PMC GB1i

juzzmee

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Dear all,

Have a newbie question and hope to find some answers as it's been bothering me.

I've a pair of PMC GB1i floorstanding speakers paired with Carot One Ernestsolo Class D amp hooked to a Lindemann DAC. Problem is while the vocals and instruments project beatifully, i'm lacking bass in all areas. Rock to pop, nothing from the lower frequencies.

Can someone advise if the pairing is wrong, the amp has insufficient power to drive the PMCs? I'm new so pop in to audio store, listened to exactly the same setup and loved it, but now that it's at my place, i dont get the same effect.

TIA
 
Is this your amp - Ernestolo - Amplificatore Valvolare - Carotone

If so it is class D but valve and also only 6W into 8 ohm speakers and suggest using it with 86-89 dB/w/m speakers.

The PMC GB1's are classed at 87 dB/w/m and 8ohm so theoretically should drive them OK but not to loud levels, at fairly loud domestic listening you will be close to maxing out the amp.

GB1i | PMC Loudspeakers

So, some obvious things to check - have you got them wired up correctly red-red and black-black on the speaker wires form the amp (double check, speaker wires have a witness mark on them, either a colours stripe or a raised ridge, I tend to use the ridged wire for the +ve/red connection) and have you got the bi-wire jumpers connected on the back of the speakers. Also how big is your room and where are the speakers positioned and what furnishings do you have, this can have a very big effect on the sound.
 
Hi Ugg10, thanks for your reply.

Yes, that's the amp I'm using. I've doubled and tripled check the wiring of the speakers and they were correct. The speakers are placed in the living room, about 3 meters apart ; toed in. I'm using them bi-wired, basically setup by the audio guy I bought from. Do you think what else can be wrong, eg. Amp? Also is it necessary for the Lindemann DAC?

Thanks again
 
When you listened to it in the store where you listening to your own music or something they had chosen to demo the speakers. I only ask as while I seem to be in the minority, I found I had the same problem with FB1's which were the GB1'S bigger brothers. I was using much more powerful amps and listening to mostly heavy rock but found I couldn't live with the lack of bass. However if I played something like this track in the link then they sounded amazing with the bass sounding great so it seems there wasn't a fault with the speakers as such. I came to the conclusion that there must have been a lack of bass at certain frequencies which didn't fit well with my usual choice of music. I tried the speakers in 4 different rooms with 3 different amps and came to the same conclusion each time.

 
Hi Timmy,

It was my music, Adele's rolloing in the deep, Mariah's O Holy Night. The part where the bass comes in was so apparent in the shop whereas at my place, I don't get them.

Intend to try my newly received Denon RCD-M41 with the PMCs and see how it goes. At least with the Denon, I can adjust bass and treble.

It's been irritating the hell outta me and I'm thinking of swapping out the PMCs for QA3020i. Maybe smaller speakers are easier to drive, but what do I know, not all the watts and Ohms of the speaker and amp.
 
Well I hope it works out for you. I was so disappointed with my PMC's as based on everything I had read about them I thought I was going to love them. I sold them again after a few months and went back to using Monitor Audio GR speakers. While the PMC's outshined the MA's in some areas I am at least back to having a sound I can fully enjoy with all types of music.
 
if you post a pic of the speaker terminals and back of your amp we might be able to see if anything looks wrong, don't bother bi-wiring as well, this is a waste of time and money,
 
Attached are the pics, not sure if it's clear enough.

I misplaced the binding post or jumper plates, anything I can replace with? Care to enlighten me what exactly does bi-wiring does?
 

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Attached are the pics, not sure if it's clear enough.

I misplaced the binding post or jumper plates, anything I can replace with? Care to enlighten me what exactly does bi-wiring does?
Bi-wiring does nothing. You will only get an improvement in audio if you were to bi-amp good speakers. Most speaker manufacturers put four binding posts on their models simply just to look good and as a marketing ploy.

If you lost the bridge connectors you can use a short length of speaker wire to do the job.
 
Bi-Wiring makes no difference to the sound, most people usually just use a small length of the same speaker cable to connect the binding posts together instead of the brass links. doing this will make it easier for you when connecting to your amp and harder to get anything wrong. your wiring does look odd at you amp end, if you only use the one pair of cables it would be pretty hard to get things wrong.
below is how the links are added to the speaker terminals and next to that how i wire my speakers.
 

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Hi gibbsy,

I thought using the speaker cables to connect the 2 pairs of binding post is considered bi-wiring? I've attached a pic of my other setup in my room, so is this considered bi-wiring or not?
 
Southern soul, so I should probably change up my wiring for the PMCs by using a short speaker cables to connect the top binding post to the bottom, after which only a pair of speaker cables run from speaker to amp. Any difference in using the top or bottom post?
 
Sorry, just another thing. If bi-wiring makes no difference to the sound, then it shouldn't affect the lack of bass, no? If wired wrongly, can it be that my mids n high are still so clear?
 
That is single wired. Bi wire would have two sets of wire one pair each to the pair of binding
posts. Your dealer has set them up for single wire using spare wire to bridge between the two sets of posts.
bi-amping.jpg
 
Thanks gibbsy. So my PMCs are bi-wired, 2 pairs of cables from each speaker to single post in the amp. Will change up to single wired and test. But based on my question above, do u think my current connection can be the cause of no bass but still clear on mid n high?

And pls accept my apologies if I'm bothering too much. Really appreciate the help and advise I'm getting.
 
The photo you have posted in #12 shows that your speaker is single wired. One set of wire from the amp, that's the red and black wire. The clear copper wire is a bridge between both sets of binding posts thus connecting the two pair in a single wire configuration.

For it to be bi-wired then you would have another pair of the red and black wire connected to the bottom pair.

Looking at your photograph number 2 in #8 then they are bi-wired. Each binding posts has it's own black and red wires connected with banana plugs.
 
Got it cleared up and thanks gibbsy.

I'll re-wire them to single wired tomorrow am and report back. Hopefully this can help me find my lost bass. Fingers crossed!
 
Sorry, just another thing. If bi-wiring makes no difference to the sound, then it shouldn't affect the lack of bass, no? If wired wrongly, can it be that my mids n high are still so clear?

No it shouldn't. Many including myself think bi-wiring is a waste of money as it doesn't change the sound but I think we would all agree it certainly doesn't make it any worse.
 
OP - I've owned PMC speakers from the smallest bookshelf (DB1i) to the medium floorstanders (my current Twenty26's) and all of them have been defined by their stunning bass performance thanks to the Transmission Line. It is fast and clean and so totally unlike the boom and thud you usually get from ported speakers.

I agree with the posters who have pointed out possible cable connection issues - keep it simple and single wire.

I also found this very old review that mentioned speaker placement experimentation to get the best out of them:

PMC GB1i - £1,525

I must also say that a 6 watt valve amp seems horribly underpowered for floorstanders, unless you never intend to crank them up? But you did state that the amp/speaker synergy was fine at the Hi-Fi dealer's, so maybe that combination just doesn't work in your room for whatever reason (leaving aside possible cable connection issues).

Let us know how you get on.
 
Hi guys, so I tested single wired connection with the original amp, sound still the same; mids and highs are good, bass lacking.

Swapped out my carrot one for a budget amp - Denon RCD-M41DAB and the everything that was lacking came back.

So it's the amp. Now question, can someone recommend me a not so expensive amp to change to? Is the Onkyo CR N775D good replacement for Carrot One? Pls do not recommend bryston or expensive amps. Thanks
 
Cyrus One or Audiolab 6000a would be the first two on my list to audition and then throw in the Yamaha RN-803 for it's streaming and room correction. I think this is the level of amp that you should be looking at to do justice to those speakers.
 
Will look into it, Ugg10. Was recommended Cambridge Audio CXA60, any good?
 
Hi all, sorry to bother again.

I was reading up on the recommendation of Ugg10 and also someone I spoke to, so I have several choices. Which do you think is more suited for my PMC GB1i?

1) Cambridge Audio CXA60
2) Cambridge Audio CXA80
3) Audiolab 6000A
4) Audiolab 8300A
5) Marantz 6006, since I'll be using a Marantz 6004 CDT.
6) New Sonos Amp

Pls feel free to suggest others if deem better fit.

TIA
 
Hi all, sorry to bother again.

I was reading up on the recommendation of Ugg10 and also someone I spoke to, so I have several choices. Which do you think is more suited for my PMC GB1i?

1) Cambridge Audio CXA60
2) Cambridge Audio CXA80
3) Audiolab 6000A
4) Audiolab 8300A
5) Marantz 6006, since I'll be using a Marantz 6004 CDT.
6) New Sonos Amp

Pls feel free to suggest others if deem better fit.

TIA

I know nothing about Cambridge Audio, though I understand their amps are quite powerful (PMC's thrive on power, even the bookshelves).

Audiolab have been very well reviewed and received with an essentially neutral sound by all accounts.

Marantz have a long standing reputation for musicality, but may not be as powerful as the Cambridge Audios.

My first ever amp was a NAD in the late 80's and it had power to spare, though the sound could be a bit wayward. I understand their current amps are still powerful but much tighter sounding.

Your best bet, quite frankly, is to try and organise a demo. Seeking advice like this is a good first step, but none of us can say definitively which amp to buy as we are not you, don't listen to your music in your room and don't have your hearing.

Any or none of those amps could fit the PMC's on paper, but specifications are not really indicators of anything other than numbers. Music is an emotional experience and that's not really measurable, in my opinion.
 

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