HiFi Lounge
26-05-2020, 16:21
Hi All,
So this all goes back well over a decade ago, long before HFL was even a glint in our eyes, when myself and Wendy attended an PMC Open Day at Unilet where the PMC BB5’s where being showcased and I remember it clearly when Wendy looked at me and said ‘We’ve got to get a pair of those’ unfortunately at the time we couldn’t fit them in our living room so we ‘settled’ for the MB2i’s which as I’ve said before inadvertently led to the opening of HFL as I became totally addicted to them and my hifi but that's another story.
Anyway if I have learnt one thing from this whole Covid-19 thing is that life doesn’t stay the same and it can change in a heartbeat as it has done for everyone in one way or another so I thought to myself what am I waiting for, if there is something you want and you have the means to get it then why wait as who knows what is around the corner, so a quick email to PMC to see if they had any BB5 SE’s in walnut in stock, to my surprise they did and a couple of days later Wendy went over to pick them up from PMC in Luton, so around 12 years later her wish became a reality, have to say a lot certainly changed in those intervening years.
Now I love speakers, they are my favourite part of the HiFi chain as they really do make the most difference in presentation and I have always believed that you can put a big speaker in a small room but when I saw the size of the boxes of the BB5’s even I thought we maybe had bitten off more than we could chew this time but after a couple of hours of unboxing and manhandling the speaker onto their stands it was time to fire up the Bryston amps and see what we had.
Needless to say I was extremely relieved when they sounded incredible instantly, extremely open and spacious with a huge soundstage and with tight and punchy bass with no overhang or room issues but for me it was how 'correct' they sounded, from the very bottom to the very top the balance was perfect, not one aspect stood out other than you really feeling you are hearing the presentation as it should be, there is just this big and airy image that hangs in front of you, as they say with car engines, there is no replacement for displacement, and I feel it is the same with speakers, you just can’t beat a big cabinet to free up the sound.
Now obviously they are on the slightly large side and are not really room friendly for your normal domestic situation but luckily I married a crazy woman who thinks they look awesome in the room and we both love the sound so I think at long last my speaker search for home is now finally over, yes I measured for a pair of BB5 XBD’s but they really won’t fit, now I just want to play with the rest of the system to get the very best from the speakers.
Cheers,
Paul.
https://hifilounge.co.uk/product-category/brands/pmc-speakers/se-series/
Please find some unboxing pics below -
https://i.imgur.com/51BD0ou.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xhZrjqF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bPd9HxX.jpg
Wendy get's her dream speaker at last.
https://i.imgur.com/LSTYcDW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I2ntGjM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tJx5MYZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VeI3sd6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QKlUJyU.jpg
Getting a Rough Idea of the toe in.
https://i.imgur.com/eX0Yqxk.jpg
Deep breathe as we now need to lift it onto its stand.
https://i.imgur.com/hZmI5XI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ig0ZaK2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/F94qNDf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OgQIvNQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rVLT56s.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OqCZqr1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dxrGqHn.jpg
So this all goes back well over a decade ago, long before HFL was even a glint in our eyes, when myself and Wendy attended an PMC Open Day at Unilet where the PMC BB5’s where being showcased and I remember it clearly when Wendy looked at me and said ‘We’ve got to get a pair of those’ unfortunately at the time we couldn’t fit them in our living room so we ‘settled’ for the MB2i’s which as I’ve said before inadvertently led to the opening of HFL as I became totally addicted to them and my hifi but that's another story.
Anyway if I have learnt one thing from this whole Covid-19 thing is that life doesn’t stay the same and it can change in a heartbeat as it has done for everyone in one way or another so I thought to myself what am I waiting for, if there is something you want and you have the means to get it then why wait as who knows what is around the corner, so a quick email to PMC to see if they had any BB5 SE’s in walnut in stock, to my surprise they did and a couple of days later Wendy went over to pick them up from PMC in Luton, so around 12 years later her wish became a reality, have to say a lot certainly changed in those intervening years.
Now I love speakers, they are my favourite part of the HiFi chain as they really do make the most difference in presentation and I have always believed that you can put a big speaker in a small room but when I saw the size of the boxes of the BB5’s even I thought we maybe had bitten off more than we could chew this time but after a couple of hours of unboxing and manhandling the speaker onto their stands it was time to fire up the Bryston amps and see what we had.
Needless to say I was extremely relieved when they sounded incredible instantly, extremely open and spacious with a huge soundstage and with tight and punchy bass with no overhang or room issues but for me it was how 'correct' they sounded, from the very bottom to the very top the balance was perfect, not one aspect stood out other than you really feeling you are hearing the presentation as it should be, there is just this big and airy image that hangs in front of you, as they say with car engines, there is no replacement for displacement, and I feel it is the same with speakers, you just can’t beat a big cabinet to free up the sound.
Now obviously they are on the slightly large side and are not really room friendly for your normal domestic situation but luckily I married a crazy woman who thinks they look awesome in the room and we both love the sound so I think at long last my speaker search for home is now finally over, yes I measured for a pair of BB5 XBD’s but they really won’t fit, now I just want to play with the rest of the system to get the very best from the speakers.
Cheers,
Paul.
https://hifilounge.co.uk/product-category/brands/pmc-speakers/se-series/
Please find some unboxing pics below -
https://i.imgur.com/51BD0ou.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xhZrjqF.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bPd9HxX.jpg
Wendy get's her dream speaker at last.
https://i.imgur.com/LSTYcDW.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/I2ntGjM.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tJx5MYZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/VeI3sd6.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QKlUJyU.jpg
Getting a Rough Idea of the toe in.
https://i.imgur.com/eX0Yqxk.jpg
Deep breathe as we now need to lift it onto its stand.
https://i.imgur.com/hZmI5XI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ig0ZaK2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/F94qNDf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OgQIvNQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rVLT56s.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OqCZqr1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dxrGqHn.jpg