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Issue No. 359 June 2012
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Issue No. 359
June 2012
Word perfect
Our verdict on Audiolab’s new 32-bit M-DAC
PMC twenty.22:
serious small
speakers
Stand
made
44
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Reviews
PMC TW ENTY.2 2
LOUDSP EAKER £ 1,79 5
44
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Reviews
45
www.hifichoice.co.uk Reprinted from
PMC TW ENTY.2 2
LOUDSPEAKER £1,795
Twenty
twenty vision
Has PMC’s twenty.22 standmount loudspeaker
got what it takes to break the sound barrier?
Jason Kennedy nds the angles...
MC makes loudspeakers
for both the professional
P
mean that you are able to listen to an
album that was made with PMCs
through PMCs! I have been to a
couple of studios that use the things
however, and never have I been able
to replicate the results I encountered
there. But then again neither do I
have such a carefully treated
listening room nor such substantial
active PMC loudspeakers...
The principle that the sound of a
record made in a studio is the sound
that the engineer heard through the
monitors is a good one however – so
to begin to approach that particular
absolute you need a loudspeaker
with the same characteristics. It
would be useful to know which
albums have been made with PMCs,
the company lists the organisations
and artists, but not the precise
albums concerned.
The twenty in this speaker’s name is
an indication of the years that PMC
has been making loudspeakers, a
period that started with co-founder
Pete Thomas making prototype pro
monitors in his garden that soon
found favour among domesticated
audiophiles. The twenty.22 is the
larger of two standmounts in the
twenty series, a range that’s
distinguished by sloping cabinets
and two-way operation. They also
incorporate PMC’s advanced
transmission line (ATL) venting that’s
claimed to use the rearward output
of the main driver to produce
extended bass, while making the
drivers easier for the amp to control.
The trapezoidal cabinet is not
merely a styling exercise; it brings a
variety of advantages to the product,
along with the inevitable increase in
cost of manufacture. These include
natural time alignment of the drive
units, the tweeter’s motor system is
closer to being directly above the
woofer’s when viewed from the side.
and domestic markets, a
state of affairs that could
The shape is inherently stiff and
though the internal surfaces are
parallel they are dislodged so that in
a reex speaker, at least, you would
get less internal reection. As this is
an ATL, the bracing that forms the
line stops any reection and kills all
but low frequencies prior to them
getting into the room.
The twenty.22 incorporates a
6.5inch mid/bass driver that’s based
on the design created for PMC’s Fact
models; it has a cast alloy chassis and
a lightly doped natural bre cone.
Although there is a another speaker
in PMC’s catalogue with this basic
spec, the TB2i, that’s where the
similarities end as this driver was
created specically for the twenty
series and works into an ATL that’s
33 percent longer and crosses over at
1.8kHz, rather than the 2kHz of the
TB2i. The crossover is a fourth order
type with steep 24dB/octave slopes,
so there is very little overlap of
output between drive units.
The tweeter is a 27mm soft dome
developed in cooperation with
Norwegian driver mongers SEAS,
high quality biwirable
binding posts adorn
the back panel...
DE TAI L S
PRODUCT:
PMC twenty.22
ORIGIN: UK
TYPE: standmount
loudspeaker
WEIGHT:
8kg
DIMENSIONS:
(WxHxD)
184x410x367mm
FEATURES:
• tweeter: 27mm
Sonolex soft dome
• woofer: 170mm
doped cone
• quoted sensitivity:
90dB
• quoted impedance:
8 ohms
• 20 year warranty
DISTRIBUTOR:
PMC
TELEPHONE:
0870 4441044
WEBSITE:
pmc-speakers.com
and has the challenging task of
providing output all the way from 1.8
to 25kHz, according to the specs. The
metal grille is a key part of the design
and not merely a protector, it helps to
achieve consistent dispersion across
the audio band, a quality that PMC
considers extremely pertinent to
achieving good results in differing
rooms and for listeners outside of the
sweet spot.
The twenty.22 is available in one of
three real wood veneers or diamond
black and, while it can be happily
accommodated on most 60cm
stands, does look rather better on the
dedicated stand that PMC has had
made for the purpose. This is raked
to match the speaker for greater
aerodynamics, not that there’s much
danger of them taking off. There are
two pairs of terminals for bi-wiring/
amping purposes and the speaker is
supplied with magnetic grilles
Sound quality
To my ears, PMCs always sound open
next to conventionally aspirated
loudspeakers and the twenty.22 is no
different – possibly down to the ATL
system which seems to let the
speaker breathe in a fashion that
reex ports do not. In practice, this
means that many others sound
compressed by comparison, even
those that are pretty impressive by
the standards of the genre.
There are few standmounts that oer the
degree of musicality
that the 22 can deliver
The twenty.22 has little in the way
of cabinet colouration that I can
detect; the sound it produces seems
to have a greater freedom of
expression and this means you hear
more variety in recordings. But it
takes a bit of acclimatisation, initially
the concern is what’s happened to
the bass? You get used to the sound
of reex cabinets and take their
version of low frequency sound as
the norm, but it ain’t necessarily so.
Going back to such a speaker after
this PMC makes the bass sound thick
and congested. True enough, it
sounds heavy, but has relatively little
vitality, speed or texture.
The twenty.22 does not appear to
have a hump in the response to give
you the sensation of low bass, an
approach employed in many small
reex designs. Instead it focuses on
delivering an exceptionally clean, fast
and revealing sound that doesn’t
Reviews
Reviews
PMC TW ENTY.2 2
LOUDSP EAKER £ 1,79 5
Q&A
JASON KENNEDY SPEAK S TO
PMC’S PE TE THOM AS ABOUT
THE TWENTY.22...
JK: Can you name a few albums
that were made using your monitors?
PT: Jus t ou t of t he c urr ent ‘ to p tw ent y’
Relax
Our
Born
, Katie
, Adele
you can include Emeli Sande –
Version of Events
Sheeran –
To D ie, K eep Cal m
Melua –
19
. Then there are countless
–
, Adele – 21, Ed
+
, Lana Del Rey –
an d
Secret Symphony
historic albums, which include the
entire Genesis and Elton John back
ca tal ogu es a nd so man y mor e.. .
Why 22?
The launch or a new range in our
twentieth year gave rise to the ‘twenty
series’ and the 22 is the second
largest in the range.
What are the main differences
between this and a TB2i?
The physical differences are the drive
units, cabinets, crossovers, terminals,
grille fabric and badges… in fact every
element is different. Sound wise, they
are far more transparent, produce a
deeper, cleaner soundstage and the
ba ss t imin g is r eal ly on the but ton .
Why go for a 4th order crossover,
surely 1st order types are simpler
and thus more transparent?
Quite the opposite, simple crossovers
don’t allow perfect tailoring of the
frequencies which means the drivers
receive frequencies that are not suited
to their individual responses, causing
an unnatural and coloured sound.
Sophisticated steep order crossovers
also increase the driver’s power
handling and widen dispersion.
There is a drawback, they take far
longer to design and are far more
costly to build, but the rewards speak
for themselves.
You have used traditional driver
technologies in the twenty series,
no beryllium or metal, etc. Is this a
cost consideration?
No, it’s a performance consideration.
Paper and fabric are still amongst
the best cutting edge materials for
moving coil speakers… and paper
has the benefit of ninety years
development in its application for
sp eake r dr ive unit s.
HOW IT
COM PAR ES
THIS LOUDSPEAKER
sounds quite
significantly lighter,
faster and more
open than the vast
majority of the
competition, but
the downside is that
the bass doesn’t
have the weight of
some of the better
examples of the
reflex ported breed.
A B&W PM1 costs
£1,995 and has a
rather more slick
overall finish, albeit
with considerably
less real wood
veneer. It can’t
compete with the
dynamics and
speed of the PMC,
but does deliver
rather more precise
imaging. Its slimline
tweeter enclosure
avoids baffle edge
problems and
produces a solid,
three-dimensional
rendition of voices
and instruments that
few can compete
with. It also has
a deliberate lowfrequency hump
in its response to
offset its relatively
small volume.
The twenty.22
has an immediacy
and freedom from
boxiness in the
bass that makes
for a more lifelike
overall sound. It
produces a wide and
high soundstage
of electrifying
vivacity, but you
will need one of the
floorstanders from
the twenty series if
you want trouser-
flapping low end.
IN SIGHT
1
5
4
attempt to plumb the depths or shake
the oor, but gives you all the texture
and shape of bass notes.
This was apparent with Meshell
Ndegeocello’s
often sounds thick and overly heavy,
but with the PMCs gained a new
lease of life because the music wasn’t
being bogged down in bass. It’s an
extreme example, but possibly also a
reection of the monitors used
during recording and mastering,
either way it was nice to hear it in
such nimble and vital form. Vital is
the word; everything has a bit more
life and energy. It’s a bit like a horn
speaker in this respect, but without
the tonal variations that accompany
most examples of the breed. What I
enjoy is the unfettered nature of the
sound, it seems to be free of the
usual constraints which means that
there is more of the acoustic from the
recording and less box character.
Live music benets hugely from
this approach, you can feel the
tension in the atmosphere and the
way it effects the performance, Keith
Jarrett’s
in point. It’s almost as if the presence
of the audience pushes him to
express himself with greater eloquence
and clarity than on studio recordings,
where there’s no emotional feedback.
Another live piece is Paul McCartney’s
rendition of
This has an immediacy and
naturalness that’s uncanny with this
PMC; everything about it is effortless,
from the melody to the phrasing. It’s
almost enough to get me digging out
my Beatles LPs! But not quite, instead
I lined up another vintage classic,
Muddy Waters’
very simple recording of three
The Way
Testament
, a track that
disc being a case
Mother Nature’s Son
Folk Singer
.
, another
2
27mm Sonolex soft
1
dome tweeter gives
cri sp h ighs
angled front baffle
2
gives a degree of
time alignment
back panel sports
3
gold plated speaker
binding posts
PMC’s advanced
4
transmission line
venting
170mm doped
5
natural fibre coned
mid/bass driver
3
musicians from before the time when
limiting/compression was used on
vocals. When the vocals are coming
from someone like Waters through
this loudspeaker you do need to be
careful with the volume control; the
dynamic range is alarming and this
speaker is easily fast and open
enough to let you know it!
Conclusion
The second loudspeaker I have
auditioned from PMC’s twenty series,
it has reinforced my opinion that Pete
Thomas is among the very best
designers in this eld. There are very
few standmounts which offer the
degree of immediacy, openness and
musicality that the twenty.22 can
deliver. It’s a style of presentation
that might not initially appeal to
those in love with reex style bass,
but after half an hour of familiar
music you will have great difculty
tearing yourself away. If you’re in it
for the enjoyment of music in any or
all styles then this angular beauty is
one ne conduit to happiness
OUR vERDICT
SOUND Q UALIT Y
VALU E FOR MO NEY
BUILD QUALITY
EAS E OF DRIVE
OVERALL
LIKE: Immensely open,
dynamic and fast with
massive musicality
DISLIK E: This is a t oug h
one, but a bit more image
pre cis ion w oul d be nice
WE S AY: Highly capable
and entertaining speaker
tha t ge ts s tr aig ht t o the
heart of the music
46
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