Through my last 10 years especially, I have been heving an increasing interest in sound/music, and the various equipment available to the consumer. I have auditioned lost of speakers, and owned amongst other, Dynaudio Contour 3.4/ Pioneer SX-e1/ Magnepan 1.7/ 3.6 / Infinity R90 / Audio Vector SR6 / Revel Ultima Studio +++ Right now a pair of gorgous Montana EPS2 in high gloss White piano lack is paired areal of me, 2013 model. Absolutely fantastisk speakers, big yes, but beautiful to look at. So far these have really surprised me, cause the qualities they have are amazing, you would have to pay a Lot more, to find a speaker that sounds significantly Better. Ofcourse, rom and type of electronics you have,and White you put they in the rom, is highly important to her their true potential, but once that is found, the reward is in my opinion a would class loudspeaker, that compares easily with 20/30k$ speakers. Extreme buildquality, with top notch components and look, and actually quite easy to place in even fairly small rooms, due to clever design that takes care of / eliminates some of the soundissuses that often arises with speakers. The sound is extremely detailed, seamless thorughout the entire spectre of the various frequencies, engaging, dynamic, Realistic in height and with, which many speakers costing far more cannot approach..a person appell in front of you like they were there, natural voices and all musicians are placed Realistic relative to each other, 1 meter in front of you or 4 meters behind..the scene is quite easy to "see" in the Holographic soundimage presented. The bass is never boomy, bloated or to much, its simply there when needed, in weight,power and the lowest organ notes. 2 Nine inch basselements in each speaker, will make your clothes shiver, when placement optimized. In my setup, which I have been tuning for quite some time to find correct placement, the speakers seem invisible, and the music is just there, appearing fluidly and easy in the air ahead..Lovely and highly addictive. There are vert natural speakers, and do not present the sound with an ex. overly warm midtone that many speakers have, to lure you info a certain feeling..they present what is there, fantastically resolved and clear. But, they do reveal your equipment, so use the speakers with good high end amps and cd/mediaplayers, and enjoy the music emerging.

The PBN Montana EPS2 speakers are extraordinary in three regards --- performing in the upper middle range of competitiveness against speakers at twice their price --- ca. 20K speakers --- where the Montana's cost but 10K) --- these are 1) fullness, richness, palpable presence, tonality, liquidity and just flat out realistic heft and weight to the music, 2) stereo imaging --- casting an image 3 feet to the left of the left speaker and three feet to the right of the right speaker (given the right electronics and right room) --- great size, depth, and height plus wonderful separation of instruments in space --- truly remarkable, and 3) the ability to never sound congested (no matter how complex the music passage), always sound relaxed and unstained --- while still being exciting and engaging. As far as clarity, dynamics, tight bass, PRAT (pace/rhythm and attack) --- the EPS2's are upper competitive at their price point.

These speakers will play as well as the signal inputted into the speakers --- that is, great electronics = phenomenal performance. Good electronics = great performance.

There are no trade-offs with these speakers other than price --- on the absolute basis, 10 large is a great deal of money for speakers (and another 7 large for electronics) makes for an expensive hobby. That said, I have heard Vandersteens, Theils, Verity Audio, Wilson, magnepan, Canton, B&W, Vienna Acoustic, Martin Logans (all good overall) and a dozen or more speakers in the 10-25K range and well... relative to these, the Montana's are a veritable bargain --- again upper-middle competitive against 25K speakers overall.

Of course, they are big and heavy and need space --- so a dedicated room is ideal. Then again, if you drop this kind of change for a system, you would be a fool not to provide for that system a suitable context for listening.

Overall --- awesome speakers that play everything well. Last point --- they sound like 2-way monitors in their imaging, coherence and immediacy --- but with wildly better richness, fullness, body, dynamics and heft. At first listen some might suggest that they do not have the bass presence that one would expect
from such a large speaker --- that is because the bass is realistic (fast, tuneful) not enlarged or over-exaggerated. No, not bass presence but rather realism.

The sound...dynamic and involving. Will play all your recordings well.
I can't compliment them enough.

Heavy, but very well made. I was worried about the weight at first, but one person can slide the stands and maneuver once they're removed from their wooden crates.

I bought the Montana SPII ten years ago but got the itch to upgrade. They still look brand new and are great speakers, but it was time to shop around. I home auditioned the Sonus Faber Cremonas but they only sounded good on certain types of music and were too aggressive on some music. I listened to the
Vienna Mahlers and was close to buying a pair until i played a tune from
an early Traffic album. The Mahlers missed a prominent piece of the song...
notes that should have attacked were recessed. It wasn't accurate and i never
heard any speaker treat the song in that manner...so much for the Mahlers.
I listened to the Revel Ultimates, Krell, Martin Logan Vantages, Audio Physic
Scorpios, Avalon Acoustics and others. I liked the Audio Physics and Martin Logans but didn't want to pay that kind of money, so i bought a pair of Monitor Audio Gold Signature 60s for $4000. Listened to them for about 5 months...they
were good rock speakers but a little bright for my tastes. Bummer, i liked my old SPIIs better...tried to sell the Monitors but couldn't get near my asking price. After
all my auditioning, i finally called the owner, Peter, at PBN Montana. Luckily,
there are no dealers in my area so I worked the trade on the EPS2s and waited a month for the speakers. Gotta admit, I had buyer's remorse in that month. I really didn't want to kick out more money and i was having a tough time justifying the nearly 9 grand i paid for my upgrade. The SPIIs were so good...what was i thinking? Fast forward...was it ever worth it ! The EPS2s are fantastic speakers...incredibly dynamic, harmonically true and beautiful to look at. I got the premium finish in piano black and they look magnificent. THe speakers have
great clarity, depth and tremendous drive and best of all, they maintain
their character at low volume levels too. Percussion sounds terrific, instruments
are so accurately portrayed,,,the highs are clean and sweet, bass is tight and punchy. Read the Absolute Sound review on PBN Audio's website. These speakers sound great on all types of music...a real "live" sound that's hard to
find in the marketplace. Audition a pair if you're near a dealer. I don't normally
buy a pair of speakers without auditioning them. I've done it twice now
with the Montanas and both times i've been extremely grateful. You can't go
wrong with this speaker. Plus, the owner Peter is a great guy as well. Best
money i've spent in 10 years.

Similar Products Used:

I owned or auditioned...Vandersteen, Thiel, Audio Physic, Signet, Martin Logan,
Vienna Acoustics, Revel, Sonus Faber, Krell, Ariel...many others.