New PMC monitors look promising.

[Glenn Bucci]

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/new-monitor-range-pmc

The PMC 6-2 really caught my eye. A 3 way PMC in this lower price range has never been done before. I am hopeful they are as good as I think they will be. I have heard the Two Two 6's and liked them a lot. I hope this new 6-2 three way monitor will provide the extra detail to compete with the Barefoot MM45's but with the PMC character which I prefer.

[Arpangel]

I’m still considering these, they are on my short list, but I need to have a listen, from what I’ve heard from PMC in the past they have a very dynamic sound, very exciting, but seem to lack subtlety, and detail, compared to something like an ATC.
The PMC's sound fantastic on Rock etc, but I need to book a listen.

[Zukan]

I’m still considering these, they are on my short list, but I need to have a listen, from what I’ve heard from PMC in the past they have a very dynamic sound, very exciting, but seem to lack subtlety, and detail, compared to something like an ATC.
The PMC's sound fantastic on Rock etc, but I need to book a listen.

Is this hearsay Tone or based on experience?

Not knocking you buddy, just want to know where you gleaned this information from.

[Arpangel]

I’m still considering these, they are on my short list, but I need to have a listen, from what I’ve heard from PMC in the past they have a very dynamic sound, very exciting, but seem to lack subtlety, and detail, compared to something like an ATC.
The PMC's sound fantastic on Rock etc, but I need to book a listen.

Is this hearsay Tone or based on experience?

Not knocking you buddy, just want to know where you gleaned this information from.

Not hearsay Zukan, I had a good listen to PMC's at one of the shows a few years back, when I was looking then, that was my main reason for going, to check out monitors, I came away with the impression above, I did listen to ATC's at the same time, which I’m very familiar with, and to me, they have a different sound, more focused on the mid range, a bit more detail, to my ears anyway.
I need to listen again Zukan, just to get this straight, I may be totally wrong, and I hope so! as these new PMC's are priced very favourably.

[Zukan]

If that's the impression you got Tony then that is all that is important.

Monitors are personal things and we all perceive them in different ways. However, I never found PMC to be coloured or hyped. I tend to opt for monitors that are detailed and non fatiguing and the PMCs were perfect for exactly this purpose. But, as I said, it's down to impression and what an individual is comfortable with.

[Arpangel]

If that's the impression you got Tony then that is all that is important.

Monitors are personal things and we all perceive them in different ways. However, I never found PMC to be coloured or hyped. I tend to opt for monitors that are detailed and non fatiguing and the PMCs were perfect for exactly this purpose. But, as I said, it's down to impression and what an individual is comfortable with.

I need to book a listen, side by side with other things, that's impossible to do at a show.

[Hugh Robjohns]

The PMC 6-2 really caught my eye. A 3 way PMC in this lower price range has never been done before.

I have been fortunate enough to have already spent a full day listening to the new nearfield / midfield range of active monitors and I found them to be extremely impressive. They not only sound stunningly accurate and capable, they are also very configurable in an engineering sense, and the remote configuration SoundAlign application is probably the nicest and most logical I've ever used.

Five years in the development, and benefitting from further evolutions to PMC's ATL cabinet design and Laminair vents, as well as two brand new custom-designed bass drivers specifically for these models. The two larger three-way models also share PMCs relatively new and uniquely-engineered 2-inch midrange dome, a new-generation of class-D amps, and the latest iteration of DSP crossover filtering and control, with remote configuration over a standard (wired) LAN network.

My personal view is that the PMC6-2 is probably the sweetspot of the range, delivering a stunning performance from a surprisingly compact cabinet, and 'only' two grand more expensive than the (now discontinued) TwoTwo8 at around £8.1k (inc VAT) in the UK (~$8.5k in the US) -- although at that price I'm not sure most would see it as being in a "lower price range"! It's broadly comparable on a cost basis to the ATC SMC25...

The same format but larger PMC8-2 is intentionally priced roughly the same as the (three-way) IB1S-Aiii which it is intended to replace, at around £12.6k (inc VAT, $13.5k in the US).

The smaller PMC6 (two-way) models comes in at around £5k (inc VAT, or $5.3k in the US). These are all nominal launch list prices which may change, of course...

All models can also be configured as XBD systems, giving greater headroom bass and/or extension. In the case of the PMC6-XBD the XBD format also converts it into a true three-way system.

The PMC6-XBD combines each PMC6 with a PMC8-SUB which also acts as a floor stand. This impressive combo works out at around £10k for a stereo setup -- midway between the price of the 6-2 and 8-2 models, with bass extension down to 32Hz in a very compact format. It's an elegant upgrade path that has a lot of appeal!

I have heard the Two Two 6's and liked them a lot.

The smallest model in the new range, the PMC6 two-way, is IMHO considerably better than the old TwoTwo8, which I always thought the best of the Twotwo range trio, and it's over a grand less expensive, too. Actually, its quality is not far off the outstandingly wonderful (but discontinued) AML1s. The PMC6-2 is another step up again in terms of bass extension, midrange resolution and dynamic range.

Monitors preferences are, as Eddie has said, a personal thing, but I don't recognise Tony's comments about a 'lack of subtlety' at all, and with the best will in the world Tony often gets confused about what he has heard and compared... and, as he admits himself, shows really aren't the place to be making critical objective comparisons!

[Arpangel]

That was over five up years ago, and my hearing has changed a lot in five years, also, these new PMC's maybe out of range of what I’d like to spend, I'd like to hear them though as soon as they become available, they also look very cool.

[Arpangel]

and with the best will in the world Tony often gets confused about what he has heard and compared... and, as he admits himself, shows really aren't the place to be making critical objective comparisons!

I had to log back in and raise a point of order Hugh, you left something out, it should have read "Tony often gets confused "and slightly dazed"

It’s important.

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Ben Asaro]

Yes, these look fantastic! I will never be able to justify a pair in any sense (neither my room nor my bank account will allow it), but I've always liked PMC monitors.

[MOF]

I don’t see how the transmission line speakers can avoid transient smearing, if the positive half of the wave goes forwards from the driver in the usual way and then the negative half is routed internally and then out through a forward facing port.
My understanding is that an internally well damped infinite baffle cabinet is the best way to preserve audio quality.

[Glenn Bucci]

I currently have the Focal Twins and Focal sub and my mixes come out the way I and clients expect them to be. I have had them since 2010 and I think its about time to update my monitors. I tried the Focal Trio's. They do provide more separation with the instruments and improved front to back, but they had the same family sound as the Twins and were not that much different. In the time I had them in my studio, I did not mix any better with them (though it takes a way to get use to new monitors). If I was going to spend 6K on new monitors I expect them to really make a difference. Focal has a certain character while the PMCs are more transparent and neutral. I also like the Barefoot MM45's which also have a more neutral sound over the Focals. It would be interesting to compare the PMC 6-2 to the MM45's.

[Arpangel]

I don’t see how the transmission line speakers can avoid transient smearing, if the positive half of the wave goes forwards from the driver in the usual way and then the negative half is routed internally and then out through a forward facing port.
My understanding is that an internally well damped infinite baffle cabinet is the best way to preserve audio quality.

I tend to agree about infinite baffle designs, whether by coincidence or not, those have always been my favourite speakers, Acoustic Research, the Yamaha NS10, Acoustic Energy, KLH,to name but a few, all classic designs, hi-fi and monitoring. But saying that, I have a pair of the RCL "Small Loudspeaker" which is a ported design, and those sound wonderful, I bought them as an alternative to the LS3/5a, and preferred them, so you can’t really say one design is better than another, some work, some don’t.

[Hugh Robjohns]

My understanding is that an internally well damped infinite baffle cabinet is the best way to preserve audio quality.

In the technical sense*, an 'infinite baffle' is a very different physical concept to a sealed cabinet speaker, which is what you're talking about.

There are myriad compromises involved in speaker design and very different levels of success in the implementation of any design.

Sealed cabinets do offer some potential advantages, but also some disadvantages when compared to other speaker design concepts. I have seen and heard some sealed designs which performed very poorly, and many reflex ported cabinets that perform superbly. I've also seen and heard the reverse...

PMC's ATL cabinet design can be thought of in the technology sense as sitting midway between a ported and a sealed cabinet, with the idea being to employ the advantages of both formats while avoiding both their disadvantages.

By and large, I think the idea works pretty well, and a lot of mastering houses and high-end studios appear to agree... but you'd need to judge for yourself how well any monitor speaker matches up to your expectations and requirements.

* In an Infinite Baffle design the driver is mounted on a large baffle which forms one wall of the room. In this way the front and rear of the driver both work into roughly equal volumes, and so the acoustic impedance is balanced and equal whether the driver is pushing outwards or pulling inwards -- which is critical for minimising driver distortion. Moreover, sound waves generated by the driver disappear off in each direction never to be seen again...

In a sealed cabinet design, the front of the driver 'sees' the large volume of the room whereas the rear of the driver sees the vastly smaller volume of the sealed cabinet. Consequently, the acoustic impedance is very different for each direction of driver travel, potentially resulting in a higher degree of distortion. Moreover, while sound emitted from the front of the driver radiates into the room, sound from the rear will tend to be reflected by the internal walls of the cabinet to act upon and pass through the driver cone, potentially adding further distortion.

Obviously, introducing acoustic damping material inside the cabinet can help to reduce these issues... but there are practical limits.

Hence the compromises...

[RichardT]

They look very tough! And, in the photos, like a light-sink.

[Arpangel]

They look very tough! And, in the photos, like a light-sink.

Light sink, is that the same as a black hole?

[RichardT]

They look very tough! And, in the photos, like a light-sink.

Light sink, is that the same as a black hole?

Not quite as black as that, and a lot safer! But still pretty black.

[MOF]

In the technical sense*, an 'infinite baffle' is a very different physical concept to a sealed cabinet speaker, which is what you're talking about.

Thanks Hugh for the reply, I’ve tended to think that the sealed cabinet, with plenty of internal damping material, would be technically closer to the infinite baffle speakers in studios that have enough space to accommodate them, than ported or transmission line speakers.
Also I don’t drive my speakers hard, so hopefully the pressure levels inside and outside the cabinet aren’t too dissimilar.

[Glenn Bucci]

I would love to own the PMC 6-2 but costing $8,500 for my project studio monitors is too much. It looks like the Barefoot MM45's are one of the better choices in my price range