Over the years I’ve upgraded to land at my current system of ND555/1 x 555DR PS/NAC552DR/NAP300DR and all the while my PMC 20.26’s have sat faithfully by improving with every upgrade. I’ve now got some spare cash and an itch to at least demo some new speakers to see what improvement that may or may not yield. My budget is around 15K. The two speakers I initially thought I’d try are Kudos Titan 707 and PMC Fact 12. Chatting to my dealer today he also suggested first trying the PMC 25.26i as he felt they were a significant upgrade on my current speakers.
This has raised a couple of questions I’d like to put to the forum :
Has anyone upgraded from 20.26’s to 25.26i’s and how would they describe the upgrade ? Even better if they can also describe where they sit with respect to the Fact 12’s.
Are there any other speakers I should be thinking about trying within the budget given above ?
My dealer has a used 555DR PS coming in on part exchange which I also want to demo on my ND555. Is this a better use of my money albeit it will delay the speaker upgrade if I prefer an option nearer my budget upper limit ?
Before I get the obvious other option thrown at me I don’t want to upgrade the 300 to a 500 at this point in time.
For info, listening room is 4.5m x 5.5m and is also a family so I don’t want a speaker than needs to be a big distance out from the wall.
I think what I’m looking for is a speaker that is more resolving. I sometimes get the impression (and I may be completely wrong) that there is “more there” that isn’t coming through.
Only my suggestion here, but two speakers which are not commonly seen on this forum, but which I would recommend are very worthy of a demonstration, would be the Wilson Audio Sabrina/ Sabrina X or the Sonus Faber Serafino. As to how close you could get them to the walls in your room will probably only be borne out by home demonstrations, but they can both work very well with Naim in the right setting.
Whatever you choose to demo, good luck… it’s the hardest thing to get right in any system IMHO! Not sure on their new prices, but should certainly be available in your budget as an ex-dem.
Only partial answer to the question: I’ve compared PMC 20.26 (not 25.26) and Fact 12, and the Fact was in a completely different (better) league. Comparing Fact 12 and MB2SE, the MB2 is by far the better - but expensive: ex-dem might just get down to your budget, otherwise would have to be secondhand (and I would have no hesitation in buying secondhand). However, whether the NAP300 is up to driving the MB2 is a question I can’t answer, not having that experience (amp when I compared was Bryston 4B ST2 in my comparison).
Yes I’ve heard the MB2’s at a friends and they are fantastic. My dealer has a pair. Unfortunately they are expensive and, more importantly, my wife has seen them and there is no way a pair of them is finding their way into our lounge. They are big and ain’t the prettiest
In my first hearing I was less than enthusiastic about the Fact 12 - though a lot better than the 20.26 there was something lacking, sounding a bit ‘closed in’ However a few weeks later I heard another pair in a different room, and they were much better - sufficiently so that I earmarked them as a possibility should I ever have to fit into a smaller room or have visually unobtrusive speakers.
Cheers. Interestingly my dealer said today that although the Fact 12’s are undoubtedly better than the 25.26i’s. He thinks the 26i’s have more “presence” than the Fact’s and he has a slight preference for them.
I do like the PMC sound and have had GB1i’s (which are now the rears in my 5.1 system), FB1i’s and now the 20.26’s.
I’m open to try a few others though. I’m interested in Kudos as they get an awful lot of praise on here. I’ve never got on with B&W.
This change could well be my end game speaker so I want to take my time and get it right.
I have exactly that system (nd555/552/300DR) powering Focal Sopra 2 - highly recommended you listen to the Focal line-up (and not the inevitable naysayers)
…they may sound wonderful but they are tough to look at. I know it is a personal preference but the Focal Sopra 2 speaker design is certainly not something I could look at every day.
Perhaps, due to my age, I need speakers in a square or rectangle shape!
The shape allows a more simple crossover with better timing, transparency and dynamics. Having had a few speakers that do the same i think I’d look for the same in future. Not trying to convince you just mentioning something that you may not know. I have read that some people can be sensitive to phase and timing. You never know you may really like the sound on listening.
Very personal! I haven’t heard any Focal speakers, but i can honestly say that for my tastes the Sopra Nº2 is perhaps my favorite modern speaker design. In orange ofcourse.
