- I have B&W 804 D3s with a big Naim/ Linn system and am very happy with them. However, my room is a little bigger in every direction and is still only just big enough. In my system and room I get strong but tight bass, but good and wide stereo requires them to be 2 feet from any walls. If you really can’t do this, you may well have to look elsewhere.
- The bass on the PMC was more obvious than that of the B&Ws if anything when tested, if less well controlled, but imaging and air on (for example) female vocals wasn’t great, and they were much better with some bits of music than others.
- The fact that what I heard from the PMCs is not what you hear probably highlights that these things are very room/ system/ ears- dependent. Whatever else you do, I’d strongly encourage you to hear 3 or 4 options in your home before spending that sort of money.
- I think many of the speakers on your list need even more space around them than my B&Ws, particularly if you get enthusiastic with volume. That would also apply to (say) the excellent Spendor D9.2 and just about anything with a rear-firing port.
Others can cover this better than I, as I don’t know all the speakers on your list, but I have yet to hear (say) KEF or Vivid speakers that did not need a lot of space to be at their best.
- The bass issue will probably mean you end up with floorstanders, but it is worth hearing what good stand-mounts can do. I’d try B&W 805 D4 and/ or Focal Sopra Number 1s. You can add well-integrated and high quality subs if needed.
- At shops, the B&W 804s didn’t win my auditions – that was at my house. The winner in most rooms was significantly cheaper, a lot smaller and a lot happier within 12-18 inches of walls – the Neat Xplorer. If you have not heard these remarkable speakers, I would vigorously encourage you to do so (and not to judge the sound with your eyes, if you see what I mean).
- Of course, that last bit highlights again how room-dependent these things are, and in the case of the B&Ws (and others on your list) how sensitive they are to position & toe-in. A 20-minute session or all day in a dealer’s showroom will not be enough for most of us listeners to be at all confident of getting the right answer.
- If getting enough control and power in bass is proving a huge problem, and you have no wriggle-room on positioning, Klipsch may offer the best solution available.
- Finally, you can save a vast amount of money by buying speakers of this quality second-hand or ex-dem. Some would feel bad about having a dealer demo at your house, and then buying second-hand at a 40% discount off eBay. If you are one of them, that doesn’t stop you picking a speaker now, with help from 1, 2 or even 3 dealers – and then deciding to wait until someone has an ex-dem pair. At least, that’s what you can say now…