Was speaker shopping and heard perfection...

[Tino]

...and now I'm depressed.

I feel like someone who was blind and thought I was not missing much....then someone let me see some blurry black and white blobs and shapes which made me think "wow this is pretty good!" then suddenly I was given better than 20/20 vision for a view minutes and told that I could only have that with some super high price which I cannot afford and now I gotta go back to blackness or blobs.

So I thought I was happy with my Celestion speakers and was just looking for a small improvement for me to have the 'ideal' sound I was after. Went and heard some Monitor Audio silver series which I preferred over some mid range B&W and Paradigms studios I heard. Then the bad thing happened....

heard a set of speakers at the same store called "PMC EB1"



No words I have will convey what I heard. The unreal clarity, the fact that these 150lb speakers just instantly vanished and sound just magically filled the room. The incredibly tight controlled bass down to below audible range (there was one note that I could not even here but I new was there because the filiments in the light bulbs were shuddering). Oh the sound was also incredibly real and live. Even at extreme volumes, I never felt the speaker sounding compressed or strained. It was unreal. Uuugh I can go on for ever. My friend was with me and we blabbed about these things for 2 hours after. I'm still in shock.

I definitly could not deal with the $10K pride tag but nothing and I mean nothing prepared me for that. I listened to a pair of B&W 802 series which they had there but it was like listening to fisher price toys!

Now must research and find out how they can do what they did. Did have big $$ equipment backing it up but not sure how much that actually adds. I always thought the speakers were the most critical component (anyway it had a Krell CD player with a Krell outboard DAC and a Krell power amplifier). Room was pretty big as well 13'x 18' which did seem to have some smartly placed damping materials such as drapes, rugs on the wall and some live plants in the corners hiding some bass traps.

Anyway I cant go buy the monitor audios after hearing this. There is no point. I'll stop raving like a madman now. I feel like my hobby has been smashed because I"ve been exposed to something unattainable. Like taking someone who was going to shop for a mustang GT and giving them a ride in a Ferrari Enzo and then dropping them off saying "good luck car shopping" LOL

[Graham Maynard]

Link would not work for me.

http://www.heavymoon.co.jp/hifi/pmc/eb1/index.html

Cheers ....... Graham.

[gainphile]

I would be careful with speakers which impresses me quickly

[BHTX]

http://www.pmc-speakers.com/product....e=view&pid=176

..I think I'll pass.

[Tino]

No really guys, it was just stunning. Maybe the room setup is just done really well, but I've never ever EVER heard anything like that.

LONG ago I heard a set of Matrix 801 speakers on some Mark Levinson equipment and I thought that was astonishing but this just seemed like a few levels up. Dont know how good the 801's are supposed to really be but I always heard they were good and from what I heard, they were but they did not seem to just vanish in the room like these.

[BHTX]

Originally posted by Tino
but they did not seem to just vanish in the room like these.

I have several tracks that can easily manage that on just about any pair of loudspeakers. In other words, it's usually highly dependent on the source material. What was being played? Any idea?? Probably not, because the salesman likely gave you his rehearsed tactics, and that most certainly includes the music in the CD player.

As for the "Mark Levinson equipment", I've witnessed "cheap" pro amplifiers beat them for a tiny fraction of the cost. A joke really.

Rather than wasting your time feeding yourself with the Stereophile BS, perhaps you should read here more often.

[Tino]

Music was some stuff I brought over. Nothing fancy. Enya, Jack Johnson, Tiesto, Crystal Method, Vanessa Carlton and one Classical CD which was a Telarc disc which I had from a long time ago as a test CD. I'd have to look it up but its nice. I like it.

The salesman basically popped the discs in. I had control of the volume and tracks.

I have an old SAE amplifier as well as a Soundcraftsmen amp. I've also played around with a QSC MX series amp and somehow I doubt they'd be better. I have a Threshold SA3 as my main amplifier which to me sounds a little better so next thing you'll tell me is to throw that away as well I mean its just going to be stereophile junk right.

PS the QSC MX I tried was terrible. Most gritty, dirty sounding thing ever. My SAE is first in line of my Threshold dies. The soundcraftsmen is good too but not as nice as the SAE. Just my opinion. Also I dont care what anyone says about me feeding into the whole audiophile or stereophile stuff but I'd never ditch my Threshold. To me its just wonderful and I'm sure the Levinson is a well designed unit. Maybe overpriced but I'm sure its still really good.

Originally posted by BHTX


I have several tracks that can easily manage that on just about any pair of loudspeakers. In other words, it's usually highly dependent on the source material. What was being played? Any idea?? Probably not, because the salesman likely gave you his rehearsed tactics, and that most certainly includes the music in the CD player.

As for the "Mark Levinson equipment", I've witnessed "cheap" pro amplifiers beat them for a tiny fraction of the cost. A joke really.

Rather than wasting your time feeding yourself with the Stereophile BS, perhaps you should read here more often.

[bastek]

...and now I'm depressed.


Hmmm, you sound like me back in '98 when i heard a pair of IRS Sigmas. I was depressed for 9 years.
But now i own them!

[bastek]

...Since i got into diy, my new pairs are so good that now i' m thinking about selling my IRS Sigmas.
I'm depressed again..

[Tino]

I have some spare parts. I wonder if I can make something with them that would sound really good. They were not so expesive compoments for me to tinker with. I made one bookshelf that sounds ok but I'm no wizard with the crossover designs so I dont know what I could come up with.


Got the following stuff:

2x Vifa D27TG-45
http://www.soundocity.com/Oregondv/VIVA_S45.jpg

2x Vifa M13 shielded 5" woofers
http://www.digitalmegahouse.com.au/i...13SG-09-08.JPG

2x Vifa P17WJ 6.5" woofers
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...0065Woofer.jpg

2x Vifa M26WR woofers 10"
http://www.digitalmegahouse.com.au/i...26WR-09-08.JPG


I made a sub box with the 10" a long time ago and I was quite impressed with them. I made a bookshelf with the 5" and tweeters. It sounded ok but not as good as my Celestions because sometimes it sounded a bit peaky on certain frequencies. I used a very simple 6db crossover on the woofer and tweeter though.