Pmc mb2 se in the house.
 

I am now a officially a pmc fanboy!

My previous speakers were vivid giya g3 followed by wilson
Sasha 2.

I was ignoring pmc with the wrong notion that they were below
The hierachy sound wise as compared to my previous speakers.
If we go about audiophile stuff like detail retrival, blacker bacground,
Sounstage depth and dissapearing act—my previous speakers
Especially wilson wins, but if you want musicality like just concentrating
To music as a whole hearing everything and freeing you from analizing
The music— pmci mb2 se is off the chart!

I am so enarmored with this speakers that i no longer gets distracted
And just listen and just let my guard down enjoying. No more
Analizing!

I dont feel like i downgraded at all since both ex are much more
Expensive, infact i feel like my enjoyment is a level or two up.

Thank you pmc!!!!

To fellow pmc owners—what brand of cables do you use?

Thank you

Elmer


Elmer

Great to hear you are enjoying the actual music instead of sound. That’s the idea and whatever gets you there is the best for you. Enjoy. I don’t own PMC so can’t comment on any cables but I’m sure others will chime in.

PHC1

Thank you.

I hope members dont misinterpret my post, dont
Get me wrong, i love both my exes and i was blessed
To afford them and be part of my audio journey. It was
Just a case of me just getting tired of over analyzing
The music to much.


Elmer

I don't think anyone will misinterpret your post. We all have our preferences and we experiment in this journey we take with our hobby. Wilson are great speakers as are many others and PMC is certainly a great speaker as well. I have always heard very positive comments about PMC although I myself have not had the pleasure to live with a pair yet.

I see that you are a harbeth user.

Before i can never or dont understand what they meant by
“Accuracy vs musicality”, i really dont know if this is the
Right terms for both spectrum. But now i understand.

I think harbeth and pmc are more alike than different.

It's a pretty cool looking speaker, I've never heard a set of PMCs outside of a hotel room, I've always read how good they are. Are these similar in finish to what you bought?

https://hifilounge.co.uk/wp-content/.../web-MB2SE.jpg

Yes, I think they are of similar philosophy. Funny thing is that Harbeth was designed to be a very accurate broadcasting speaker for the human voice for BBC. It turned out to be a very good measuring as well as a very musical speaker over the decades. I believe PMC has a very similar design philosophy.

Pmc mb2 se in the house.
 

Congratulations Elmer...enjoy in good health.

Pictures of your setup would be nice [emoji6]

I just love those soft dome midrange units and how they implemented the transmission line.

Very different indeed. PMC has a combination of design features not found in other speakers. Transmissioin line bass loading, dome midrange, 'reversed basket' high-excursion woofer, large 4th-order 24db steep crossover network, thick high density HDF (Medite) cabinet, more...

Those are not exclusive features only found on PMC. Peruse any of the speaker part suppliers like Madisound or Parts-Express for example. Dome midranges, reverse basket, high excursion drivers, transmission line cabinets for the DIY crowd. All there.


All those features exist in various other speakers and different variations/combinations. There are literally thousands of speakers out there these days.

I would be interested to know the maker of the speaker that contains the same combination of design features as PMC? PMC speakers are expensive so there might be an alternative at a lower price that I am not aware of.

That is not something I can tell you off the top of my head without doing research. Especially that you are asking me to come up with the same speaker for less money. Some of the ones like Meadowlark have went out of business years ago.

Transmission line speakers were never as popular as other designs. For the most part, passive radiators are nearly as effective and a much more time and cost efficient way to do things for manufacturers.

PMC does it their way and charge the customer appropriately for time and materials. You pay for that.

Now, think about why a "transmission line speaker" may not be very popular anymore?

Allow me to explain... The bass waves will travel through the transmission lines, get delayed by a great deal of time.

Now, these days, we know how important "timing" is in speakers with all the drivers time and phase aligned down to the last picosecond... Especially adjustable speakers like Wilson. It is important for the overall coherence of sound.

Does PMC get around it? I'm sure they have it figured out but without having heard them, I can't comment.

If you have a technical explanation how the transmission line delay of lower octaves is accomplished, I would be curious to hear about their solution.

Many of the DIY projects have the transmission line designs to be used with exotic and high efficiency drivers that many manufacturers do not necessarily want to deal with as they are "specialty speakers".

So you are not going to see many these days. :no:

The important thing is that if they sound good to your ears and you are enjoying music, that's all that matters. I have no reason to doubt PMC is a great speaker but have zero experience with them.

Here is Paul McGowan's take on transmission line speakers. https://youtu.be/QisuofWF4Zk

Another discussion of transmission lines with an engineer this time. https://youtu.be/HCQR7aXhKEc

PMC transmission line speakeres are different from others becaused of the special absorbing material that is used to line the tapered transmission line. This causes mid and upper bass frequencies to be absorbed while allowing low bass frequencies to exit the vent in phase with the main bass driver.

Here is one article that helps to explain the concept.

http://studiospeaker.de/SMM/PMC_Tech...%20by%20PT.pdf

There you go then. So if PMC is pushing forward with their philosopophy and the way they want to accomplish things while attracting audiophiles, then the model is a success. Again, the most important thing is for you to be happy since you are the one listening to them.

I have the amarone red.

Thank you gem666

Pictures yes, let me figure out how to post one.

I never though that i would fall i love with a “big baffled”
Speakers having heard tannoy numerous times. Thiis
Is definitely a seious contender to anybody looking for
A middle ground of the “ying and yang” spectrum. One
End gives you the magico, yg etc. While the other end
Gives you harbeth, spendor and other bbc inspires
Design.

I just hope there’s no incoming new model since this present
Model is 8 years old already.

Welcome to PMC MB2SE Ownership Elmer. As an owner I’m keen to know what amplifier you are powering them with? I use specialized speaker cables from TimePortal. 8 AWG shielded silver coated copper.

Didn't Dan have a pair in his Living Room system and loved them. I think he had a pretty good ear for speakers.

Thank you for the welcome!

I am using vitus sia 025 mk2, cables are
Audience 24sx rca and speaker cable.

Right now im trying to experiment on
Different brand xlr to replace my rca.
Trying out swiss cable, acoustic zen and
And audioquest sky.

Why not use what Peter Thomas uses to voice his PMC speakers, plain copper cables.

If pmc uses plain jane copper wires inside, why do i
Still hear difference sound wise using different brands?
I mean....there should be no difference——right?, since
The signal being transmitted from the connector to the
Actual speakers by way of a plain copper wire is what
Relly counts...right?

Or maybe uprading the speaker cable inside may yield
More improvement?

Dont get me wrong, sound right now is glorious. Just
Wishfull thinking.

Peter has only been developing and testing his speakers for 30 years, he probably hasn't had time to consider using someting other than plain copper wire. Come to think about it, McIntosh has only been developing their gear for 75 years and they to are still using just plain copper wiring. If only PMC and McIntosh knew...

Jack, he had PMC EB1is.

Here's another explanatory video

The first 15 min are also quite interesting but if you want to watch only the part about transmission line design then forward to 15:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4M3rb8QMSU

Nice one. Thank you.

I like his channel. Very sensible audiophile. :yes:

Here is a very good current review of the PMC MB2 SE. It provides more detail about why PMC speakerts are different from other transmission line designs and the advantages of transmission line over bass reflex.

https://pmc-speakers.com/sites/defau...20redacted.pdf

I didn't find any useful information to distinguish the PCM implementation from other transmission lines despite the assertions.

Kal, would you mind providing the maker and model of transmission line speaker you believe equals or betters PMC?

I wasn't making a comment on the speaker but on the lack of useful information in the article.
I will not respond to this because I do not have a high opinion of PMC in general. All I will say is that I believe that I have built better ones in the past.

@PHC1
I wonder how your D-06u sounds with your 590 AXII, I have the same cd player and currently use it with, like you a PL DP Tube amp. I run MB2SE in my main system, currently powered by ARC Pre LS10SE and Pass XA25 power amps that already sound wonderful despite the apparent lack of power. The XA25 also grips my Twenty26 very well too. They're my wife's favourites.

I use Wireworld Eclipse 7 with my PMC MB2 SE.

PMC MB2SE for Home Theatre
 

Recently, before packing them up for shipment, my wife and I pulled out the couch bed and tucked in to watch a couple of movies on Blu-ray through our Pioneer LX800SE powered by a simple Marantz 8805/8077 powered system and our MB2SE. What a revelation! Super deep bass, great sound, overall precision, the usual wonderful experiences I've heard with these MB's.

Honestly though, since having them, this was the first time I'd wired them up to our HT system. And it was a revelation. Since acquiring them two years earlier, I had them powered by various amps in our changing music systems. Sources were various dacs including PS Audio PerfecdtWave SE DAC (playing MQA Tidal) and Lampizator Amber III SE DAC (playing CD's). Sources including Esoteric K03Xs SE CD player and Oppo 205SE or Pioneer, into three different amps, a Krell KAV 400i that I didn't keep long, it was too smooth, my favorite the PassLabs XA25, but rather too low powered for the MB's, and the Esoteric F05 SE that was great when well fed by good quality CD or streaming signals. Later on, a First Watt M2 made an appearance and was preferred against the XA25 for its lower reach and equal control. But still not powerful enough at all for the MB's.

So I think this is where the epiphany occurred, after tying them up to the 8077's they were suddenly liberated. I had not heard them like that with deep articulate bass, giving plenty of chest impression enough to satisfy and thrill.

So much so, I have kicked out my MX10 KRIX system that requires building in to use the MB's as my simpler HT system for now.

I had wired the MB's up just before this HT experience to an ARC D240 MkII SE. This was pretty good, still not as revelatory as the HT system. Not enough to stop me from using the MB's as my new main HT system, fronts.

They will be combined with an Auro3D speaker set up based around Martin Logan FX speakers to begin with. I have four ML in-ceiling speakers that were installed in our old villa. I plan to try a pure Auro3D layout without them first. I have never been convinced about the mastering of Atmos discs enough to warrant their placement and look forward to upmixing all my Dolby discs.

The MB's do a great HT job, and I may lay two-speaker feeds on the floor, one from the HT and the other from a stereo system to offer a choice of connections. I have a spare Passlabs XP20 to feed that ARC D240 MkII, maybe the junior N50Ae will supply this setup. My experience of the N50Ae shows it cannot be compared with its bigger brother, the N70Ae, and that cannot beat the coaxial connection into the DAC inside the ARC Ref CD9. The output of this final layout is simply another level and has created an endgame setup.

Probably the N50Ae is on the same level as a Blusound Node II...

I look forward to getting the MB's and associated equipment set up back here in Oztralia. Shipping allowing....