PMC FB1+ Anybody using these or have heard them?

I'm thinking of changing my current speakers. Kef Reference Ones.

A couple of questions.

Iv'e had these for about 7years not listened to anything else meantime.

Would I get a worthwhile improvement. My max would £1700.

And if so, apart from the PMCs what should I be looking at.


One of the reasons for changing is that my new amp, a Cyrus 8vs runs very hot and keeps tripping out. apart from that I'm fairly happy.

Do I change my speakers or my amp.


Ron

 

PMC are excellent, but not exactly easy to drive either. You might be better off adding a smart power.

Can you try taking both home for a demo to see which is the better improvement?

 

Hi Tenson.

Do you mean adding a smart power and bi-amping?
Will a smartpower dive difficult loads better the the intergrated?.

I did have Rotel RB1080 200w amp for a while drove the Kefs to very high levels for long periods, no problem.
And it sounded good.

Can't always play my music at this volume though and at "normal" levels the Rotel wasn't so good.

Whats a good amp difficult speakers?

 

And if so, apart from the PMCs what should I be looking at.

I have B&W Nautilus 805's which replaced B&W 804's...I would not have any other speakers other than Nautilus they are absolutely superb.
They take some driving though and require lots of power.
Pidge22

 

Hi. this seems to be the problem "power.

The Cyrus is superb at normal levels, its just that i like to have good blast now and again. Then the Cyrus get so hot you can't touch it, then it trips.

What amp do you use for your B&Ws?


Ron

 

Yes I meant to Bi-amp, though thinking about it maybe it is possible to bridge them. I don't know, why not ask Cyrus?

Do you have the amp well ventilated? The newer Cyrus amps do seem to overheat a bit easily IMO.

My PMC's are driven by a Bryston 3BSST for woofers and a 2BSST for tweeters I have no trouble with overheating. I have actually used them to warm the room up before though. No joke! A good jolt of loud music in the morning warms the room up and makes it easier to get out of bed

 

they have lousy waf and you have to build them yourself but IPL s5tl's offer serious bang for your buck at about 1/3rd your speaker budget. at aprox 91db/w they are pretty sensitive and i've driven mine with a kt88 valve amp to very good effect.
cheers


julian

 

Actually, just add a PSX and it should stop tripping.

I used to have a cyrus7 that tripped all the time, and then added a PSX and it stopped.

BTW, the FB1+ may be more of a "different" speaker than a "better" speaker to the KEFs. They'll have a drier but tighter bass, but it will probably be less forward in the mids. If you like the KEFs, you may not like the PMC house-sound esp. in the domestic models. The domestic models are a little restrained in the mids, which does help if you like to turn it up real loud (like me) but not so good at low levels.

Tenson's AML1s is flat throughout the presence zone, so doesn't have this problem.

 

Hi yogus

Quote
Actually, just add a PSX and it should stop tripping.

I use it with a PSXR power supply already.

I can juge the volume level so the the amp still plays loud without tripping.

It just that it still gets too hot to touch.
I'm a bit concerned about its long term durability under these conditions.

It really does get HOT.
I couild keep the Kefs and get a pair of Mono Xs. They have built in cooling fans so they would proberly be ok.
It's just the price. £2400 foe the pair.



Ron

 

I'm surprised adding a PSX-R would stop it tripping. I thought from the 5 upwards the PSX-R just took over the pre-amp stage - not exactly a large load on the power supply.

If adding a smart power will do it then it sounds like a better option to me as with mono X's the power amp part in your 8vs will become redundant and thus be a waste of money. Bi-amping should give you a considerable amount more headroom for dynamic peaks and ease the load on each amp.

 

Actually, you're right. With the Cyrus 7, the PSX goes to the power amp stages, but with the 8vs it doesn't. With the 8vs, the PSX just controls the preamp.

So in my case it helped for the 7, but it might not help giosblue with the 8vs.

 

How much ventilation have you got around the Cyrus? Do you stack the PSX on top/below the 8vs?

 

Would s smart power dive the the Kefs any better though.
Power wise they are about the same.

The ventilations fine .nothing on top, nothing underneath.
The PSXR power supply runs very cool all the time, so I think yes, it must just be for the pre amp.

I could still use the pre amp on the C8vs for the MonoXs. Bit of of waste though.

Ron

 

Taking the load from the tweeters off one of the amps (either the 8vs or the Smart Power, whichever you decide sounds better) will give you more power for each driver.

The impedance would be halved as well ( I think, can someone confirm?) - If in your speaker you have 2 drivers, each 4Ohms to make an 8Ohm speaker, then each amp will only get the impedance load of each driver. And as you probably know most amps deliver more power into a lower impedance load.

 

The older Smarts have an even smaller power supply than the 8vs (180va vs 330va) so it may not help there. There are three new power amps from Cyrus though.

I'm not sure if passive biamping would help because the voltage rails would still have to amplify the same signal therefore the power requirements are identical to a single amp. However, the current the amps see should drop so in that case you might find it will get less hot.

Someone more technically inclined might want to add their 2c on passive biamping. I'm personally not a big fan of it.

Bear in mind that in a current thread on the Cyrusunofficial forum, they state that a MonoX absolutely kills two Smarts.

You could always get the two MonoXs and upgrade to a Pre-Xvs later.

 

HI,
Quote
You could always get the two MonoXs and upgrade to a Pre-Xvs later.

I have been seriously thinking about that option, its just the cost.

I notice Cyrus have launched a new power amp, don't know if that will be any better without trying it though.

Is there a reason the intergrated get so hot. I didn't even think about this when I bought it. It seems like a well specified amp to me.

Ron

 

Maybe it's their size? Those heat sinks ain't exactly large and the case is quite small. there's a lot packed into those shoeboxes

 

yes i know, but they are all the same size boxes.

But the MonX has cooling fan that increases its speed the hotter the amp gets, And becuase it only gets hot at highlevels you never hear it. Great Idea.


Ron

 

Bumping a thread from the dead here, but this is very interesting to me as I am currently trying to sell my Cyrus 7 as I am also having it trip when I crank it up. It is also powering a pair of PMC TB2+s and although it tripped earlier when powering Kef Q15.2s, it still trips when I crank it up. I'm glad to read that other people are experiencing the same thing with the Cyrus, this is reassuring!

 

cyrus trip

yeah i`m afraid it`s very very common for cyrus amps to trip when you give `em the beans, maybe the trip technology thingiemajig is set a little bit conservativley, not good if you like it loud, not to mention the hardening of the music at such high levels. adding mono`s solves it but at the price is it worth it??????