Considering PMC FB1s...

Hififella

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Thinking of upgrading from B & W 602s....room is fairly small - just under 4m x 4m and is more or less square....wont get opporunity to audition... amp is Nad C370 and likely to be upgraded in medium term..

any comments on suitability for room and how different FB1s would sound from 602s....
 
Try the Bowers & Wilkins CM1...;)
 
I heard the FB1+ in a 3x4 m demo room with Arcam A80 amp and found then very impressive with several music styles. The only comparison I made was with PMC GB1 (which I like because they are slimmer- and cheaper :D), but they seemed to lose in scale and depth of sound. Haven't decided yet.
 
I heard the FB1+ in a 3x4 m demo room with Arcam A80 amp and found then very impressive with several music styles. The only comparison I made was with PMC GB1 (which I like because they are slimmer- and cheaper :D), but they seemed to lose in scale and depth of sound. Haven't decided yet.
Sounds good ..the A80 is 80 watts isnt it..have you heard B & W 602s or B & W speakers in general and if so how would you compare....awould you say the PMC tend towards the bright or warm side of things? What was the bass like ?
 
Sorry, never listened to B&W. I am no expert, I certainly wouldn't say they were bright (but Arcams are not- don't know what your amp sounds like), bass rich, tight, great all around with FB1+ (the caveat being that any full sized speaker should have more bass than my slim ones)
 
DOnt mind me asking why ?

Fantastic speakers for the size and for that room I guess... 1st order Xover, awesome tweeter, awesome bass, excelent in rooms under up to around 25m2. :thumbsup:

Much better and different than the 600 series (I hate the sound of the 600 and most B&W speakers).

I'm using mine in a 4,50 x 4.80 room, and never considered buying B&W...

Just feed them with a good 80 to 100w... but I recently heard them with a 50w NAD and very good too.

Even if you follow the PMC route, go for standmount speakers on a 4m x 4m room.
 
Comparing the FB1's to CM1's is a little like comparing apples and oranges really. If you have the room for floor standers then the true comparison would be between FB1's and CM7's. CM1's are excellent speakers, but along with their price factor in at least 100 pounds (damn this US keyboard!) for high mass stands to get the best from them, 200 if you buy the B&W specified items. Even second hand those go for around 140 on the 'bay. My personal experience of the CM1's was they didn't like it up 'em! I was able to get the cone to convulse at what I considered to be relatively low volume levels. I have only ever heard gsrai's PMC's (DBM1+) but they are awesome little beasts with serious bass, and he has yet to mass load his stands.
 
Comparing the FB1's to CM1's is a little like comparing apples and oranges really. If you have the room for floor standers then the true comparison would be between FB1's and CM7's. CM1's are excellent speakers, but along with their price factor in at least 100 pounds (damn this US keyboard!) for high mass stands to get the best from them, 200 if you buy the B&W specified items. Even second hand those go for around 140 on the 'bay. My personal experience of the CM1's was they didn't like it up 'em! I was able to get the cone to convulse at what I considered to be relatively low volume levels. I have only ever heard gsrai's PMC's (DBM1+) but they are awesome little beasts with serious bass, and he has yet to mass load his stands.

Would you say that just under 4 x 4m is enough room ?....I know generally its said that standmounts might be better in a smaller room...but I'm looking for a a big sound stage / large scale sound with great bass..presumably Im right in saying that the likes of PMC FB1 will provide that rather than a smaller quality standmount ?
 
My ProAcs soundstage better than most floorstanders, but perhaps they should at that price! Remember that a 4X4 room has to be reduced by the amount any speaker has to sit away from the walls. With big floorstanders that need room to breath this can cause big problems, especially if your room is also your normal lounge or bedroom. All these are considerations only you can make.
 
I had a demo of the FB1+ a couple of weeks ago and both my wife and I thought they lacked bass!
I am going back to the shop at the weekend to try the OB1's and a set of ProAcs.
 
I had a demo of the FB1+ a couple of weeks ago and both my wife and I thought they lacked bass!
No no no.........

Listen more carefully and you'll notice all the bass is there. What your are listening to is a transmission line speaker. They offer more control over the bass frequencies and have a lower roll off of bass notes and this gives the impression of less. If your used to or like speakers with boomy bass you'll have this impression. The OB1's are exactly the same but put some tunes with very low bass on and you'll hear and feel notes you did'nt know existed.

You may even feel the OB1's are more bass light then the FB1's because of the extra mid driver. They have an alltogether different sound balance.

Perhaps a more traditional ported speaker like the Proac's will be more to your liking.......

Happy listening.:smashin:
 
I had a demo of the FB1+ a couple of weeks ago and both my wife and I thought they lacked bass!

In a 4m x 4m room? ;)
 
Comparing the FB1's to CM1's is a little like comparing apples and oranges really. If you have the room for floor standers then the true comparison would be between FB1's and CM7's. CM1's are excellent speakers, but along with their price factor in at least 100 pounds (damn this US keyboard!) for high mass stands to get the best from them, 200 if you buy the B&W specified items. Even second hand those go for around 140 on the 'bay. My personal experience of the CM1's was they didn't like it up 'em! I was able to get the cone to convulse at what I considered to be relatively low volume levels. I have only ever heard gsrai's PMC's (DBM1+) but they are awesome little beasts with serious bass, and he has yet to mass load his stands.

What about sense of scale, realism of drums etc...surely smaller drivers / smaller cabinet give a reduced sense of scale / dynamics..?
 
I don't know about the CMs, but I recently demoed the DB1+ against 5 other speakers and they were by far the best. The whole range was stunning and bass was good too. Even to the point where, for music I had to get the dealer to switch off the sub (PV1) as they sounded better without it.

I also got them to hook up the FB1s and there was, to my ear absolutely no difference. I am going with the DB!s as I could see absolutely no reason to pay extra for the FBs there just wasn't any difference at all.
 
No no no.........

Listen more carefully and you'll notice all the bass is there. What your are listening to is a transmission line speaker. They offer more control over the bass frequencies and have a lower roll off of bass notes and this gives the impression of less. If your used to or like speakers with boomy bass you'll have this impression. The OB1's are exactly the same but put some tunes with very low bass on and you'll hear and feel notes you did'nt know existed.

You may even feel the OB1's are more bass light then the FB1's because of the extra mid driver. They have an alltogether different sound balance.

Perhaps a more traditional ported speaker like the Proac's will be more to your liking.......

Happy listening.:smashin:


You were right, I had a demo of the OB1's at the weekend and they just didn't hit the spot for me. I also tried the Proac reponse D15's which I loved and will be ordering this week. The OB1's are great but just not the sound I was looking for, this may also be down to the amps that were used in the demo which were audiolab monoblocks.
These worked well with the proac's as I had taken my own CD31 & Pre30 with me but couldn't fit a power amp in the boot as well.
 
What about sense of scale, realism of drums etc...surely smaller drivers / smaller cabinet give a reduced sense of scale / dynamics..?

I went for accuracy. Living in a flat I can't be too extravagant with speakers but I can honestly say I have had bigger and more impressive looking speakers but none have sounded as real as the ProAcs. I reckon if I wanted to start reproducing cathedral scale music I would need to add a sub to fill in the lowest octave but as far as I am concerned the rest is all there and eerily accurate.
 
You were right, I had a demo of the OB1's at the weekend and they just didn't hit the spot for me. I also tried the Proac reponse D15's which I loved and will be ordering this week. The OB1's are great but just not the sound I was looking for, this may also be down to the amps that were used in the demo which were audiolab monoblocks.
These worked well with the proac's as I had taken my own CD31 & Pre30 with me but couldn't fit a power amp in the boot as well.
Good choice. The Proacs are a great speaker. I nearly went for some over the OB1's but I wanted a more challenging sound than I had previously had with previous speakers and the PMC's seemed to offer it for me.

One thing to note about the PMC's is how badly dealers seem to set them up. They have a very narrow sweet spot and untill you snap that into fousus they don't sound at there best.

What did you find the differences to be between the Proacs and PMC's?
 
Good choice. The Proacs are a great speaker. I nearly went for some over the OB1's but I wanted a more challenging sound than I had previously had with previous speakers and the PMC's seemed to offer it for me.

One thing to note about the PMC's is how badly dealers seem to set them up. They have a very narrow sweet spot and untill you snap that into fousus they don't sound at there best.

What did you find the differences to be between the Proacs and PMC's?


I felt that OB1's just seemed a bit dull and uninvolving, but I would agree that not much care was taken in the setup and as I already mentioned they were being driven by a couple of quite low priced mono blocks when most people who own these tend to drive them with amps costing maybe ten times that price.
The proacs seemed to fit well with the kit being used in the demo (most of which was mine anyway) so I can move to them without any additional upgrading of amps and they performed very well in the same situation.
I must say that the guy who swaped the speakers about did seem to just leave them where they fell, without any particular care for positioning or towing them in towards the listening position etc...
 
I also got them to hook up the FB1s and there was, to my ear absolutely no difference. I am going with the DB!s as I could see absolutely no reason to pay extra for the FBs there just wasn't any difference at all.
:D
 

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