PMC speakers vs B&W... has anyone compared?

Three demos make a pattern - also observed by others ;-)

I have no vested interest in "bashing" - just relating what I heard and why I didn't buy it. I have ehard all of the nautilus range - the smaller ones are better.

I compared MB2 with N800. MB2 won hands down all around though some may prefer the euphony and soft warm presentation of the N800. Some people like valves some people like the truth ;-)

Nautilus have warm and woolly bass and have very clear colourations on female voice. They go loud but sound lumpy and uneven. Ok for classical but awful for rock. Dealers always dem with piano music on all the occasions I have listened with them (and others I know found likewise). There is a good reason for this!

I have heard 3 dems of the N800 and each time they picked piano. A friend went to listen to them on the other side of the UK and got piano as well. They sound great on piano so B&W tell them to emphasise that skill! However on rock they sound slow and messy. if you like classical then fine but for more all round music tastes there are much better choices. I found the MB2 sounds better than the N800 on all types of music. In comparison the N800 sounds extremely coloured, lacking in dynamics and speed. This is revealed quite clearly by comparing female voice live and unamplified versus the same on both speakers using a live recording of the same artist. The MB2 tells it like it is and the B&W colours the performance significantly. Which is why abbey road have just bought pmc to use instead of N801.

Slow = big bloat bass. Dry = recessed midband. No contradiction at all. They are that way by design. Mid band recessed as optimsied for high volume level monitoring and bloated bass from the low frequency arrangement.

Musicality is in the midband - dry = no musicality = B&W

Abbey road and lucas films are buying into pmc instead now ;-)

I find the bryston sst and krell a bit harsh but the older bryston st is much more palatable.

I spend a lot of time at rock and acoustic gigs as well as classical performances. Getting kit that is equally at home with all genres is very difficult and expensive. None of it sounds like B&W.

Exactly - they are voiced for pulling forward the treble for mix analysis at high volume, not for domestic use. PMC are mastering suite speakers for assessing the finsihed product therefore they have an acceptable domestic balance by definition.

The PMC are more revealing and accurate and therefore if a cd is "bad" then the PMC plays it "bad" while the B&W sweeps some of the problems under the carpet

A perfectly accurate (as opposed to bright or clinical which is not the same thing) whould also by definition be perfectly musical.

The mb1 lacks the rounded corners on the cabinet and has a different crossover - and thats about it. very old mb2s might have the old atc midrange.

I choose the mb2 over the 800 - the former is more more accurate and more even handed accross musical genres.