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Description: two-way transmission line bookshelf speakers
Sensitivity: 90dB 1W 1M
Impedance: 8 Ohm
Effective line lenght: 1.5M
Drive Units: LF Doped 170mm alloy chassis woofer
HF 27mm Silk Dome Ferrofluid cooled tweeter
CrossOver: 3kHz
More Bookshelf Speakers from PMC >>
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3 of 5
There’s no doubt about it, PMC as a distinguished company shurelly has a lot of different loudspeakers ih their production range to be proud about, but definitely, TB2+ is not one of them. I have to admit, trying to make this transmission line bookshelf to work well in just 15 m2 shurely wasn’t one of the greatest ideas in audio history, but you can’t know if you don’t try. The greatest part of already written reviews about this item were hailing its good ability for non-complicated positioning in listening rooms, no matter the size. I’ve found this information quite questionable: no matter how hard you try to get rid of „ghetto blaster“ bass in smaller rooms, by permanent changing loudspeaker’s position, probably you won’t do anything at all, except maybe eating your feet from anger and anxiety. In smaller or even some medium size rooms, no matter of all information recorded on any of your favorite CD’s or vinyl, you’ll probably hear only bass & drum. OK, if it fits to your taste, but where’s the rest ? After all, if strong bass and nothing else comes as one of your primary ambitions, there are plenty of twice or even more cheaper 120 cm tall monsters on the audio market, handcrafted with basical idea to do nothing but pump the braindeath bass, unleast untill your liver doesn’t explode.
Unleast one thing is certain considering this neat and good looking little speaker: forget about smaller rooms, I’m pretty shure you will be dissapointed at the end, no matter the expectations. OK, next day complete set-up ( Exposure 3010 S integrated amp & CD, YBA Diamond speaker and interconnn. cables ) together with TB2+ was moved in 30m2 living room. I’ve spend almost two hours in positioning these speakers, finally I’ve set them up about 120 cm far fom the rear wall, and about 100 cm far from the side walls ( living room is 6,5 x 4,5 m ). Finally, things are getting much better: this combination makes very nice and wide soundstage, moved slightly behind the speakers, also with nice depht and width perspective. Treble is detailed, but smooth and silky, almost too gentle for some music, midtones are detailed, informative and natural sounding, but again and again, bass is too strong and too dominant, pushing mid and treble too much backwards, what automatically makes those precious details in music hardly audible in complete musical gathering – on the other way, in pop and rock music, any time when somebody pinches the wire on bass guitar with gusto and enthusiasm, complete room and everything inside, kept vibrating for next 5 minutes.
Maybe Exposure and PMC are nothing else than another bad mach, so a week later, I’ve borrowed YBA Classic line CD & amp, having reputation as fast, agile, transparent and detailed performers. Finally these PMC’s started to show what are they capable for: top end is still smooth and silky, but those little details are more obvious than before, midtones are well presented, clear and uncoloured, making TB2+ more „communicative“ and this problematic bass is still oversized, but more calm, and less volume immediately brings more accuracy in complete musical performance. If you want to push them pretty loud, sound pressure will rise but all good things in performance will remain the same. Alltough TB2+ has a decent sense for rhytm and attack, it’s still more neutral than warm performer – it goes withuout saying, such a performing isn’t on everibody’s joy and hapiness, so be shure to have it on your mind before you put your money on the table. Also, when it comes to loudspeakers, some weak spots in performing can mostly be fixed by correct choice of supporting electronics or well chosen cables, but there is something about TB2+ what obviously can’t be fixed no way: everything is there, but every musical aspect is working separate job. They simply lack the fatal excitement and they are not involving. Simplified version would probably mean the next – these boxes are very boring. If you like your feet jumping immediately after the music starts, be shure to search elsewhere. Good speaker? Yes, for some taste and for some systems, and most important, for 30% less money than it costs. If PMC is what you want, stick to his little brother from the TB line, you will save some money and you will get yourself a better speaker in every aspect.
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This is an interesting review since his experience with the bass response in a small room is radically different than mine. I’ve been using the TB2i speakers for a couple months now and had no similar issues in rooms 11×17 and 10×13.
I’ll expand more on it later, and give a link to my review of the TB2i when it is up.
Here is my review of the TB2i speakers – please read to compare the user experiences.
http://dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=824