PMC Fact3 experience

Greetings,

I thought it would be of value in sharing my experience so that anyone in a similar position may draw some insight.

After home demoing these some 8 eight months ago in the quest for better speakers - mission accomplished?

Buying experience
This was brilliant, for what could have been a daunting and fraught experience of: buying via phone and web from a dealer c140 miles away, and taking the ex demo condition on faith. Not to mention, courier delivery and pick up of my GB1is in exchange. Amazing price, too.

Aesthetics , unpacking and set up
The packaging was excellent. PMC have clearly put a lot of thought into making it easy with the purpose built sands that are easy to assemble as well as the inclusion of a spirit level and cleaning cloth - inspiring. The tricky bit is adjusting the relatively small carpet spikes to get them level and compensate for unevenness of the carpet and underlay. Any tips would be welcome.

They look amazing in poplar with matching black/poplar stands (thankfully not the advertised chrome ones) and 'infinity' grills.

Previous dialogue with PMC confirmed that Fact3s are not popular in the UK because of their proportions (a half way house between a stand mount and floor stander) making finding a used/ex demo pair difficult. However, this also reflects their low ex demo price 

Sound
Well this is what really matters to us. From the opening 30 seconds (cold speakers, cold system, and settling of ferro fluid from transport) to almost continuous 72 hours of in depth and causal listening to music and films, one thing is clear- the sound is even better than the previous home demo. Where do I start is describing it?

Well, as expected there is the clarity, transparency and speed.

What is dawning on us afresh though, is the ability it has in resolving timbre and tone of instruments and subtleties in rhythms.

Coupled with this, is the sense of hearing the track as a single coherent delivery from HF to LF and in timing but wth all instruments and vocals distinguished individually at the same time.

Bass lines are clear even in difficult recordings (for example I can hear what Bruce Foxton's bass guitar is doing clearly for the first time in 'Start' by the Jam). The treble seems to go on for ever and voices are just so real.

We've experimented with the Fact's tone controls and have left them in the flat settings for the mo. The speakers are in pretty much the same position as the GB1is and there's no hint of boom or shrill. Taking the grills off I can feel air pumping out of the mid/bass drivers and transmission line vents (NAC volume at 7:40)

Soundstage, well it's no smaller than the GB1i and its possible to identify in 3D (on some tracks) where musicians are. However, we have been so absorbed by what's gong on 'on the stage' and haven't focused on these aspects.

Other thoughts
I was impressed by the ATC SCM40 and due its size wanted to pursue the SCM19 instead. However, I didn't get around to demons the 19s. I also wanted to demo the Ovator S400s, and although demoed them twice at two different dealers, have not demoed them at home. The ProAc D20Rs were fab at a dealer, too. This process has taught me so much about speakers. The PMC 23,24 and 26 were ruled out as they were not much of an SQ improvement for the price and/or too large. If the opportunity for the Fact3s did not come up, I have a feeling that I would have ended up with the SCM19s.

After the first 24 hours with the Fact3, any feeling of lost opportunity has gone - going for the 19s would have mean't faffing in finding a stand. With the S400 there would have been issue of size and finding a suitable position in the living room. The ProAcs - their bass may have been an issue in my room.

In terms of upgrades upstream, the doors are still wide open for transport, source, PSU for the pre, or power amp changes. The Fact3's ease of drive also leaves the door open for a 200DR - no increase in box or cable count

Conclusions
I now know much more about the capability of everything upstream. This is a great sense of satisfaction in Naim (as well as: Apple, Audirvana, Wireworld and Chord). No pervasive tweaks to the Mac, dedicated transport appliance, or dedicated analogue circuitry PSU for the 282, and 'only' the humble V1- yet the system is sounding just terrific.

Downsides- background listening became very difficult when the 282 was introduced into my set up. Now, it's impossible 

Mission accomplished? Yes!

I hope that this post has not been too analytical or self indulgent.

I also want to thank forum members who have shared their experiences with speakers, as speakers are challenging to get right.

Jude