PMC Fact 8 review

These PMC floorstanders are quite simply magical - even at this price. You'll get your money's worth, and more besides Tested at £4700.00

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

An experiment from PMC, but a successful one: these are highly desirable in every way

Pros

  • +

    Speed, clarity and dynamic ability

  • +

    clean, unfussy presentation

  • +

    build and finish

Cons

  • -

    Very little, save that hefty price tag

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

PMC has consistently delivered speakers that offer an articulate, engaging sound, accurately reflecting the beliefs of its owner, Peter Thomas, that ‘the same loudspeaker can be used throughout the audio chain, from composer to studio to consumer'.

For all that, PMC's professional heritage has often produced speakers that are more purposeful than pleasurable to behold.

Hence the Fact.8, the first model in what will become a new range aimed at delivering all the company's established acoustic virtues plus a healthy dose of style.

A heady mix of bass extension and speed
Not that PMC has entirely abandoned its old philosophy. Yes, the Fact.8s are slim, at just 15cm across, and they're more luxuriously finished than other PMCs.

But they remain big and largely conventional floorstanders, and they still sport PMC's trademark transmission-line design.

Running the full length of each cabinet, this 3m long (when unfolded) vented tunnel within the cabinet is aimed at delivering the optimum combination of bass extension and speed – it's a key factor in ensuring the Fact.8s provide a bigger, cleaner sound than you might expect.

On the rear, simple switches allow adjustment to the high and low-frequency response. Some audiophiles might sneer at such an accommodating approach to integration, but PMC is confident it has delivered adjustability without harming quality.

Clean, accurate and fast
These unfussy speakers are clean, accurate and fast. Playing Radiohead's 15 Step, they capture the rhythms with precision: there's no sense of overhang to bass, while midrange detail is exemplary.

Hans Zimmer's The Dark Knight is just extraordinary, from the spread and scale of the soundstage to the powerfully resolved drive of the sound.

Vocals are rendered with clarity and realism: while the sound is never less than honest, it's not brittle or unduly hard either, despite a leanness to the presentation. These PMCs are exceptional.

Their combination of sonic and aesthetic prowess is hard to resist: if you want better sound, be prepared to spend a lot more, or put up with significantly less style.

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What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.

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