It should work. My room is about 50% larger but I am using pmc mb2-xbd-active. |
No problem. Great speaker. Great choice. Go for the active though (if you can afford it/get it). You don't need to audition reputable speakers like this anyway (I expect you know that you are getting a neutral and dynamic sound...if you like the warm harmonically loaded sound of tubes then STOP...this might be a mistake)
They are very similar in design to ATC's three ways but have an extended bass output (TL design to boost LF) and are less forward sounding in the dome mid range (PMC used ATC dome mids in the past but now use their own dome). I would not hesistate to recommend PMC IB1 even for your small room size, knowing that it is not square.
I'd recommend a PEQ to tame the bass below 60 Hz, as it is hard to achieve much with acoustic treatments at such very low frequencies. The PMC may well need taming in your room as they have significant LF output. A great speaker! |
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Oh yes -- I want them for their clinical, revealing, painful-when-the-recording-sucks presentation. ;)
I'll have to listen to lots of reference recordings to get a sense for how the bass is playing out in the room. I really only need it to sound right at listening position.
Not going active, as I have a Bryston 4BST, which I've been told is an ideal mate.
Thanks for the info!
Carl |
Carl:
I have a pair of IB1's and an IB1 center in a room of the same size as yours and they are fantastic speakers. Mine are against the wall with no problems. When you are ready, the 4B-SST is a huge improvement over the 4B-ST with the IB1s. |
How would you characterize the improvement moving from ST to SST? |
The bass was less boomy (not that I found them real boomy with the ST) with the SST and perhaps reached deeper, although this may have been masked with the ST. Mids and highs were a touch fuller, but not too full. I've recently also added a Bel Canto DAC3 to my system (analog bypass input to the SP-1.7) and the bass is just crazy good. For more comments you might want to look at audiocircle's Bryston/PMC newsgroup (I moderate this newsgroup but have no no financial relationship with Bryston nor PMC). I also bought my IB1's without listening and they are the best speakers that I have heard to date. |
Interesting. My chain will be Benchmark DAC-1 -> 4BST -> IB1s
What's the address of that group? |
Sounds like a good combination. Try to get hold of a pair of 3b-st or a single 8b-st (4 channel) and use that to trimap the speakers - it makes a huge difference. |
Hmmm, 225 square ft. is pretty small for the IB1's but since Jethro even had a single IB1 as the center speaker I had no further comments.
Jethro, out of curiosity what is the width of your room, and what are the measurements of your main speakers from the side walls? I believe the IB1's need at least 15' width of space to sound optimum. |
Carl:
www.audiocircle.com - There's a Bryston/PMC Owner's Circle.
The DAC-1 has really nice mids with the 4B-ST - electric guitar rocks in this setup IMHO. I've tried this exact setup but with the analog bypass of the SP-1.7 as a pre-amp. You may find less bass with the DAC-1 than other DACs such as Bryston's DACs and Bel Canto DAC3. This may work well since you have been using bass traps. I think you will be pleased. |
Ryder:
My room is about 13' x 18.5' - a little bigger than 225 ft^2.
My speakers are on the 18.5' side, 8' feet apart, shifted to the left side of the room. I luck out on the left side as there is a small opening which seems to take care of reflections. The right speaker is far from the right wall. I have a small sweet spot for music. I tend to listen with the lights off and my eyes closed because the speakers are pretty close. My center is the IB1-C and quite often I also listen to some music in PLII. I have heavy curtain behind the listening position. Everything is crystal clear and the bass is extended and tight. Although theoretically not a perfect setup, in practice it works well. I know of a very knowledgeable Bryston/PMC person who has used BB5's in the same setup with great success. |
I think the DAC-1 won't be around too much longer. I really hope to try the Lavry DA10 soon. The DAC-1 is a good DAC, with excellent features for my setup, but my experience with Lavry converters is that they come closer to sounding exactly like the source than anything else I've heard. |
Jethro,
Thanks for your response. Now I know your IB1's are set up on the long wall. I knew these speakers need to be further apart from each other to create a bigger soundstage and as such, setting them along the short wall in a room of roughly 225 sq ft. is pretty tough. The IB1's I auditioned in the showroom was set up roughly 8-9 ft. apart in a huge room clear from side walls and you are right that these are excellent speakers. Driven by Bryston electronics(as usual),the bass is just phenomenal and full. |
Mine will be 8' apart along a 12.5' wall, a solid 2' from the side walls. The front corners are treated with bass trapping and there is substantial broadband trapping at the reflection points, as well. I have a good feeling I can make it work! However, I may need to move my listening position back a bit since I get the feeling the IB1s don't like to be toed in. |
Hopefully I can post this link which answers a lot of questions that you have. The IB1's should be toed-in and this link contains instructions plus a lot more info about room size with PMC's.
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=26835.10 |
The tweeters should be pointing over your shoulders for best results. If you hold up your arm and point at the centre line of the speaker it should give you a pretty good idea. |
