Mike, speakers are highly dependant on your ears and preferences and how they react in your room. It’s best to use a dealer to select a few by demoing at his premises (whenever that might be possible). Once you’ve found 2 or 3 you might like try them at home with your system in your listening room. This bit is essential. There are countless stories on here of people who’ve loved speakers at the dealers and then hated them at home.
There are countless brands. The ones that come up on here regularly are Neat, Kudos, Spendor, PMC, B&W etc.
Speakers are generally the hardest part to get right and you need to take your time.
It’s up to you but I would definitely get your source and amp to the spec you want and see how you get on with the PMC’s then. They might surprise you as they’ve continued to surprise me.
Can I suggest you have a look at PMC’s website Mike.
If you are using the Twenty5.26 then it’s a different kettle of fish and a far superior speaker to the “26”!
The Twenty5 range use completely different drivers and crossovers. It’s only the physical case that is the same!
IMHO I would leave speaker till last. With the 202 in place I don’t think you will really hear the benefit of big changes the other end. As you are used to your speaker sound, I suspect you will get a better indication of improvements of other changes. Speakers are a lot more room specific, so you may well want to audition many speakers in your house
Whilst I haven’t heard them I have Kudos S20’s which are probably at a similar level and was until recently using them with a decent source (NDS/555DR) with a 282/HiCap DR/250DR and changed the Hicap to a Supercap DR and the 250 for a 300DR.
I’m staggered at the magnitute of the improvement and how well the speakers have taken to the upgrade, it feels like I have heard them properly for the first time. They certainly don’t feel out of place in my system and I’m in no rush to change them.
It’s interesting that you laughed at the idea of using £45,000 of electronics with £4,500 speakers, a ratio of 10:1. I have £15,500 of electronics with £1,500 speakers. Another member has the same speakers as me but with £25,000 of electronics. If we go to the top end end consider a CD555 with twin power supplies, Statement preamp, a 500 and PMC Fact 12: that’s about £120,000 of electronics with £12,000 speakers. Do we all deserve to be laughed at? Do we not know what we are doing and how to assemble an effective system? Are we all wrong?
That sounds like a plan, but should a 552 pop up first it’s not the end of the world so long as the TT follows sooner rather than later. With a 552 you’ll be able to lose the Hicap too, and run the Superline off the 552’s Aux 2. You’d be in good company with that system - our esteemed moderator has a RP10 with 552/250 and Naim SL2s. With your PMCs it will be lovely. I owned the smaller twenty.23s for a few years and enjoyed them very much.
You mentioned a Spectral stand. I don’t know what that is like, but you should be aiming for a Fraim if the current stand is not at that level. And apologies for this, because I ask so often: you do have dedicated mains, don’t you? If not, you should get it done.
The Superline should sound better off the 552, yes. You can try both but I’d be surprised if you preferred it powered by the Hicap. You must get as much separation between the 552 and its PS as possible. The 552 benefits from space above and below and seems happiest on the top level of a rack. It’s a sensitive piece of equipment and really benefits from top level supports, hence the repeated mention of a Fraim.
Fact 12’s and Tab 10 sigs are the most superior models of their class. The price as per say is somewhat skewed in your remark.
I find it odd that you have always quoted system balance and the use of the work “mullet” on a frequent basis over the years yet your view appears to be at the complete opposite in this thread…
Although I prefer to rate speakers by how they sound in my room with my system rather than what they cost…
The £4.5K figure being bandied around is largely because they are “remainder” stock left over when the newer models were introduced.
Mine were £5.75K back in 2014 when they were the new model. Inflate that to today’s prices and they would be £7-8K so comparable with the 25i series.
I’d also quibble with the comment that the 25 series were far superior to the 20 series. I demoed the 25.26 when they were released. They were undoubtedly better but not sufficiently so to persuade me to part with the money to upgrade. My system, my room etc. Others opinions may differ of course.
Interesting discussion of speakers here…
The Twenty26 was the predecessor to Twentyfive26, and IIUC the latter is a refinement rather than completely new or fundamentally better design. I would doubt that Twenty26 to the Twentyfive26 or later 26i version would be worthwhile unless trade-in makes it a relatively small cost - better would be to step up to Fact 12 (much more refined than the 26), or the SE range, though the power amp likely to be the limiting factor, so in whichever order, both likely to be needed. However, in the meantime it seems OP has a speaker with the character that suits him, which is always my own argument (as opposed to trying to get the best possible) so there would seem to be less of a pressing need to change. A better power amp might drive the 26s better.
PMC twenty5 series is not a tweaked Twenty series product. The cabinets although visually the same are actually all bigger, be it by only a few millimetres. Crossovers, drive-units are all different to the predecessors. Also the ATL design with the introduction of the Laminair aerodynamic vent.
Mike - focus on the source first, look at LP12 options. NAC282 will represent a good upgrade on the 202 and will be a good match for the NAP250. As a guide, budget c.20% of total system cost on speakers. PMC; Spendor; Kudos - auditioning is the key; very much a case of personal preferences. Good luck!
