PMC vs. Salk Sound Speakers. Which is better?


PMC speakers out of England have come on like a freight train in recent years including being awarded an Emmy for outstanding performance as speakers in mixing sound tracks for top motion pictures. Their high end home line of speakers always get good reviews but their prices seem very high compared to other speakers. Salk appears to make great speakers at much lower prices. For example, the Salk Veracity HT3 costs $6K and the PMC PB1i cost $14K. Has anyone compared these brands and which do you think is better?
audiozen
Bigkidz..the price of a component means nothing? What a stupid statement. I have a metal lunch box I converted into an integrated amplifier with a five inch speaker on the side and a internal transistor radio amp that I can sell you for $10K. Because it sounds great! Hell, when I buy a speaker, amp or preamp I make damn sure I look under the hood to know what I'm getting for the price. Not to just buy a product blindly at a high price because its a politically correct audio component. In the real world of costs, The PMC PB1i speaker should sell for $3K, not $14K. but since PMC has made a commercial name for itself in the Pro recording world, they want you to pay for the name first, and ignore the very low cost to make the PB1i speaker. Is their a better British speaker at a lower price that is superior to PMC? You betchum!! Proac!! Their killer stand mount monitor, The Response D, is only 26" high but weighs a very heavy 55 pounds, with better drivers
and crossover, and it will play all the way down to 25Hz. Cost is only $6K. Or the very large Proac floor model, the D40-R, that is 47" high, weighs 88 pounds, and will play down to 20Hz. No need for a subwoofer. Cost is $12K, $2K less than the PMC.
I think Bigkidz hit the nail on the head. Whether you like PMC or Salk, it's possible to make either one sound good or bad by using ancillary equipment not suited to them. And it's just as possible for a $15,000.00 preamp and $25,000.00 amp to make a speaker sound bad (or good) as it is for a $1500.00 preamp and $2000.00 amp to make a speaker sound good or bad. Depends on the implementation of the components and if there's something about them that doesn't suit the speaker (or vice versa).One example: if you have an impedance mismatch between the output impedance of the preamp and the input impedance of the amp, then it's likely whatever speaker you are listening to them through isn't going to sound good. Interconects and speaker cables also provide plenty of opportunity to make or break how any speaker sounds. Either the Salk or the PMC (or any speaker) could sound very good in one system and sound like crap in another. Rooms and placement are another way to showcase your speakers or destroy what they're capable of. So when someone says this brand of speaker is great but that one is crap, what kind of system and room are they listening to them with/in?
Cmon Audiozen...your not going to stop there are you.I am sure Jim appreciates all your doing here for him???
I may dissagree with PMC pricing but they have good SQ.
In my opinion Salk's new Silks are atleast $1500-$2000 over priced. So I guess he is starting to charge for his company name as well.
Never heard Salk but have been a avid PMC user for 3+ years. As good as the PMCs are they are seriously overpriced. My model is the OB1i, a nice 3 way floor stander that IMHO represents the best value, if possible, in the I series. When I purchased them the list price 3 years ago was $7500. They now list for $8500. About 2 years ago PMC introduced a step up model from the ob1i, the pb1i. It consists of exactly the same drivers and cabinet design but with a extra woofer and more height to house the double woofer array. I was interested in a listen but stopped dead in my tracks when learning this new model lists for 5 thousand more than the ob1i! This is for 1 extra driver and a little extra cabinet. The overall benefit of the extra driver is a more bass but for 5k. I ended up buying 2 used JL Audio Fathom f110 subs and a Bryston 10B sub crossover to augment the ob1is for less than 4 thousand. The bass is now light years ahead of the pb1i and a lot less cash.

So after this long rant in a nutshell PMC sound great but they have to reign in prices. I am not saying switch production overseas but at least make the factory more efficient. As a side note the materials and assembly quality while very good in not great.