PMC Speakers - new 'i' range

Agreed. I much prefer a wood finish on loudspeakers. Some higher end models have had fantastic finish quality in recent years (Dynaudio and Bowers & Wilkins immediately spring to mind). The grey/white vinyl finish only are a preserve of these manufacturer’s introductory ranges - the higher end models have quite sumptuous levels of finish.

I wonder whether a special order in wood veneer was possible.

No i spoke with Tom Barron of PMC, they moved from UK cabinet supplier to Italy, this is all they can/will do. Must be losing sales, so i predict these will not be around for long. Some may like this finish…but a £15 k speaker should look top notch, to me they look like a kitchen worktop. But each to their own preferences.

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So the 25.26(i) is the sweet spot for SQ and looks?

That is rather disappointing, and I very much agree that the limited availability of finishes is particularly poor when asking 15K for a pair of speakers. To put this price tag in perspective, apparently the average on-the-road price of the top three best-selling UK small car models, as of August 2019, was £15,078!

Maybe PMC becomes more flexible when cabinet supply returns to the UK, once Brexit fully kicks in… :crazy_face:

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The speaker is far better value! It will last longer, has no running cost, no service cost, doesn’t pollute, doesn’t kill people, takes up less space, and can give a lot greater pleasure.

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I personally prefer not to have wooden veneer, although my Twenty5.26’s are in walnut. Two many shades of wood going on in the living room and nothing matches exactly.
I love the flat Matt finishes, look classy and up to date in my opinion.

Wood speakers is old school in my opinion really. :expressionless:

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It depends on your balance of form vs function. For now at least you can buy secondhand F12s in wood veneer - which are small looking compared to the 26, so surely they are the ‘sweet spot’ out of those two? Of course then there is the MB2SE, which is like the F12’s big brother…and still available new in wood veneers

True although I was really thinking about if you were buying from new at present

It wouldn’t be so bad if they offered a range of colours not white and grey (which of course technically aren’t colours!), then it would be easier to choose something that blends in with decor.

But to my mind what is needed for a decent speaker is very much a timeless finish, and not anything fashionable, as fashion changes but decent speakers may be there for life.

Again. I’m sure there are decors where the white and grey look great. But it’s unlikely to be any room I’d build.

The point being made is that you need to offer a range that satisfies a broadish spectrum of decors. You aren’t fond of various mismatched wood. Wood variety is probably exactly what I’d go for. Rather than a uniform match, a variety of obvious mismatches. I love wood.

That last bit came out wrong.

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White is too much ‘in your face’ unless the whole room is a cold clinical white. Also makes the speakers look bigger. Black is too much like the monolith in 2001: a space odyssey. Grey is, well, grey! Either blending in with the boring monotony of a grey room if the rest is grey, or otherwise standing out like jarringly unfinished objects. Most wood veneers go with almost anything, other than the wrong wood where everything else is one particular wood. Bright orange - or any other bold colour - could work well with the right decor, but be hideous with another. Darker more subtle colours, like dark maroon or midnight blue perhaps, can fit in many places where wood can.

I don’t doubt that some people have completely opposite views - and that is the point, it would seem wisest for a manufacturer to have a sufficient range of options to have something not likely to offend any potential purchasers, and choosing white and grey to me is questionable in this regard.

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When the latest ‘i’ range was announced back in February the cost for the wood finishes (for the Twenty5 23i model) was £3,500 with the black and white options costing a premium £3,850. Now all 4 finishes are priced at the higher £3,850.

The wider trend in hifi speaker finishes would suggest the next iteration of this range is likely to offer finishes in black, grey, white with one wood option. I think the special edition Fact 8 looks good (timeless) in the dark matt grey finish. Dark wood would still be my preference.

Only one person on here so far seems to have heard any of the new models though…

I heard the 24i at the Bristol Show earlier this year. I was impressed by the treble as well as the usual PMC strengths at the low end. I’d have liked to hear the 23i as I have 23s, but that demo slot clashed with the Linn demo I was at. I really like the 25.23s, so I suspect the new model will be good.

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I love the sound of my 20.26’s.
But the sharp edges get dinked far too easily. The fashion for super sharp edges on stuff does equal easy damage. I paid £4K new for my PMCs 2 years ago. I’d hate to think what these new 25.26i’s are costing. And for me, speakers must look good too. And that means decent veneer or even better solid wood. I almost did not buy my PMCs because of the mediocre cabinet finish. The sound won me over, as it should.

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I have to say that the veneers on my 25.21s are top notch and the overall build quality is fantastic

Hello 1GL,

Yes, I will indeed elaborate. You may want to make a cup of tea and get confortable before proceeding… I have a modest full Naim electronics system. It has the usual Naim characteristics as you can imagine. I also had a previous generation PMC 25.22 powered by this system. Why? Needed ease of room placement, good detail, expressive bass and a standmount. Believe it or not, the PMC fit the bill. Over time, as house furniture changes, hearing evolves and upgrade-itis occurs, I began to look at the upcoming PMC 25i series.
No brainer, right? Same company, same model…and they spent plenty of time harping on and explaining the “improvements” (crossover point lowered by 100hz and new tweeter, reputed to be “more polite”). What’s not to like? Sounded good and risk-free to me. No company would totally rework an existing and recurring product model to the extent where it is totally changed, would they? WOULD THEY?

Answer: PMC DID.
The speaker has been changed from A to Z. It is a totally different animal. It has no longer has anything to do with the previous generation except the cabinet.

Yes, that is correct. In my setup, with all pre-existing system parameters being perfectly identical, with over 275 hours of “burn-in”, with countless verifications and checks on wiring, hookups, connections, etc…I CAN EMPHATICALLY CERTIFY AND GUARANTEE that PMC have made a massive industrial error. The speakers are not room friendly. They require as much free space as a belligerent rear-ported bass reflex. The bass response is off the charts. It’s not even bass anymore, it’s this thundering, one-note, boomy series of loud thudding. Imagine dropping a 50kg sack of potatoes on the floor. That’s their new bass esthetic. The mids and upper frequencies, on the other hand, are acceptable. The new tweeter is indeed more refined and is agreeable. However, the gross miscalculation on the crossover component electrical values have made the speaker unbelievably unbalanced. I don’t know what they were thinking but some genius at PMC must be held accountable. With this series, you cannot base yourself on historical data or known reference points about frequency profile, room friendliness and compatibility with Naim amplification. It’s all been thrown out the proverbial window. Maybe they work with Bryston only?

So, summing up, I do not understand why PMC decided to literally destroy the acoustics of the new 25i series, specifically the 25.22i that I unfortunately own.
They made no mention or press release on the new bass response, they only speak of feet isolation, crossover and new tweeter. I do not understand why PMC has taken a quick and nimble, transparent speaker which was nicely compatible with Naim’s house sound…only to achieve a point where the lower frequency characteristics of each brand ARE NOW COMPOUNDED into an ungodly, unlistenable MESS of ACOUSTIC HELL. The concept of brand loyalty is something we all understand. I believe that manufacturers should have “customer loyalty” and maintain a linear line of consistent performance. That would just be respectful. But, NO, I GUESS NOT.

As far as I am concerned, my analysis is faultless in so far as I have made a simple “swap” of the two products in my home (same everything). I based my decision on early reviews, the principles of transmission line speaker behavior, the fact that I had the previous generation IN MY ROOM and the exact same system AND now with nearly 300 hours of run-in time. I think the die is cast and the reality is that PMC have created a new speaker which is unlike its previous generation. They are neither room nor Naim friendly. The wild and wooly bass response (on lested PMC stands of course) is unlike anything I’ve had the misfortune of hearing from my system before.

I’m predicting that PMC will, and should, receive massive blowback from their customers, such as myself. 4000 euros for me is not an insignificant sum in these times of economic uncertainty. To be betrayed like this by PMC is disconcerting.

Finally, get this, PMC agreed that maybe my pair was faulty. They agreed to graciously replace them in this case as a means to verify things. I received the new pair. My text above describes both pairs. They were exactly the same. I recognize that PMC made an effort to make things right on the commercial/marketing side, but the problem lies at origin in the engineering department. And yes, I copiously thanked both PMC and my dealer for the good intentions.

You’ll also notice that only the “hifi press” and dealers are ecstatic about the new series…enough said.
Brgds.

P.S. Before the forum post forensic brigade hits me with a “gotcha!” on how I should have auditioned them at home first, they were purchased during Covid lockdown as a therapeutical measure, a good excuse and based on my previous knowledge of this specific model. Secondly, no dealers during this period had a pair to propose for home demo.

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I paid £4500 for my 6 month old Twenty5.26s. The new ones are £9000

8k!!!

£9k actually