thread for PMC owners

I have had the PMC PB1i for a couple of years now.  Very, very nice. I was a little concerned when I got them that they did not have the beefiest [75 mm voice coil] midrange dome (like the PMC/higher end models), but am now convinced that the decision to go with a higher sensitivity dome midrange made more sense in a home loudspeaker.  The PB1i's have a high-ish sensitivity (I believe 91 db/meter, and do not need to be played really loud or require much power to exhibit the 'live' feel that an 87-88 db sensitive speaker may require to really come alive.  Another thing about the PMCs is that they have a very linear power response - their output at all frequencies remains consistent at all volumes, and their dispersion is nearly perfectly flat on and off axis.  The result? - great soundstaging and no uneasiness or fatigue that uneven output can cause.  Finally, PMC has nailed the bass response; the transmission line designs reproduce  very fast and detailed bass lines that would otherwise need twice the cabinet volume. If or when I move to another speaker, it will likely be up the PMC line or possibly to an active ATC.

I am interested in the Twenty.23 model but was told of its cost! wow a lot of money for such a small speaker. Kind of wonder if its justified? 

Yes. Excellent quality drivers. Not your usual run of the mill. However I would be concerned with this model if you listen sometimes at live loud levels. The tweeter is crossed over at 1.8Khz and that means it will sound wonderful but it will work quite hard (big excursion).

Energy Pro 22 used a very similar design in 1982 and that was a great sounding speaker (reference for CBC) but often had blown tweeters.

Thank you for your response. Might look at Focal speakers as they have comparable specs and in-house manufacturing etc. More bang for the buck theory, Do you have any comments on that brand?

PMC and Focal have very different presentations.  As a PMC owner, you'll understand that I prefer its sound profile.  I was able to audition twenty.23, Focal, and twenty.24 on same day/consecutive days.  There's a strong family resemblance between 23 and 24, obviously w.r.t. a few extra db of bass.  I agree that list price imported from Britain they don't represent great value for money.  But things change radically when you look on the used market, where I think they become much more competitive.  As always, basic advice is audition before you buy.