volume vs presence

Hi Jaffa,

That is a decent size room that you have. I would have to believe that a speaker that goes down to about 28-30hz, will suffice.

You could certainly get "too big" and that won't be good either. The goal should be to get the right sized speaker for your room.

You mentioned that you want a more percussive attack. This is usually in the Bass region 60Hz-250Hz, not the Sub-Bass region 20Hz-60Hz. I feel that your Monitor and Subwoofer won't solve this problem, because your monitor isn't producing enough punch in the bass region and your subwoofer can't reach high enough into the bass region either. I actually prefer the sound of a Floor-Standing speaker with a Subwoofer, than a Monitor with a Subwoofer.

I believe that you need a Floor-Standing Speaker with at least 3 drivers (Woofer, Midrange, and Tweeter). This way the woofer can handle the bass region and the midrange can handle it's region without being pushed harder to perform in the bass region. A Floor-Stander with 4 drivers would also work.., but then you may have two smaller, faster woofers, one midrange, and one tweeter. Since you like a fast percussive sound, I would think that 2 smaller 170mm woofers, instead of one larger 250mm woofer, may be more to your liking.

Although, I have never listened to the PMC PB1i, I did check them out online and I think you're on the right track with that type of speaker design. The rest is up to you my friend...

Good Luck,
Rich

the better apparoach to realizing the punch & dynamics you desire is to retain your equipment & get some horns. That will do the job for you with very low power, probably less than you already have.
Many speakers designed for the S.E.T. crowd may be quite satisfying as well. Talk to the good folks at decware.com Steve is an absolute genius in this area. You'll get the advice you need without trying to sell you anything.

I just bought an analogue sound meter today. It looks like my from the needle moving around that lowest levels are around 80db and highest levels peaking around 90db. Average listing levels is probably around 85db.

Is this too loud?

I too would also say a change is in order.

Speakers make the biggest change in a system.

Getting different speakers however might not be your answer 100%.

If you have the BC DAC3... that isn't the problem. It delivers very good bass and highs, crisply and with impact. I haven't heard the BC amp or the ? pmc ? speakers... but those two seem to be delivering too much smooth for you.

I'm not too sure another uh, pmc (?) set of speakers up the ladder is the answer either.... unless they are quite dissimilar sounding. Especially in the tweeter area. Possessing more transparency and perhaps some better attack.

A system, is a 'system' after all. It requires matching or balancing of the system as a whole... or that' is my understanding.

Your room too is large enough to require some bigger speakers for sure.

just remember too... the amp (s) speaker pairing is important. Control matters in terms of presence and immediacy. that normally comes routinely from simple power being applied. More precise matching of amp to speaker can allow for lesser amounts of power being required, as with easy to drive speaks.

I would submit, even with speakers that possess greater transparency you will probably need to re-examine your system contents at large, possibly moving up the BC amp chain too... if you're a BC fan of course.

Cables too might well provide some resolution. and personally, I'd begin there. Try MIT Magnum series, or with lesser funds, SR Resolution Ref x2 active, or with still lesser bucks, a pair of Cardas Neutral Refs. The latter ICs might just give you another level of transparency and their highs are unveiled yet well mannerd.

Another pc too might be inorder as the DAC 3 responds very well to pc changes.

In fact, if you put a Shunyata Taipan helix or Python Helix onto that DAC without anyother cable changes, I assure you those highs will have a lot more shimmer and snap! Presence and transparency too will increase. A lot.

Try wires first... they're popular and if not the fix, you can flip them without a ton of trouble. People always seem to overlook wires.

These pc's will run you from about $375 - $650, or so... I've no idea how much the next level of speakers are you pointed to.

Good luck.

"to gain more presence and percussive attack."
I think the presence region is around 3,000 Hz. People here can correct me if this is wrong.Which is near the x-over region of your speaker Sometimes they put a dip in that region to cover up the blending of the drivers.
Full active speakers will have MUCH better percussive attack as the amp is directly coupled to the driver and no x-over to absorb energy. Have you tired an active PMC?