I did end the demo feeling a little disappointed. All I can say is that they did not 'do it for me', so I wasn't going to part with £12K for them. In fact, I did end up wondering why the Fact 12 was £5k more than the PB1i and yet had significantly smaller bass drivers. (The 12's have 140mm drivers, the PB1i's 170mm) OK, these auditions were a few years apart, in different rooms and with different amps, but to this day I wonder just how good those old PB1i's might be? Maybe not as good as I recall? Maybe a current second-hand bargain?
Oddly enough, the Fact 12 audition day ended with me trying the KEF Blade, which OAC also had available for demo, they did do it for me! Although I think it was about another 5 months of trying different stuff at different places before I finally parted with any cash.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that I did have a very quick listen to the Twenty 26 at a show earlier this year, another one that sounded very good at the time.
A few years ago I casually looking around at speakers and other kit, I knew that in two or three years time I would be making a big upgrade in my hifi kit, so I was trying to get as much information as possible. At this time I visited the Bristol 'Sound and Vision' show, I am not sure of the exact year now, but 2009 or 2010 I think. As is fairly normal at shows, there were many rooms and demos that were a little disappointing, but a do recall spending a disproportionate amount of time in the PMC room where they were demonstrating the PMC PB1i 'Signature'. At the time I recall this being one of the best sounding rooms in the show, and PMC found themselves on my 'future audition list'. Fast forward to 2013 and I was looking around for demos of all sorts of stuff, by now with a serious intent to buy. I noticed that the new Fact 12's had just come out and booked myself an audition at Oxford Audio. I had high hopes for the Fact 12's, especially with them being reassuringly more expensive than the old PB1i's that I recalled that I liked. It was a good demo, with Devialet 240 power, but I did end the demo feeling a little disappointed. All I can say is that they did not 'do it for me', so I wasn't going to part with £12K for them. In fact, I did end up wondering why the Fact 12 was £5k more than the PB1i and yet had significantly smaller bass drivers. (The 12's have 140mm drivers, the PB1i's 170mm) OK, these auditions were a few years apart, in different rooms and with different amps, but to this day I wonder just how good those old PB1i's might be? Maybe not as good as I recall? Maybe a current second-hand bargain?
Oddly enough, the Fact 12 audition day ended with me trying the KEF Blade, which OAC also had available for demo, they did do it for me! Although I think it was about another 5 months of trying different stuff at different places before I finally parted with any cash.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that I did have a very quick listen to the Twenty 26 at a show earlier this year, another one that sounded very good at the time.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
